FF: Zara ki kashmakash- chapter 8 last part updated 12/6

Hi all,I'm so mad at Kabeer and his opinions right now that I am coming up with my own version of how I want to see this story go forward. I would really like to see a new male lead who will shake Kabeer up from his ridiculous ideologies, if the CVs are really snooping in this forum and would think of introducing another male lead, then please consider Sidharth Shukla for this role, I so liked him as collector sahib in Balika Vadhu and for some reason I think he will fit into this role perfectly! wishful thinking but who knows!

"Aadab, I'm Naeem Khan and I'm the son of Asif Khan, my father has been unwell for quite sometime now and is not able to do justice to his duties as a board member and as such has asked me to step in and take over his responsibilities, here is his written request to transfer his membership to my name." Naeem looked around at the unfamiliar faces who were gauging him, most of them were quite elderly just like his father, which was one of the reasons he felt the board needed some young blood and modern views, he had read thru the minutes of the board meetings and come to the conclusion that the board was losing its significance and there was not much
improvement in the conditions of the people of his City, Naeem knew what he had to do, just as he was about to continue with more information on himself, he heard the argumentative voices of a couple walking in through the door, "But Kabeer, Amaan needs
a proper education along with the religious school. In today's world, if he has to stand on his own and be successful in every walk of life, a good education is a must!" he heard the lady plead."Zara, could you please stop, I have made my decision and that is final, if a Madrassa was good enough for your husband then it will be good enough for Amaan too, and that is final, baat Khatam!" said the young man in a stern voice, Naeem noticed how the beautiful
face of the lady fell as he uttered those words, what a pompous ass Naeem thought to himself, if this was how the younger generation was going to direct the people of his Kaum, Allah help us, he thought! As Kabeer and Zara made their way to their chairs,Naeem continued, "you must be Kabeer Ahmed, the new deputy Kazi and this must be the one and only, the much talked about, the harbinger of change, Zara Ahmed! It's my pleasure to meet you Zaraji." Naeem offered his
hand to Kabeer, but he couldn't get his eyes off of Zara, Kabeer did not look too happy hearing Naeem's words of praise for his wife and asked in a quiet voice "and you are...?"
"I am Naeem Khan, Asif sahib's son, I am just back from the US. As I was informing the board members, my father is not in a condition to continue his work with the Sharia Board, and has asked me to take over his position."
"And what may I ask are your qualifications that would make you worthy of joining the board, we make some important decisions here that affect all the people in our kaum, and everyone here is capable enough to be holding a chair in this esteemed organization." Naeem did not like this interrogation from Kabeer, ignoring the sarcasm in Kabeers voice he answered, " I am a graduate from Harvard, I am in IT and have my own businesses around the world, now that I have established a good system in place and can confidently delegate my work to my deputies, I have decided to devote some time towards the betterment of my people and development of this city, the place of my birth and where I grew up as a young boy. I want to contribute my time and experience towards brightening the future of our younger generation. I want them to excel in every field of life, along with that I also want them to spread the goodness
of our religion, the preaching's of which, will make them virtuous, just and humane and to achieve that I feel our children have to be competitive enough to beat the others in education and behavior!" Kazi Sahab and Zara were all ears to what Naeem was saying as Zara felt he was echoing her exact thoughts, and if only Kabeer could understand this, life would have been a bed of roses for them, and the opportunities and avenues would have been unlimited for the people of their kaum. Kabeer could see that Zara was clearly impressed by Naeems talk, which did not go down very well with him."And how do you propose we do that?" asked Kabeer. "I have a plan, if you all are willing to listen to what I have to say then I would gladly place my views and experiences in front of you." He looked expectantly at the members of the board and they all looked at each other with skepticism, Kabeer glared at Zara and she looked back at him pleading with her huge dove eyes to give this man a chance to speak. "We have some other important matters to resolve today, how about you come back tomorrow with whatever plan you have and maybe we will discuss with the other members if your plan is worth considering, in the meanwhile we will also vote on your admittance into the board." Saying this Kabeer dismissed Naeem and got back to chairing the meeting to discuss the hot topic of the day which was how he had set an example in the kaum by enrolling Amaan in the Madarasa. As Kabeer was bragging about his achievements to the rest of the board, Naeem turned his attention towards Kabeers lovely wife Zara, she was quite a mystery to him, calm and composed, the pictures in the newspapers did not do justice to her beauty, Kabeer was one lucky man to get this beautiful lady as his wife! Not only was she a stunning beauty but she also had an intelligent mind inside that pretty head, the admiring looks that Naeem threw at Zara did not go unnoticed by Kabeer, which caused a pang of jealousy
to tug at his heart. Zara seemed unfazed by all the attention she was being showered by this man and continued listening to Kabeers rantings, her mind was restless and she wanted to badly dig some sense into her stubborn husbands head, she knew he would come around, he always did,
but it always took her a while to make him see things her way and most of the times it came at a cost, a cost of almost losing their relationship before he realized that what she said was right, she was afraid that there would come a time when it would be
too late, that his stringent outlook and unrelenting attitude could spell their doom someday. She loved him with all her heart but did not know how to change his views for the betterment of the youth. She sighed, pondering over what her future held and turned her gaze away from Kabeer towards the others in the room, in time to catch Naeem staring at her. His gaze unnerved
her, she shifted in her seat uneasily and looked away. This little exchange between his wife and the new member did not escape Kabeer, who cleared his throat to distract Naeem.

