by Pran Kishore
Instead of going home, Nisar turned his boat towards his grandfather’s. He found the whole family sitting out in the open under the light of an electric lamp. Malla Khaliq was furious. Nisar surmised that his grandfather had come to know about Ghulam Qadir’s return. He ascended the steps and heard Noor Mohammad explaining his position. ‘Abba, I swear by my son Nisar Ahmed that I was about to tell you everything.’
‘But you did not have the guts to do so. If Ghulam Rasool of Wangnoos had not told me, I would not have known for months together. He had seen that millionaire accompanied by his Mem crossing over to Jabbar’s houseboat. He also saw you going there.’
Noor Mohammad lost his cool and said, ‘Abba, don’t you have faith in me? Have I ever hidden anything from you? All this happened because it was an emergency.’
Malla Khaliq grew angrier. ‘Yes, yes. Everything happened all of a sudden! Qadir arrived in Srinagar and you received the information through a telegram! How about the fact that he is staying in Jabbar’s houseboat? Did you come to know that through—’
‘Abba, let Noor Mohammad finish what he wants to say and then—’ Ghulam Ahmed tried to douse the fire. But Malla Khaliq silenced him, ‘You shut your mouth! I know all of you were in league with that swindler.’
Zeb watched through the window of her room. She could not clearly make out what the issue was, except that Ghulam Qadir was in Srinagar with his new wife and child. She got scared seeing Malla Khaliq yell and went outside. Walking behind the willows, she hastened to the isle.
Doctor Nisar stepped out of the shadows and went up to his grandfather. ‘Abba, the nature of the contingency was such that Daddy could not tell you anything. You ask Narayan Joo.’
‘So he knew as well? Vijay Kumar would have also known then. I alone was in the dark.’
‘Abba, Qadir Uncle is ill, very ill. Having seen his condition, Vijay Kumar had requested his father to let Qadir Uncle come home as it was his last wish. He wants to spend his last days on the lake.’
Zeb’s head began to swim, and she held the trunk of a willow. Bilal was confounded and could not decide what to do. He saw his mother and went and sat beside her. ‘Mummy, Mummy, look at me.’ He held her hand. Her hands were trembling and she began to sweat heavily.
Everyone thronged around Zeb. Malla Khaliq tried to comfort her. ‘My daughter, why are you trembling? I will plead to the Association and get him thrown out of Jabbar’s houseboat. You go in. Mukhta! What are you waiting for? Take her in.’
Bilal and Mukhta took her to her room. Doctor Nisar led Malla Khaliq to the drawing room and said, ‘Abba, Qadir Uncle is not well.’
‘How many more times are you going to tell me that he is not well? What do you want me to do about it? How can I forget what he has done? Don’t you see the condition Zeb is in? No, no. I will certainly have him removed from the Dal tomorrow. The sahib is here to boost his health! Let him stay in some hotel, then. There are so many luxurious hotels here. Have all the hotels been razed that he’s come to stay in a houseboat to worsen our anguish?’ Malla Khaliq continued spewing fire.
But Doctor Nisar, fully aware of his grandfather’s health, did not think it wise to tell him that Ghulam Qadir had cancer. ‘Abba, you need not get agitated. If you force him out of the Dal, people might mock you. There are many tourists staying in the houseboats. Let him stay there as one of them. We must not drag this issue.’
Malla Khaliq’s rage was quelled to some extent. ‘All right, but tell your father that if I come to know that he visited Jabbar’s houseboat again, I will lose one more son at that very moment. Tell him.’ Having said this, he went to his room.
The night fell like doomsday for Malla Khaliq’s family. Malla Khaliq moped in his room. No one could gather the courage to go near him. In the other room, Bilal reproached his mother, ‘What are you weeping for? You know how much he tormented us. Why don’t you say something, Mummy?’
But Zeb neither looked towards him nor did she say anything. This irked Bilal all the more. ‘You just get up. If you still have some attachment with him despite all his cruelty, I will escort you to Jabbar’s houseboat right now.’
Zeb cast a glance at her son and said, ‘God forgives every sinner if he begs for His pardon.’
‘But did he ever come to beg for your pardon? He is here in Kashmir, yet he did not show up. Did he ever phone you all these years to ask after your health? Tell me now, why don’t you?’
