Sabba looked at Sehaj, who was sleeping contently. There was
a beatific smile on her face. She thanked God from the bottom of her heart that
her baby was a content child at all times. Wanting only timely feeding, she was
otherwise at peace, left to her own means to entertain herself. Staring
at everything during her waking hours, like she was absorbing all things
around.
"I never realized that our baby girl is turning one
tomorrow" said Farhan, Sehaj's father. Farhan was putting on his work clothes
and Sabba looked at the man she had married a year ago, at age 18. A very young
bride who had very different dreams than
getting married and being a mother at 19.
"Thank Allah for all His rehmat", said Sabba,
still in thought about how fast her past year flew by. She was just digesting
her fate, marrying Farhan (5 yrs her senior) and having baby Sehaj. Her eyes
filled up with tears thinking about her long lost childhood dreams of being a free spirit
when she was 18, officially an adult. 'Adult nahi mein toh budhav ho
gayi' was her last thought when she noticed Farhan looking at her
intently.
"What happened?", asked her husband, full of
concern.
"Nothing.." said Sabba, fiddled with her
dupatta.
"Janab, By now I am smart enough to know when the wife says
nothing happened, it means something grave or significant has happened",
he said it with a big grin.
She looked into those dimples flashing and smiled, "Ok,
will you listen and not feel bad if I tell you something?"
"Depends but go ahead", he said in an earnest
tone.
" I really wanted to study further and not stop at
standard 12th. I wanted to earn money for myself, travel to different places and create
some life long memories before I married. But Abbu (Father) had different plans. He realised that you are a very good catch being well educated and working in the family
business. He thought I should crab the marriage alliance proposal your mother
made and thanks to her, here we are together" Sabba was so caught in voicing
her opinion that she missed Farhan's grim expression.
Sehaj chose the same time to wake up and demand for her
feed. Sabba cradled and started nursing the baby, while looking at Farhan. He tucked
his shirt in and combed his hair without saying anything. Sabba wondered if she
had wrongly shared her views openly. "Jada nahi bolna, sabka sirf sun lena', her ammi's words echoed in her ears.
After one moment of electric silence when both of them were looking
at each other, Sehaj started making purring noises. The father gave his satisfied and burping baby a
smile and left the room, without a word. Sabba had a tear rolling down when she did not get her routine goodbye nod from the husband.
To be continued...
Disclaimer: This blog
series is a work of pure fiction. Only names, characters, free images, events
and incidents are the products of the author’s life experiences at various
times. Total resemblance to actual people, living or dead, or actual events is
purely coincidental. Author in no way wants to hurt anyone, just attempt
at creative writing.