Please do leave a line if you like what you read!Edited by ananhita - 5 years ago

This is a wonderful plot!

Loving this... we honestly do need another lead to make Kabeer jealous..

Originally posted by: neverlandspirit

This is a wonderful plot!

I love where this story is going!

You have piqued my interest. Eagerly looking forward to more.

Thank you

😃

Thank you for your kind words, hope I am able to do justice to this!

Originally posted by: annjose1998

Loving this... we honestly do need another lead to make Kabeer jealous..

Yes I do think it's high time they introduced a positive male lead, heck I feel even Miraaj had more sense than Kabeer. kabeer is outright childish in his attitude to everything, I feel even a Amaan would make better decisions than kabeer!

Interesting plot,  there needs to be positive male who has the same thought process has Zara and someone who can make rational decisions without getting into an argument every single time. 

Wow! This one was such an interesting concept  👏 Edited by Raglak_akshan - 5 years ago

Wonderful please continue. Now it's time for parallel lead for Zara hope makers bring in

Chapter 2 Introspection

As they filtered out of the room, Zara, who was in a deep discussion with Kazi Sahab, did not notice the gentleman making his way towards her until he came and stood right in front of her blocking her path, she stopped in time, before she crashed into his tall and well built figure, "do you always sneak in on unsuspecting people?" she asked with a slight smile on her face. "not usually, but if that someone is as attractive in her looks and thoughts as you are, then yes, anything to gain her attention". Naeem countered. Zara was not expecting his witty response, and turned away blushing, she had not been complimented lately, and for once she was at a loss of words. Kabeer who was following Naeem with his eyes while answering the questions from the media, quickly excused himself to the press and made his way to his wife and Naeem.
"I was just telling your wife, how lucky you are to have her as your partner, I wish I had met her before she got married, you would have had to put up a tough fight to get her. BTW, thank you for letting me into your esteemed circle, I am grateful that the members unanimously agreed to let me be a part of the board, I hope I can add some value to the board and what it stands for." He offered.
"I shall take your leave now, see you tomorrow and I'll come prepared with my presentation."