Zeb was struck mute again.
‘Please go and get some sleep now. If he had any concern for you in any hidden recess of his heart, he would not have brought that Mem here on whose leftovers he has become a rich man. Now, please get up and go to bed. I have to wake up early in the morning.’
Zeb went to the inner room. Bilal switched the light off and went off to sleep. But Zeb kept waking and praying to God, ‘Oh my Allah, you will lose nothing if you cure his illness. My family has excommunicated him, but please do not cast him away. Oh my God Almighty, cure him.’
Everyone stayed awake in Houseboat Glacier as well. Ghulam in Qadir kept writhing in pain; no painkiller could mitigate his suffering. As a last resort, Doctor Dulloo decided to give him an injection of morphine, but when the nurse moved towards Ghulam Qadir with the injection, he said, ‘How many more needles are you going to pierce through my bones? They have already punched so many holes in me.’
Doctor Dulloo tried to cajole him. ‘Just one more injection and it will let you sleep soundly.’
‘This will not work. My pain will end only when my life ends.’
Doctor Dulloo took the syringe from the nurse and emptied it very carefully into Ghulam Qadir’s skin. At the same time, he said to him, ‘All pains intensify during the night. You will have perfect sleep till morning, I am sure.’
The next day, well before dawn, someone came knocking at Narayan Joo’s gate, and then the bell rang. Malla Khaliq stood there.
‘Where is the Pandit?’
‘Janak! Who is there?’ Narayan Joo asked his servant from his bedroom.
‘Haji Sahib is here.’
A sudden pallor came over Narayan Joo’s face. He came out and greeted Malla Khaliq, ‘As-salaam-alaikum! What brings you here so early?’
‘How craftily you feign ignorance! Swear you know nothing, Look at me. I could never think that you could be so cruel as to destroy all the bonds and promises of our lifelong friendship.’
‘Look here, I am not one to understand these riddles of yours.’
‘Yes, yes! You are just a toddler after all, aren’t you? I was under the delusion that even if the whole world deceived me, I will always have a friend to rely upon, my very own Narayan Joo.’
‘Haji Sahib, tell me openly what you want to say. What blunder have I committed?’
‘Bravo! Who brought Qadir here? Who booked Jabbar’s houseboat for him?’
‘So this is the issue! I thought something very serious had happened. You please sit down. I will tell you everything.’ Narayan Joo narrated the chain of events. But Malla Khaliq strode out of the house saying, ‘Narayan Joo, you have not been fair to me this time.’
Narayan Joo followed him, but Malla Khaliq slammed the gate after him. Sitting in the taxi, he said to the driver, ‘Let’s leave now.’
The taxi left and Narayan Joo stood at his gate, feeling heavy with sorrow. This has never happened even once in the last sixty years, he thought.
In the meantime, Dilip woke up. He opened the window to see who had come so early to meet his grandfather. When he noticed him standing at the gate, he ran down the stairs. He first met Janak Raj, the servant. He told him that Haji Sahib had come in a bad mood and left looking angry. Dilip rushed to his grandfather.
‘It is my misfortune. Haji Sahib had come here to quarrel with me saying we all conspired to bring Ghulam Qadir and Reeny to Kashmir.’
‘But why are you so perturbed? He would have come to know sooner or later. Did you not tell him how seriously ill Qadir Uncle is? You should have also told him that Uncl
e insisted that we should not tell him.’
‘Yes, I told him everything, but that made him angrier.’
‘Did you not tell him that Qadir Uncle has been diagnosed with cancer?’
‘This is the only thing I could not tell him,’ Narayan Joo interrupted him. ‘Yesterday evening I received a call from Noor Mohammad and he also could not muster the courage to tell him that Ghulam Qadir is in the last stage of cancer.’
Having said this, he abruptly got up with the resolve to see Malla Khaliq without delay and tell him the truth about Qadir’s condition.
‘Where are you going?’ Dilip Kumar asked.
‘Gagribal. I will tell Abdul Khaliq everything in detail, and I am sure that when he hears that Qadir has cancer and won’t live too long, his anger will go away. Only then will Qadir die peacefully.’
‘Let me accompany you.’
Doctor Nisar reached Glacier early in the morning. He found Reeny pacing the front lawn. As soon as she saw Doctor Nisar stepping out of the shikaarah, she ran towards him. She said to him, ‘Doctor Sahib, I was waiting for you. I can hardly tell you how we spent the night.’
