Old Differences

Suddenly, I heard a boom in a library. I turned my head to see what happened, and a few people also turned to see where the voice came from. It was just the voice of the book dropping on the floor because of the deep silence in the library that seemed like a boom. She got quite nervous because of the stares of the people. She picked up the book and put it back in its place. I was turning the pages of the book which I held in my hand, standing in front of a book rack, trying to find my book which I wanted to read. I picked up my eyelids, firstly just a little gazed at her, then I stared foolishly at her. My mouth was open unconsciously, I don't know why I gave this reaction at that moment. She noticed me, glanced at me, and I rapidly came back to my old position, turning pages quickly. Some moments passed silently then I heard footsteps without picking up my head from the book. I was feeling ashamed, because of doing a bad act some moments before. I didn't know whether she noticed me or not but I was feeling embarrassed. So when the sounds of footsteps came close to me, I raised my head, and she was standing near me. She said Aslam-u-alaikum and asked, "If you don't mind, can I see this book you're grasping now?" I got a little nervous. I didn't understand for a couple of seconds. I said, "This book! Sure, why not?" I gave the book to her. She read and still turned the pages for a while then spoke, 

" Are you getting this today"? 

 "No...! I was throwing a single eye on this, I need another book today. If you want you can get this."  I replied.

"Are you sure, aren't you leaving this today for me?"

 

No..No! I want to get another book today, even though I don't know the title of this book." 

I told a lie to her I have read the title already and liked it, that's why I started to read a few pages. It was Enid Blyton's series. I was fond of Enid Blyton's novel series in my childhood. I used to read it very fondly, and now, when I see it in the library, I recollect my childhood, so I picked it up from the rack. I had intended to I'll take it home and read it, but I was surprised to see that girl also wanted this book, though she didn't seem to be fond of this type of children's adventure series. I asked her, "Are you like this"? 

"Yes, I read this a lot in my childhood, that's why I recognised it from a distance. Now I'm thinking about taking it home to recall my memories." When she became silent, I smiled and told her the truth that I still wanted to take it home today. However, I said you would take it today next time I would.

"By the way, it didn't seem you would be fond of this type of book, I mean girls like you, mostly like love or emotional romantic stories," I asked.

"Yeah, you are right, mostly girls prefer other kinds of stories, but I prefer this, and you shouldn't forget that in this novel there are girls and boys, both characters who go on an adventure."

"Yes, that is true. Boys and girls are equal characters in this series." I agreed with her.

"Boys and girls are equal not just in this novel but in reality too." She replied and I agreed again. Then we exchanged our farewell words and walked our way. I didn't take any book because I had to meet my friend and was very late, so I quickly came out of the library. 

After a few days, I met with her again in the library. She told me that she has returned the book already so you can take it now. We stayed for a while there, then we came out. I offered her a coffee or tea which she accepted. We went to the tea house, which was situated in front of the library on the other side of the road. The cafe was not so huge but elegant. I asked her after giving the order, "So tell me, Ms.Natasha,"! ( yeah, her name was Natasha). "What do you do?"  

"I'm an interior designer." She chuckled. I was kidding a little I'm doing architecture engineering, and I have two semesters left. I intend to do interior designing after the final semester so I used to tell everyone that I'm an interior designer." 

"Good. It's interesting." 

"Well, what do you do?" She asked me.

"I do nothing."

"But you would be doing something"?

"Yes, I do."

"What"

"I see dreams."

"Which type of dreams?"

"Daydreams"

"You mean to say that you're a daydreamer?"

"Yeah....! I don't like jobs."

"Hmm! So you wanna do some kind of business?"

"No, never."

"So what do you want to do?"

"I think work is a very useless thing." 

She grinned. 

"You wouldn't believe it, too, in my philosophy, like my family. But I think I'm not born for work."

"So you are born for what?"

"Just for fun."

She giggled. "When your family kicks you out of the house, then you'll realise."

"You are saying the same thing as my family, they also used to give me warnings every time, especially my dad. But what man is he who would be nervous?"

"Well done, great saying." She giggled. "So stop this nonsense and tell me seriously what do you do?" 

"Okay. Now listen, you're talking with a future doctor."

"Oh, this means you are doing MBBS now?"

"No, I have done. Now I'm looking for a job in a hospital."

"Wao. You would even find a job, at least, Doctor Furqan. She smiled mischievously.

"Yeah, hope so."

Tea had come, and she began to take sips of the hot tea. "How can you take it? It is so warm!" I asked.

She sipped and spoke, "I got this habit from my mother. She used to take very warm tea, so this habit came to me too.

 

After taking tea, we stood up and came out of the tea house. The afternoon sun was giving a message of its going with its flaring golden glare everywhere. 

"We should go now, twilight is appearing." She said.

