Announcement

Manzar Kazmi

Translation: S M Yahiya Ibrahim

Dept. of English, Karim City College, Jamshedpur, Jharkhand, India

Rumours spread … mis-statements are used.

The one who dies is another whereas the people announce the death of someone else.

A night, mysterious and dark and becoming more horrible with the noise of rainy brooks, increased the continuum of such nights and created a lot of muddles. Everything was moist and wet. After the rise of the sun once again, even after lot of persuasion, it was difficult to bring back the faith of the people. It was not known that everything wet and of earthen colour, was moving in which direction by burying the voices enveloping in the dark. Yet its enlarging separation from the clutches of feeling was getting highlighted in a very clear manner. Meanwhile a voice screeched from the minarets of loneliness …

‘Brothers in Islam! you are being informed that Mr. ….. .. (the name is not audible) is dead. His burial will take place tomorrow. Earn sawaab by participating in the funeral procession. Brothers in Islam ….. … ….’

Wife, children, friends, relatives …

Tender, bribe, engineer …

Bungalows, motorcars, bank-balance …

Profit, loss, law suits …

Punishment, reward, sin …

Sin, expiation, grave …

Grave, soil …

Soil, loads of soil and soil ……… ……. …..

With this announcement a sun rose upon my head, and my eyes that were covered inside the cloth brightened. The eyes saw me pertinently, kissed my forehead, pulled my shroud unto my head and saying me good bye spread over the length and breadth of the rays of the sun. Earlier only one work of the eyes was known, that they see. Now they can listen, feel, speak, laugh and can recite the elegies too. And the condition is such that during the course of their reaching to the other edge of the sunrays the milestones grapple with the eyes at every step.

On the other side of border that weaves the lines of sunlight … upon the road made of coal tar … the process of dragging the shoes began. What one can do … whom one can answer … how one can explain to others at their suggestion to change the shoes as one’s toes were getting roughed up? It does not matter if there is a boy or a girl .… at least one rupee a day … yeah .. I will work harder than the kids … because the problem is not theirs but mine.

Strange place is this. It ends the difference between day and night. In spite of thousands of efforts that moment is not captured whence the day is nearing its end and the night is to commence or when the night is nearing its end and the day is about to begin. And then what is the purpose of lighting the bulbs upon earth when the moon is shining bright in the sky? Useless …. just useless obstinacy and the show of superiority. This was the first milestone. The eyes stopped for a while, collected the pebbles scattered around, and moved on. The sun, fast and furiously, was throwing its rays to a distance.

At every milestone the eyes are amazed. The pebbles here, in comparison to the pebbles of earlier milestones, are heavier. The eyes are worried because they have to collect the pebbles. The act of scattering of rays by the sun is continuing. In such scenario collecting the pebbles and beginning a new journey in the opposite direction results in the eruption of huge and heavy stones. In fact our journey changes our shape and we start bemoaning at our changed look though this is all the outcome of our journey that the first round changes the huge rocks into particles. And if one has to move on the same line, in the opposite direction, the particles once again get back to rocks. When the feeling of this situation started getting acute the eyes picked up their loads and moved ahead.

(Sleeping on the earth is not bad because, beginning from earth, our journey will end upon it. During the mid-hours we should keep a grip on this philosophy. I agree that this cannot keep the child away from pneumonia. But stop crying … else my laughter will be intolerable. Try to remain alive and the first and last thing in this regard is not to disturb me. Please ….. )

Staying here too long is perhaps not appropriate. The sophistication of relationships is the base of tragedies. The footsteps of the eyes trembled. Pebbles were here too but their shape was changed and delaying the tying of their loads was giving birth to a tragedy. The pebbles were collected in a hurry when suddenly the rays blazed furiously as if a hunter has thrown spotlight in the dark dense forest.

(Smoke, fire and smoke … fire, flames and soil … soil, steel and sweat … O brother, why do you abuse? Tell the job. By the way one thing is not clear, why you hate the educated ones? If you do not 

use slang I may tell you that we did a blunder by considering you a symbol of revolution.)

Blood was oozing out from the eyes and the act of collecting pebbles was going on. All the things once again got wet. The dark night and the noise of the rainy brooks … everything else was silent … and a voice … before it raises, the eyes stopped their next journey … came back … and clung to me.

‘Brothers! You will be sad to know that today Sri …….. (the name is not audible) is no more. His body will be kept in the Town Hall for the last glimpses. Cremation will take place tomorrow evening. Brothers …’

Marx, Lenin, Gandhi, Nehru …

Election, Parliament, Assembly …

Gherao, Jail, Bullets …

Bullets, death …

Death, funeral pyre, ashes …

Ashes, dust, soil …

Soil, loads of soil and soil … … …

This time again the eyes kissed my forehead … dragged the shroud up to my head … bid good bye … and went on their journey.

(Don’t argue, it is my personal matter. Is there in office order released when you go to your bedroom? Keep on spewing foam from your mouth. Why you hold my pen? I agree that it is sword but of my hand and you are not aware of its sharpness.)

The milestones keep on increasing their number. With every milestone an anecdote is clinging. Every anecdote has its own central character and several other minor characters that live with the support of different happenings. Still it is very strange that on the account of impact and impression they are all same. Perhaps this is the reason that whenever the feeling of wetness aroused due to the noise of the rainy streams and when, in the stillness of the night, somebody’s death was announced my eyes kissed my forehead and pulled my shroud till the head. People spread rumours, issue false statements. The dead is someone else and some other is announced as dead. Death announcements are regularly made. Sometimes a religious leader departs and sometimes a social worker succumbs. Every time news has been spread about the death of a person whereas the one who has died is anyone else. It is not necessary, rather it is not possible that every time the news of death is spread through an amplifier. This can be done even through whispering under the lips and sometimes the moist eyes tell everything. This mode of communication is more reliable than the amplifier. Perhaps because of this, on such occasions, the eyes do not postponed their journey and the act of collecting pebbles continues.

(Vietnam, Bangladesh, Iran, Iraq, Arab, Israel and P.L.O …. But what can you do … revolution can’t come on the foundations of hunger … the height of our patience and thankfulness is so great that we start worshipping those who die due to fatigue and hunger … then … do one thing … climb on the Qutub Minar … and see if the revolution is coming or not … why are you laughing … there is nothing to laugh.)

The pebbles became excessively and sharply pointed and collecting them seemed difficult. Things were wet once again … the dark night … and the noise of rainy brooks … everything else was silent.

Meanwhile a voice aroused, the eyes postponed their journey, came quickly back to me and clung with me.

‘Folks! With sadness it is hereby announced that Mr ….. (the name is not clear) is no more … his last rites …

Stories, plays, criticism, poetry …

Manuscripts, letters, discussions, debates …

Magazines, books, remunerations, starvation …

Starvation, death …

Death, grave …

Grave, soil … … …

Soil, loads of soil and soil … 

When the voice drowned completely in the darkness my eyes kissed on my forehead, pulled my shroud over the head, stepped forward saying good bye to me … suddenly their steps fumbled. The act of scattering the rays had ended and due to stumble in the darkness all the loads were scattered. However due to the rolling of the loads the voice was constantly getting loud.

Rumours spread … mis-statements are used.

The one who dies is another whereas the people announce the death of someone else.