press down her swollen cheeks filled with silent laughter. She was going to make herself comfortable on the portable bed.
‘Well, something terrible happened last night, Sardara Jee.
Haram! Haram!
It took place here in our village, I tell you. Can you believe it?’
Sardara’s face straightened into a deadpan expression, as she stared with rapt attention at Kulsoom.She slipped down onto the charpoy, not caring that she was sitting on the wrong, uncomfortable side, with big gaps in it. The strong jute ropes dug straight into the soft flabby flesh of her thighs.
Relishing immensely the narrator’s role she was playing, Kulsoom generously decided to get straight to the point for her dear friend’s sake and thus rid her of her misery. By the look of things the poor woman hadn’t even had breakfast yet – and what a feast she had got up from!
Casting a quick fearful look over her shoulder, Kulsoom’s voice sank into a semi-whisper as she hissed under her breath. ‘Haroon was caught with another woman in a haram situation!’
‘
What
?’ Sardara’s arthritis-ridden legs and ample body almost leapt off the charpoy, making her suddenly and painfully conscious of where she was sitting; normally she sat on a plump cushion or two. She carefully massaged the tender sore flesh of her thighs over her shalwar.
‘Yes, Sardara Jee. He apparently spent the night in the arms of that whore!’
‘What? Who? Why?’ Sardara’s mouth dropped open, a look of pure incredulity shining on her face.
‘Fatima’s niece! That witch who has come to plague our village with her urban fashion and masses of hair draped wantonly around her face and shoulder. That shameless hussy!’
‘But … but …’ Sardara’s words, to her annoyance, had got jammed in her throat. ‘How? Why? When? I don’t understand it! She’s only been here for two days.’ She herself had seen the woman arrive. Her red Toyota car was parked just outside Sardara’s farmyard.
‘Exactly!’ Kulsoom Bibi nodded at her friend.‘That is the extent of her evil powers – the magic
jadoo
she has woven around our Haroon, that he left his wife’s bed and went seeking hers. We don’t know how many
tweez
she made him drink!’
‘Do you really think they have done
that
? You know what I mean.’ A warm blush spreading fast over Sardara’s brown cheeks.
‘I don’t honestly know’, Kulsoom stammered, also flushed with embarrassment. ‘I wasn’t there, but they must have done
something
surely, to bring Hajra storming into Fatima’s home straight after dawn and then to pull and push the wanton hussy around the courtyard by her hair.’
‘Oh, Allah pak forgive us! Did she really?’ Sardara’s eyes were now almost jumping out of their sockets in pure wonder. Then ‘
Allah hulla kuwata
.’ The beseeching Arabic words automatically drifted out from her mouth as her hands went to touch her ears in a gesture of
mafi
, asking Allah for forgiveness.
Kulsoom watched her friend’s reactions with pleasure. Just to glimpse Sardara’s shocked face, was near enough worth three
tholas
of gold. For the milk woman was one of those well-composed people, who never or very rarely became ruffled. Nothing ever surprised her. Nothing ever threw her off-balance. Today, on the contrary, Sardara had apparently lost her bearings completely. Her big, round face was rapidly changing colour and expression.
‘Oh, you missed it all!’ Kulsoom told her. ‘Then her aunt slapped her across the face. The poor chit fell against the verandah pillar, hitting her head. She sat there in stunned pain unable to make sense of what was happening to her. All that violence aimed at her at one go. Then would you believe it, Haroon turned up,presumably to defend his whore. His mother-in-law turned on him, spitting straight on his face. Then Fatima Jee banged the door in our faces! Can you believe it? Banged it in both his and
our
faces – pushing us all out and verbally abusing us at the same
‘Well, something terrible happened last night, Sardara Jee.
Haram! Haram!
It took place here in our village, I tell you. Can you believe it?’
Sardara’s face straightened into a deadpan expression, as she stared with rapt attention at Kulsoom.She slipped down onto the charpoy, not caring that she was sitting on the wrong, uncomfortable side, with big gaps in it. The strong jute ropes dug straight into the soft flabby flesh of her thighs.
Relishing immensely the narrator’s role she was playing, Kulsoom generously decided to get straight to the point for her dear friend’s sake and thus rid her of her misery. By the look of things the poor woman hadn’t even had breakfast yet – and what a feast she had got up from!
Casting a quick fearful look over her shoulder, Kulsoom’s voice sank into a semi-whisper as she hissed under her breath. ‘Haroon was caught with another woman in a haram situation!’
‘
What
?’ Sardara’s arthritis-ridden legs and ample body almost leapt off the charpoy, making her suddenly and painfully conscious of where she was sitting; normally she sat on a plump cushion or two. She carefully massaged the tender sore flesh of her thighs over her shalwar.
‘Yes, Sardara Jee. He apparently spent the night in the arms of that whore!’
‘What? Who? Why?’ Sardara’s mouth dropped open, a look of pure incredulity shining on her face.
‘Fatima’s niece! That witch who has come to plague our village with her urban fashion and masses of hair draped wantonly around her face and shoulder. That shameless hussy!’
‘But … but …’ Sardara’s words, to her annoyance, had got jammed in her throat. ‘How? Why? When? I don’t understand it! She’s only been here for two days.’ She herself had seen the woman arrive. Her red Toyota car was parked just outside Sardara’s farmyard.
‘Exactly!’ Kulsoom Bibi nodded at her friend.‘That is the extent of her evil powers – the magic
jadoo
she has woven around our Haroon, that he left his wife’s bed and went seeking hers. We don’t know how many
tweez
she made him drink!’
‘Do you really think they have done
that
? You know what I mean.’ A warm blush spreading fast over Sardara’s brown cheeks.
‘I don’t honestly know’, Kulsoom stammered, also flushed with embarrassment. ‘I wasn’t there, but they must have done
something
surely, to bring Hajra storming into Fatima’s home straight after dawn and then to pull and push the wanton hussy around the courtyard by her hair.’
‘Oh, Allah pak forgive us! Did she really?’ Sardara’s eyes were now almost jumping out of their sockets in pure wonder. Then ‘
Allah hulla kuwata
.’ The beseeching Arabic words automatically drifted out from her mouth as her hands went to touch her ears in a gesture of
mafi
, asking Allah for forgiveness.
Kulsoom watched her friend’s reactions with pleasure. Just to glimpse Sardara’s shocked face, was near enough worth three
tholas
of gold. For the milk woman was one of those well-composed people, who never or very rarely became ruffled. Nothing ever surprised her. Nothing ever threw her off-balance. Today, on the contrary, Sardara had apparently lost her bearings completely. Her big, round face was rapidly changing colour and expression.
‘Oh, you missed it all!’ Kulsoom told her. ‘Then her aunt slapped her across the face. The poor chit fell against the verandah pillar, hitting her head. She sat there in stunned pain unable to make sense of what was happening to her. All that violence aimed at her at one go. Then would you believe it, Haroon turned up,presumably to defend his whore. His mother-in-law turned on him, spitting straight on his face. Then Fatima Jee banged the door in our faces! Can you believe it? Banged it in both his and
our
faces – pushing us all out and verbally abusing us at the same
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