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Children and Gunpowder
"Your name,
Madam?"
"What did you say, daughter? Please speak loudly."
"Are you hard of hearing?
"Yes daughter; I have begun to be so."
"Did you hear all right previously?"
"Yes, I used to hear very well.
"Our house was situated in a cluster of
trees where pigeons, crows, doves, sparrows and parrots kept on
chirping on the trees all day. A strange atmosphere prevailed caused
by their voices. There was also a fall near our house. It flowed
perennially. Whenever there was rain on the mountains or the snow
melted, its sound would increase. I could hear the sound while
baking bread, or sweeping the floor, or milking the goats. Whenever
there was a change in the intensity of the sound, I would know about
the size of the flow of water while sitting in my home. When my
husband ploughed the fields, I would know by the sound of his
footsteps the part of the field he was in. When he chopped wood in
the forest, I could guess by the sound of his axe that he was tired
and needed green tea. At night! would wake up even if a mouse moved.
At times my son would come stealthily to tease and frighten me by
suddenly shouting 'Ho!' You know, daughter, the heart of a mother is
tied to her child. I used to know about his coming as if each step
fell on my heart, but I used to feign being frightened, just to
please him. This would make him laugh heartily."
"Since when have you become hard of hearing?"
"It is quite some time now, daughter. My eardrums were torn due to
the noise of bomb blasts. In a way, it is better. After all, what is
left there now to hear?"
"Do you remember how and where this war began?"
"I only know this, my daughter, that we used to live in peace. We
had a small house and a few fields, but we were happy and contented.
God had given me a son like the moon itself. We had two donkeys,
three bullocks, twenty goats and a number of hens. We also had a
cat, a very lovely one. It was very fond of my son. It usually slept
with him in his bed. Once...."
"But I was asking about the martyrdom of your husband."
"Yes, daughter, he became a martyr. You may consider him a martyr.
When the war prolonged and men became scarce, they conscripted him,
but he only knew how to plough and did not know how to shoot with a
gun. He also loathed fighting and quarrelling."
"But I heard that he showed great courage and barged into the enemy
stronghold by tying bombs around his body?"
"I also heard the same, daughter. They may be right."
"You spend so much time with him. Tell me about him in some detail."
"What can I say, daughter? It does not take much time for men to
change. I knew him as a man who did not even kill an ant. I never
saw him beating even an animal. Maybe, he changed after being
conscripted. But I am sure he did not want to die. How could he die
leaving his beloved son alone?"
"Was your son alive at that time?"
"Yes, he was quite safe at that time. It was long time after young
men became scarce that the old men, women and children were
conscripted."
"Was your son also recruited?"
"You may consider it recruited, my daughter. One day, when he
returned from school, he reported that high officers were coming to
inspect the school the next day. The teacher had therefore
instructed them to wear clean clothes. I bathed him and got his
nails and hair cut; I put perfumed oil in his hair and sent him to
school in beautiful clothes. Ah! Little did I know that he would be
separated from me for ever. If I had even the faintest suspicion, I
would not have allowed him to go. I would have taken him away. I
would have hidden in some cave. I would have hidden in the ultimate
depths of earth."
"So, he did not return from school."
"Not he alone, but a number of other children also did not return. I
have already told you - there was a great shortage of young men, so
they wanted to make up this shortage with old men, women and
children."
"Did the children also wield the rifles?"
"They had many jobs of different kinds for them, to provide
ammunition to riflemen, to pick up their luggage, to inform about
the enemy movements, to carry messages, but my son...." "What was
the duty of your son?"
"The enemy had mined the area from which he had retreated. The
regular army prior to advancing would send the children to know the
area was mined or not. A companion of my son, who was him self
seriously wounded, said they were told that he who would return
first, after running the semi-circle, would be awarded a prize. Not
knowing that the land which used to grow cereals, fruits and flowers
for them had been sown with gunpowder, they kept on running. My son
used to run very fast. He used to stand first in all races. On that
day also he went ahead of everyone and crossed all boundaries."
"I can understand your grief."
"How can you understand my grief, my daughter? No one can
understand. Only that mother can understand my grief who has only
one son and he is made to run on the ground pitted with land mines."
"You are right. But all of us are walking on land mines and no one
knows who is going to be blown off. All right. Thank you very much.
Do you want to give some message to your sisters?"
"Yes, I appeal to all my sisters in the world not to bear children
as long as those already born do not desist from bloodshed."
By Mansha Yad
Translated from Urdu by
Mahmood Akhter.
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