CHAPTER 3. UNCOLORED LIVES

The word Thar means desert; and it stretches out as the largest desert of the country. There is a large Hindu population that has lived side by side with Muslims for centuries. Both religions have multifaceted yet intermingled cultural heritage and traditions. Family is a deep rooted institution where three generations live under one roof. One impressive aspect of life in Thar is that a daughter is given more respect and honor than a son. Quite often than not, if one has to vouch for someone or swear for truth, and the person swears it upon his daughter’s head, it is considered to be more legally binding than any other act of affirmation.

Water is a precious thing and is treasured with care; rain seems to be the only source of consumable water. Rain fills up small ponds and these ponds are then the only source of water be it human consumption or animal. The underground reservoirs are rare and it is difficult to dig deep enough to acquire consumable water. And there is no certainty about the rainfall either, it varies every year.

I kept thinking about the place, the people; I honestly had no idea what to expect when we get there.

It was late afternoon when we reached the central village in the area. By that time, if at all, I had found two things about her; her name was Eeman and she was the most talkative girl I had ever run across. She started off from today and took me all the way back to her first day at school; and all this time all I did was pass frequent smiles to her anecdotes.

“Oh my God! We are here; it didn’t take as long as you said it would” she almost screamed when I stopped the jeep at a wide curve on the main entrance to the village.

“Yeah right” I said with a teasing smile and she laughed. So far there hadn’t been a moment in our journey where I had to explain my words or gestures to her.

A couple of dozen scarcely clad children came running towards us and thronged the jeep, some screaming with joy, some silently staring at us and some shouting back telling their families about the arrival of some city people. Eeman kept looking at those children with same eagerness as was on their faces; I started unloading our bags from the jeep.

One of the kids, who seemed more intelligent than the rest, approached Eeman and asked “Where is your camera?”

She smiled at him and told him she didn’t have a camera with her.

“Well, does your brother have one?” he asked pointing towards me.

I looked at him with mock anger in my eyes but he wasn’t looking at me; I heard a laughter before she answered his question, “No, he doesn’t have one either.”

“Aren’t you two form the newspaper?” he seemed a little disappointed.

“No we are not journalists” she told him with a soft smile in her voice, “we are just here to help.”

And now he was completely lost; he went silent.

I looked around and saw an elderly man approaching us. He was thin, tall and dark skinned man in his mid sixties. There were stories of hardship written all over his face; dirt ridden miles he had traveled were showing on his veins, countless bids of farewell were shivering in his eyes, and days of malnutrition were pasted on his wrecked lips. He walked with elegance and grace that suited his age.

“Welcome my friends, you seem to have lost your way, I can help you find your way out of here” he said as he came near us.

“No, we are not lost, we are here to …” I hadn’t anticipated answering such simple yet difficult question.

“We are here to live with you people”, Eeman jumped in the conversation with an equally unexpected answer. I looked at her completely surprised and she realized she needed to say more than that.

“We are here to help you find clean water” she so eloquently shrunk the whole idea in a few words.

The old man looked at us trying to find pieces of truth in our words and our faces, I knew what he was thinking; we weren’t the first ones nor the last who had stirred their hopes and then left them on the same dry lands. I looked back at him with as much age and maturity as I could bring onto my face. I thought he even knew what I was trying to do; he smiled and gestured us to follow him.

“Children, go take sahib’s luggage inside” as soon as he said that, the kids had grabbed all of our bags and started running towards a small hut at the beginning of a long line of similar dwellings. I looked at Eeman to see if she wasn’t nervous, but far from that, extremely excited she almost ran after the kids laughing and shouting with them. While I spoke in detail to the old man, of the reasons why we were here. The old man, whose name was Rahim Daad, was neither skeptical nor overjoyed, he listened calmly and assured me off all assistance while we were there in the village.

By the time evening scrolled on the desert sands, I had been introduced to the village men who welcomed me and promised all their help with whatever my plans were; this was extremely unprecedented as I didn’t think I was going to be welcomed like this.

Eeman had disappeared ever since she ran after those children, she was staying in the other section of the hut with the women of the house, Rahim Daad had told me. Just before sunset, I took off towards a sandy hillock just outside the village. Rahim Daad wanted to accompany me but I asked him to carry on with his work.

