Among the Mosques by ED Husain

Author:ED Husain [Husain, ED]
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing Inc

‘I was a teacher in a secondary school in Murree in Pakistan, on the outskirts of Islamabad. It’s a beautiful, hillside part of the world. Google it. Why am I here?

‘In my village, I was king. I taught the children from 8.30 in the morning until 2 p.m. Then all day I visited and enjoyed time with my cousins, many cousins. I had fifty-seven first cousins in Murree …’

‘Who do you have here?’ I ask, interrupting his misty-eyed nostalgia for his home.

He sighs. ‘I married my cousin,’ he says. ‘My parents insisted I marry my cousin here, so the wealth could stay in the family. For six years I stayed in my school in Murree and then we had a son, so my parents said I must be in England. I arrived in 2000.’

His son is now twenty-two, and his daughters are eighteen. They are all at university.

‘But here I am, lonely and alone, my friend.’

He translates another verse of the song:

Muhalle Ki Sabse Purani Nishani,

Wo Budhia Jise Bachche Kehte The Naani,

Wo Naani Ki Baaton Me Parion Ka Dera,

Wo Chehre Ki Jhurrion Me Sadiyon Ka Pehra,

Bhulaye Nahin Bhul Sakta Hai Koi,

Bhulaye Nahin Bhul Sakta Hai Koi,

Wo Chhoti Si Raaten, Wo Lambi Kahani …

The oldest remnant of the area,

that old lady we children used to call naani [maternal grandma]

that camp of fairies in the granny’s talks,

that guard of ages in the wrinkles of face,

no one can forget, even on trying,

those small nights, that long story …

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