Saadat Manto - My Name Is Radha

‘Didn’t we say drink?’ the maulvi commanded in his awe-inspiring voice. ‘It will rid you of all your miseries.’

Jaina quickly downed the liquid. A smile spread across the maulvi’s thin lips. ‘Look, we’re about to start our wazifa *again. When you see our index finger rise it is a sign for you to fill the bowl about halfway and drink from it immediately. Understand?’

The maulvi didn’t wait for her to answer; he closed his eyes and sank back into his meditation.

A terribly bitter taste exploded in Jaina’s mouth; she felt as if the inside of her chest was on fire. She desperately wanted to get up and drink some cold water. But how could she? So she just sat there, enduring the stinging sensation in her throat and chest. Suddenly the maulvi’s index finger rose with a snap. As if hypnotized, the obedient girl quickly filled half the bowl and drank the wine. She wanted to spit it out but she just couldn’t get up.

Meanwhile, the maulvi continued rolling his beads, deep in meditation, his eyes closed in rapture. Jaina felt as if her head was spinning and she was succumbing to the relentless onslaught of drowsiness. In her semi-conscious state she saw herself in the arms of a youth with neither beard nor moustache who was taking her along to enjoy the pleasures of paradise.

When she opened her eyes, she saw herself stretched out on the coarse sheet. With her half-open, inebriated eyes she looked around herself and wondered: When did I lie down here, and why? Everything seemed shrouded in fog. She fought back another wave of sleep and abruptly got up. Maulvi Sahib — where was he?. . And that paradise?

It was an empty space that confronted her. She stepped into the courtyard and found the maulvi making his wuzu. He turned around at the sound of her footsteps and smiled. Jaina withdrew to the room. She sat down on the sheet and began thinking about her mother, whom her father had gone to bring back home. There was still a whole night before they returned.

And to top it all, she was feeling quite hungry. She hadn’t cooked a meal. Many thoughts were crowding into her agitated mind. After a while the maulvi appeared and said, ‘I have to do a wazifa for your father. It will require an all-night vigil by some grave. I’ll also pray for you.’ Then he left.

He returned at the crack of dawn. His great big eyes, now bereft of their line of kohl, were bloodshot. His voice was faltering, his tread wobbly. As he entered the courtyard, he looked at Jaina with a smile, approached her and pressed her against his chest. He kissed her and plopped down on the cot. Jaina sat on a stool in a far corner and began mulling over the events of the previous evening, her recollection of which was quite hazy. She was also waiting for her father who should have been back by now. A full two years had passed since she had been separated from her mother. . And, yes, the paradise. . that paradise. . How was it? Was her companion Maulvi Sahib? She could vaguely remember that whoever it was didn’t sport a beard; he was someone young.

‘Jaina,’ the maulvi said to her after some time, ‘Maujo hasn’t returned yet.’

She remained quiet.

‘And there I was, performing the wazifa especially for his sake throughout the desolate night, sitting with bowed head by a dilapidated grave!’ he told the girl. ‘When will he return? Do you think he’ll be able to bring your mother back?’

Her only answer: ‘Perhaps he’ll be here soon. He will come home. So will Mother. But I can’t say anything for sure.’

Suddenly the sound of footsteps was heard. Jaina got up quickly. The moment she saw her mother she immediately wrapped her arms around her and broke into tears. When Maujo came in, he greeted the maulvi with the greatest courtesy and reverence and commanded his wife, ‘Phataan, say salaam to Maulvi Sahib!’

Phataan disengaged herself from her daughter and, wiping her tears, offered salaams to the maulvi. The latter gaped at her with his red fiery eyes and said to Maujo, ‘I’ve just returned after performing a night-long wazifa for you by a grave. God has heard me. Everything will be all right.’

Chaudhry Maujo dropped down to the floor and quickly started pressing the maulvi’s calves. So overwhelmed was he by feelings of deep gratitude and reverence that he couldn’t say anything to the maulvi; instead, he said to his wife tearfully, ‘Come here, Phataan, you thank Maulvi Sahib for I don’t know how to.’

She came and sat next to her husband. All she could say was, ‘We poor folk, how can we ever thank you enough.’

The maulvi looked closely at Phataan. ‘Maujo Chaudhry,’ he said, ‘you were absolutely right. Your wife is truly beautiful. In spite of her age, she looks young. Exactly like Jaina. . even more beautiful. We will put everything right, Phataan, for God is inclined to be merciful and giving.’

Both husband and wife sank into silence. Maujo continued pressing the maulvi’s calves, while Jaina busied herself with getting the fire going in the hearth.

After a while the maulvi rose from the cot, patted Phataan’s head gently and said to Maujo, ‘God commands that if a man wants to remarry the wife he has divorced, he must, in punishment, have her first marry another man and seek divorce from him. Only then is it lawful for her first husband to remarry her.’

‘I’ve heard this before, Maulvi Sahib,’ Maujo said softly.

The maulvi made Maujo get up and placed his hand on his shoulder. ‘I entreated God tearfully not to put your poor soul through such harsh punishment; I said that you erred without meaning to. But God answered, “How long do you expect Us to go on listening to your intercessions? If there is anything you want for yourself, well, We’ll give it to you.” I submitted, “My Lord, Lord of the Sea and the Earth, I don’t ask anything for myself. You’ve already given me everything. But Maujo Chaudhry — he loves his wife dearly. .” He proclaimed, “Well then, We want to test his love and your faith. You marry her for a day and hand her over to Maujo the next day after divorcing her. This is the best We can do for you, and that too because for the past forty years you have been unfailing in your devotion to Us.”’

An overjoyed Maujo cried out, ‘I accept, Maulvi Sahib, I accept.’ He looked at his wife with a twinkle in his eyes and asked, ‘So Phataan, what do you say?’

But without waiting for her answer, he blurted out again, ‘We both accept.’

The maulvi closed his eyes, mumbled something, breathed over the two, and raised his eyes to the sky. ‘God, the Blessed, the Most High, may we triumph over this ordeal with Your help!’ Then he said to the Chaudhry, ‘Well, Maujo, I’m going out now. When I return, I’d like you and Jaina to leave here and spend the night somewhere else. Come back in the morning.’ And he went out.

When he returned in the evening, Jaina and Maujo were ready. He exchanged a few short words with them and started mumbling something. A little later, after a sign from him, father and daughter promptly exited the house.

The maulvi fastened the door latch and said to Phataan, ‘For this one night you’re my wife. Go bring the bedding and spread it out on the cot. We will sleep.’

Phataan did as commanded. The maulvi said, ‘Bibi, you sit here, I’ll be along shortly.’

He then went into the other room. In the light of the earthen oil lamp he spotted his wine pitcher in a corner near the stack of pots and pans. He shook the pitcher. There was some wine left. Still standing, he impatiently gulped a few mouthfuls of the intoxicant directly from the pitcher and used the embroidered saffron-coloured silk sash that was slung across his shoulder to wipe his lips and moustache. Then he closed the door.