CHAPTER 8. MERCILESS SKIES

I woke up with a roar of machines and it felt as if they had engulfed the whole village and were trying to ground it with tremors so furious they made the morning sound horrible. For a moment I couldn’t figure out what it was but then I recalled my conversation with Salman and I knew right away, the team had arrived. I ran out the hut and towards the main entrance of the village. Rahim Daad, along with many of the village’s men and children was already there, staring at those giant machines that had stopped just outside the village and stared at it with mean arrogance.

“They are here” I tapped Rahim Daad on his shoulder while passing him by and running towards those giant vehicles. A man appeared form an SUV and walked towards me; I had a feeling he was in charge of the drilling team.

“You must be Rafeel Khan” he said in a loud voice as he approached me.

“Yes that’s me; I had a talk with Salman Durrani yesterday afternoon” I said.

“Yes, I got my orders and I am here with all I have. Salman will be coming over in a couple of days and I think we will need the media people then” he informed me as we walked towards the village.

“Rahim Chacha, these are the people who will drill the wells, he is …” I definitely didn’t know his name.

“I am Waseem Ahmad, the chief engineer, I run this whole team” Waseem introduced himself while shaking hands with Rahim Daad.

“Welcome to our village, it’s a great pleasure to have you here” Rahim Daad welcomed him and afterwards gave orders to some of the men to take care of the guests. The rest of the team was escorted towards the largest cottage in the village, while Rahim Daad, Waseem and I walked into the little hut where I was staying. I wanted to have a long session of discussion with Waseem but Rahim Daad quite wisely suggested breakfast and some rest instead. I had to wait until noon to have a chance of conversing with Waseem.

The wait was worthwhile; sine after having talked to Waseem I had figured out he knew his work and knew exactly what was to be done. While he was explaining me the whole procedure of drilling wells, my mind drifted towards a strange fact; everything had fallen into its place so subtly, so perfectly. From Eeman to Rahim Daad, from Ram Daas to Waseem, everyone fitted in like fictional characters in some movie script. It was then I realized it was God’s will and there was nothing that could stop it from happening; there were no obstacles, there were no fears.

In the evening, Ram Daas, Rahim Daad and I took Waseem and a number of his crew members to the sights we had marked with having the possibility of containing a water reservoir. Even those experienced and learned experts were impressed with the skills of Ram Daas and I had a feeling they were thinking of making sure he works for them as well. This was getting better and better.

In next few days, Waseem’s team finalized two marked places where drilling will actually take place. Salman had arrived and so did all the media people. I had arranged for a small ceremony and everything was in place when Rahim Daad reminded me of something I was missing; Eeman.

“I honestly think she will protest at not being informed about so many things that have happened over the days. Why don’t you call her on her phone?” Rahim Daad suggested.

“I don’t have her cell number” I said with an anger that was only directed at myself.

“You have ceased to surprise me anymore” Rahim Daad surprised me with his first sarcastic comment, but I sort of enjoyed it.

“Don’t worry I will arrange for it” I tried to smile.

“And how are you going to do that?” he was right since I didn’t have a clue what village she was in.

I looked at him for help and he smiled, “I’ll make sure she gets here before the celebrations begin.”

Not surprisingly, Rahim Daad proved to be a man of his words; within next twelve hours Eeman was back; and with a bang. She entered the village like a hurricane; extremely excited and impatient. Within half an hour she had met the whole engineering team and found out all their names as well as what they had in lunch. She actually drilled down that drilling team; from their experiences to their educational background and from their ethnicity to their marital status, she had found everything about them. And that was not it, soon after this session, there was another session where she dug deep into all the details of drilling wells; she so vehemently asked questions relating to geology, geo physics, mechanical and construction engineering that for a moment I thought she was cross-examining the credentials of those experts. Waseem would quite often look at me during that storm of technical and no-technical, insightful and sometimes stupendously insane questions; and all I could do in return was to shrug my shoulders or look down and start counting the pebbles on the ground.

For her, I wasn’t even there; for those couple of hours I didn’t even exist. By the time she was done with her questioning, I thought she could lead a team of her own engineers.

“You guys are great, I am so glad that you’ve come” she finally stamped her approval and I saw a wave of relief spread across the cottage room.

“Thank you, we are glad to be here” Waseem said in a humble tone, “And you are…” he definitely had no idea who she was.

