Dating : The Narrow Lane (Part 1)

short story

Zulfiqar grew up in an orthodox Shia Muslim family, with 3 elder sisters. He had no trouble remembering their names, as each one of them reflected their meaning through their appearance. It was tragic to discover that their parents hadn’t been too creative while deciding the names of their offsprings.

The eldest was Kallo, inspired by her dark skin. She was often lost at night, as Amma and Abba were unable to see her face. It was only when she smiled, they would immediately gasp with a sense of joy and surprise. Although, she was no Snow White, she was quite perceptive and always felt that she was a disappointment, especially being the first child.

Then came, Baano, which was the shorter version for Bonanza, a famous company that makes sweaters. She was born in winter and was one of the chubbiest kids in the mohalla (neighbourhood). The name was decided by Amma, but Abba thought the desi version would fit better, as Bonanza Hussain would have brought nothing but shame for the family, not because it was an English name, but because the company was owned by a sunni family.

The third one was Lucky. The day she was born, Abba was promoted as the bank manager, and soon their financial situation took a U-turn and they got a Suzuki Fx. It was getting embarrassing carrying his wife and 2 girls on the motorbike.

While his sisters would learn to make chapatis and biryani, he would attend majlis (religious gathering) with his father and entertain himself by performing maatam (masochistic ritual) and enjoying tabaruk (offering).

Kallo was no less than a black cat, as she would bring bad luck every time she bumped into Zulfiqar. She would often cast nazar (evil eye) on her brother, as he was certainly the favourite of the lot. Poor thing would suffer from diarrhea or throw up, but would continue his rituals the next day, after his mum would remove the spell by praying Surah Ikhlas (Quranic verses) 7 times and exhale on his face, saying “choo, choo, choo!”, giving a stern look at Kallo, as if she was trying to shoo her away from her laadla beta (beloved son). Zulfiqar would always keep his romaal (handkerchief) to wipe the spit off his face. And Kallo would mock her mum quietly by saying, “choo, choo, chootia (cunt)”.

Amma had no idea what she was doing, but she had picked that up from her Murshid (Sufi master) who adored her. It didn’t matter to Zulfiqar where she learned it from, as long as it worked, and it miraculously did! He wondered if he could perform magic when he grows up by following his mother’s lead by joining a Sufi cult.

The young man was spiritually gifted and was considered to have been born to balance the karma of his family. Although he could never sit still and would break things out of clumsiness, he had a pure heart, which neither of the sisters possessed. His birth was meant to be! It was predicted by Amma’s murshid that she would have a son, who’d become a dentist one day. On the contrary, Zulfiqar was quite a double edged sword (as his name implies), stuck in a dillemma. He was a day dreamer and lived in his own universe, but practically was indecisive and did not know where to go.

(To be continued)