by Pran Kishore
Ghulam Ahmed had resolved that he would berate and unmask him in the presence of his employees. But having seen what a big hotel he owned, and seeing the change in his station, he could not muster up the courage. As soon as he entered the hotel, he had seen many resplendent showrooms which kindled hope in him. But he ensured that he did not say anything that may quell his dreams. He did not want to lose the opportunity of working in this splendid hotel. It was Qadir who broke the silence. ‘Why don’t you say something? Why don’t you get up as you used to in the past and curse me for all the sins that I committed all these years? All of you might have thought that Qadir has been interred in an abyss of sins and will never come out, and that is why he continues to hide from his family. The fact is that I was so ashamed of myself that I fled from Bombay to seek some way to start a chaste and dirt-free life. God was kind to me and all that you see around here is only because of His mercy. Believe me there is not even a farthing of illegal money in what I have built.’
Ghulam Ahmed did not even realize the passing of time. Ghulam Qadir went on narrating his tale and he listened intently. He questioned him every once in a while so that he could ascertain every detail. His story of success was no less interesting than the tales in the Arabian Nights. While Ghulam Qadir related his story minute by minute, he did not divulge the details of his marriage with Reeney.
The two brothers would not have realized that it was already evening if Qadir had not received a call from the reception. On hearing that Reeny had phoned him twice from Daman, Ghulam Qadir stood up abruptly. He went to the next room to call her back.
‘I am sorry, Reeny. My elder brother Ghulam Ahmed has arrived here in search of me.’
‘This is such good news! Please let me have a word with him.’ She was really delighted to receive this news. Since Qadir had mentioned his family members repeatedly, she really wanted to go to Kashmir and meet his family.
‘Of course, I will let you talk to him, but this is not the right time. You need to be patient.’
‘Okay, as you wish. But please do not quarrel with him. You should treat him well.’
‘Surely I shall. We Kashmiris are unmatched in hospitality, you know.’
‘What a strange language you speak in today!’
‘Yes, this is my reply to what you said. Don’t worry. I will take good care of him. Bye!’
He returned to Ghulam Ahmed. Seeing the cordless telephone in his hand, Ghulam Ahmed said to him, ‘Since the phone is already in your hand, please call up Abba. He has been on tenterhooks about you.’
‘No. Not today. You talk to him first, only then will I get the courage to talk to him. Take this phone. I will go downstairs to close today’s accounts. Besides, you might hesitate to talk to Bhabi in my presence.’
He went out of the room. Ghulam Ahmed rose, closed the door, and dialled home.
Malla Khaliq rarely trusted Ghulam Ahmed. He noted down the telephone number of Hotel Sea Waves, consulted with Noor Mohammad and then went to Barzul to see Narayan Joo. On hearing what Malla Khaliq told him, Narayan Joo connected him with a partner of his in a travel agency in Goa. He got the details about Hotel Sea Waves, and then turned to Malla Khaliq and Noor Mohammad.
‘Congratulations, Haji Sahib! Every word of Ghulam Ahmed’s is true. Your son Ghulam Qadir is now rolling in money.’
Malla Khaliq was dumbfounded. Words failed him. Narayan Joo nudged Malla Khaliq and said, ‘What thoughts are you lost in, sir? If you don’t trust me, take this phone. I shall connect you directly with Ghulam Qadir.’ He dialled the number of Hotel Sea Waves. ‘Hello, Hotel Sea Waves? May I speak to your proprietor?’
‘Mr Qadir? Yes, one moment.’
Then he handed the phone over to Malla Khaliq, but he refused to take it. ‘No, no. He may be the wealthiest man in the world, but to me he is a sinner who is never to be pardoned.’
By then Ghulam Qadir came on the line. ‘Hello, who is it?’ Malla Khaliq hastened to return the receiver to Narayan Joo, as if there was a serpent in his hand. Narayan Joo did not waste any time and said, ‘Dear Ghulam Qadir, we forgot all our anger and misgivings when we got to know about you. Here is your Abba, talk to him.’
‘No, no. Not now. I can hardly talk to you. I cannot muster enough courage to talk to Abba. Even being able to talk to you feels like speaking to my own father. Kindly tell him that his Qadir cannot lay his head at his feet unless he brings him a good name.’ Qadir got very emotional.
