The Fallen Widow

16. Sealed Fate

The ricochet of gunshots sent terror through Baba. "I'm going to die. They'll kill me. What will happen to my buddi?" Baba hid in the cramped alley shivering with fear terrified he'd die leaving his wife.
Meh'r-Bano gasped for air unveiling her face, she loosened her chador and wiped the sweat against her forehead.
"I made it." She wheezed. Kneeled in the cramped alley, Meh'r-Bano successfully dashed and hid in the narrow alley. Her chest feeling tight, she took out her blue inhaler from the small pocket she manually sewed into her salwar. Placing the inhaler into her mouth, she pushed the cannister and took a deep breath inhaling the spray which relaxed the muscles of her airway into her lungs making it easier to breathe. With two puffs, she felt better.
"We made it." She looked at baba who hugged his knees against his chest with his hands on his ears blocking out the warning shots. Baba was fraught with worry. Until he returned home safely, every step held a risk. In the background, the screams and yells continued but the old man and Meh'r-Bano were safe. Meh'r-Bano looked at her dusty feet and smiled. Nadeem's shoes were useful after all.
"We won't get out of here" He feared.
"We're safe now." She reassured him. "They won't see us."
"Look at your feet, you have no shoes. How will you walk? We may as well give up."
Meh'r-Bano climbed to her feet and stepped on the floor with caution. Broken glass, stones, rubbish filled the alley. She tip toed behind the alley towards the back of the line of shops.
"Let's go baba ji."
"I'm not sure." he froze looking up at her. "Trust me. We can do it. These oppressors won't stop us." She promised him and held out her hand to him. Reluctantly, Baba accepted her hand and they crept through the narrow alleys of the grand bazaar. Their names wouldn't be recorded. They would escape.

Leaving behind the yells, shouts and warning shots, Meh'r-Bano led Baba to safety. They made it out of the grand bazaar, where Baba flagged a tractor and jumped on the back worried about Meh'r-Bano's bare feet.
"Take my shawl." He took it off his head. "You, my daughter, saved me. My crown at your feet." He offered her to wrap his shawl around her feet.
Refusing his honourable offer, Meh'r-Bano was embarrassed. She'd walk a hundred miles barefoot for Baba.

