Believers of Paradise

Z A R A

      The sky was filled with colours as birds flew against them creating two lines meeting at a point. Some others chirped while sitting on trees as the day was filled with rays of sunshine.

     In our tradition, there is a saying that every being in the world looks great in those golden rays coming from the sun. When they glow on your face, so does everything about you. It is a belief, something we all are for.

      I was thinking about that as I stood beside my house, lining wet clothes on a tight rope that was tied from one wall of one of my neighbour's house to ours. My older sister, Zaina, came out of nowhere and tapped me on the shoulder aggressively. It brought me out of my trance as I looked at her with a blank expression.

"Zara, what are you going? We have people coming over today. You can't just be fooling around. Get done with your work, hurry," Zaina rushed me.

"Yeah, yeah," I shrugged it off. "I'm getting things done,"

       Zaina gave me a look. "We are being serious here," she said. Sometimes, Zaina made me feel like she was ten years older than me and not just one. She left after giving me a warning signal that I needed to get all the work done.

      Whenever my father invites people over for dinner, he always makes sure everything is perfectly fit into places. Nothing can be messed otherwise both my parents get mad. Zaina is always stressing out about keeping these going that she doesn't realize that I myself am a person with likes and dislikes. In our society, girls are the ones who do all the house work while the boys do things outside. I grew up learning this and although I did manage most house work along with my mother and Zaina, there are more things I would like to do. My younger sister, Tahira is just seven years of age and she has just started learning a few things. I sort of wished I was as young as her so I was free to do some of the things I liked. On the other hand though were my two brothers. The older one, Rahaan who is the eldest child in the family, three years older than me and is probably the busiest. Along with studying, he manages to earn money for the family with my father. My younger brother Sameer is still busy with his studies. He is a few years older than Tahira and they both get into fights everyday.

     My family includes seven people and we all try to work out with each other. Most of us work for the house and my father said he wished he got some help from someone other than Rahaan. I knew what he meant. He couldn't wait for Sameer to get older and make him proud. I sometimes wished that I was the one to be able to make my dad proud. But I knew for one that he just wanted me to do all the housework and that will be enough.

      These are the thoughts that make me want to run away from this family. My dreams are bigger. It definitely does not match what everyone in the whole of Rainwater Valley expects. But one day, I want to do something that is beyond my people's imagination. I would if only the Creator gave me a reason to escape and move on to the bigger world. It would be a sign that I was making the right decision.

      I finished up my chore of washing the clothes so I could move on and help Zaina in cleaning the house for the guests to arrive. So taking the bucket that was filled with wet clothes a while ago, I strode past the mud walls of my house and entered inside from the front gate.

      The aroma of good food was around the whole house and I saw my mother, sitting near the fire and stirring the pan on it. Tahira sat on a corner near her, playing with the rag doll that Rahaan got her last year.

      Even though I wasn't tired, I wanted some rest. I didn't feel like doing much and so after leaving the empty bucket in the washroom, I went to the room I shared with both my sisters and hopped on the hard bed.