Narayan Joo had placed the receiver close to Malla Khaliq’s ear. When he heard Qadir’s words, he could not restrain himself. A torrent of tears flowed from his eyes and he instinctively replied, ‘My dear son, how long will you keep all of us drowned in pain?’
‘Abba!’ This was the only word Qadir could utter before he broke down. In the meantime, Ghulam Ahmed entered the room. Seeing Qadir crying with the receiver in his hand, he went running to him. Ghulam Qadir handed over the receiver to him. ‘It is Abba on the phone.’ Then he went and sat in the other corner of the sofa, holding his head in his hands. Ghulam Ahmed said to his father, ‘Abba! He has no words to speak. He is devastated.’
Malla Khaliq’s heart was surging with love and he struggled to find words. ‘Let him prosper. I pray that he has more and more successes in life. But please tell him that while he lives in luxury, there is a lonely girl pining every moment for her husband.’
‘He need not be reminded of that. Please don’t be so worried for he will be home shortly. I shall bring him.’
Noor Mohammad and Narayan Joo were straining to hear what they were talking on the phone. Finally Noor Mohammad could not stop himself and he asked his father, ‘Abba, what does Qadir say?’
‘It is Ghulam Ahmed. Qadir is mute. You talk to him. He may be able to talk to you.’
Noor Mohammad took the telephone. ‘Ghulam Ahmed, will you please hand over the phone to Qadir?’
In a little while, he heard Qadir’s sobs. Noor Mohammad said to his brother, ‘Nothing will come out of weeping. Remember that your entire family is at home, dying to see you. Now for God’s sake forget about the past and come back just once to Amma. She has reduced to a skeleton. If you come, you will heal the wounds of your mother, and your wife.’
‘I am also longing to see you all. I have a couple of urgent jobs to do, then I will come back and beg for your forgiveness. Ama Toth can stay here till then. Is Amma there? I—’
‘No, we are at Lala Sahib’s.’
‘Give the phone to Lala Sahib – Lala Sahib, pardon me for having sneaked away from Vijay Kumar’s house without letting anyone know.’
‘Dear son, you just return to us. All the snow will melt and the gardens will bloom again.’
‘I need nothing but your blessings.’
The family was sitting together, and Zeb nestled close to Aziz Dyad. When Narayan Joo, Malla Khaliq and Noor Mohammad entered, Aziz Dyad sprang up. Before she could utter a word, Narayan Joo congratulated her. ‘Dear sister, you must offer the sacrifice of a lamb, for your son is now the owner of a big hotel.’ Aziz Dyad looked agape at him to see if he was joking. Then he went to Zeb and said, ‘My dear daughter, why are you still brooding like this? Winter is over, the ice has melted and spring has returned. Now get us a big samovar of tea.’ Her Qadir was now a big businessman; she trembled from head to foot.
‘Did you have a word with him yourself?’ Aziz Dyad asked Narayan Joo to be sure.
‘I did. Should I have engaged an advocate for that?’
Noor Mohammad made his mother sit down, and he recounted every detail of the conversation with Qadir. In the meantime, Inspector Razaq came along with Parveen. He had got all the information about Hotel Sea Waves through the Goa police.
Abdullah Shah spoke to Ghulam Ahmed on the phone. When he saw Malla Khaliq and Noor Mohammad coming happily out of Narayan Joo’s car, he thought the time was opportune to be the first one to pat Malla Khaliq’s back. Noor Mohammad phoned Doctor Nisar and the festivity started in the houseboats. The ne
ws spread among all the houseboat owners and the shopkeepers of Dalgate.
There in Goa, Ghulam Ahmed was growing impatient to find an occasion to ask Ghulam Qadir for a showroom. He was enjoying the services and the luxuries in the hotel as the most important guest. Finally he found the occasion he had been eagerly waiting for. He asked for Ghulam Qadir’s permission to clear the accounts of Abdullah Shah with the carpet dealers of Gojwara. Ghulam Qadir said to him, ‘You need not bother; let me call one of them here.’
‘No. I think I will have to go there myself. I have delivered some new carpets to them, and I have to seal the deal.’
‘How is Abdullah Shah’s business running?’ Ghulam Qadir asked him.
‘Foreign tourists are very interested in silk carpets. I have also been involved in his business.’