Once home, Zara got busy with the kitchen and did not get a chance to talk to Kabeer who was busy playing cards with Amaan and Ruksaar. Ruksaar was unusually quiet today, Zara did not know quite what to make of Ruksaar, her childlike behavior often contradicted the shrewd looks that Zara had caught, several times, directed towards her. Could she be faking this amnesia, god knew, Ruksaar was the devil incarnate and would go to any lengths to get a hold of Kabeer. It was so difficult to figure her out, only time would tell, she had faith in Allah, he had tided her through her worst and would not desert her ever, such was Zara's belief in her God and her husband. If Ruksaar was faking her illness, then she would slip someday and everyone would find out, right now another issue was bothering her- Naeem. She did not know what to make of him, he was extremely charming, intelligent and had the looks of a model. What a combination, such men were rare, she knew she had a gem in her husband too, if it weren't for his stubborn views, Kabeer would have been perfect in every way, but that's life, who said everything had to be perfect, a little imperfection just added some zing in life. Now, she had to find a way to make Kabeer see why regular school was good for Amaan and not just the madrassa. She quickly cooked Kabeers favorite food, she knew the way to kabeers heart was through his stomach, putting everything on a tray she headed into her room, she was a little taken aback with the sight that greeted her, not to mention a little uncomfortable too, Ruksaar was leaning over kabeer trying to see his cards and her dupatta had slipped displaying some cleavage, although Kabeers focus was on his cards, Zara was not too happy with this and quickly pulled Ruksaar off of Kabeer, straightening her dupatta and asking her to go to her room. "Really kabeer, is this how you play with Ruksaar?" Kabeer was not sure what Zara was upset about now, he shrugged "what are you even talking about?" " like you did not notice?", Zara said angrily, "For Allahs sake, what is it?" Kabeer sighed, "kabeer, I know Ruksar may behave like a child and that's how you see her but she is a grown woman too, you know, she may not understand, but you need to be careful how she behaves around you", " could you stop talking in riddles and get to the point" Kabeer said impatiently. "Ruksaars dupatta was not in place and she was exposing herself quite a bit, you know, you need to be more aware of these things and correct her." A smirk appeared on Kabeers face and he was behind Zara enveloping her in his arms and burrowing his head in the nape of her neck, "Jealous are we, but if it makes you happy, the only dupatta that I am interested in pulling off, belongs to a particular person by the name of Zara Kabeer Ahmed" so saying he whisked off her dupatta, turned her around and started to nuzzle her neck, which had its own reactions, Kabeer knew he was wrecking havoc inside her and her hands went around his neck pulling him deeper into her bossom, his scent intoxicated her and before they knew it, they were on the bed, hugging and smothering each other with passionate kisses, the stress of deciding on Amaans education had taken its toll on their marital life and Zara hated it when their differences affected their love life. Spent, she lay on him, her desires satiated, atleast for the moment, "why do we do this to each other, Zara, we can't live without each other but yet we fight like cats and dogs, this needs to stop or else I'll go insane. I love you zara, I love the moments that I spend with you and cherish it, why can't you just let me take care of other issues and you just watch the house and focus on starting a family." he said softly kissing the side of her lips. Zara turned her head looking at him, "would that make you really happy Kabeer, to let me just have babies and cook and clean? Then what about my education, what about my opinions, why do we even educate women if all we expect them to do is cook and clean and reproduce? Why bother? If we were to ever have a daughter, is that what you would expect of her? To be submissive and give in to everything, whether right or wrong? What if Alina got married to someone who asked her to just give up her medical degree and stay at home? Do you think it is fair, in all honesty Kabeer, tell me is it fair?" "Women are equal to men in every aspect, it's sad that you see otherwise" so saying she turned her back towards him knowing this would be another sleepless night for her.
Kabeer looked at her back and moved his hand towards her, trying to reach out to her but held himself back, his ego wouldn't let him accept his mistake, after all hadn't he always been taught that men were right and did not give in, it was the woman's job to look after the family, why did Zara have to be different, why could she not be like his Ammi and Zeenat Bhabhi, why did she aspire to do things which clearly according to the learned people in his religion, the men had to handle? Why? Why? Why did Zara have to be so head strong and a feminist? Deep down he knew she had the right intentions and she was a very capable person, more capable than him at times, but why could he not accept that fact and respect her opinions, it was not that he hadn't tried to adjust, after all he did let her continue to be a part of the sharia board, that was a big adjustment for him, letting his wife work, he needed some time and he would be more accommodating and understanding, he promised himself and Zara, but right now the only person on his mind was Naeem, seemed like a good chap, broad minded, passion to do something for the people of his Kaum, modern ideas, a little too modern for his liking though and extremely handsome, Kabeer Sahab, do I sense some jealousy, his inner voice questioned. "why would I be jealous and of what, Zara is my wife, she is mine and I love her with all my heart, we may have some disagreements but that doesn't mean someone else can steal her from me, that's never happening, be it Naeem with his forward thinking ideas or Miraaj, no one is taking my Zara away from me!" he shut his inner voice. But sleep eluded him, try as he may, this would be another sleepless night for both of them!

Thank you for your appreciation!Edited by ananhita - 5 years ago

Chapter 3 - It's a new day!