“Oh, sorry, I am just one of the persons helping these people find water” she answered the vaguest answer possible and left him even more bewildered.

“And I am Rafeel” I said to her with a hint of taunt as we walked out of the room.

“Oh really; nice to meet you Rafeel” she said with an equal hint of tease and I laughed.

The media event turned out to be great; there were news reports running throughout the day on two of country’s largest channels while news and articles had appeared in newspapers and current affairs magazines throughout the country. Salman and his company got what they wanted while it was the turn of the people of Thar to get the favor back.

In next five weeks there was great progress; the machines had been placed and actual digging had begun. Eeman and I were constantly at the site, watching and learning every step of the activity. Rahim Daad would remain there as well for most of the morning and evening, however during the day he would return to his place to attend to his daily chores. Ram Daas had already left for his village but had promised he would keep visiting us on and off.

Things were going as planned until one day, a subdued fear in the back of my head, took shape and appeared in real. It was an early morning of week seven when I saw a large cloud of dust rolling on the ground and moving towards the drilling site. It was Khuda Bakhsh, whose patience had finally run out and who had finally gathered enough force behind him to stand as an obstacle in front of this operation. Unfortunately there was no Rahim Daad around to argue with him and to evade him. I saw fierce anger appearing on Eeman’s face as she saw Khuda Bakhsh approaching the site, sitting on his spotless white horse and accompanied by at least a hundred men armed with axes and guns.

“I thought you city dwellers would go away after that publicity feast you enjoyed a few weeks back, but it seems like you are determined to pollute my motherland with your disgusting presence” he said as he halted his men right next to Salman’s SUV.

“We are here to help Khuda Bakhsh, and you can clearly see that we didn’t just offer you our words, we are proving it with our actions” I tried to convince him of our intentions by pointing towards the large machine that had stopped drilling after the commotion.

“I have seen this before; these people, these companies drill wells in land and once they have got what they wanted, they abandon it like an unwanted child, they leave the place making it a hell to live and I, Khuda Bakhsh, the landlord of this ground which you dig, forbid you from doing so. Leave or I swear upon the head of my daughter that I shall have my men make you leave” he roared like a wounded lion whose kingdom was being taken away by some less royal beasts.

“We shall not leave this place until we have found water here and no one, not even you and your thousand men can stop us” before I could think of a way out, Eeman jumped into the conversation by standing in tall in front of Khuda Bakhsh.

This worsened the situation as Khuda Bakhsh didn’t approve of a lady from some city threatening his authority. Salman, Waseem and I tried to reason with him but I knew destruction was inevitable since that was the only thing on the mind of Khuda Bakhsh; that was the only thing he had come to do and he couldn’t afford to lose his credibility by backing off now. I had sent one of the boys to the village to bring Rahim Daad but we couldn’t indulge Khuda Bakhsh in argument for that long. He ordered his men to destroy the well and uproot the tents. Eeman tried to stop them but I grabbed her from her arm and pulled her away from there. I can’t remember all that she called me as well as Khuda Bakhsh and his men, but it was that furious anger that I knew only stemmed from her pain she was suffering at that moment.

Within fifteen minutes, the site was ruined; they ruined the well, ripped off the tents and burst the wheels of the Caterpillars. Fortunately they didn’t hurt anyone in the crew. I held Eeman in my arms in a way that she couldn’t watch all this; but she had already given up as she wasn’t trying to resist her way out of my grip anymore.

When Khuda Bakhsh and his men had left, Salman and Waseem approached me and stood there in silence.

“I don’t think its going to work” Salman said in a broken voice.

I didn’t have any answer at that moment; I didn’t want to analyze the situation at that time so I remained silent.

“This could endanger my men as well, I think we better pull these men off” Salman continued in his broken voice.

Before I could say anything to convince him, Eeman wrested herself off my grip and said in the midst of a couple of controlled sobs, “I am going home.”

I tried to say something but she looked at me with so much anger that I knew anything I say would infuriate her even more. She asked Salman if he could take her to the city which he agreed to do as he was leaving the place himself. Within in next ten minutes the team had started leaving. They left the damaged machines behind to be picked up later. I stood there silently with a dirt ridden face and watched them leave in their vans one by one. Far in the horizon, another dust storm was disappearing. I looked up towards the sky, there was not a thread of white there; it was all mercilessly dull blue.

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