After quite a long time, he thought to unbolt the door and cast a glance outside. But he was mesmerized so much by his inner season that for him now opening the door was like bathing in leaping flames.
He stood by the door thinking that if he opened it, how long would he have his eyes occulted for the fear of serpents? One day, they would spew their venom in these goblets.
“It does not mean that if I won’t open the door, nobody will deprive me of my eyes. I cannot stay here forever. I have to open the door at any cost.”
He strolled ahead and stretched his hand towards the door-bolt when someone growled:
“Do not touch it”.
He became numb like a sculptor left there by an artist.
“What happened?”
As if he had jolted out of sleep, he looked back. When he saw nobody there, he stretched his hand towards the door again, and in the very moment, his eyes fell on a piece of mirror gleaming before his feet. He bent down to pick it up and looked deeply in it as if he had never seen himself before. Soon, as he saw his face in the mirror, he blurted out:
“It is not me. My eyes have never looked like that; my complexion has never been like that; I must have been stolen from myself.”
He was quite upset and barely managed to drag himself to the bed. The piece of mirror was still in his hand, but he did not have the courage to see his image again. He heaved up from the bed to open the door, but the thought of the piece of mirror which he had held in his palm returned to him. He stood there and reflected on how long he had been there for. Who escorted him here?
“I still remember I had a handsome figure. Nobody in the world had ever been blessed with such beautiful eyes as mine. I came and confined myself here to hide my beautiful eyes from the World. I had never thought that I would be robbed even in a dark house. Had I known that, I would have made many people yearn for me; I would have made many commit suicide for me. I wish I could have known! I was not acquainted with the beauty of my eyes. Nor had I any feeling about the significance of my existence.
I was ambitious to become an eminent swordsman. One night, when my grandmother was still alive, she told me her first and last story and closed her eyes forever. And the moment she shut her eyes, I came here and confined myself in this room. I do not know why my grandmother betrayed me; why had she frightened me? The story she told me that night is still fresh in my mind. It was the tale of a swordsman from a far off land. He had been an unrivalled swordsman and would continue to be unrivalled in the future as well. It is quite unlikely that a swordsman of his stature would appear in this world again. At that moment, I felt I would be the next swordsman, an unparalleled swordsman. He always covered his face on the battlefield. But he left his eyes uncovered to the extent that he could barely see. After carrying the day in the last battle, he addressed the people and said: “Now I want to fold my career as a swordsman and go to another country. But before leaving you I want to share the secret of my success with you. I would have never been an unrivalled swordsman had you seen my eyes. The reason for the defeat of my opponents is the fact that they never knew why I covered my eyes. My eyes are beautiful. Had I not covered my face in the first battle, I would have found no place to run to. I never thought my eyes were so beautiful and that I am destined to become a famed swordsman. One night my grandmother told me the tale of a swordsman and from that day onwards I started to veil my eyes.”
In the precise moment when my grandmother mentioned the swordsman’s eyes, she looked at me as if she warned me to veil my eyes if I had any desire to become an unparalleled swordsman. But I never wanted to have my eyes covered with a veil. On that night once the story was finished, I looked at my eyes in the mirror. They looked so beautiful that for a moment I desired to kiss them, but my grandmother was looking at me. The next morning as my grandmother closed her eyes forever, I with an ambition for swordsmanship in my heart, came here and confined myself in this house so that nobody could see my eyes anymore. If I had not covered my eyes, fear and failure would have killed me at a very young age. I came here with my love and ambition”.
Today after a long time, the outside world beckoned him. He stretched his hands towards the door but the piece of mirror stopped him in his tracks. Now he had aged; his body had lost all its charm. He did not want to startle the world with his wrinkled face and haggard body. He strolled back to his bed and thought of the piece of mirror again, which he had clasped in his fist. He felt disgust for it as if it had deprived him of his beautiful eyes and handsome body. He wished that he had not had the piece of mirror in this house and to see it again and again was further adding to his agony.
For a moment, he decided to throw the piece of mirror and open the door. But there stood a bustling bazar at his door outside. People were walking to and fro. He never wanted anybody to see his crumbling figure.
“What should I do”? He looked at all corners of the house and his eyes fell on the only window of the house that opened to the west. Slowly, he stretched his hand towards the window and pulled open a pane. Through that small window pane, he saw a bustling world outside; ahead of him stood their childhood home, but he saw nobody of his age. The tree from which a sword and a water-skin used to hang down, was still there. But it hurt him when he could not find the sword and the goat-skin. A few children had gathered around a swing under the tree. Their eyes were very beautiful, but they had not veiled them up. Now he was sure that he had grown old; he had lived his age. The noise of the children was hurting and irritating him. He threw the piece of the mirror and slammed the window close and waited to hear it shatter into tiny bits on the ground. But it was still in the air, yet to reach the ground.
This is the translated version of a Balochi short story written by A R Dad
Published in Daily Times, January 1st 2018.