There was something about the morning sunshine, the rays filtering into the room spelled a new beginning, it was God's way of reminding us that after darkness there is always light, as Zara slowly opened her eyes to the steady heart beat pounding under her ears, she realized that try as they may, they couldn't control their subconscious minds and invariably ended up in each other's arms. Kabeer opened his eyes to stare directly into the love filled eyes of his beloved. He pulled her close and kissed her on her head, the arguments from the previous night forgotten, "let's start afresh Zara, let's try to get angry at each other not more than twice today, we can work on it and who knows some day we may not be angry at each other at all." So saying, he pulled her close and planted a wet kiss on her gaping mouth, "eeewww, your breath stinks, how many times have I asked you to brush your teeth before going to bed". She pushed him away and jumped out of bed and ran into the bathroom. Kabeer did not feel like waking up yet, he knew it was going to be a long day and Amaans issue was not yet resolved. "wake up and brush your teeth Kabeer, we have to say our prayers and get ready", yelled Zara from the bathroom, reluctantly, kabeer got up and just as he was going to knock on the door, Zara stepped out, fresh out of the shower, smelling like a rose, he breathed in her scent and sighed, thinking to himself, " why can't we just be like ordinary couples, enjoying each other and not having to make any tough decisions."

They both got dressed and headed towards the Sharia board, ready to listen to what Naeem had to say. Naeem saw the couple walk in together, no arguments today, just a smile on their face, looked like everything was resolved, he felt a tad bit disappointed seeing their happy faces. What was he hoping for, for God's sake, she was married and from the looks of it madly in love with her husband."As I was saying yesterday, I have a proposal to put forth. We all know that the kids are not interested in learning much about our religion and are distracted by all the external influences, it is important that as we progress, our children keep up with the technology but equally important is the fact that they not forget their values and culture. I propose that we start a school which not only teaches the values of our holy book but also gives them the education to keep up with the times, all in one place, this way we can monitor that religious knowledge is imparted correctly to all and so is vocational knowledge, another important issue I would like to raise is education of women. We have very few women in our community who are tech savvy and can hold their own among men. I want to educate our women so that they are in a position to support themselves if something bad befalls them. So our school should give equal opportunity to both men and women. When our women are educated, only then will our Kaum progress!" He ended his speech. The members were all ears and a few broad minded members along with Zara and her abba gave a thunderous applause to Naeem. Zara was stunned by the speech, for once she could hear someone echo her own thoughts, why had they not come up with this idea before, building a school which imparted both religious and vocational knowledge. This would prepare our kids to face every challenge in life. "Brilliant" she screamed and at the same moment Kabeer said " impractical" they both looked at each other waiting to elaborate, for once he put his ego aside and said, "you go first", Zara acknowledged, "thank you, I really like your proposal Naeemji, in fact that was exactly what I was thinking and was hoping the board would agree on, it is imperative that our women take care of themselves and become independent, so that they cannot be abused by anyone and at the same time it is important that our children walk the path of God and virtue!"Kabeers face drew a blank, Zara could not read his face and that was a sign that he was not too happy about something. "Ho Gaya ?" He whispered softly enough so that only she could hear, but Naeem who was right behind, heard it too. Naeem was surprised at the harshness of those two words, what did he mean by that, did her thoughts mean nothing to him? How could he dismiss her like that? And then, Kabeer came up and started to speak, "Naeem Sahab, although you have very noble intentions, these may not necessarily be very practical, I believe that God has created both men and women with a specific purpose which is why they are not physically at par, men were designed to take charge and look after the kaum and the fairer sex, and the prime duty of our women is to bear and raise children and look after the family, as such I don't see why they need to be highly educated. Basic education is more than enough for them. I agree that they need religious knowledge so that they understand and abide by the teachings of the holy book, but beyond that I don't see any need to educate them. A woman's place is to support her husband and family." He finished, the conservatives cheered for Kabeer loudly.
"Besides, where are we going to get the funds for such a school? We already have a small campus and we can modify the syllabus a bit to include some vocational courses but as there are fewer seats, the girls will have to sacrifice and can only get the seats once the boys have filled them out." He added.
"This is exactly where I come in Kabeerji, I have investors who will invest in this noble cause and I myself will invest in this school, I believe in equality and feel we cannot differentiate between men and women, everyone should get an equal opportunity to educate themselves. All I need is for the board to vote on this and let me take care of everything else, I would also need the support of some strong and motivated members to help me carry out this mission."
" I'll gladly help" Zara ventured, which made Kabeer wince, why does she do that, he thought to himself, she knows I don't like her working then why does she always go against me? He gave her a stern look and Zara looked away.
The board voted, it was a close finish but Naeems arguments had convinced some members to change their mind and he won by a very narrow margin.
" ok then, it's final, we will work on building this new school and making our future generations capable of taking on difficult challenges and Zara you will assist me with the wing for the girls".
This time when Naeem saw Kabeer and Zara together, he could feel the tension, and the smiles had faded from their faces, it looked like they were at war again!


Edited by ananhita - 5 years ago