Saadat Manto - My Name Is Radha

AMJAD ( acting brave ): Don’t bring God into it. If He had wanted me to be happy, He wouldn’t have done this to me. And if He had done this, He would have killed me right off. Don’t even mention God; it’s all over between Him and me. If I’m to stay happy, it will have to be with what’s left of me. I’ll have to gather twigs and build myself a nest of happiness on these broken branches.

ASGHARI: Happy. . for your sake alone?

AMJAD ( in an extremely pained voice ): Asghari! Please, don’t be so cruel! For God’s sake if you must speak, does it have to hurt me? Help me, I beg you. Help an invalid put the broken pieces of his life together to spend his last few remaining days in peace.

ASGHARI: Please don’t beg me, Amjad Mian. It breaks my heart. You’re my master. You can order me. My whole life’s at your bidding.

( ASGHARI cries; big drops of tears stream down from her eyes onto AMJAD’ s slippers. She gets up and rushes away. AMJAD bends over and looks at his slippers, wet with ASGHARI ’s tears, and then, straightening himself up, at ASGHARI’s receding figure. THE BEGUM appears from the Villa. She’s wearing a shawl and carrying some jewellery boxes. She comes over to AMJAD.)

BEGUM SAHIB: Amjad, my boy.

AMJAD ( quickly hiding his feet under his blanket ): Yes?

BEGUM SAHIB: The jewellery you picked out for Saeeda has just been delivered. Here. . ( Puts the boxes in AMJAD’s lap. )

AMJAD ( opens each box with childlike curiosity and looks at every single piece of jewellery, beaming with joy ): They’re really very nice. . excellent. . gorgeous. . but not as much as Saeeda. Asghari! Asghari! Come over here! (ASGHARI, who is leaning against a cypress tree, comes back to AMJAD who shows her the entire collection of jewellery .) What do you think?

ASGHARI: You’ve said it for me: they’re beautiful, but not as beautiful as Dulhan Begum.

AMJAD ( to the begum): Ammijan, when will the dresses come?

ASGHARI: They’ll be delivered tomorrow.

AMJAD: And the movie projector — why hasn’t it arrived yet?

BEGUM SAHIB: Son, Majeed’s already put in an order for it. It’ll be here in a couple of days.

AMJAD: All right. ( After a pause ) Mother?

BEGUM SAHIB: Yes, son?

AMJAD: We ought to get something more for Saeeda. I can’t bear to see her sad, even for an instant. We really must have something new for her every day.

BEGUM SAHIB: Everything is within your power. Order anything you like, whenever you like.

AMJAD: Within my power? ( Pauses ) Well then, Mother. .

BEGUM SAHIB: Yes?

AMJAD: Please send Kamal to the sports shop to buy whatever games he can. Saeeda and Majeed will play. And I can watch. And, yes, please tell him to also buy the sort of stuff that I can play with her too.

BEGUM SAHIB ( overcome by a surge of motherly affection holds AMJAD ’s head in her hands ): Yes, my son.

(AMJAD bursts into sobs . ASGHARI, unable to restrain herself, screams and runs off to one side. Silent tears drip down from THE BEGUM’S eyes. )

( Curtain ) ACT IV

The same room as in Acts I and II. It is evening. A breathless silence pervades the room. SAEEDA is sprawled out awkwardly on the bed, her head propped up on a bunch of pillows. While she appears to be reading a book, her eyes are focused, instead, on her heaving bosom, whose alluring contours are outlined by the blanket covering her body. To the left is a steel hospital bed, beside which AMJAD is sitting in his wheelchair holding a book in his hand as though it were some glass object. Again and again, his restless, anxious eyes leave the book and travel to SAEEDA , settling on her hands and sometimes on her head of golden hair buried in the pillows. Unable to hold back any longer, he closes the book, puts it in his lap.

AMJAD ( in a low, gentle voice ): Saeeda!

SAEEDA ( with a start ): Yes?

AMJAD: I think you ought to go to bed now.

SAEEDA ( turning over to look at him ): If you want to go to sleep, I’ll call Ghulam Muhammad and Karim and they’ll put you to bed.

AMJAD ( in a hollow voice ): Put me to bed. . no, Saeeda. . I’m tired of lying down. . Tonight I’ll sleep right here in my chair. . If it isn’t too much trouble, could you get up and switch off the lamp and turn on the green nightlight?

SAEEDA ( rising ): Why do you keep talking about my trouble?

AMJAD: Because I’m troubled. I know what it means.

SAEEDA ( irritated ): I’m well aware of that, Amjad Sahib. But please tell me, what more can I do for you. . I’m willing to do anything within my power. . but the trouble is, you’re always worried about troubling me. I’m not troubled at all.

AMJAD: Saeeda, you’re so good!

SAEEDA ( turns off the lamp; for a few moments the room remains plunged in complete darkness, then a dim green light slowly begins to illuminate everything ): I wish I were good. . that I could be good. ( She sits down on the couch. Her restlessness is evident from her heaving bosom. )

AMJAD: You’re already too good! How could you be any better, Saeeda?

SAEEDA ( sharply ): No! Little do you know. .

AMJAD ( very gently ): Forgive me if I’ve offended you in some way.

SAEEDA ( looks at amjad, rises from the couch and smiles as she runs her long fingers through his hair ): The fact is, Amjad Sahib, I’m not good enough for you.

AMJAD ( grabbing her hand ): That shows just how good you really are. It’s the purity of your heart that makes you say so.

SAEEDA ( continuing to run her fingers through his hair ): Go to sleep. You’ve been up so many nights already. In fact, you haven’t slept a wink since you came back home.

AMJAD: I just can’t seem to fall asleep, Saeeda.

SAEEDA: Why?

AMJAD: I don’t know why. . It feels as though I’ve never slept and never will. Now, I can’t even recall the nights when I could sleep.

SAEEDA: How I wish I could give you my sleep.

AMJAD: No, Saeeda. . I wouldn’t want to rob you of such a precious thing. It’s meant for your eyes, which become more beautiful during sleep. Go, sleep now.

SAEEDA: Poor, miserable me. I’ll sleep, of course.

AMJAD: Don’t call yourself miserable. . May God make you fortunate. . Go to sleep now.

SAEEDA ( irritated ): Why do you always treat me so kindly? It. . Amjad Sahib, it really bothers me. . By God, your gentleness, forbearance and humility — they’ll drive me to insanity some day. ( In frustration she rushes to the bed and flings herself on to it. )

AMJAD: I feel as if everything coming out of my mouth is just as crippled as I am.

(SAEEDA remains silent. She turns over in bed to face the other direction. AMJAD picks up the book from his lap and starts flipping its pages. A deathly quiet, made brittle in the dim eerie green light, pervades the room. A long time passes in wearisome silence. The pale green light on amjad’s face looks like the jade-green covering on a grave. His eyes repeatedly rise from the book, travel over to SAEEDA , then furtively return. He looks very restless now. )

AMJAD: Saeeda!

SAEEDA: Yes?

AMJAD: I. . I have a favour to ask you.

SAEEDA ( without bothering to turn over ): What?

AMJAD: Could. . could this be our wedding night. . ( She trembles in her bed. ) The night we never had. ( After a pause during which she remains silent ) Saeeda.