MARIYAM

Chapter1

Sixteen,The golden age of beauty and dreams. The age when careless youth sings and swings around trees of the utopic garden. The crystal castles are built,ornated with long lasting glamour of love and romance. Maryam Zahra was living the majestic spring of her 16th year at "Javed shaheed village" in the centre of Punjab. The previous name of the village was "Black well" during the British Reign, which was later changed to "Javed Shaheed" after the 1947 incidence. It was a long and complicated story,how Sikander khan convinced people to name the whole village after his martyed brother.But somehow, every one agreed in the happiness of the newly born Pakistan.
Maryam Zahra, the second in the line of nine siblings was not only beautiful but an epitome of wisdom for her age. There was no high school for girls within the village, so nobody was educated after primary. The rich ones sent their boys out of the village, to near by cities to study further but not their girls. Even in this adverse situation, Maryam had an innate love for knowledge. She never let the lack of opportunities to pull her back. Her father supported her, but he shared the views of others that girls had to get married early. There was no use in educating them. So, at her sixteen birthday, the parents were already worried about getting Maryam and her elder sister married in an year or so. Abbas Raza had the responsibility of getting his 7 daughters married and his two sons educated.

On the other hand, the rival family of Sikander khan consisted of 5 sons and 1 daughter only. The two havelis (mansions) were adjacent to each other. It was possible to practically listen to people discussing things in the gardens of those havelis if one listened closely. These houses had been their properties for generations now. The walls of each house has eye witnessed the history of subcontinent in different reigns.

Sikander Khan was a lot more financially as well as physically stronger than Abbas Raza. It wasn't an unknown thing that something has to be done or the old enmity will end up in getting one of the family ruined. And everyone knew which family it would be. But Pride is a precious thing, Abbas was ready to fight till the last drop of his blood for this old enmity. He couldn't forget the last words of his mother before she died, when he was mere 14 years old.

"If you ever had to choose between death and Rashid khan's (father of Sikander) help, die twice. For this family could never be trusted. There's poison in their veins and hate in their eyes."

Abbas still recalled the dark night when his mother called him and his little sister, and told them to stay strong. He watched her breath her last right in front of his eyes. Their father wasn't there to comfort them, and they were all alone with two servants who had already slept. Abbas sat on the floor near his mother's bed with his 5 years a lot sister in his lap. He waited for the morning, as he had no idea how to contact his father who was a British soldier, and away from home. The misery and helplessness of that night was connected to that last sentence in such a way that nothing could erase that hatred from his mind.

The story behind this enmity started back in times, and nobody knew the exact reason. But in every generation, there had been terrible murders and horrible events that acted like oil to the fire. Now, the blazing fire was out of control for both families. Though, there was some evidence that Sikander khan and Abbas Raza were blood relatives, when their family tree was extrapolated back a few generations.

One day, Abbas's wife returned back to her bedroom after tucking her youngest daughter, Sarah in bed. She lied down next to her husband and started thinking something.

"You seem worried, Asma?"

"I'm worried about getting Sughra married soon. Even the women started talking now that there's no suitable man for my daughters, that's why, none are married."

Abbas smiled, "Don't listen to them. Those are crazy women. Our daughters are beautiful and wise, they'll get married to the most suitable bachelors."

"I was thinking... Just a thought, so don't be angry. Sikander has 5 sons, what if....." She stammered.

"How desperate! Don't ever think about this again."

"I was just thinking..." She tried to continue but Sikander raised his hand to silence her.

"It was you who told me that Snake is a snake, even how young. Now, you are being so desperate that you want to push my daughters in hell."

He closed his eyes, without waiting for her reply. It was a cue for her that argument was over. So, she slipped under the covers and kept thinking about her daughters.

"Sughra was 20, Maryam was 16,Rameen was 14.... These three should get married in next three years. Abraham 13 and Ahmad 12, both of them had to study further. So, Abbas had to arrange so much money in less than 5 years. How would it be possible? I could sell all my gold for this. But she had other 4 daughters too.... Things were not good, and they will get worse as my kids grow up."

She kept performing mental mathematics on her limited asserts and fell asleep clueless about the future. She slept, but Abbas Raza kept thinking about his wife's desperate thought. He was also aware of their financial condition. He had a little money saved up in bank, and a pension with which the house was running. But he needed another source of money soon. He had to take care of his family and get them settled.

Outside this room, under the stars was somebody else thinking about her life too. Maryam Zahra sat on the floor, looking at the blue sky full of stars wondering about her future life. Her best friend got married a week ago, which meant nothing less like a warning to her that it would be her turn soon. She doesn't wanted to leave her parents so early. She thought about her siblings, and the little time she had with all of them. But there was another thing that scared her. Marrying a total stranger, and living with him till she dies was an odd concept. But this was how things happened here. Women were meant to obey their husbands, no matter what they say. It was taught to girls that the house where they go as a bride should be the place from where their corpse should be taken out from. And the biggest weapon the men had against their wives was Divorce. The threat of Divorce made them tolerate everything happily. The threat of Divorce made them look at their bruised faces and broken hearts in the morning thankfully, thinking that at least they are still married.

The thought of seeing her elder sister unmarried made her happy, that she still had time. She could still enjoy the little luxuries of her own house, which were already too few. Abraham and Ahmad were growing up fast, and her father preferred them to have the first choices always. They would be sent to study, but not Maryam even how much she adored school. Because it was thought that spending money on Maryam would be a waste as she had to be a wife and a mother only. She won't need education to clean her house, cook for her family, work in the fields as a farmer, milk the cows and other such chores. But Abraham and Ahmad would work and earn money.

Maryam was aware of these little injustices, but she loved her little brothers so much that she always chose to ignore them. Little did she knew, that these little injustices would grow up gradually into monstrous creatures that would gobble her happiness up.

If only, these twinkling stars could speak of the fate they held for her but instead they let the tears flow down their cheeks. They hid their faces behind the veil of thick clouds, and cried so much that it was impossible for little Maryam to stay outside. She ran back to her room to sleep like others while the sky kept crying till morning.