“Don’t go far, its easy to get lost in this sandy world, you wont find any streets here” he cautioned me.

“I’ll keep that in mind” I said with a smile and walked on.

The day was pretty hot but it was getting surprisingly chilly in the evening, I looked back at the village entrance where my jeep stood covered in dust, “I wish I had brought my cardigan” I thought and kept walking. The evening was extremely serene and quite; I could hear nothing but those soft thuds as my boots sank in the sand. I reached at the top of a raised spot in the middle of the desert and sat down there with my back towards the village that viewed like a long train of huts from that distance; I sat there watching the sun go down.

I couldn’t hear her footsteps in such overwhelming silence as she approached me and stood right next to me. I looked up over my right shoulder and found Eeman standing there with an open mouth and amazed eyes; I didn’t think she had seen such a perfect sunset in her life before. I clutched a corner of her shawl in my index finger and thumb and pushed it down a little. She looked at me and found me smiling.

“The sunset is not over a wall, so if you sit down you can still watch it” I said maintaining that smile on my face. She smiled enough that I could see her teeth shining fairly in that tender light. She sat down next to me and kept staring at the sun.

“I’ve never seen such beautiful sight in my life” she said without taking her eyes off the red sun that looked like a fresh orange.

“Yeah I know” I said calmly.

“Yeah? How do you know?” she finally took her eyes off the sun and placed her soft glance on me.

“Well if I know who was your favorite teacher in grade one, this falls in the easier questions category” I said pointing towards the sun but keeping my eyes on her luminous face.

She laughed a whole-hearted laughter and said, “And I thought you weren’t listening.”

“I had to; couldn’t just jump out the car or could I?” I tried to tease her.

“Well I was keeping you company” she said shrugging her shoulders.

“Yeah I could hear that” I said. And she laughed again.

We remained silent for a few minutes, staring at the sun that had started disappearing in the glowing sand underneath it.

“So what next?” she asked with the excitement of a child.

“Why are you always in a hurry?” I asked politely.

“I don’t know, I just want to know everything I guess”, she said with innocence of a child.

“Sometimes you just let things unfold themselves to you” I spoke to her as if I were her mentor.

“Yeah I get it” she nodded.

“Yeah? Like what?” I asked thinking she didn’t understand what I meant.

“What’s the rush mister, just let it unfold itself to you” she said with lively smile on her and I laughed.

Right then, a young boy came running and shouting towards us, “Sahib, sahib!!!´

I looked at him and as he came to a halt in front of us, he continued in his heavy gasps, “Rahim chacha says he would like you to accompany him to another village where there lives a man who can tell where water lies beneath the earth.”

“Yes sure, tell him that I will definitely go with him” I told the boy.

“Ok, good. He said we will leave soon after the morning prayers” The boy certainly was a good messenger.

“What time is that?” Eeman said before I could ok the whole proposal.

The boy looked a little confused but then he thought for a while and said “I think its five in the morning.”

“Five!!! Can we make it six?” she asked the boy with a plain straightforward tone.

The boy was confused as he looked at me for a refuge. I looked at him and shrugged my shoulders suggesting that even I couldn’t do anything about it.

“Well, ok, I will tell Rahim chacha that you will be ready by six” the boy said and left.

I looked at her questioning her laziness; she stared back at me, shrugged her shoulders saying, “What???” and walked down towards the village. I smiled and walked after her. As we reached near Rahim Daad’s house, Eeman suddenly stopped and ran back to the village’s main street. “I’ve got an idea…” she mumbled something else as well but by that time she had ran out of my sight. I ran after her; Rahim Daad had seen us coming and then abruptly running away, he came after us and so did a number of kids who loved running here and there for no obvious reason.

Eeman ran back to the jeep and started unloading all of our water stock; there were more than five dozen mineral water bottles in there; this was part of our ration for the duration of our stay here. For a moment I just stood there, trying to understand what she was up to.

“Come on, help me with this, we all will have a party tonight; we’ll drink clean water today” she said while picking up a pack of six bottles. While talking to me, she lost concentration and her grip on the pack and it almost fell on the ground when I hurried forward and grabbed it from her. She looked at me trying to find a positive answer to her suggestion.