‘Doctor Dulloo told me everything.’
‘He gave him an injection, but his pain refused to diminish. He was mumbling strange things in Kashmiri in his sleep. He was in immense distress.’
‘Where is Doctor Dulloo?’
‘He has just gone to have a bath. He also spent the whole night wide awake. Come in, please.’
They entered Ghulam Qadir’s room where he lay in bed. After a while Doctor Dulloo joined them. He led Nisar to the adjacent room and showed him the night’s report. ‘Ghulam Qadir kept repeating the whole night: “Hasn’t the boat come here?” He also intermittently asked about his mother and father. Poor Reeny was very stressed. She does not know which boat he is waiting for.’
‘What else can it mean but his family? He is still not ready to give up. But how can he help his unconscious from speaking up?’
‘I think he is slipping away slowly. I think it’s time for you to inform your family and make them come over to him.’
‘That is the problem. You know the condition of Haji Sahib’s health. He has already come to know that Qadir Uncle is here and he is not well. He is still not ready to come here to see him.’
‘But Qadir’s last wish should not remain unfulfilled.’
While they were talking, Ghulam Qadir came to. In a broken voice, he called out to Reeny. Reeny went running to his side. ‘I am here, darling,’ she said to him.
‘Has Vijay Kumar arrived? He had told me that he would come soon after completing his pending work.’
Doctor Nisar said to him, ‘He is trying to come on today’s flight. He called me this morning.’
‘I have very little time left; he should have come by now.’
‘He is coming. Just close your eyes and sleep a little more.’
‘He should come quickly otherwise there won’t be any point in coming.’ Saying this, Qadir closed his eyes.
Doctor Dulloo said to Reeny, ‘Madam, you also get some rest. You have spent the whole night away sitting.’
Doctor Nisar also said, ‘We are here. You go to bed, please.’
Reeny stood up on weak legs that were threatening to give way and went to Sulaiman’s room.
While agony gripped Ghulam Qadir, the news of his illness had caused havoc in Malla Khaliq’s house. Soon after breakfast, Narayan Joo went to Malla Khaliq’s house.
‘Why are you here? Have you come to rub salt over my wounds?’ Malla Khaliq asked him coldly.
Narayan Joo stayed calm. Bilal also joined them. Noor Mohammad tried to pacify his father. ‘Abba, this is Lala Sahib, our own Lala Sahib.’
‘Yes, he is my dear brother, I know. That is why he conspired with all of you.’
‘What conspiracy? Why doesn’t it dawn upon you that Qadir is critically ill? Lala Sahib and his family are more worried about him than we are!’ Noor Mohammad tried to show some sense to his father.
‘He reckons us his enemies now. Don’t stop him. He came to my house early in the morning to quarrel with me.’ Narayan Joo also started losing his calm. ‘Had I not taken his poor health in consideration, I would have given him the details of Ghulam Qadir’s illness.’
Bilal, who stood silently listening to the heated exchange, said to Narayan Joo, ‘Look here, Lala Sahib, we have nothing to do with anybody’s health, especially of someone who has no relations with us. He may come over to Kashmir or go to Ladakh, but before getting involved in his affairs, you should have consulted Abba.’
‘Do you think he would have allowed us to extend any kind of help to Qadir? Why don’t you understand that he will be in this world only for a few more days?’
‘Let that be. How can we help it?’ Bilal was unyielding.
‘Mukhta, Zoon and Mukhtar were all there, standing behind the willows, but no one dared come forward. Sneaking behind the rear prow, Zeb entered houseboat Gulshan. She hid behind a window curtain to hear what they were saying.
When Narayan Joo heard what Bilal said, he shouted, ‘No one but my Mother Sharika can help him! He is suffering from cancer, that too in its last phase? Do you understand? We are trying to fulfil his last wish. Is he not your own? Is he not the dearest son of my sister Azi? If you are not ready to forgive us even then, that is our misfortune. But I will not have the courage to see my sister in the afterlife, after her family refuses a dying man’s last wish.’