We promised to meet next time, then she stopped the taxi and went. I also headed on my way. My home was not very far so I didn't stop the cab.

I arrived home. My little sibling, Rehan, was standing with his cousin, Saqlain, at the gate. "Why are you both standing at the gate?" I scolded them slightly.

"Because dad ordered us to stand here." 

"Oh, so you again do any kind of misdeed today, that's why you are punished by dad."

They both grinned. " We didn't do any kind of mischief bro. We are standing for you." Rehan revealed.

"For me? What rubbish are you saying?" I scolded them a little again.

"Dad said to you to go to Uncle Ihtesham's office to take some documents." The colour of my face has faded. Saqlain kept continuing his talk, "But you didn't go there, uncle Ihtesham phoned your dad, and now he is extremely angry with you."

I almost keeled over. "Okay, right I'll talk to dad, go now," I ordered them, but inside me, I was scared. Well, I entered the house, and dad was in the hall and he watched me from there. I crossed the courtyard and entered the hall. Dad shouted, "Where are you coming from?". 

" huh...I...I went to the library." I stammered.

 "What work did I give you?

 

"Sorry, I forgot it," I replied with hesitation.

"Don't you feel ashamed? When will you grow? When will you take responsibility and become serious in your life?" He asked many rhetorical questions.

"Sorry Dad, next time I'll take it seriously". I tried to escape, and I succeeded. Rehan and Saqlain were both closed and listening to our talks. They were chuckling. I stared at them with outrage.

In the dusk, I called Natasha. She told me she already knew that you would call me.

 "How would you know?" I asked her. 

"I have known you."

"Oh, you have known me in just one meeting, so quickly."

"Yes, of course."

"Interesting. Well, what other things are interesting about you?"

"A lot of things. You would know gradually."

"Alright."

Well, tell me how many members are in your family?" She asked me.

" We're six.  My father, my mother, my two little siblings, my sister, my brother, and my grandmother.

Then I asked about her family, and she told me she has five members. One little sister, one little brother, and mom and dad.

We had been talking for hours, and I don't know when I fell asleep. My eyes opened in the morning when it was 11. My phone lay beside me, I grasped it in my hand and checked that there were two messages from her. First was the morning greeting and in the second message, she wrote, " So doctor, you got up finally, I have found your first bad habit, of getting up late "

 

I smiled and replied, "You would know my bad habits gradually." I waited for a while, when she didn't reply, I got down from my bed, took a shower, and came out into the hall. All my family members were sitting there except my dad. He had gone to the office. Though I was free those days, I was at home, but my siblings were also at home because it was Sunday. After breakfast, my little brother Rehan and our cousin Saqlain, who is our aunt's son, live in another city. Nowadays, he came here to enjoy his winter vacation because his school was off early whenever other schools weren't off We made a plan to play cricket. We thrice began to play cricket in our yard. We had been playing for two or three hours. We stopped when Ami(mom) shouted from inside the kitchen. She had some work, so she sent both little boys somewhere, and I came into my room. I saw Natasha's message, and we had been talking for a while. In the evening I went to my friend Arslan. He is my classmate. In those days, he was also free and finding a job. I picked him from his house, sat him behind me on my bike, and went to our favourite spot where we sat almost daily. It was a tight and narrow plot with beautiful green grass. Very few people existed there at this time. Road traffic was visible from inside the park. We used to sit almost daily. There was also a little canteen in the park from where we could buy stale buns, sticky biscuits, and tea. The tea was good, so we just had tea.

 

 "She is nice, dude," I told him about Natasha. 

"But where did you meet her?" He asked me again, which I had told him already,  it was Arslan's habit when we had told him the whole story, he would ask about the starting point.

"I told you, dude, we met in a library." 

"Oh, yes, yes, sorry I forgot." 

"You forget ever."

We had been sitting there for a long time. After that, I dropped him at his house and came to my home. During dinner, Dad asked me about my job. I said, " I have applied in numerous places, hope they will call me."  

 

"Okay, you would meet Mr.Farooqi, he is my friend, he was telling his cousin's brother has his own hospital, in… in which area?… Oh, sorry, I forgot. Well, I'll tell you tomorrow. You would meet him, maybe he would adjust you there." Then he began to tell me the characteristics of Mr.Farooqi. He used all the adjectives for Mr. Farooqi to define how much he could. He had been praising him as much as possible, you don't know he was a kind man, one of my best friends, he is very loving, he would take care of you properly, and many more. But I wanted to tell him that where he is sending me is not Mr.Farooqi's hospital, he would not be there with me to look after me, and I am not a child that he is describing his right, wrong characteristics. But I didn't say anything and just finished saying, "Okay, I'll meet him." 