“Why didn’t I think of it” I said smiling and we took out all the packs from the jeep and placed them on the ground. By that time, Rahim Daad and all the kids were there and she was about to delegate some of the kids to carry the packs back to Rahim Daad’s place when I saw a little caravan entering the village, led by a horseman.

“Oh no. What have they come for?” I heard Rahim Dad uttering a woeful sound. As the horseman came closer, I took a detailed look at him. He was a man of small stature, wearing a clean and somber color robe. He had light beard and mustache; most of his fingers were occupied by large multicolor rings; his horse was spotlessly white and was well groomed. In one look at him, anybody could tell that this man was of considerable prestige in this area.

“What brings you here at this late time of the day Khuda Bakhsh?” Rahim Daad said in a solemn voice, taking a few steps forwards.

The horseman whose name was Khuda Bakhsh descended from his horse and walked up to Rahim Daad staring at me and Eeman with utmost disgust in his eyes.

“You have once again flung wide the gates of your village to these city dwellers who come here for nothing but to proclaim a few words of praise for themselves. I thought we agreed in the last meeting that no such welcome will be extended to any such individual; you’ve broken the accord Rahim Daad” he definitely sounded like an educated person for he was meticulous in choosing his words.

“I know of no such agreement between us Khuda Bakhsh, and these two are my guests for I have promised them my hospitality. And all that you know of me will assure you that I shall not break my promise” Rahim Daad stood tall in front of us two and made his pledge clear to his adversary.

I could see Khuda Bakhsh on the retreat as he couldn’t find any reason to argue further and this, in fact, infuriated him even more. Just then his eyes caught sight of that pile of water bottles. “Bilal, Shahid, Fazal! Pick up these bottles and carry them away” he ordered three of his men to take away those packs and as those three men moved forward, Eeman tried to stand in front of the pile and was about to take a step forward when I held her from her arm and stopped her from doing so. I had seen Rahim Daad offering a silent surrender; I couldn’t find any reason behind this but I could easily tell he didn’t want things to get worse so he remained silent.

As those three men confiscated those packs of bottles, Khuda Bakhsh turned to Rahim Daad and said in a very strong tone, “Why do you relive such painful memories Rahim Daad? How many times do you wish to put your village through this mirage? These people cannot change our tomorrow; do not let them spoil your today.”

Rahim Daad stood there wordless; he preferred remaining silent as this was the only way to make Khuda Bakhsh leave right away; and he did. As soon as all the packs were loaded on their camels, Khuda Bakhsh mounted his horse and took off. Rahim Daad stood there silently, with a somber face, while Eeman frowned with utmost disapproval of that act, “Why didn’t you put up a fight?” she asked Rahim Daad and then turned towards me, “And why did you stop me? I thought we were here to help these people, well there was your chance and you just missed it.” She didn’t wait for any of us to say a word; she turned around and walked quickly away. I thought of going after her but then decided against it as at this moment she wouldn’t have accepted any explanation whatsoever.

Rahim Daad and I walked slowly towards his house, none of us said a word to each other but I knew this affair was going to be discussed amongst the people of the village soon; and I wasn’t wrong. That young boy was sent out to deliver the call for a meeting to every house in the village; by the time we had finished dinner, the invitation had reached every house in the village and men had started appearing from all corners, gathering at the courtyard in front of Rahim Daad’s house.

It was a long meeting but a very fruitful one; they not only explored the history of hostilities committed by Khuda Bakhsh, the spearhead of the biggest village in the region, and his men, but they also talked about all the false promises the Government and numerous NGOs had made to improve the standard of life of these people. A few years ago, Khuda Bakhsh was at the forefront to draw attention of the government as well as other national and international donor agencies towards the brittle condition of the region but years of negligence and empty promises had left him bitter and now he did not tolerate any such intrusion into the region.

The village committee asked me for my credentials as well, “In what capacity can you help us find clean water?” one of the eldest committee members asked me politely.

“First we need to find out where exactly water resources are located deep underneath the surface. Rahim Daad and I will be leaving tomorrow morning for a village nearby where I am told of a person who can track such hidden water resources. Once we are done with that part, I will arrange for the actual drilling of the well” I laid down my plan as briefly as I possibly could.

