Horizons

ran could feel his muscles relax and knew that Shehla was observing him.
"Alright that’s a relief.” Faran said with an embarrassing smile. And she again laughed.. Faran noticed that her laugh was rather a beautiful melody and he liked it. He thought about a good question so give a good impression. He wished Zain was there. He had the gift to analyze women in seconds. He could come up with stories about them that were ninety nine percent true but the most interesting fact of his life was, 23 years of his life he was never seen with a women.
“So tell me about you…. you are?”, Shehla started as she put back her cute smile.
“Faran. Faran Nasir.Im 23.Im doing B.B.I.T from Punjab university.” Faran ended feeling happy about being honest. He could have bluffed her and played games. But there was something about her that made him tell her frankly even that he did wet his bed until he turned eight.
“Why B.B.I.T?”, she asked suddenly with a thoughtful expression. Faran leaned forward. He had always given complicated answers to his family and others whenever they asked him about his career. But to Shehla he told the truth.
“I couldn’t think of anything other than this.”, he thought she would laugh but she leaned back and asked more seriously,
“So you don’t have any plan.”
“Plan?”
“U know…. study. Career…job…marriage…. kids. Grandchildren…retirement….”, she stressed on the word marriage
“I do have a plan. Its just I don’t rush things.”, Shehla sipped from her mug. Faran saw she was drinking coke. The woman is drinking coke in a mug that she brought from home! Faran felt a little uneasy in the silence that followed..
“So what do u do?” When Faran asked her he felt as if he had disturbed her from a deep thought.
“What?” she asked vaguely and then started of her usual laughs. Faran noticed the attractiveness in her laugh when her lips stretched out exposing her straight white even teeth and the sparkle in her eyes.
“Actually I was wondering about the first time a family came to see me when I was only nineteen…the guy’s face was like a screw driver and they had plans to just take me with them. I mean this word clicked to my mind as soon as I saw him.” she laughed.
”And when he asked me about my favorite actor. I accidentally said screw driver!” Her tone had changed. Her eyes were shining as if she had suddenly found confidence in him. But faran was worried. What was she thinking about him then? Faran could not associate his face with any of the tools.
“…. U know more like a flat tyre with punctures all over….”, Shehla was speaking . So Faran was the flat tyre for her. He decided to play even with her the way she was. No more Mr. nice guy,
“Do you have boyfriends?” he asked
“Sorry?”
“Do you have boyfriends?”
“Define boyfriend”, she asked smartly
“A boy who is a friend”…said Faran with an assuring smile
“Yeah ive got many boyfriends“
“Great”
“What about you?”
“Nah I’m clean”, Faran said cool
“No I mean girlfriends?”
“No I don’t. I said I was clean”
Shehla suddenly raised her hand…drew attention from the waiter and without looking at the menu or consulting Faran ordered two regular fajita pizzas.
##########
After about twenty minutes Faran and Shehla were in a conversation regarding the periodic table. Faran was good at organic chemistry and Shehla got a distinction in chemistry in O’levels. It all started when Shehla asked him about his favorite element. They did so as they munched garlic bread and waited for their order.
“You haven’t told me about your hobbies yet miss Shehla?”
“Irst off olll…ca’ me Shehla…”, .
“Alright Shehla so what do u do when uve got nothing better to do?” Shehla took her time and swallowed her bolus. They hadn’t even introduced each other properly and they had deeply discussed elements rather argued…according to Shehla hydrogen was the lightest gas but Faran argued that its not confirmed yet.
“I do a lot of things actually. Rather I believe in doing a lot of things I’m a journalist by profession and I’m looking for a job in Lahore. I write in magazines. I practice and then I give art lessons. All that I learned in New York. I was born here but I have lived all my life there and I also work at the local gallery in the pottery department. Actually my father is Christian. His name was Peter Albert. But now he’s called Masood Saleem Albert. My mother met him in new York.”, she paused and smiled, Faran was listening intently as he was waiting for such a thing to come out of her.
“My dad saw my mother at the bank and then he started following her…it all started…he invited her to dates and concerts. She kept telling him that she was a Muslim and it wont work out…but it eventually did. My mother went to New York University. When she came back. My father came to Pakistan with her and asked her hand in marriage from my maternal grand parents.”, she stopped and started off again. Faran had stopped chewing the bread. The waiter came up with the pizzas.
“its really hot so please be careful lovely people..”, he said cheerfully and then left. Faran was somewhere in New York spying on Shehla’s parents dating. he imagined Shehla’s mom as a tall and tan Pakistani beauty. And her dad to be well built and handsome. He didn’t feel like eating. He wanted her to never end the story. And Shehla began.
“At first they didn’t agree. Now that’s obvious! But my father assured them that he was all alone in this world. Brought up by his teacher when his parents died in a local train crash. I mean car crash…but it was the religion that was causing the problem so believe it or not he converted. He didn’t convert for himself. He converted for love.” she looked at Faran and then sipped from her mug.
“Then what happened?” asked Faran
“Then I happened.” and both of them gave an effortless giggle.
