THE EARLY MORNING HUES

THE MORNINGS IN SAHANI RESIDENCE are nothing but a mess. And that had always been the same.

Half of the morning, Uma Sahani, the lady of her early fifties would be fretting over breakfast or after her husband Arsalan Sahani who must be getting late for his office. Her eldest daughter, Suman would be helping her with the chaos and the youngest one, Mahi, would be busy making a cup of coffee or scrolling her phone.

And her son, Amaan Sahani would be screaming for some reason. May it be the breakfast, his clothes for the day or just to tease his sisters. Something or the other. That's their normalcy. Today is no different.

"Give me my breakfast already, I am already running late." Amaan screamed entering their hall cum dining, Arsalan shook his head, "Beta jee subha subha chilane se acha jaldi uth jaye kare, behtar hoga."

"Papa yaar shuru na hoon."

"Haa, no one can say anything to you. Kaha key price charming ho Bhaiya?" Mahi stated keeping her eyes glued to her phone.

"Mahi peet jayegi chup hojao." Suman said while entering with the breakfast.

"Meri mano toh shaadi karlo koi ek. Kya teeno ke teeno ghar baithe huye hoo." Uma said and almost regretted it.

Amaan just shook his head, his mother's blackmails stopped working on them long back. Suman left the room without a word, the taunt hit her more than the other two. Mahi kept her phone away and Arsalan smiled at her. They didn't bother to talk further, marriage is a taboo topic for them.

"We got new neighbours, I think we should visit them," Uma said by the end of the breakfast. Mahi nodded, she did see the car that came yesterday and she had always wished to visit the house next to theirs. It has pretty aesthetics.

Arsalan smiled, "You should, and ask them if they need anything."

"Amaan?"

"I don't have time for these things Mummy. Keep me away from these." And she sighed.

Amaan Sahani had always been her rebelious child. The middle one, the one with anger issues, is the happiest one, once. But with each passing year, his adventures are dwindling, and maturity is hitting him.

Sometimes she wonders if was it just adulting or something else. Her heart screams the latter, but she never accepts that. Not until he tells her himself. He saw her walking out, getting on his bike wearing the helmet and then he was gone. And she prayed a silent prayer, for his safety, for his happiness.

"You shouldn't have started the day with the marriage topic Uma," Arsalan said softly to his wife.

Uma furrow, and shakes her head, "No one is getting any younger Arsalan. Look around, girls of Suman's age are married with kids even their kids are going to school, she is thirty-one for speaking out loud. Mahi turned twenty-seven, and I believe she is still not there."

"And Amaan?"

"He--"

"He's Mummy's favourite one Papa. Please don't speak anything against him." Mahi snapped, and Uma shook her head.

"I was just saying, you are not worried about him getting settled up? Not anymore?"

"I am worried the most about him, and at some point, I was ready to get him married, but then what happened with the Dimple case, I don't think I can bother him ever with it. Not yet." Uma's voice held a heaviness inside.

"Maybe should stop bothering all of us with this topic now, Mummy."

"Mahi, aren't you getting late for your lab today?"

"She isn't wrong Uma. Let them be. We tried with Suman right? She almost got married but what happened to that alliance? It ended that too on a pretty bad note. And left a mark upon us for years, almost a decade."

"But--"

"Let them be," Arsalan stated and walked away. Mahi smiled at her nodding her head and went inside to meet her sister.

Uma sighed, her children had grown up just fine and now is the time to get them settled up. But for one reason or the other, that never happened. But she is after all a mother, and she has the right to be worried about them. She has it.

But sometimes she crossed the line, just like she had done now or like in the past. And that's her problem, she never knows when to stop.

She should've though.

°°°

THE NEW DAY STARTED in the new house with the normalcy Ayesha had come to call her own in the past year. Her preparing the morning breakfast, made tea for Fariha and made a note to remind her about lunch and medicines.

Fariha watched her doing all these in the kitchen from the hall. The girl she met just a year ago, always the poised prim proper one, the one who fits everywhere just like she belonged there. The girl she had loved like a daughter. The one who stayed beside her through all the time.

Sometimes, she wonders, what must have happened to this soul, a girl of hardly twenty-six summers who bore a responsibility without a sound, something that's not even hers, to begin with. She loves the girl, but more than that she is worried for her.

"Aunty, please have your breakfast, I have to leave in a few minutes, my uber is just here." Her gentle voice brings her back from her thoughts and she moves slowly toward the dining area.

"You don't have to do all this, Ayesha." On this, she just shook her head as if it was nothing.

"I am used to it. Now listen to me, I had a talk with Maa, she would be sending someone who will cook for you the lunch and will look after the other kinds of stuff. Just look over her. I will be back by seven. Don't forget your meds and--"

"And you sit down. Yeh humara ghar hai bachhe, yaha bade huye hai hum. Stop fretting over me."

"I will once I know you are fine."

"And when will that happen?"

"I think in two-three months when we move back." Fariha smiles at this.

That place is their home, her home. And Ayesha knows that more than herself.

"InshaAllah, soon."

"Anything else you need?" Ayesha asks collecting her empty plate and walking back to the kitchen.

"Open the kitchen window, Ayesha. We used to live it open always." She smiles at that and flipped open the glass window with wooden borders.

And suddenly she saw it.

Her smile lost its way somewhere, and her eyes brimmed with unshed tears. She gulps and moves back, taking her laptop bag, and purse she left.