“My brother, you are missing one point here” said another old fellow, “this is no ordinary land where you can drill wells; we would have done that long time ago but the fact is that the sand doesn’t allow the wells to hold together, to stay intact.”

“Yes, I very much anticipate these problems but I have planned for that …” I started elaborating my plans to them but my mind drifted away from my own words and I started thinking about Eeman. She came here primarily because of me and now she was alone and I was again the reason for that. As soon as the meeting was adjourned, I ran towards Rahim Daad’s place looking for that young boy who had been playing messenger.

“I believe she has gone to sleep” Rahim Daad knew who I was looking for.

“But its hardly nine” I looked at my watch.

“Night falls early in our world” Rahim Daad said with a sad smile and gestured me to follow him.

“The committee seems to have agreed to your proposal and I think that adds to their expectations as well.”

“Yes I am afraid so; that doesn’t leave us with much of a margin for failure” I said with a slight worry in my tone.

Rahim Daad nodded in affirmation and asked me to take some rest, there was a long day ahead of us tomorrow. Sleep already was drowsing on my eyelids but Eeman’s anger wasn’t letting it close them. I kept thinking about her until her though faded into my tired submission.

Rahim Daad politely jolted my shoulder to wake me up; Eeman’s thought woke up with me. I looked at Rahim Daad and was about to ask about her when he said, “She is still asleep I think. Last night before going to bed, she told my wife that she would not accompany us to the other village.” It clearly meant she didn’t want us to see her. I retreated back into my bed with a thud.

“We will leave in half an hour; get ready. I will bring breakfast in a while” Rahim Daad said while going out.

About ten minutes later, Rahim Daad brought in excellent breakfast; perfectly done slices of bread, butter, marmalade and a warm cup of cream coffee. Rahim Daad saw my surprise struck eyes and said, “I could never arrange for this; she prepared your breakfast.” We both looked at each other and then smiled big smiles. I started having my breakfast when Rahim Daad asked, “Is she your wife?” And I nodded in negative taking a sip of coffee.

“Fiancé?”

“No. I don’t know her.” I said spreading butter over a piece of bread.

Rahim Daad sat there for a while all wondered, trying to figure out the whole scenario and then stood up to leave, “We’ll leave in about fifteen minutes.”

It was a long and uncomfortable journey to the village where Ram Daas lived; the fellow who could track water resources beneath the surface. Even worst, Ram Daas had left for the next village where a landlord had asked him to track down his lost buffalo. “Master of all trades” I thought. Rahim Daad decided to follow Ram Daas to the next village since no one had any idea how long will it take him to come back. With a weary heart, I drove down to next village. When we reached there, it took us fifteen more minutes to track down Ram Daas who was in the outskirts of the village.

He was a small man in his early thirties, hardly five feet tall, with a puny frame but there were signs of intelligence in his eyes that made me believe that he must be master of all trades. And it was true, Rahim Daad told me he was a master craftsman as well; he could weave rugs, make furniture, tame horses and camels and build houses of bricks, mud and wood. As soon as he saw us approaching him, he ran towards us and shouted “Rahim chacha, what a good day it is to have seen you.” As soon as he came closer, he hugged Rahim Daad and then shook hands with me so enthusiastically it felt as he would rip off my wrist, “So good to meet you sir.” He sure was a very warm and friendly person.

“So tell me chacha, you are here for pleasant reasons, I hope no trouble has seen the door to your house; I heard Khuda Bakhsh was there last night” he asked with a mix of hope and worry.

“Everything is fine Ram Daas, everything is fine” Rahim Daad said, “Khuda Bakhsh brings no new worry for us. But we need your help with something very important.”

“Anything, anything at all” Ram Daas said humbly but with great anticipation.

“This gentleman here has come from the city” Rahim Daad said pointing at me, “He is going to help us find clean drinking water; for that we need your skills.”

“I can locate water reservoirs beneath the surface, my grandfather taught me this art” Ram Daas said with an aura of pride in his voice.

“Yes, we all know that and no one has ever denied your skills; that’s why we are here.”

