Saadat Manto - My Name Is Radha

By now I had become rather informal with Zeenat. She called me ‘brother’, which was fine with me. She was affable, not at all chatty, artless, and very neat and clean.

I was dismayed to see her exchanging glances with Shafiq. For one thing, it was very awkward, for another. . Let’s just say that her calling me brother also had something to do with it. At one point, when Shafiq and Sando got up and went out, I asked her about leering at Shafiq, perhaps a trifle sternly because big fat tears immediately flooded her eyes and she withdrew to another room, crying. Babu Gopinath left his hookah and hastily followed her. Sardar communicated something to him with her eyes, which I couldn’t fathom. He emerged after a short while and, saying, ‘Come, Manto Sahib,’ took me inside the other room.

Zeenat was sitting on the bed. When she saw me she covered her face with her hands and lay down. Babu Gopinath and I sank into chairs near the bed. ‘Manto Sahib!’ he began gravely, ‘I love this woman dearly. She’s been with me for two years. I swear by Hazrat Ghaus-e A‘zam Jilani that she hasn’t given me any cause for complaint, not even once. Her sisters, I mean the other women in the profession, have been relentlessly ripping me off, but she has never taken or asked for even one paisa more than her due. Once, when I stayed away for weeks at some other woman’s, she pawned a piece of her own jewellery to meet her expenses. As I’ve told you before, it won’t be long before I leave this world. My wealth isn’t going to last much longer. I don’t wish to see her ruined. In Lahore I begged her repeatedly to observe other prostitutes and learn from them. Today I have money; tomorrow I’ll be a pauper. Women like her need many wealthy patrons. Unless she finds another lover like me after I’m gone, she’ll be ruined. But, Manto Sahib, would she listen? She insisted on staying at home all day like high-born ladies. I consulted with Ghaffar Sain. He said that I should bring her to Bombay. I know why he said that. He’s acquainted with two prostitutes who have made it into the movies here. I decided he was right. She’s been here for two months. I sent for Sardar from Lahore to show her the ropes of her calling. She can also learn a great deal from Ghaffar Sain. Although nobody knows me in Bombay, she thinks this will disgrace me. I told her not to worry about me. “Bombay is a huge city,” I said. “Many big cats live here. I’ve bought you a car. Go, find yourself someone good.” Manto Sahib, how I wish for her to stand on her own feet, become more aware, more worldly-wise. I’m even prepared to open a bank account in her name and deposit ten thousand rupees in it right this minute. But I know that woman, Sardar, will bilk her of every paisa in ten days flat. Here, you try to make her understand that she needs to become smarter. Every evening since she’s got the car, Sardar takes her out to Apollo Bunder. Alas! No luck so far. Sando had to practically drag Shafiq along this evening. What’s your opinion of the guy?’

I was reluctant to give my opinion. Instead Babu Gopinath offered his. ‘He looks quite well-off. . and handsome. Well, Zeeno, my darling, do you like him?’

Zeeno remained silent.

My head whirled when I learned the real reason why Babu Gopinath had brought her to Bombay. I couldn’t believe it. But my future observations removed all doubts. Babu Gopinath sincerely and ardently wished for Zeenat to become the mistress of some wealthy man here, or at least become artful enough to extract money from several such men.

If all he had wanted was to rid himself of Zeenat, well, that was easy enough. He could have accomplished it in a day. Since his intentions were pure, he tried every which way to secure her future. He went so far as to entertain several phony film directors in the hopes that they would find her a role in some movie. He even had a telephone installed at his place. But nothing worked.

Muhammad Shafiq Tusi kept coming for a month and a half, even spent a few nights with Zeenat, but he was not the kind of man to provide any woman with stability.

‘Shafiq Sahib turned out to be such a hollow gentleman,’ Babu Gopinath exclaimed one day with sorrow and regret. ‘Just look at his nerve, he swindled poor Zeenat out of four bed sheets, six pillowcases and two hundred rupees in cash. I hear he’s carrying on with some girl called Almas these days.’

It was true. Almas was the youngest daughter of Nazir Jan of Patiala. She was the last to be drafted into Shafiq’s service. Her three older sisters had been his mistresses before. I know for a fact that the two hundred rupees he bamboozled out of Zeenat were spent on Almas, who subsequently had a terrible brawl with her sisters and took poison.

After Tusi stopped visiting, Zeenat rang me up several times asking me to find him and bring him to her. I tried to locate him but not a soul knew his whereabouts. Then one day, quite by chance, I ran into him at the radio station. He seemed quite agitated. When I told him that Zeenat wanted to see him, he said nonchalantly, ‘I’ve already received this message from several others. I’m sorry, I don’t have the time. She’s a fine woman but, regrettably, far too prudish for my taste — I’ve no interest in women who act like wives.’

Disappointed, Zeenat resumed her outings to Apollo Bunder with Sardar. After fifteen days of sweating and umpteen gallons of petrol, Sardar managed to bag two men. Babu Gopinath interpreted this as a promising sign, for one of the men, the owner of a textile mill that manufactured silk fabrics, had promised Zeenat that he would marry her. An entire month passed and he never showed up again.

One day, I was at Hornby Road for some work when I saw Zeenat’s car parked by the sidewalk. Muhammad Yasin, who owned the Nageena Hotel, was sitting in the rear. I asked him, ‘Where did you get this car?’

He smiled. ‘You know the owner?’

‘Yes, I do.’

‘Then you can figure out the rest. But, yaar, she’s a hell of a piece!’ He winked at me roguishly. I smiled.

Four days later, Babu Gopinath came to my office in a taxi. He told me how Zeenat had met Yasin. One day, Sardar and Zeenat had picked up some men from Apollo Bunder and gone to the Nageena Hotel. There, they had a tiff about something and the men left in a huff, but somehow they struck up an acquaintance with Yasin.

Babu Gopinath was feeling quite optimistic. In a relationship only a fortnight old, Yasin had bought Zeenat six exquisite and very expensive saris. Babu Gopinath was now waiting for the affair to deepen so that he might eventually return to Lahore. Unfortunately, this didn’t happen.

A Christian woman took a room in the Nageena Hotel and Yasin lost his head over her young daughter Muriel. While poor Zeenat languished alone at the hotel, Yasin took Muriel out for rides everywhere in Zeenat’s car. Babu Gopinath was deeply hurt when he learned about it. ‘Manto Sahib, what kind of people are they!’ he said to me. ‘If he’s tired of her, why doesn’t he tell her clearly? And this Zeenat, she’s really very strange. She knows what’s going on, but will she ever open her mouth to say, “Well, sir, if you want to carry on with this Kristan girlie, get your own car, why use mine?” What shall I do, Manto Sahib? She happens to be an exceedingly fine, noble-hearted woman. I’m totally lost. I wish she would at least try to be a tad bit smarter.’

Zeenat didn’t take the end of her affair with Yasin badly.

Nothing of significance transpired for quite a while. When I rang up one day, I was informed that Babu Gopinath had gone to Lahore with Ghulam Ali and Ghaffar Sain to arrange for money because the fifty thousand he had brought with him had run out. He had told Zeenat that he might have to stay there longer because he would have to sell some of his property.