If somebody asked Zahra - "do we ever reach a point in time when we just cannot love a person any longer?" - she wouldn't know.
Zahra Yusuf is the most sensible girl in her family. She listens to her mind more than her heart, maybe that's why her Na...
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chapter 13: scars like beach rocks
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Anaargis was my love - that is, until Naahil drowned in its sea.
We were five siblings, all different shades ranging from rich caramel to a pale tortilla brown that lay somewhere between my mother and father. Ammi was much paler than Abba - Humrah didi and I matched hers more. Whenever we made face-packs, scrubs and hair masks, they contained the same ingredients which suited our skin tone. Naahil and Ali were my twin brothers, who resembled my father. And my youngest sibling - Safwana - had a slightly redder complexion like Zurri khala's.
Whenever Abba visited us from UAE, his unending love for foreign chocolates was known across the entire family tree. But he'd get special ones for his little sparrows and eagles - his own girls and boys. They were custom made from a shop somewhere in UAE, and came in different animal shapes every year.
The year Naahil died, none of us touched the chocolates.
I used to wonder if Ammi had preserved those years' special chocolates somewhere. But I'd seen Humrah didi give them in charity a few days after his death.
We had lived a portion of our lives in the sea-side, bright blue and sunny, small town of Anaargis. There wasn't an ounce of doubt that we'd be staying there forever. We thought we knew we'd grow up there, marry someone there and continue our lives underneath the palm trees and coconuts. Living in the UAE had given us enough exposure to the world outside, we didn't need any more of that.
But living in Anaargis meant living in the center of all tourist attractions a beach could possibly have - there didn't go by a day when a tourist wouldn't come and ask for directions for the Shilling Dock, or the Klebsiell Hiking Track. Sometimes, Zruri khala brought special customers from Bangalore and our HZANS Tourist Lodges filled up in no time.
HZANS stood for Humrah, Zahra, Ali, Naahil and Safwana - we were proud owners of the west-facing resort which overlooked the sea. It was a small business Ammi ran while Abba continued his work in UAE. Every day was an adventure at the resort, every family that stayed left a story with us. There was nothing more soothing and we weren't looking to relocate either.
It wasn't until one night when the guests gathered together to listen to a spooky story that left them unhinged. Naahil, who was seventeen at that time, hooked them to a tale they would never forget.
"Do you know what's the biggest secret of Anaargis?" Naahil would start, grabbing the attention of everyone in the room. "There's a legend hidden in the name..." He would pause.
"Long long ago, Anaargis was known for its pomegranates. It was such a brilliant thriving business that people knew this land lay on top of the tectonic plates of the world. During that time, the coast of Anaargis was convex, and Luna Land was attached to this town. But how is it concave now, you ask?"
