fहndi - Mahatma Gandhi Antarrashtriya Hindi Vishwavidyalaya

feet, on a brick path near the open drain,It raised its head to look for a hole andfinding none, struck its head on the groundnow and again in disappointment.Now there were several more facespeering out of the windows. They werewhispering among themselves, fearingsomething would definitely happen today.Now that Chiragh's father Ghani was here,the secrets of seven years ago were boundto unfold themselves. Maybe the rubbleitself would tell Ghani the whole story.It would tell him that on the eveningof that day Chiragh was in the roomupstairs eating his dinner when the wrestlerRakkha asked him to come down for amoment as he had something importantto tell him. Rakkha was the king of thealley in those days. Even the Hindus livedin awe of him and Chiragh after all wasa Muslim. Putting down the morsel he wasabout to eat, Chiragh came downstairswhile his wife, Zubeida and two daughters,Kishwar and Sultana, looked down throughthe windows. Chiragh had just emergedinto the lane from his porch when Rakkhagrabbed him by his collar, felled him tothe ground and sat down on his chest.Chiragh caught Rakkha's hand that washolding a knife and cried, 'No, RakkhaPahalwan, don't kill me... don't. Oh, won'tsomeone save me? Zubeida! Save me!'And upstairs, Zubeida, Kishwar andSultana screamed in despair. Zubeida randown screaming, while Rakhha's croniescaught hold of Chiragh's flailing arms.Rakkha drove his knees hard ontoChiragh's thighs and cried, 'What're youscreaming for, you sister fucker? I'm givingyou Pakistan. Here, take it.' And beforeZubeida, Kishwar and Sultana could reachhim, Chiragh had already been dispatchedto Pakistan.The windows of the houses aroundclosed. Those who had witnessed the scenebolted their doors from inside, absolvingthemselves of any responsibility. Evenbehind closed doors they could hearZubeida and her daughters screaming farinto the night. Rakkha and his croniesdispatched them too to Pakistan that samenight but by a longer route. Their bodieswere later found; not in Chiragh's housebut floating in the canal.Chiragh's house continued to beransacked for two days. When it had beencompletely looted someone set fire to it.Rakkha swore that he would bury alivethe man who had set the fire going, forhe had decided to kill Chiragh in orderto take this house for himself. He had evenbought ritual offerings for the ceremonyto purify the house. But he failed to findout who the arsonist was, so he could notcarry out his threat to bury him alive. Forseven and a half years now, Rakkhapahalwan had been regarding this rubbleas his private estate. He would not allowanyone to tie a cow or buffalo here norany vendor to put up a make-shift kiosknear the rubble. Without his permission88 :: April-June 2013fgndi •