“Where am I? Where are my parents? What happened to me?”

Shahzadi had regained consciousness and was asking some very genuine questions. She was still very weak and could not get up from the bed. She had recognized me as I had accompanied her in the train from Fazilka. I was, however, not willing to tell her as to what had exactly happened. So, I quickly thought of a story.

“Our train met an accident.”

She looked a lot worried now. In her trembling faint voice she asked again, “Where are my parents? Where am I?”

I remained quiet.

“Our train met accident! When, where… what sort of accident?”

In the meanwhile, Hakeem entered the room. She looked at him and tried to get up. Hakeem looked at Shahzadi who was crying frantically now. With suspicion in his eyes, he signalled me to come out. We both walked out of the room and reached the courtyard. It was early morning and weather was very pleasant. I looked up at the sky and took a deep breath. I had not slept for the whole night and was feeling very tired. Hakeem interrupted my thoughts, “Who is she and where did you kidnap her from?”

Hakeem was an intelligent person. He had inferred correctly that she is not my wife. As for now, I badly needed a place to stay and some moral support, so I decided to tell him the complete story.

“She is not my wife.” I paused, and Hakeem held my hand and took me to a small kitchen. I asked him to lock the door of the room where Shahzadi was having rest. He went out and did the same. We both sat on the small stools. He put some wood in the stove and then put it on fire. Dry wood immediately caught fire. Hakeem then placed a pot on the stove and put some water in it. He added some tea leaves, sugar and milk in the water and then looked towards me. With wrinkles on his forehead, he said,

“You are very young man. What made you kidnap her?”

“I did not kidnap her,” I said promptly.

He looked at me unbelievingly and said, “Then what happened? Tell me the truth.”

I rested my back on the wall as it had now started hurting. I had carried Shahzadi from railway station to this place. She did not weight much but I was feeling the pain now. I straightened my back and with a heavy voice said, “I belong to Bahawalpur and serve the Nawab. I am going on a special task to Ajmer Sharif. I caught the train from Fazilka. This girl and her parents were my companions in the train. During the journey, the girl and her parents ate something and got unconscious. I realised it very late but by then the girl’s parents had died. She was also breathing very slowly. I did not know what to do. As the train stopped on a station, I picked up the girl and came out of the station to find some medical help. This is how I reached you.”

Hakeem seemed unconvinced. He filled my cup with the tea and said in a very serious tone, “If relatives of this girl find out that she is here they will burn my house.”

“Just relax. I can swear that I did not kidnap her. I have told you the truth,” I replied.

Hakeem said instantly, “If you are telling the truth then tell me the whole truth.”

I took few quick sips from the cup. The tea made me relaxed a bit. Hakeem was of my father’s age and sounded like a kind man. He had a small beard with grey hair. I thought for a while and then decided to confide in him. I was though apprehensive that he may also become a target of Ghulam Mustafa but I needed to keep Shahzadi at some safer place. I could not take her with me to Ajmer Sharif neither could I leave her anywhere else. So, I told him the whole truth. It was only when I ended my story that I realized that there is someone standing at my back in the kitchen window. I hurriedly went out of the kitchen door and found Shahzadi standing there. I looked towards the room door which was wide open. Hakeem also came out of the kitchen. He had provided a good chance to Shahzadi to escape from this place. She might have been on her way out when she probably heard me narrating my story and decided to stop and know as to what had actually happened. After hearing my whole story, she was still there. I was standing in front of her with my head bent down. She had her eyes swollen. I could no longer see in them and whispered in a painful voice, “I am your culprit. Your parents are dead because of me. I will take you wherever

you will ask me to go and then will remain your servant forever. But I need to do one last task. Please stay here for a few days. I promise you that I will come back and put myself at your disposal.”

I was waiting for her to say anything but instead she walked back in the house. She went into the same room and closed the door. I looked at Hakeem. He seemed a little furious, “Why did you just think that I will keep your girl here?”

I looked in his eyes and said, “Because you are a good man.”

A broad smile came on his face and he said, “You have been groomed thoroughly in the palace. You know how to win the hearts.”

I smiled back at him and then we hugged each other.

There was only one train from Fazilka to Jaipur in a week. I had to spend six days in Hakeem’s house to wait for the next train. During these six days and seven nights, Shahzadi became first love of my life. She reconciled with what had happened to her parents. She called it the fate. She never wanted to go back to her village and insisted on going with me to Ajmer Sharif. I was not willing to take that risk. I was not even sure of my survival. I had discussed it with Hakeem and he told me not to worry. He promised me that he would take care of her. She could not stay with him so he had shifted her to his friend Zafar Khan’s house who already had eight children. One addition did not make much difference to him.

In the meanwhile, I had become friends with Hakeem. I knew I could learn so many valuable things from him. He had a task for me too. Was it friendship or bare necessity? Time was going to test it soon.

Train reached Jaipur six hours late. In those days, it was usual for trains to be late so nobody cared much. Everything was going fine and smooth since my departure from Hakeem’s village. Moreover, as a precaution, I had purchased an economy class ticket. I was surrounded by so many unfamiliar faces. I had also been changing bogies and mostly travelled sleeping on floor like rest of the people. It was seven in the evening when I finally reached Jaipur. It was a big railway station and the air was filled with some kind of stink. Wherever I saw, there were people, goats and chickens. Getting out of the small train door was a challenging task. There were so many people trying to get on the train. Finally, after about fifteen minutes of pandemonium, things got normal as people got settled on train. I walked out of the railway station and decided to spend the night at Jaipur. There were number of hotels in front of the railway station offering rooms to stay. I went over to a small hotel after walking down the road for about hundred yards. The hotel was deserted. I sat down on a bench and asked for a cup of tea.

The room rent was less than what I expected. I still had plenty of money with me. I asked from the waiter about the bus to Ajmer Sharif and found out that the bus station was not far away and the first bus to Ajmer Sharif leaves at 6 in the morning. Second bus followed at noon. I decided to travel in early morning bus. I gave one rupee to the waiter and asked him to wake me up at 5 in the morning. It was probably more than his imagination. I saw his eyes sparkling with joy and gratitude. I went to sleep as soon as I went to the bed. It was quite hot so I had removed my shirt and put the money and the bottle of potion under my pillow. After a tiresome train journey, sleeping on the jute bed seemed like a luxury.

It looked like a dream. Smoke was everywhere. It was hard to breathe. I woke up coughing really bad. It was dark and nothing was visible. I first thought of the Pir Baba Ziarat. It felt like the same. I, however, quickly realised that I was not in Fazilka. I was in Jaipur and it was smoke all over again. Ghulam Mustafa was trying hard to keep me away from his nesting place. He was gaining power and probably needed some more time before he ventured out on his quest of revenge. I was his biggest obstacle. All these thoughts flashed in my mind. Crawling on my knees I opened the door. The corridor outside my room and the stairway was burning. Things were pretty clear now. I went back to my room and closed the door behind me. I knew I had to do something real quick before fire enters in my room or the building collapsed. Smoke from underneath the door was filling in the room. The only window was shut hard. Wooden planks were nailed over the broken window. Despite my best efforts, I could not pull them out.

My room door had caught fire and it was burning fast. Heat and smoke was making my thoughts hazy. I was about to accept it as my last resting place when I felt someone trying to break through the window. I dizzyingly walked towards the window and as I reached there I collapsed on ground. I opened my eyes after sometime and saw the same waiter bent over me and trying to wake me up. In his background, I could see the hotel turning into ashes. There were people trying to put out the fire. I suddenly remembered as to what had happened. I was alive but was left with nothing to kill the monster.