Dear all,
It’s been a while. I haven’t written a story in a while but recently I caught with an almost masterpiece of drama called Diyar-e-Dil and I haven’t been able to get it out of my mind. It’s been awhile since I have been so enthralled by characters that I have to write them. So here we are:
Main characters: Wali Suhaib Khan and Farah Behroz Khan
Setting: This starts right after their Nikah and things go differently this time. What if Farah never returned to Lahore and the ruksati happened immediately?
Legacy of Love
Wali Suhaib Khan
A week back, she had not even heard this name. Now this name was defining her life. She had signed her life away to him. She belonged to him now. She was in his nikah.
It didn’t make any sense. She was barely 18 and funny thing she didn’t even feel 18. Her mama always said she was too immature for her own good. She always told her baba off for pampering her too much and for babying her so badly. To that her baba always said smiling: “ Ek hi toh Beti hai meri. Let her remain my baby”
And today her baba had gotten her married.
She had frozen when they asked her the question and like two contrary voices her mama and papa words started resonated within her mind. Her mama was distraught. She believed that Farah had just signed away her life, that these uneducated unruly people will oppress her and take away her dreams and her independence. Her mind had been blank when she said kabul and the signed the papers.
Tumhe apne baba pe ya keen hai na
Ya keen toh hai baba. Isliye toh dil se nikah ke liye kabul keh diya , Bina Dimag lagai.
Then her mind went on an overdrive. What did she just do? What just happened? How could she be married? She barely felt qualified to cross the road on her own and now she was married. And not only that. She was married to a man she didn’t even know. She took a deep breath and tried to piece together whatever tiny moments she had seen Wali. He had come to pick her and mama up but she had barely paid him any notice. She was wary of the haveli, the worried and anxious face of her mama and the relatives who seemed hell bent on ruining their little perfect world. For 18 years her life had been in a bubble. A wonderfully loving set of parents, a comfortable home and happiness in every corner. And suddenly now there were people intruding in her bubble. And then she saw the haveli- it was an intimidating sight. One that made her nervous. Who were these people?
They seemed like out of a textbook. Backward and uneducated and probably oppressive.
Zahil- as her mother said.
The next she had met Wali in her tour of the haveli. He seemed exactly like her mother said- a landlord and horse rider. How will she adjust with him? She was city born and bred. Her views were progressive. She wanted to be a doctor and her father married her off to an entitled rich landlord who were probably used to be treating women like dirt under their shoes. Everything from their dressing sense to their living style seemed to point that way.
She felt nauseated. How the hell she would live here? How did her baba do this? Why didn’t he care about this?
She wanted to go home and sleep in her bed. She wanted to call her friends and plan for her medical admission. She wanted normalcy. She wanted home. She wanted the parents who never argued. She wanted mama and baba to stop fighting.
She clenched her fist to stifle her sobs.
—-/////————
“How could you do this? You ruined her life!!”
Ruhi could barely speak in her anger.
“Ruhi, Wali is an incredible boy. I did the right thing. I tied my daughter to her family” Behroz said warily “ This is the best place for her”
“ For her? “ Ruhi scoffed “This isn’t about her. This isn’t about me either. This is about you and your guilt. You think you made a mistake leaving this place to marry me”
“ What? No I would never regret that”
“ Oh but you do. You regret leaving your parents. You regret that you couldn’t meet your brother while he was alive. And that guilt is eating you alive and so in order to reduce that guilt you chose to ruin my daughters life. You used as a pawn”
“ Enough!!” Behroz stood up “ I will never use my daughter as a pawn. She is my everything”
“You didn’t give your everything a choice. You forced her to marry a man she barely knew and now she has to live a life that you chose for her in a place she has no ties to”
“ This is her home” he clenched his fists in anger
“ No it’s your home. We have our home, our life in the city and you chose to disrupt everything because you feel guilty” Ruhi cried. She could feel tears clinging to her eyes but she refused to shed them. This was too important!! This was her daughter and her life at stake.
“ I won’t let you play with Farah’s life to ease your guilt. I will take her away. I will annul this marriage. This nikah means nothing. I will take her away. I will not let you ruin her life”
“ You will do no such thing” He advanced upon her. For the first time in her life Ruhi felt afraid of her husband. He had been her constant protector and her shield. She had always been loved and cherished. Now she took a step back away from the stranger wearing her husband’s face “ We will stay here and she will stay married to Wali. I am your husband and you will listen to me”
Ruhi stares at him “ I have been with you 20 years and you have never spoken to me like this. 15 days in your haveli and you have started thinking like a backward man. Like your family. Imagine what a boy whose been brought up in this environment will do to my Farah”
She fixed him with a dead stare “ I will take her away tomorrow morning. I have already called Tajjamul Bhai and he will take us back. Once there I will hire the best lawyer and free my daughter from this nikah. You do whatever you want!! “
With that she left, leaving him red faced and probably too angry to speak.
——////——-
Farah Wali Khan
The name brought a smile to his face. He finally allowed it to form. Today was the day of their nikah and Wali had to stop himself from smiling all day. But now in the safe confines of his room, he allowed it to form.
She was so beautiful, so innocent and so so young. The thought made him frown. He knew she was a few years younger and was 18. But she didn’t look 18 or even talk like a 18 year old. She spoke like a child, thought like a child and yesterday she was crying like that. He thought back to last night and his heart thudded. He was walking home and instructing Gul Khan when he saw her. She was looking down at him from the balcony and the moment their eyes met she looked away. He had walked to her but she had ran away. Was she scared? He shouldn’t blame her. She had just met her father’s family and in 24 hours she was married to him. It was a crazy burden to bear.
For him there was no burden. He had always known that she will be his bride. He had been 14 when baba jaan had told him about her and said “ Farah banegi Wali ki dulhan”
He was a boy then, but he had instantly accepted that. He was about to ask out a classmate that week but he stopped himself. It was predestined. He was to be hers. Farah was to be his. And that’s that. And the thought had cemented in his mind so when bade baba asked him, he answered without any hesitation that yes he would happily marry Farah. He knew his baba jaan was smiling happily in heaven as his greatest wish has come true. Wali truly wished that babajaan was here to see this. To see that yes- his brother had returned home and that his beloved Farah was now his daughter in law.
He sat up as he knew he wouldn’t be able to sleep. He would go take a walk. He stepped out in the lawn, enjoying the fresh air that hit his face. The weather was serene and slightly cold. He pushed his hands in his pants pockets and walked forward.
A small thud stopped him. He looked around looking for the source of the sound and his eyes fell on her. She was sitting on the veranda overlooking the lawn.
His bride, his Farah.
He stopped walking. Hell, he stopped breathing.
She was sitting with her knees folded and her hands knotted in front of her chin. Her beautiful long hair was spread across her shoulders. The headband was curiously missing. Her eyes were misty and she seem lost in thought.
She looked so innocent- so beautifully innocent . Like a sweet innocent soul untouched by the materialistic cruel world. She looked beautiful. His heart started racing and he just couldn’t look away.
And like something was calling out to her, she seemed to break free of whatever trance she was under and looked at him straight. The effect was immediate. She jumped up and he could see her flush. Her entire face turned bright red and with one last look she fled. ————///—————-
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