Bekhatar kud para aatish e namrood main Ishq
Aqal hai mehv e Tamasha e lab e baam abhi
The word Ishq is made up of three letters, "Ain, sheen and qaaf" and these three letters stand for three stages of love.
Ain: Ain is for "ibadat" which means wors...
Oops! This image does not follow our content guidelines. To continue publishing, please remove it or upload a different image.
____
"Bhai jaan..."There was a pause as the little girl controlled her tears from the other side, Murtasim heard her sniffling.
He felt his entire body freeze as he asked, "Kya hua? Neha bacche awaaz nahi aarahi". The metro went through a tunnel, and he couldn't hear a word. Just her voice, "Baba.. Mama... hospital... aaj subha".
He tried to connect the dots, his anxiousness skyrocketing as he started panicking. Neha was a strong girl. Although she was twelve, she rarely cried. Her calling him, the words everything was scaring him and the worst thing was he couldn't even calm her down. Because he was in Germany. Far far away from Pakistan.
The signal was bad. He got off the tramp to a random station and dialled the number. It was busy. He called Anwar Khan, his uncle, but the line disconnected. He had no control over his fingers as he sent messages one after the mother. But there was no reply. His messages were sent but not read yet. Every second, he could feel his heart bursting out. There was an ache in his heart.
So many possiblities, "were they alright?" guilt hit him for leaving his sister to deal with all of this.
He had his finals in an hour, but Murtasim was heading towards the airport. He didn't care about anything. Exams could go to hell. Nobody was picking up his call. What was actually wrong?
Murtasim rushed through the airport, his mind clouded with worry and fear. He managed to book the first available flight to Pakistan, and he boarded the plane, desperately trying to get updates from his family.
Before the plane took off, Murtasim's phone buzzed with a message notification. His hands trembled as he unlocked the screen, revealing a message from Anwar Khan.
"Murtasim, beta, I am sorry to inform you that your father passed away this morning. Stay strong. We need you here."
A lump formed in his throat. Tears welled up in his eyes. The turbulence of the flight seemed to mirror the turbulence in his heart.
He didn't realize when it took off.
A few minutes passed as he sat still unmoving, trying to process the words.
Tumhe mera janazah bhi nahi dekhne milega...
That was the last word his father had said when he went against their wishes to pursue his dreams.
Unable to hold back his emotions, he let out a deep breath and wiped away the tears that streamed down his face.
The aeroplane cabin felt constricting, and the hum of the engines seemed to amplify the silence that enveloped him. With a lump in his throat and tears welling in his eyes, he rose from his seat, navigating through the narrow aisle towards the flight washroom. The aeroplane's dim lighting cast a sombre atmosphere, mirroring the darkness that had just entered his life. The occasional turbulence rattled the plane, echoing the turbulence within his soul.
