1. 1. We fall in love.
It must have been the air. It must have been the water... Whatever it was, Kabir was certain that he was falling in love with his wife. The dim lights and the heady fragrances of the pine trees weren't helping either.
"Arey tum toh le bhi nahi ho, Kabeer. She exclaims, adding more relish to this plate. His face breaks into a smile. She was impossibly adorable. Undeniably stubborn and annoying but impossibly adorable. And it isn't for the first time he finds himself resisting the urge to stare at her pretty face from dawn to dusk.
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He is certain he has completely and irrevocably fallen in love with his wife was as she clutched his aching frame to her soft bosom, begging him to give her a talaq, to end his suffering at the hands of Siraj.
And all he could think of as the sticks mercilessly landed on him was that she looked stunning and he could never part from her.
2. 2.We fall in front of pride.
They say you fall out of love just as quickly you fell into love. It's true. And when that happens all the things you once found endearing about your beloved turn obnoxious and tiresome. Zara's once admirable head strong nature was now stubbornness. Her knowledge now seemed show-off.
So, Kabir decides he hates her as she placed her testament against him. So much for all her claims of mohabbat, she couldn't even perform her farz.
See this was the thing with women, they claim that they can balance their professional and personal duties. But look where it landed them? Zara's fight for womens right created a rift in their relationship. Could she not let her haq go, for his mohabbat? Could she not let it go for her farz towards him?
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He finds himself in the dark ditch of despair when Reema runs in, breathless and shivering from fear and cold, "Zara kahin nahi mil rahi!. A cold fear clutches his heart and his breath seizes in his lungs, gruesome scenarios flashing through his mind.
He says he needs to find her out of farz, only because he can't seem to convince himself of love for that woman. He should hate her.
Driving through the narrow streets, eyes wide to catch her glimpse, he wonders if he actually hates her.
3. 3. We fall on our knees
26 days were all that remained. 26 awkward days. It wasn't for the first time that Kabeer found himself wishing the days would be stretched longer and the nights shorter. Because if the days are longer, he could keep his distance from her, hard as it may be. But the nights! Oh, those would be the death of him. How was he meant to restrain himself from running his fingers through her thick luscious curly mess of hair? How was he meant to keep himself from nuzzling his nose in the crook of her swan like neck and just breath in her sweet magnolia scent? The fact that she would let him do all of those things without complain, kills him.
He was the one who uttered the word talaq' but as the days pass by he finds himself questioning his own decision.
He sings her Shayari just to watch her smile. And though relief and mirth run through his heart at the sight of the perfect curve of her lips, his brain weeps for reason as to why he wanted this divorce again.
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Kabeer leaves for an ill-timed business meeting, 10 days before he is to utter the second talaq. And by the time he returns, he would have only 8 days with Zara.
30 days ago, any time away from that woman would be a blessing. Today it feels like a death sentence. He had to watch the spark dim in her eyes as he announced his need to leave. He attempted Shayari again, but Zara just couldn't bring herself to smile. He caught her trying to hide her tears.
The hotel he was meant was stay at was inconveniently far away from his meeting point, so Kabeer made the rational decision of shifting to a small Inn close to the vicinity of the office. The Inn was run by an elderly couple. Polite conversation told him that this was their dream ever since they got married. It took them years, several tears and fights to make this dream come true but in the end the couple was all smiles and said that it was all worth the pain.
It wasn't hard to miss that the couple were Stark opposites of each other. The Mister was slightly uptight in his attitude while the Missus was carefree. The Missus, late in her fifties twirled around in the glittering rain, while her husband gruffly muttered about how she would fall ill and he would worry about her all-night long. The Missus replied with equal and contradicting mirth that she would repay him for his kind concern and care by making him all his favorite food, including Gulab Jamun, despite his borderline sugar. It was endearing to watch.
Kabeer sat down for tea with Mister, while the Missus fried some paneer pakode to set the ambience. The smile that Mister gives to the Missus is blinding as she places a bowl of sweet and sour chutney before him. "35 saal hogaye hai humari shaadi ko, par aaj bhi aisa lagta hai ki bas kal hi toh humne saat phere liye the. The Mister recalls.
"Aapki successful marriage ka secret kya hai?
The old man chuckles, and his eyes twinkle in a way almost as if he knows a secret that Kabeer doesn't. Perhaps he does, Kabeer muses. "Successful marriage ka koi hard definition nahi hai maulvi ji. Log kehte hai ki successful shaadi ka secret compromise hai. Par Janaab, Missus ne mujhe yeh bahot pehle hi seekha diya tha ki successful shaadi ka secret acceptance hai.
Kabeer snickers at his. Yes, acceptance is a part but compromise trumps it.
"Has lo, janaab. Jawan jo ho. Par jab aap 50 saal ke ho jaoge, tab aana mere paas, aur kehna ki meri advice chali ya nahi. The old man smirks and bites into a pakoda.
Sleep evades Kabeer that night. He sits himself against the headboard of the bed and compliments the words of the Inn owner. Had he truly accepted Zara? Her ways and her outlook?
Had she accepted him, he wonders. the answer much to his dismay comes rather quickly. She had. She had accepted him when he had nothing. And she had embraced him when he was on his path of having everything. And though she did try to change his look on certain matters, she also accepted him when he didn't.
In the golden light of fast approaching dawn, Kabeer realizes his folly. He was chauvinistic. It wounded his ego to have his wife garner more recognition than him. And he, Kabeer Ahmed Khan, a maulvi, nursed his bruised ego but going against everything Islam stood for. Tears of shame run down his cheeks at the thought and his heart seizes painfully in his chest. Breathless, he stumbles to the bathroom and begins running his hands under the cool water. Ablution, first body and then soul. Kabeer falls on his knees and prays.
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Kabeer has to remind himself to slow his strides as he climbs the steps home. But the knowledge that Zara was just a few meters away from him, made him jittery again. He needed to see her. He needed to fall on his knees once more and this time apologize to the woman he had wronged.
He stumbled inside and there she stood. Zara, his heart whispered, the sentiment could not be contained and out slipped her names from his lips. It was the barest of whispers, he swears. But she had heard it. She looks up from where she stands.
Time seems to have come to a halt as she smiles, eyes light and sparkling.
Kabeer falls in love before he falls to his knees this time.
Needless to say, the second talaq did not come into play. How could it when the first half of the night was spent with him weeping against her bosom, muttering apologies in gibberish tongues and the second with them performing a languid choreography of euphoria?
Come morning and they fall in love all over again.
THE END.
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