Light Upon Light

#54 Duniyadari

Assalamualaikum beautiful people! It's been a long while. The update is here!!! Sadly I haven't been able to type more than one chapter and even this one is short. However, it has got certain stuff that most of us Desi girls must have felt at some point in time. I hope you'll enjoy the chapter as usual!

***

#54 Duniyadari

We were having fine weather in Salimabad, no sign of rain clouds nor was the sun being harsh. Bhabhi, Di and I took to the terrace with Kashaf and Kanza. It would have been an all girls party if Abid had not decided to follow us upstairs. While he claimed that he wanted to play with Kashaf, the reality was that he was scared of Jaad. He terrified my little nephew, especially when the latter tries to swipe his gaming console.

I was so wrong when I assumed that Samir, Faiz and Samar would be working often and it would be Bhai and us girls in the house. Not only did those idiots create a ruckus on their own, their friends also came over a lot. Sometimes some of them stayed over for breakfast, lunch and dinner. It made me wonder why they even returned to their homes. They could just stash their clothes here and stay over!

It doesn't help that some of them happen to be our relatives.

It was Sunday so Abrar Jiju was also home. But instead of being a nice husband and spending time with his wife, what does he do? He goes and organizes a cricket match as both his brothers had come for a visit. It would have been nice if Namir Bhai brought Aliya with him. However poor Aliya was also stuck at Khushnuma under bed rest. It was her first pregnancy and there were complications.

I was really happy for her though. Especially considering that she had to hear a lot of talk from our really well meaning society. When Di was pregnant with Abid, it was extra hard for poor Aliya. By God's grace she was blessed with a Mum-in-law like Layla aunty who gave excellent responses to comments like "You should thank Allah that your younger bahu is not like Aliya."
As though the only thing that would validate her as a daughter-in-law would be giving birth to grandchildren who would carry on the family name.

As progressive and reasonable as certain families in Salimabad were, an equal if not greater number of families also exist in the community who have nothing better to do but sit and gossip. If they spent all that time sitting and understanding the Qur'an together the society would be of such a better standard.

There were people who looked down on Muslim girls who found it difficult to wear a headscarf and made comments about their modesty. The same people had no trouble raising sons who didn't know how to lower their gaze. They sit on roadsides on their flashy bikes and pass comments on girls with no shame. Jobless human beings. And when they're questioned for their vile acts, their lovely families point fingers at the girls saying they were dressed inappropriately.

Even those who wear purdah? Like really?

I was standing by the stone railing, lost in my angry musings. When Bhabhi tapped on my shoulder I was startled.
"Goodness!"
"Such an angry look! And that too directed at the boys, ya Allah!"

That's when I realized that it seemed as if I was staring at the boys playing cricket. Sheesh. Now Bhabhi will go off into her usual tangent of 'Marry Zaid', and that too in front of Di. I'm sure she's been itching for an opportunity to point out to Di how besotted with Zaid I was. As if I haven't got better things to think about than Zaid and marriage.

"Kya Bhabhi. I was just lost in my thoughts as usual," I shrugged my shoulders as she looked at her brother who was batting and waggled her eyebrows.

"Why? Is Zaid's batting that awful? Such a big glare you had pasted on to your face," she teased with a giggle.

"Why should Juni be bothered by Zaid's batting?," asked Di as she paused walking laps around the terrace with Kashaf and Abid running after her. The two little munchkins bumped into each other and Di as she stopped. They were on the floor giggling to their heart's content. Simplicity, I miss that.