Farewell in the Face of Social Barriers
Whispers of Love, Shouts of Society
Sakina’s heart overflowed with sorrow, tears welled up in her eyes, perhaps she also felt that this was the last day of our meeting in our life, it was the last day of college. We finished our work and strolled outside the main gate. When we arrived, there were benches outside the main gate, where the students used to sit. Seeing the bench empty, we both went and sat there, we both remained silent for a long time, maybe we could not meet each other’s eyes.
For a while, it seemed as if the heart in the cage of bones had collapsed, the eyes had closed, the disease of love had eaten away the life as if it had become dark everywhere, and the splendor of life had ended. There is no chance of happiness on either side. I was engrossed in my thoughts with my face down, wearing the crown of love failure on my head, when Sakina raised her face and placed her hand on my shoulder.
She tried to comfort me, she started moving her face and wanted to say something with her mouth, but her lips were trembling, maybe because of the pain, she had no words left.
After a while of silence, Sakina raised her face and said a few words with her sad face and wet eyes, "Man always needs others for his happiness, I never thought that life would drag me to such a point, where feelings, emotions will sow such a trap for me that I will not be able to get rid of them." While talking, her face turned pale, her lips began to wobble, and her hands started shivering. Perhaps at that time, Sakina’s pain had reached its peak.
The pain she endured was not witnessed by me; Sakina’s distress tore at my heart, and with determination, I consoled Sakina, saying, "Sakina, I am the perpetrator of your emotions, your feelings and this society too is your assailant; every member of this society is your assailant. Your emotions, your love—they are all victims of this society."
"I will not be able to bear the pain of your separation, Ilyas" Sakina’s face was filled with surprise, pain, and curiosity, she started saying to me, "This society and the concept of wealth in society has ruined two lives." Her lips trembled while talking and she sat silently with her face down.
There was silence for a while, Sakina was lost in her thoughts, I also started remembering in my thoughts the moments when our love started, our love started in the college canteen where I met her for the first time, I saw her while she was drinking tea. Her colors were different. She looked strangely beautiful, a beautiful girl, wearing a scarf, with mascara on her big bright eyes. That day in the canteen, I could not stop looking at her, my eyes were not moving away from her. This was the beginning of our love, and afterward, we continued to meet each other. We didn’t know when we reached the culmination of love. Days passed, time went by, and today was the last day of college. I was lost in the thoughts of the past, when Sakina spoke some words in her mouth, "Ilyas your father is a big businessman in this city and I am the daughter of a poor shopkeeper, On these social grounds we can never belong to each other, We can never have each other, never! We can never defeat this society."
These words of Sakina continued to tear my body for some time, if I had a bomb, I would have blown up this society, but in front of the power of the society, my strength was nothing. I could only gaze at Sakina; her face had turned pale in the failure of love and defeat. With tears flowing from her eyes she stood up and said goodbye and left. As I watched Sakina leave, the societal norms had left us stranded with no words, no solution, just a poignant sense of our separation.
Nasrullah Jalbani 2024