“I will accompany you right away, as soon as I find this buffalo, its been missing since morning and the landlord Hukam Zaman has personally asked me to find it before sunset” Ram Daas asked for sometime which Rahim Daad agreed to. I insisted that we stay with Ram Daas for any help he might need. Ram Daas got even more excited and kept telling us stories of how many lost goats and buffaloes he has successfully found. I could easily see that he was not exaggerating; with his skills now wonder everyone would’ve turned to him for help.

Tactfully, he moved between countless footmarks of various animals and picked up the trail left by that particular buffalo. In less than an hour, he had tracked down the buffalo that had relinquished itself into a trench some two miles out of the village.

“Poor old soul, she must have wandered off the herd” Ram Daas tapped the animal with affection. I was extremely impressed with his skills and knew right away that Rahim Daad had chosen the right person for the job.

By the time we got back to our village, the sun was about to drown into the far corner of this vast sea of sand. We were still a hundred yards from the village when I saw her standing their in a posture that showed impatience and anticipation. I had a feeling she had been standing there for quite sometime. A few more moments and she couldn’t wait; her patience ran out as she hurried towards us. I slowed down the jeep and stopped as she came closer. Rahim Daad moved slowly and went to the rear of jeep, sitting face to face with Ram Daas. She hopped in and started firing those questions that were roaming in her head since morning; “So did you find him? Where’s the guy? Is he any good? What took you so long? You think we are going to make it?”

I smiled politely at her and pointed towards Ram Daas, “He is the guy. Meet Mr. Ram Daas.”

She looked back at him, threw him a blank hello and then looked back at me again with a question mark.

“As much as I know, he is the one we want” I said with a firm voice.

She looked back at Rahim Daad this time.

“He is the best tracker this region has seen in a hundred years” Rahim Daad vouched for him.

Hearing this, she was relieved; she looked back again at Ram Daas and welcome him on the team with utmost warmth in her voice this time. I smiled again and drove off towards the village.

Rahim Daad took Ram Daas to his home asking him to take rest as tomorrow we would leave in search of reservoirs. Eeman remained seated in the jeep and so did I.

“So you are angry no more!” I looked at her with a warm smile.

“I wasn’t angry even then; but wanted to make a point” she replied with an even warmer smile.

“Point well taken” I laughed.

“Yeah?” she looked for an elaboration.

“Well, life is too short, let’s not waste it while waiting. Right?”

“Correct, you got it” she seemed satisfied and back to her usual self now.

“And … thanks” I said with a hint of a whisper in my voice.

“For?” she asked even though I was certain she knew what I was talking about.

“The breakfast” I said with another smile.

“You don’t have to thank me, I didn’t make it for you” she said with an extreme shine in her eyes.

I looked at her with a bewildered face.

“I made it for Rahim chacha but he refused to have it and gave it to you, and I didn’t say no” she said shrugging her shoulders.

I went silent, thinking of an answer to this situation.

She looked at me with a somber face and then burst into laughter, “I am kidding you stupid.”

I nodded my head and started laughing with her.

“So did you miss me while you were gone?”

I didn’t know what she meant by that; this time I couldn’t tell the expression on her face, I couldn’t describe it. For a moment I thought I would say yes and would tell her that I truly had been thinking about her since last night but then decided against it.

“Of course I missed you” I said with a sarcastic smile on my face, “I mean there was this buffalo we couldn’t catch and naturally you would’ve been a very handy resource there.”

She laughed out again, “Good one, good one.”

We walked down towards Rahim Daad’s home. She reached the door of the women’s section and stopped. I walked a few more steps and stopped; looking back at her to say good night since I didn’t think I would be able to see her again till morning.

“Good night” she said as the last rays of sun washed her face and left a soft gleam on her skin.

“Good night” I tried to give out another smile.

She was about to turn away into the house and I had almost turned back when she stopped and looked at me, “I missed you” she said with a softened voice, almost a whisper and then disappeared into the house.

She deliberately chose that moment so that she didn’t have to face me afterwards and I couldn’t say anything in response. I stood there for a few moments, numbed; then I realized what had happened and walked towards Rahim Daad’s room, happy as a sand boy.

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