As soon as she left the hospital, she took a deep breath. The breath that had been trapped behind the mask all day seemed to have been released from her lungs now. The patients of the day, their relatives, injections, medicines, files — all were echoing in her mind like a crowd.
The street was in the usual evening chaos.
The shutters of the shops were half open, half closed…
The aroma of spices was sometimes sharp, sometimes mixed with stale smoke…
The smell of minced meat samosas was causing a strange excitement in her stomach.
The pungency of green chillies at the vegetable vendor seemed to sting her eyes, and the steam of boiling tea was rising from the nearby tea stall…
She fumbled for her wallet from her pocket, listened to the noise of the rickshaw pullers, thinking that a long list of household chores awaited her once she reached home. Cooking, folding clothes, packing dishes, minor cleaning. Despite this, her heart was stuck somewhere else. The one who seemed to have changed from the previous days.
As she thought about it, another confusion grew in her heart. He was behaving strangely these days. Quiet, aloof, as if he were hiding a secret, as if he were keeping a distance. The squinting while talking, the silence at mealtimes, and that late night stay. All these were not ordinary things.
As soon as she opened the door of the house, a strange solemnity enveloped her. No light, no sound. As soon as she stepped inside, the atmosphere felt as if time had stopped.
She slowly moved inside. He was sitting alone in the room. His body was leaning against the back of a chair, a glass on the table in front of him. And the liquid it contained—red, dark, sparkling in the light. A bottle was placed next to the glass, half full, as if it had just been opened. He picked up the glass in his hand and began to move it in a circular motion. The crunch of ice cubes could be heard clearly—the only sound breaking the silence of the room…
His heart began to beat faster. For a moment, his eyes misted over. The ground seemed to slip from under her feet.
Ah—what a sight. The truth of his changed attitude was before her today.
She looked at him silently for a moment, then muttered under her breath—
“Rooh Afza on the rocks? Really?”
Shabana Mukhtar