 

After dinner, Rehan and Saqlain made a plan to play cards. I glanced at the wall clock, it was just nine. So I decided to play with them. We were playing with much revelry, giggling a lot, and cheating a little. Dad, Mom, and little sister sat near us. Dad was busy on the laptop doing his work. Sometimes he gazed at us, smiled a little, and got busy again at work. But mom and little sister were taking a full part in the way of laughing and passing comments at us. My grandmother was in her room because she was a little ill, so she fell asleep soon. The clock struck ten, I peeked at my mobile, and there were Natasha's messages. I left the game, saying, "I felt sleepy, I'm going to bed." I came into my room and talked with her. We decided a plan to meet tomorrow at the same place. I Don't know when I was going to sleep. My eyes opened when the sunlight crossed the window mirror, peeked into the room from where the curtain folded and kissed my face. I examined my cell for a while, sent her morning greetings, stood up, took a shower, and left the room. Children had gone to school, just my little cousin, my mother, and my grandmother were there. I called Mom for breakfast, who was in the kitchen and sitting near my grandmother. She said, "Why are you waking up late daily? See the time, it is eleven." 

"Because my dear granny, I slept late at night." I expressed my excuse.

"So, why would you sleep late daily? You should go to bed early so that you can get up soon."

"It's very difficult by the way, but I'll consider your advice and hope one day I will fulfil your wishes," I said mischievously. 

She grinned, "That day would never come"

"Will come granny, will come, a man should keep the belief in man, especially old women should keep belief in the young man."

She giggled. My breakfast had come so I took my morning meal and came to my room, picked up a book of detective novels by Agatha Christie, and went out to the lawn. Sweat sparkling sunlight of winter spread around. Green grass glowing with the shining sunlight. I sat on the grass. I had been reading with enthusiasm, then my mom called me through the kitchen window, "Your dad said to me before going to office that I would remember you, you should meet Mr.Farooqi today." 

 

"Okay, Ami I'll meet."

In the afternoon, I got ready and went out to meet Natasha at the same tea house in front of the library where I had met before. When I kicked my bike, it refused to start. I tried a lot to start him, but he didn't, so I left him at home and hired a cab. I arrived late from the given time, but fortunately, she didn't come yet. Coincidentally, I found the same seat where we sat before. After a couple of minutes of waiting she came. She wore a black dress, long earrings hanging like a pendulum around her ears. "You're looking gorgeous". I praised her which she received by saying thanks. We had been sitting there for a long time, discussing our future plans, talking about our past, and cracking some jokes. I was telling her, "In my childhood, I was very mischievous, that's why I got a lot of beatings from my teachers. Our math teacher was very strict everyone felt fear of him, he used to come on an old bike daily. He used to pass in a narrow street which was a few far from my house. When he was passing in a hard winter fogy morning, I with my friend threw very cold water on him. He was completely wet, shivering with cold. We had covered our faces with our mufflers so he didn't identify us. Before he caught us we ran as fast as we could." She giggled loudly. "It's amazing but a little bad." She said.

"But next part you didn't listen yet which is so terrible."

"What's that"?

"The whole day we were very happy. I didn't tell anyone, but I don't know how he comprehended. In the evening he reached in our house and told my father about that. My dad asked me strictly yet I didn't say anything. But when my teacher said confidently that he is known to all about you and your friend; He spoke my friend's name and recited every part of the incident which exatly happened then I accepted. After that, I was punished a lot and beaten by my dad. The School Principal was going to expel us but finally, they didn't, after taking the guarantee from our parents that we wouldn't do it again like that.

 "Oh, so sad. But I think it was good." She smiled. 

The sun was almost going to die in front of us. He was taking his last breath. Near the sun, the sky had become pink. Some flocks of birds jogged towards their nests. 

"Well,  how do bird realize that evening time is near?" I said, pointing my finger above in the sky.

She gazed at them. "I think there is an  antenna fitted on them which signals to them about the evening." I chuckled. She spoke again. "I don't know about birds, birds but I figured we 

 

"Just five minutes. I like this scene a lot." 

 

"I like it too. Well, would I compliment you?"

 

"Yes, why not, I need a lot of this because no one complimented me till today, especially a beautiful girl."

 

She smiled.

 

"Right, so listen, you know you're clear like this scene."

 

"Huh, would you please elaboron ate it?" 

 

"You look as clear and transparent as this scene." 

 

"Is this an elaboration?"

 

"No, but I think it's enough."

 

"Okay, okay. I'm thankful to you, you gave a lot of happiness to that boy by giving him a compliment who found himself in a sea of sorrows and…and…"

 

She laughed aloud. "Stop your nonsense. Let's go now." 

 

After paying the bill we left the tea house. There were no taxis ar,ound so we began to wait to stond at the footpath. "If the tdidould not ,come then what would you do?" I asked this silly question deliberately without any reason. 

 

"If the tdoesould not ,come then I'll go on foot." 