‘I have a suggestion. I have constructed a new wing for showrooms near the entrance of the hotel. You take one of the showrooms and start your own business. I am sure Abba won’t object.’
This was the chance Ghulam Ahmed had been waiting for. He just hung his head and muttered, ‘But one must have strength to do that. One has to buy a showroom and then decorate it with attractive goods.’
‘You need not worry about that. We could run this hotel as a partnership so that Abba doesn’t think I have done you any favours.’
‘What about Reeny Madam who you said is your partner? She may have some objection.’
‘You leave that to me. You go select the best showroom. We can get it decorated as you like.’
Ghulam Ahmed was sneaky and he initially feigned lack of interest, but when Ghulam Qadir almost entreated him, he selected a big showroom just near the entrance of the hotel. Then made a call to Abdullah Shah. He broke this news to his father as well as his father-in-law.
Ghulam Qadir was happy on two accounts: he could finally do something for his family, and he was sure that he could have Ghulam Ahmed on his side so that he would not reveal the secret of his marriage with Reeny to anyone.
Reeny came to Goa to spend some weeks with Ghulam Qadir. So he then divulged his big secret to Ghulam Ahmed. But Ghulam Ahmed remembered Zeb’s helplessness and his fervour for becoming a big businessman petered out. He yelled, ‘Ghulam Qadir, what a big sin you have committed!’
Ghulam Qadir told him that the circumstances did not leave him much choice.
‘Does this Reeny Madam know that you already have a wife in Kashmir?’ Ghulam Ahmed asked Qadir, but Qadir again lied that he had told everything about his past to Reeny. Ghulam Ahmed was not convinced but because of his greed for the showroom, he did not stretch the issue.
Reeny was happy that Ghulam Qadir’s elder brother had arrived from Kashmir. She was happier to know that her husband had made his brother agree to start a business within the hotel. She respected him so much it completely overwhelmed Ahmed. She even supervised the decoration of his showroom. But Ghulam Qadir was worried that he might tell her about Zeb. Perturbed, he walked restlessly from one hall of the hotel to the next and strolled in the lawns. Reeny perceived his anxiety. One night, she woke him up and asked him what was bothering him so much and why suddenly he had started to seek excuses to stay away from her. Ghulam Qadir ended up telling her the truth about his wife Zeb back home.
Reeny turned cold as ice. ‘Qadir, what a lightning have you struck me with. Oh God, what treachery! You have wronged not only me but even your first wife. How could you do that, how?’
Qadir fell at her feet and said, ‘I know that I have sinned. I have committed a crime which merits retribution beyond limits. But believe me that I did all this only to save your property. Otherwise—’
‘Otherwise I would have had to beg for a living, isn’t it?’
‘Whatever I did, I did only to repay the new lease of life that you and Daddy gave me. Now I am torn in two halves, and each half bleeds. Please have mercy on me. Before we got married, I tried many times to tell you about Zeb, but I could not muster the courage; I did not want to shatter your dreams. Now I will accept whatever punishment you deem fit for me. I am ready to leave this house right now, and never return to show you my face. I will pass all my shares in the property to you, and prefer to get swallowed up by the same darkness from which you and Daddy once saved me.’
‘You cannot get rid of me so easily. If I ever loved anyone in my life, Qadir, it is only you and you know this well. I have suffered so much in my life that I have no strength to endure any more. I don’t want to steal anybody’s rights. If there is even a little love for me in any recess of your heart, then you go to Kashmir and bring your wife and son along. I will love them like my own. This is the only retribution for your sins.’
Qadir rose, held Reeny to his chest, and started crying.
‘Neither of us will cry any more. You go back to Kashmir, gather all the strewn fragments of your life and return to me.’
‘I cheated you. I—’
‘I am not going to listen to even one more word. I will arrange for your journey to Kashmir tomorrow.’
Having said this, she switched off the lights.
The night was no less painful than doomsday for Ghulam Qadir. From the next day, he started playing hide-and-seek with both Reeny and Ghulam Ahmed. Ghulam Ahmed could see that some kind of dispute was afoot between the husband and wife. They had their breakfast as well as dinner without speaking a word to each other. On the third day when they finished their breakfast, Reeny said to Ghulam Ahmed, ‘I have an important issue to discuss with you. Please come to my office for a while.’