Shehla started her pizza wondering about Faran’s background.
“You know what I can see the good looks from your father travel down till here Shehla Bano”
“Its Shehla Mr. Faran”, this time she said it without swallowing. Faran took a bite.
“Tell me about you.” asked Shehla.
“Well we Pakistanis have a very simple standard story u know. I hope my parents would have also fallen in love like yours. And then the way your father came and fought for his love. It’s more like a prince fighting with a dragon for his love. Very entertaining.” Shehla was listening while she enjoyed her pizza. Faran noticed that she had picked out all the capsicum and tomatoes and kept them on the side of her plate.
“In Pakistan nothing such happens. Even thinking about something like that is a sin.” Faran expressed amusement and added,
“Even if the marriage is arranged and somebody jokes that’s it’s a love agreement. The marriage is dissolved. My mother never saw my father until Nikah. You know what a Nikah is right?” Faran realized that his accent had switched to being more American. He pronounced the ‘s’ and the ‘t’ in a way that he would never do around his family or friends. Shehla raised her eyebrow.
“Yes the qabool hai qabool hai qabool hai part right?” Shehla had a good Urdu accent.
“Yes that’s right, so after Nikah the first time my mother saw my father. The first thing she did was greeted him.” Shehla smiled and for a second drowned in a thought.
“ And then it all began. They eventually did fall in love. They have been married for the past 24 years and till today they have been living like friends. And happy”
“So you believe in love?” asked Shehla
“I do believe that my parents marriage was totally arranged but they did eventually fall in love. So why all the today’s generation bullshit and why not just marry the way it is there in our culture.” As Faran finished Shehla leaned back and asked,
“You do believe all this don’t you?”
“Of course!!”
“Then why are you here?” Faran looked at Shehla for a moment and felt as if he had no answer.
“That’s because…uh…. my friends set me up…you see…they just forced me to come.”, Faran stammered, he knew it was a lame reason but he didn’t want Shehla to take him wrong either. Shehla sipped from her mug
“So technically were both wasting time…”
“Oh no. I don’t think so…. don’t take me wrong,”
“Are you trying to say that you like me?”
“Yes of course I like you. I mean no…yes…no don’t take me wrong…” Faran became quite knowing it was no use. Shehla seemed amused as if she was playing chess and her opponent had lost his mind. She relaxed and sipped the never-ending coke from her mug. She slowly said,
“I understand you Faran.”
“ Oh thank you…”, Faran began feeling good that the weird part of the date was over.
“I mean I understand boys your age like to trap girls and then call them girlfriends…you all would like a trophy sitting next to you in the car wont you? For everyone to see. Something that would make you a bigger person. Would give you respect...and that is why you all readily agree to meet…you people don’t even care what if the other person is a terrorist or a suicide bomber…that’s your true side.” Shehla finished. Faran could feel his ears becoming hot. What did this woman think of herself? Ok fine she’s good looking but that does not mean she can insult anybody. Where was this all heading? Faran shot back,
“Ahan? Oh really? So tell me? What was the emergency? Did the latest and hottest boyfriend dump miss Shehla so she had to agree to a blind date besides having such a realistic approach?” Faran asked in the most irritating manner. But Shehla’s smile widened and he hated it this time.
“Oh come on Faran…why are we getting into this stupid conversasion. Were here to know each other right? And you know what I think? If we are made for each other so no matter what we do. We will be married. So it does not matter if we meet here or in New York or after Nikah”, Faran realized she was right. And they were just about to ruin a nice evening.
“So tell me about your job?” asked Shehla with interest
“I was working at a call center first. But as I got promoted. I had to leave the job because”
“Because?”
“Because I got bored simple!” Shehla smiled.
“So will it work?” Faran asked without any uneasiness after a short pause
“I think yes. I mean I don’t have any problem for another date. I mean people fall in love when they see each other too much. And at the moment I have got no spice in my life. Not even a job. So it basically depends on you if you want to fall in love with me or not” Faran blinked. He felt as if he was there to sell her something but she had proved that something to be the worst of its kind. All he could say was
“Alright” but in his heart he said, yeah right!
Faran and Shehla finished their pizzas and discussed more about the advantages of being the single child. All the adventures they had had. Faran told her about his friends and his liking for box office movies. Shehla told him about living alone and spending. Both found each other intelligent, mannered and extremely entertaining. But neither of them expressed anything in their conversation. After sometime it was time to say goodbye as Shehla had an interview in the morning in the Dawn head office. They exchanged their phone numbers and said good-bye. Shehla was obviously given the wrong one. Faran left is his car and went straight to Zain’s house. Shehla drove herself around the parking area.
After 20 minutes. She came back to where they were sitting. She told the receptionist that she had lost her bracelet. She bent down under the table, picked her bracelet, along with a recorder and a removed microphones from the seats. The waiter who had brought the pizzas brought forward an envelope and handed it to her. She took out a thousand rupees bill from her purse and handed back. They both smiled and then Shehla actually left carefully clutching to the envelope