The bell rang causing a wave of children to exit the iron gates of the school. In the huge commotion that followed, Salim stood at the opposite side of the road, searching for Aisha. He saw his daughter come running towards the junction with a wide grin. He gestured her to stay right where she was as the road was particularly busy at this time of the day. He had also just witnessed an accident at another crossing just ten kilometers from the school. As he crossed the road, he held out his hands for Aisha to grab. She grabbed his sweaty and tortured palm – tortured by the underpaid and long hours of work that he had to do at the nearby brick factory.
They reached home an hour later and were welcomed by a group of elderly men who were being served hot chai by Salim’s wife. As they sipped their chai, one of the village elders remarked, “You should know better than to send your daughter to school. It is a dangerous world out there! Too dangerous for girls – old or young. You should keep her at home.” Salim merely smiled as he dropped Aisha on the ground. Aisha ran inside to hug her mother.
They always reached after sunset. Salim’s supervisor was kind enough to lend him some time to drop and pick up his daughter everyday from school. Salim would then make up for the time by working extra time on the weekend.
The routine continued. Every day. Every year, for the next seven years. Aisha, then, learned to ride a cycle to school. She seemed to be talked about in her village – in more ways than one. Some said “Oh, she is going to become a great doctor and bring pride to our village!” while others continued to pour in their condolencses and mocked Salim for sending a girl out of the village to study. TO STUDY!
Years passed and one day, as Aisha was returning home in her cycle, she noticed the same group of old men sitting outside her house. They were drinking chai. Nothing unusual, except this time, there were a few unknown people too. She did not like the look on her father’s face.
As she parked her cycle, her mother rushed out and pulled her into the house. “Get changed!”, she said. “What is happening?”, asked Aisha. “They have brought a proposal for you.”, said her mother.
Two hours later, as Aisha was helping her mother wash the empty chai tumblers, Salim called her from outside. He asked her to sit beside him. “What do you think of the boy?”, he asked. Aisha did not talk for sometime. Salim understood her tacit response. He patted her back and said “Don’t worry, Dr. Aisha! This is not happening now. ”
*****
Six years later, Salim was woken up by an announcement. He was on board an airplane. Though he did not seem to understand the announcement in english, he knew he had reached the destination as he looked outside the window. He grabbed the one bag he had brought from home and thought about his wife, who had passed away recently due to a terminal illness. “I wish you were here with me now.”, he thought as he smiled at the air hostess greeting him out of the plane.
A few minutes later, he stepped outside the airport. He searched for her. His eyesight was failing him as he strained to find his daughter. He finally caught her walking towards him. Aisha had gone to a big city to become a doctor. There was quite an uproar at his village as people feared how a girl could survive on her own in a big city. But, Aisha made it and tomorrow was her graduation.
Salim took a step towards the road as Aisha waved to him and asked him to wait. As she came closer, she opened her arms to hug her father as tears rolled down his cheeks. She grabbed his bag in one hand and his hand in the other. He clutched her hand as they began to cross the road.
Author’s note: Dedicated to all the cool dads of the world. I wrote this to not lose touch with my writing as it has been ages. Don’t be alarmed if it seemed too rusty.
myhappyplace2811 