Ghulam Ahmed felt worried hearing those words from her. He wondered if she had changed her mind about allotting the showroom to him. He followed her to her office. Reeny opened the drawers and took out two air tickets. ‘This is your ticket to Srinagar; you will fly back tomorrow.’
Ghulam Ahmed felt his ripe crop was being destroyed by a hailstorm. He looked intently at her face. But when she told him that there was also a return ticket from Srinagar, he found the nerve to ask her, ‘But, why should I go to Srinagar so soon? I still have to settle accounts with a few clients.’
‘You could do that after you return. You are not going alone; Qadir Sahib will go with you.’
‘But—’
Reeny did not let him argue and hastened to tell him why she wanted Qadir to go with him. Ghulam Ahmed was taken aback and he understood why Ghulam Qadir had been so evasive recently. He said, ‘That means Ghulam Qadir never told you that he is already married and with a son.’
Reeny did not want her husband’s name to be tarnished in the eyes of his brother and covered up for him. ‘Yes, he had told me everything about his life. Since our business is running smoothly now, he can bring Zeb and Bilal here.’
Ghulam Ahmed suddenly found himself looking at Reeny with new-found respect. ‘You are really a very generous and progressive human being.’
‘Please go and prepare for the journey.’
All this time Ghulam Qadir had been peeping into Reeny’s office through the curtains. The moment Ghulam Ahmed came out, Reeny called Ghulam Qadir. ‘Qadir, I have given Ahmed Sahib his tickets, and your ticket is with me. I have made him understand everything. Don’t be scared, I did not tell him that you kept me in the dark. His presence will make it easier for you to face your family. The ticket for your onward journey is confirmed but the return ticket is open.’
Having said this, she disconnected the phone, and sat still like a wall. After a while, she heaved a long breath and stood up to go out. ‘God help me,’ she said.
Ghulam Ahmed’s phone call stirred the languid atmosphere in Malla Khaliq’s house. The family started making preparations to receive Ghulam Qadir.
The news revitalized Aziz Dyad who had been reduced to a mere skeleton. She could not stop crying. Malla Khaliq too felt that his old wounds were finally beginning to heal. He sent a message to Parveen and Abdul Razaq. Noor Mohammad was happy to see that his father was again making all the arrangements himself. Noor Mohammad’s wife, though, was
worried about Aziz Dyad. She phoned her son. ‘Nisar Ahmed, when are you coming here? Amma is not able to contain herself, she is constantly shedding tears.’
‘You need not worry; she is just overjoyed. Make her swallow a pill from the strip of yellow tablets. I will be there when I return from duty. Is Abba well?’
‘He is absolutely fine. I wish you could have seen how he changed his phiran and sat on the prow of the boat as if Qadir was arriving today.’
Parveen arrived and the house was filled with more joy. All were happy except Bilal who was going through a sensitive age; he was in the third standard. He had grown so courteous that no child could beat him. He was doing extremely well at the Burn Hall School, always at number one in the junior group – not only in his exams, but also in boating, races and other games.
Festivity was in full swing in the house. Everyone except Bilal was rejoicing. He had taken a fish line and sat near the rear swamps. He had slowly lost all his love for his father. He remembered how he had ill-treated his mother over every small thing. He had been observing all these years how Zeb shed tears endlessly, sitting confined to her room.
Zeb herself did not look happy even when Parveen congratulated her for being the wife of a big hotelier. The wounds inflicted by Qadir were so deep that they could not heal so easily. But when she thought of Bilal’s future, she would start nurturing new hopes.
Reeny spent the remaining days with Ghulam Qadir and Ghulam Ahmed buying gifts for their family. Yet Ghulam Qadir did not dare look at her in the eye or talk to her. But Reeny had finally come to terms with everything and was going about happily with a smile on her face as was her habit. On the day of Ghulam Qadir’s departure for Srinagar, she gave him an envelope containing traveller’s cheques. She sat calmly in a chair in front of him and spoke with perfect equanimity. ‘I have a lot of sympathy for you. I can understand your predicament. But if you speak honestly and convince your family that Reeny is not a bad woman to usurp anybody’s rights, I am sure that you will succeed in bringing Zeb and Bilal here. If this really happens, our life will start afresh. I will keep praying for your success. Now get up and prepare to leave. I have got you cheques for more money than you had asked for. Who knows when you will be in need there?’