Forty minutes later, Meh'r-Bano returned to Chiragpur. She left Baba on the dirt path through the cornfields to his village. He kissed her forehead and raised his hands in prayer.
"May Allah protect you from the evil that resides in this world. May He bless you with success in your endeavour. Ameen." Once receiving his blessing, Meh'r-Bano was charged with joy and excitement. Baba was home. Safe. Mission accomplished. She smiled watching his frail figure turn into a dot on the horizon.
Meh'r-Bano made her way into Tasneem's house, her feet bruised, with cuts and matted with dirt. She stood at the door and held the doorway wincing in pain. It was a short walk after the tractor dropped her on the path to Chiragur. Inside, she could hear the hens clucking and Gulshan yelling at them.
"Ish! Ish! Why don't you listen to me? You crap everywhere!"
When Meh'r-Bano arrived in the courtyard, Gulshan sprinkled soil on the small pile of warm poo the hens deposited.
"Asslamalikum Gulshan." She greeted.
"Come on in, Meh'r-Bano. These hens will be the death of me. I don't know why ammi doesn't shove them in the cooker. All day I spend cleaning up after them."
Meh'r-Bano made her way to the ramshackle kat under the tree. As Meh'r-Bano examined her tired feet, Gulshan made her way over once she'd cleaned the courtyard.
"Where are your sandals? What happened?" She questioned.
Meh'r-Bano asked the girl for warm water and a spare set of sandals. Gulshan was quick to help Meh'r-Bano.
"Ammi, come out. Meh'r-Bano is hurt." Panic rose in her voice.
Making her way into the courtyard with both hands full of sticky flour, Tasneem noticed Meh'r-Bano's dishevelled feet.
"Oh my Allah! What happened?" Quickly, Tasneem doused her hands in the bucket of cool water and washed the flour. Gulshan bough a lota of warm water and a set of brown plastic sandals for Meh'r-Bano.
"Look at the state of her feet." Tasneem stood above Meh'r-Bano and complained.
Meh'r-Bano calmed mother and daughter, making nothing of it, but Tasneem read the mischief on Meh'r-Bano's face. Gulshan bought a steel cup of water for Meh'r-Bano cooled with ice.
"What happened? Why are you smiling?" Asked Tasneem.
Reeling in the events of the afternoon, Meh'r-Bano had a lot to take in. She took a sip of the ice cool water refreshing her dry throat.
"You should have seen it Tasneem. It was madness."Gulshan kneeled before Meh'r-Bano and poured warm water over her tired feet.
"The grand bazaar was the place to be. The politician, Muzzamil, and then he arrived-"
"Who?" Gulshan perked up. "Did you see him? Did you get a glimpse of Shah- Nawaz." Gulshan clucked like the chickens with excitement. She'd heard so much from her friends in the village about the young handsome Choudhary.
"Calm down." Said Tasneem to her daughter. "Go, go inside and make Meh'r-Bano some tea."
Gulshan was stubborn, she wanted to hear everything whilst looking at Meh'r Bano's dry lips.
"Tasneem, I agree with everything the politician said. He was right, we are oppressed, we do need to speak out. But unfortunately, he is a puppet of Choudhary Muzaamil and ran away at the first sign of trouble." Meh'r-Bano reflected. Now her feet were washed and clean, she was able to reflect on the events.
"But what were you doing in the grand bazaar with no shoes?" Tasneem pulled up a square piri and perched on it. Worry stretched on her forehead. The young woman was signing her death warrant. Gulshan kneeled on the ground staring at Meh'r-Bano as she explained how the creepy Azaad stole her sandal and Nadeem offered her money and a pair of his spare shoes.
"We were trapped when Choudhary Shah Nawaz arrived."
Gulshan gasped slapping her hand over her mouth. "How did you escape? What did you do? Is that why you have no shoes?"
"It was mayhem." Meh'r-Bano continued with Gulshan perched at her feet, her hands on her knees.
"They prohibited everyone to leave the Grand Bazaar. Everyone would be be fined ten thousand rupees, or two bags of wheat and corn from our harvest. It was wrong Tasneem, this is all wrong. What is our crime? We attended a rally, do we not have a free will to listen and use our intellect? Will we be punished for simply exercising our free will?"
"Haq!" Gulshan cheered waving her fist in the air.
Tasneem shook her head in disbelief. "What did you? What have you caused?"
Meh'r-Bano looked at Gulshan, a young spirited girl who was buzzing with energy.
"I bagged the shoes and told the women it was a bomb." Meh'r-Bano explained the situation and Gulshan exploded into laughter. "You are amazing, Meh'r-Bano. You are my inspiration. I want to be like you."
Tasneem nodded in disagreement. She folded her arms watching her daughter dance with merriment.
"Everyone believed it was a bomb. They yelled and ran in all directions." Meh'r-Bano laughed with Gulshan. "Then we escaped."
"Weren't you scared?" Gulshan asked.
"Of course I was. My heart was pounding like it would leap out. But the rush, the excitement was addictive!" Gulshan laughed with Meh'r-Bano.
"Don't laugh too much, or else you will have to compensate with tears." Tasneem observed the small party of joy, and feared it would be short lived.
"I may be laughing but I'm angry. We went to a rally and we're punished. How is that right? This system, this oppression. We need to speak up." Meh'r-Bano placed her bruised feet in the sandals. She tried to stand up, but it was painful.
"Go, go inside." Tasneem ordered her daughter. "Start cutting the onions, your father will be home soon." With force she pulled her daughter to her feet and dragged her away from Meh'r-Bano, the obsession with Choudhary's household was having an effect on Gulshan.
"You need to be careful Meh'r-Bano. Someone may find out, they may have spotted you." Tasneem warned with caution.
"Tasneem, it's okay." Meh'r-Bano smiled. "They don't have our names. They don't know we were there. I'm bruised but I'm alive. Baba ji has not been fined. Anyway, I covered my face. No one will recognise me." She assured her friend.
"Meh'r-Bano, you have the most distinctive eyes in Jahanpur, you crazy girl. One look, no one forgets." Tasneem reminded her.
"Tasneem, no one looked at me long enough to recognise my eyes." She struggled to appease her friend. "We escaped and survived to tell the tale." Meh'r-Bano continued recall her escape. "I'm going to save my money and help Baba ji. He is so sweet. He wanted to give me his shoes. I couldn't let him."
Tasneem pushed back her fear for her friend and joined the merriment. "You are something else Meh'r-Bano." Tasneem made her way towards her and sat on the kat.
"I never felt so alive Tasneem." Meh'r-Bano held her hands and looked into her eyes. "The rally. The rush. The guns and guards. I wasn't afraid. It's crazy. I was excited. I can't explain it."
Tasneem stared intently into her dilated pupils. Her eyes glimmered. Something about her changed today. She tasted danger and loved it.
"You're living a mundane life in Chiragpur. Why wouldn't you be excited?" Tasneem reminded her.
"The haveli always give me challenges. Every day, something new happens." The rush of adrenalin still fresh in her veins.
"Be careful Meh'r-Bano. You know Shafiq and what's he like. if he finds out-"
"No one will found out." Meh'r-Bano spoke with assurance. "I'm safe. We're safe. I can't say the same for Choudhary Muzaamil. The way Choudhary Shah Nawaz pointed a gun at his uncle, he will kill him when he takes over Jahanpur. I promise, there is war on the horizon." Meh'r-Bano predicted spreading fear through Tasneem.
"No. I hope not." She recalled the last bitter and deadly war. "Last time, Choudhary Dilwar's and Choudhary Muzaamil's sons died in the war. Jahanpur was mourning for forty days. It was the year of mourning. I hope we never have to go through that again, Meh'r Bano." Tasneem recalled the empty and cold bazaars. The villages haunted by an eerie deadly silence and the howling wind rattling her shutter doors.
"Please Meh'r-Bano, stay away." Tasneem pleaded holding her hands. "I don't want to lose you."
Meh'r-Bano assured her friend disregarding her worries.