Without looking at the open window again.

Without looking at the family directly in the view having their breakfast.

°°°

IT WAS ALMOST AFTERNOON when Fariha heard the doorbell. It had been a few hours since the lady of early forties, Saima, had come. She must be busy with the laundry now, thinking that Fariha opens the door.

"Asalamalakum" The lady greeted her and she smiled greeting back.

"I'm your neighbour Uma Sahani, that's our house." She said pointing to the adjoint house. Fariha nodded with a smile and ask her to come inside.

"Ap log kal hi aye. Humne dekha toh socha apse mil lein."

"Acha kiya Behen jee, I was thinking about visiting the neighbours but I wasn't sure."

"I understand, it's not the same nowadays. But don't worry, I have been living here for the past twenty years now."

"I left this place some thirty years ago."

"Really?"

"My Abba Jaan used to live here, then I got married."

"Your Abba Jaan? Farhad Chacha?"

"That's right. I am his daughter. Fariha Bakt."

"So you are settling back here. That's nice. Ek waqt ke baad toh apne ghar mein hi rehne ka dil chahta hai bs."

That made Fariha lose her smile. She nodded, slowly, softly with a smile then.

"Ghar toh apno se banta hai."

"Sahi kaha Baji apne yeh toh, waise ap key bachhe nahi dikh rahe?" Uma asked looking around, Fariha sighed asking the house help for tea and snacks.

"Jee woh Ayesha, meri bacchi office gyi hai, uska aj hi joining thi."

"Acha apki beti hai, Masallah. Aur woh?" Uma asked pointing at the photo frame that hung straight on the wall.

The photo of a young lad in his late twenties maybe.

The photo of a man smiling at her in his airforce uniform.

The boy with the deepest brown eyes, with a smile showing the perfect dimples on his left cheek.

"Mera Beta." She said with a smile and gulped slowly.

"Woh kaha hai?" Uma asked again but before Fariha needs to answer the door opens.

Ayesha walked into the house with a heavy head.

And on her first step, she halted.

She gulps.

For Uma Sahani was sitting right in front of her.

Talking to Fariha.

She smiles a little, "Ayesha bachhe idhar aye insey miley."

"Salam Mu-- Aunty," She said softly kissing her hand.

Uma felt her heart melting at the girl. The girl with the prettiest eyes, the softness of her hand and the way she greeted her. The girl felt a bit familiar but then again, she must have seen her this morning only.

Ayesha left for the kitchen to bring the tea. A while later Ayesha served them tea, Fariha smiled and Uma praised her. It was indeed a good cup of tea, a perfect one.

That's something everyone knows, she's a good cook, what they don't the reason why she started learning cooking in the first place.

They never would.

"Ayesha apki tabiyat thik nahi lag rahi?"

"Haa woh aj first day tha na isliya bs. Hum av fresh hoke ate ap dono baat karey."

And she left almost when Uma said, "Apka beta kaha hai?"

Ayesha gulped looking at the photo frame, "Kabeer" she whispered into the air and slowly walked away without any word, without looking back.

"Ayesha Shah hates socialising. She hated the first days even more. The getting-to-know-everyone phase annoys her like nothing else. And it's something that happened to her in recent years." Fariha smiled.

"What happened to her?" Uma asked, sensing that talking about her son is a sore topic.

"Life happened to her, as she calls it. Zindagi hume jeena sikha deti hai." Uma nodded now looking at the stairs which Ayesha had taken a minute ago.

"What about your kids?" Fariha asked with a smile.

"Mere toh baji teen bacche hai. Doo betiya aur ek beta. Badi wali ki umar kafi hogyi hai, choti wali Ayesha se doo teen saal hi badi hogi. Becch mein mera beta ata, woh 29 ka toh ho hi gya hai." Fariha nodded, she didn't ask for details, she knows if Uma wanted to share anything else she would have done it until now.

The horns outside made Uma smile, "Lagta hai mera beta agya, usi key bike ki horn hai. Aj chalti hun Baji, ap kal aye na humare yaha, kal toh sunday hai Ayesha ko saath leke hi ayega tab shaam key chai k liye." Fariha couldn't find herself denying the invite.

She should have though.

Ayesha enters her room with heavy feet and a heavier heart. The gust of wind past leaving a blast of pain.

"You should learn cooking"

"Why?"

"Mummy would love that."

"Mummy would like me then?"

"Oh that she will."

"Aur yeh apko kaise pata Janab?"

"Arey Apko koi pasand na kare yeh ho hi nahi sakta Mohtarma."

She gulps, her eyes burned with unshed tears and breaths.

The feeling of suffocation engulfs her again and this time she made her way towards the open balcony and pushed the doors open.

She shouldn't have.

For not too far away, right next to their house, the wall attach to it, on the front gate, standing next to Uma Sahani with an annoyed look on his face, his eyes furrowed and shaking his head.

He stood there.

Afar is yet close.

Lost yet not faded.

Her eyes blurred but she blinked and captured his face in her mind, her heart, like always.

Her tears fall and on a clue, the drops of rain touch the land.

The land that once witnesses a love tale.

Once.

And never again.

He almost enter his house and just turned around to close his gate while sitting on his bike when he almost lost his balance.

For he was looking at the open balcony now.

To the girl.

He blinked and prayed.

But it stayed.

Close yet afar.

Not faded this time.

And he witnessed those tears.

His eyes clashed with hers.

Pain against anger.

Love against love.