 

"But your house is far, how can you gofootfeet?"

 

"God is giving me strong legs."

 

Then a cab arrived, she sat and went. I waited for a while for the next, cab but when it didn't ,come I headed on foot. When I reached ,home the sun had completely disappe,ared itdwasn'tddark yet nowhaven'tdenterednter the hoyet now. My cell rang. It was Arslan, my friend. "I can't come, dude, my bike has been out of order...you're coming… Right, coI'lle, I wait here outside." 

When I told him that I can't come due to a bike pro,bhen he saishould d I come here and pick up you. I began to walk slowly towards the direction fwhichhere he was coming. Almter ten min laterutes, he reached here. We headed to the same spot where we sat almost daily. 

 

Park's lights had been lit and up, because of this, tree leaves and green grass were gleaming. Though people's arrival had started yet there were also very few people in the park right now. "So, you met her again today?" Arslan, who was listening to me for a long time, asked, according to his habit, about the beginning. "Yeah, I met her again."

 

 "Good, very good, interesting."

 

After this, our topic turned to our job. He told me he got to know another place where we can apply, so tomorrow, we'll go there together. 

 

When we were returning I received a call from my dad. He saSuddenly,enly my grandmother's condition is getting w,orse so we have taken her to the hospital. We rode our bike to the hospital when we entered the emergency roand om, I listened to the weeping sounds of my mother and my little sister. I consoled my heart, nothing like it would happen to what is coming to my mind. I saw my si;ter, she hugged my grandmo,ther who was lying on a bed with her eyes closed, without any movementrealisedized that the consolation I had given to my heart was tempo;ary, I had kown, these eyes would not be open again, she had been closed forever. 

 

My heart was heavy for many daand ys, I used to feel great loneliness. I was older than my siblings when I was a child, I played a lot with her because in those days she was healthy, that's why she loved me a lot and I was more attached to her than my little siblings. I didn't think it would happen very quickly. 

 

 

After some  ,days I got up one morning, received a call. It was for my job interview where I applied long ago. I allottedlotted an interview and they hired me. The hospital was a few distances away so I would leave the house very early in the morning and return relatively late in the evening. Those were the highly tiring and busy days but gradually I comprehended my work and it became easy for me. Arslan also found a job in another hospital, he got busy too but we met almost daily in the evening on the same spot. Hena's final semester was going to be finished so she was busy in preparation for the final exam. We used to meet sometimes at our favorite tea house. 

 

After a few weeks, I changed the hospital and found a job in Arslan's hospital because his hospital was near my house and of course also both friends were getting a chance to do work together. Our parents started forcing us to get married but we were procrastinating on them continuously. Finally, Arslan surrendered and agreed to a marriage with his cousin which was liked by her mother. But I stood like a mountain, whenever they touched this topic I procrastinated.

 

After Arslan's marriage, the forcing of my parents was boosted. I knew it would increase more so we have to decide as soon as possible. 

 

In the evening we both were sitting at our favorite spot. Now, the weather had been changed. Hot summer days were knocking on the door, therefore people used to come out from their houses towards the parks. 

 

"I think you should make any decision now," Arslan suggested to me.

 

"Yeah, but you know the problem, what's the thing that is preventing me from making a decision."

 

"Yes, I know, but you can't delay more. Both of you will have to make the decision soon."

 

"I'm unable to understand what I would do. It is not a small problem, it is a caste difference between both of us. My family wouldn't allow me to marry a girl at any cost who belongs to a different caste, similarly, her family also wouldn't approve."

 

"You would try to make them agree, in which world they are living, your families are modern and well educated. I guess they must be accepted."

 

"Modern…? No one would be modern to adopt modern luxuries and fashion. One becomes modern with his thoughts. He is called well educated with his behavior. Our families adopted modern luxuries and modern lifestyles but our ideas, beliefs, thoughts, and behaviors are extremely ancient. So they would not agree on any condition."

We both were silent. I looked outside the park. The vehicle's gleaming lights were running. Sometimes a car came and passed speedily like a breaking star, appeared and perished just in the blinking eye. A truck came, felt its existence for a few seconds, and Passed. Then arrived some moments of silence for a while and again another vehicle reached.

 A couple was sitting in the park in front of me, Seemed he was a newly married couple, but what was the thing that brought them out of the house? Perhaps they came here to raise their happy moments. And some others who were sad may have come here to find some happiness. Some were escaped out inflicted by the suffocation, but they didn't know what had forced them to flee, it was everywhere, it had covered the whole atmosphere. 

 

The next two months passed to convince our families. But they did not have to agree, nor did they. Finally, one day her message was found, she put down her weapon, she surrendered against her family. And next month was her wedding. He suggested that I go to my family and get married somewhere else. The faces of the people in the park turned in front of my eyes, I went out and started running towards the park.