Love and Marriage in Mumbai by Elizabeth Flock
Author:Elizabeth Flock
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing
FIRE IN THE HEART
Shahzad and Sabeena, 1999 to 2013
“On no soul doth Allah place a greater burden than it can bear.”
—The Holy Quran, 2:286
It was wintertime in the city, cold and gusty, and Shahzad was thinking of leaving his cold storage business. Though business was good—there were no malls yet or online shopping, only open-air bazaars—he often felt tired and weak at work. Years ago, a customer had told Shahzad that working with freezers would make him sick. Now, what the man predicted seemed to have come true. Every time Shahzad left work he felt dizzy and light-headed, though he was still young, not yet forty. Almost forty, and still without a child. He noticed the weakness intensified every time he headed toward home.
But Shahzad didn’t want to leave the market, or at least didn’t want to leave one person: Diana, a local Catholic woman, and a customer at his shop, who was all fire and intensity. Diana was half-Nigerian and half-Goan and had smooth fat cheeks, siren red lips, and wild, curly hair that framed her face. She wore tight but expensive clothing and worked at a fancy advertising company downtown. Everyone in the market called her “Madhuri,” because when she laughed, she looked just like the actress Madhuri Dixit. Diana often came to buy chicken from Shahzad.
Like many men at the bazaar, Shahzad found her attractive and magnetic. But Diana was also something else for him—more than just a pretty distraction. Shahzad had begun to think of her as his good luck charm. When he was around Diana, the market seemed not as shabby, and his chicken seemed to fly off the shelves. The day never seemed mundane or dull.
Over time, Diana had begun bringing cakes to his shop at holiday times, and he had begun giving her a package of mutton every Bakri Eid. She was fond of mushroom and chile curd, so he started stocking these items alongside the chicken.
And he began calling her “Madhuri” to her face, telling her she had the same million-dollar smile. After a while, Diana started calling Shahzad on his work phone just to talk or to confide in him about problems with her husband.
Shahzad knew she was married, but had always assumed she was childless, until one day she brought around a fat teenage boy with ringlets like hers.
Soon, she confided in Shahzad that she also had problems with her son, who was fourteen. He played football well but wasn’t a good student. He would have trouble clearing his SSC exam, which was compulsory to complete secondary school. She said the son’s father was a drunk and couldn’t help. Shahzad thought he understood, because his friends had told him that Christians were like this: they needed to drink to sleep at night. Shahzad had never touched alcohol, which was
haram. Because of this, he felt he was clearer of head and saw how he could help her.
In Shahzad’s memory, it went like this: Diana gave money to Shahzad, who used it to pay a teacher to give him tuitions in his weaker subjects.
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