Bilal fell silent. Zeb felt like her own life had been sucked out of her. Mukhta, Zoon and Ghulam Ahmed broke down. Narayan Joo’s resolve encouraged Noor Mohammad and he started coaxing his father. ‘Abba he is in the clutches of death. He is about to breathe his last. He is only waiting for you. Now, for God’s sake, forgive him.’
‘Yes. That is why he is staying there in Jabbar’s houseboat to humiliate me. Even in his last moments, he is here to take revenge on all of us and to show off his wealth.’
‘All right, you keep holding on to your ego, but I will go right now to be by his side. Come on, my boy, show me where Glacier, is.’ Having said this, Narayan Joo held Dilip’s hand and walked towards the ghat.
Noor Mohammad followed him, saying, ‘Wait, Lala Sahib, I will also come with you.’
All three sat in the shikaarah which turned towards Kotar Khana.
Mukhta and Zoon started wailing loudly. Bilal tried to comfort them while he looked around for his mother. Mukhtar came near him and said, ‘Who are you looking for? Zeb?’
‘Yes.’
‘I saw her entering Gulshan.’
Bilal dashed to Gulshan. He found Zeb sitting in a chair, resting her head on the edge of the dining table. Bilal placed his hand on her shoulder. Zeb gave a start. He saw a deep pallor on her face; she looked like she had aged many years in minutes. She said, ‘They are saying he is suffering from cancer, and yet no one has any sympathy for him—!’
‘Abba has taught us that we should never be unfaithful to our principles, even if our life is at stake,’ Bilal retorted.
‘But it is your same Abba who always says that if a sinner confesses to his sins and asks for pardon, we should forgive him.’
‘But did he ever come here to beg for pardon?’
‘He did come. Not once but twice.’
‘He came for his own selfish interest. Now tell me if you thought he had come to seek forgiveness, why did you not return with him?’
Zeb stood up and went out of the room. Without looking back, she said to Bilal, ‘Whether he openly asks for forgiveness or not, we must forgive him in his last hours.’
‘You are, as Lala Sahib always says, a Devi. You may forgive him, but I will never forgive him.’ Saying so, he went out to the isle.
In Ghulam Qadir’s bedroom, Narayan Joo and Noor Mohammad sat on either side of the bed. Qadir was feeling a little better since morning. Reeny entered, carrying Ghulam Qadir’s small bag in her hand.
Ghulam Qadir opened the bag and took out two
envelopes from it; he handed one to Narayan Joo, saying, ‘I request you kindly to pass this envelope on to Abba when I am gone.’
Narayan Joo tried to interrupt, but Ghulam Qadir said, ‘No, please don’t say anything. I entrust this letter to you, Noor. Do you know why I feel better today?’
Noor Mohammad had nothing to say. But Ghulam Qadir answered his own question. ‘It is because Lala Sahib came here to see me. You don’t know what he, his son and his grandson have done for me.’
‘Are you not as good as my own son?’ Narayan Joo said.
‘Even if Abba could not come, Lala Sahib came to see me. He has forgiven me.’
The nurse entered to give him his scheduled injection. Ghulam Qadir said to Reeny, ‘Please stop all this now. Please take her away. There is more that I want to tell them. Time is of the essence.’
Reeny took the nurse out with her.
Ghulam Qadir took out the second envelope and handed it over to Noor Mohammad. ‘When I cease to be and Lala Sahib gives the first one to Abba, please give this one to Bilal’s mother. Don’t ask me anything, please. You will find the answers to all your questions in these two envelopes.’ Then he turned to Narayan Joo and said, ‘At what time is Vijay Kumar’s plane to land?’
‘It must have landed by now. In half an hour he shall be here.’
‘It was nice of you to send Sulaiman along with Dilip. They alone must carry our legacy on.’
Malla Khaliq did not come out from his room even to have his food. A Japanese family was expected to arrive that day to stay in Gul and Gulshan. Bilal was worried about his mother and so Ghulam Ahmed took Mukhtar Ahmed with him to the airport to receive the guests.
Bilal went to his grandfather and asked him, ‘Abba, are the Japanese tourists a family of two or three? And will you please come with me to see which room we should keep ready for whom?’
‘How much longer do you want to keep giving trouble to this old man? Go and do whatever you want to.’ Malla Khaliq had become distant. When Bilal did not move, he became furious. ‘Now, what are you waiting for? Just look at the list kept in the office and make the necessary arrangements.’