Saadat Manto - My Name Is Radha

ASGHARI ( entering ): Majeed Mian has just returned from the hospital. He said to see if you were up yet.

SAEEDA: What news does he bring?

ASGHARI: I’ll send him in.

(ASGHARI exits. SAEEDA withdraws from the window, goes over to the dressing table and looks at herself for a moment, then casually smoothing her mussed hair with her hands, she slowly moves towards the canopied bed, removes her white georgette dupatta hanging from it and very inattentively throws it around her shoulders. The creaking sound of heavy leather boots is heard coming from outside. With slight hesitation she looks over towards the door through which enters MAJEED, a robust young man of medium height with a light almond complexion, his features showing a maturity far beyond his years. )

MAJEED: Salaam, Bhabhijan.

SAEEDA: Salaam.

MAJEED ( going over to the sofa ): How are you feeling?

SAEEDA ( listlessly ): All right, I guess. ( Sits down on the sofa. ) Tell me, what’s the news from Rawalpindi?

MAJEED ( coming up close in front of SAEEDA): Nothing much. ( Lets out a half-sigh. ) Well, they’re bringing him home.

SAEEDA: Why?

MAJEED: He’s tired of languishing in the hospital. ( Pulls over a wicker chair and sits down. ) Had I been in his place. . I would have probably killed myself.

SAEEDA ( getting up and walking to the window ): Who would have imagined this would be my fate. . So many people died. . Why didn’t I die with them?

MAJEED: That was not God’s will.

SAEEDA ( looking at the hilly scene outside ): Yes, it wasn’t God’s will. Rather, God’s will was that I escape with just a minor scratch on my leg but my whole life be crippled. ( Tears well up in her eyes which she delicately dries with her white dupatta. ) God’s will was to cut short my days of bridal happiness and let me float in the wind for the rest of my life like a kite severed from its string. ( Sobs. )

MAJEED ( rising ): Have some courage, Bhabhijan. Who knows, he might still get well.

SAEEDA ( reproachfully ): Majeed, you of all people trying to deceive me! He’s been lying glued to a hospital bed for six months. I know very well what the doctors say his prognosis is. He’ll never get well. . both of his legs are utterly useless now. . but. . but I’ll grant you that he’s a very courageous man. Whenever I go to see him, he makes me sit close to him and tells me, ‘Saeeda, don’t you worry. I’m going to get well soon — very soon. Then I’ll take you out for a walk in those hills I’ve told you about so often in Karachi. I love those hills so much that if I talk about them any more you might get jealous.’ And then he attempts to boost my sagging spirits by saying, ‘Saeeda, what is life but a series of accidents? I thank God that I didn’t die or else. . or else. .’ But what he says next gives me the creeps.

MAJEED: Like what?

SAEEDA ( staring off into space with moist eyes ): Like ‘You will come to love someone else and marry him.’ ( Suddenly trembles. ) Why does he think of such things, why, Majeed?

MAJEED: I don’t know.

SAEEDA: You should know. ( Walks slowly over to the sofa and sits down. Her dupatta slides down; her heaving bosom presses against her silk nightgown, transferring to it all its velvety rise and fall. ) You’re a man. . you’re his brother. . What if you had such an accident?

MAJEED: I would never have thought of the things that cross Amjad Bhai’s mind.

SAEEDA: Why?

MAJEED: We’re both men, we’re even brothers — but we feel and think differently.

SAEEDA ( mumbling ): Feel and think. .

ASGHARI ( entering ): Majeed Mian, Begum Sahib wishes to see you.

MAJEED: Go on, I’ll be there.

ASGHARI: She said to come right away.

MAJEED: All right. ( Looking at SAEEDA) I’ll be right back. ( Exits. )

(ASGHARI sits down on the rug at SAEEDA ’s feet; she’s about to massage them. )

SAEEDA ( pulling her feet away ): Don’t bother, Asghari.

ASGHARI ( nearly wrapping herself around SAEEDA’s feet ): It’s no bother, Dulhan Begum. ( Begins to press her toes. ) What news did Majeed Mian bring?

SAEEDA: He said Amjad wants to come back home.

ASGHARI: Good news.

SAEEDA ( with a stab of pain ): Yes.

ASGHARI: Begum Sahib was quite annoyed that Majeed Mian stayed so long.

SAEEDA: Where?

ASGHARI: Here. . with you.

SAEEDA: With me? What exactly did Begum Sahib say?

ASGHARI: Nothing much. She’s become very irritable these days. Nothing, absolutely nothing pleases her. . She feels a lot sorrier for you than she does for Amjad Mian. She’s always thinking about you. . So, has Amjad Mian gotten better?

SAEEDA ( pulling her feet away in a huff and standing up ): Yes, he’s gotten better. (THE BEGUM enters the room; ASGHARI springs up. ) Salaam, Khalajan.

BEGUM SAHIB: Salaam, child. ( Comes over and affectionately strokes SAEEDA’s head. ) Majeed’s told you — hasn’t he?

SAEEDA: Yes.

BEGUM SAHIB: He really grew to hate it there in the hospital. ( Looks over at ASGHARI) Asghari, you can go now. (ASGHARI exits. ) He wants. . he wants to be with you. He told me, ‘If I must die, then let my Saeeda be before my eyes.’ (SAEEDA’s eyes brim over with tears and she throws herself in the begum’s arms. ) He. . ( tears trickling down her face ) he loves you so very much, but. . he told me to make sure you wouldn’t mind his returning home.

SAEEDA: Mind. .

BEGUM SAHIB: Yes, child. It could make you feel even worse. You know. . it’s possible.

SAEEDA: Why must he think that way, Khalajan, why?

BEGUM SAHIB: Child, he’s just that sort of person. . always concerned about others.

SAEEDA: He should come, why shouldn’t he come? ( Her voice sounding almost like a groan. ) He mustn’t think like that!

BEGUM SAHIB: The doctors say that if he stays happy, then, God willing, he should be able to get around on crutches in a month or two. ( Suddenly begins to cry inconsolably. ) Crutches. . I got rid of them after I heard about the train wreck. Had I known they were about to enter his life, I’d have held on to them tightly. But, child, the strongest boat gets sucked down into the whirlpool we call life while a mere straw takes one safely to shore. ( After a pause ) Saeeda, child, Amjad wanted me to ask you one more thing.

SAEEDA: What is it, Khalajan?

BEGUM SAHIB: Will you still love him?

SAEEDA ( stunned ): Love him. .

BEGUM SAHIB ( stroking SAEEDA’s head ): I don’t want to trouble you any more. ( Exits. )

SAEEDA ( delicately wiping away her tears with her dupatta, mutters ): Love. . Love his. . heart, his mind? ( Walks slowly over to her portrait above the fireplace and addresses it. ) Tell me, will you love him?

( The sound of teacups clattering on a tray is heard. ASGHARI enters with a teacart, wheels it over to the sofa and lays out the breakfast neatly on it. )

ASGHARI: If Dulhan Begum won’t love Amjad Mian, what other woman will?

SAEEDA ( startled ): What was that?

ASGHARI: Oh, nothing. . just talking to myself. Please have some breakfast.

SAEEDA: Please leave me.

ASGHARI: Yes, ma’am. ( Glances at SAEEDA and then at her portrait as she exits. )

(saeeda, deep in thought, walks slowly towards the sofa, but then goes and lies down on the bed ).