Story – Love of old neighborhoods
Writer- Jamshed Qamar Siddiqui
Parvez Ahmed… lived in Shaheen Bagh lane number seven… next to Firdaus Mosque… was very fond of cigarettes… but I have never seen another man like him… because he did not have any brand… he kept changing brands every second or third day. Sometimes he was smoking this one, sometimes he felt like smoking that one… Anyway, the gathering of this fun-loving man is full of life… he had a lot of stories… he was from Barabanki but had been living in Delhi for decades, so he started speaking instead of us. We used to live with him in Shaheen Bagh… this is about 2014-15… it was the month of February and so the atmosphere of love was spread all over the city like an intoxication. Red and white balloons were shyly fluttering at the gift shops. I had come to the street for some work in the afternoon and I saw that Parvez bhai was walking fast wearing churidar… I indicated with my hand… I meant how come he came from office so early… he used to come at 5 in the evening. He said Yes, I had some work. I have to go somewhere… I will be back in a little while. Saying this he moved ahead…
Mustakim Bhai was a close friend of Parvez Bhai… Mustakim used to run a mobile repair and recharge shop in the street. In his free time, Parvez Mustakim used to sit on a stool with his mobile and used to talk to his friend Mustakim about various things. But today he did not stop at that mobile… I understood that there was something special… When I saw, he stopped at the water vendor’s shop on the corner… and started talking. I also listened to what they were talking about. The paan vendor’s name was Achhan… Raising his fingers blackened with catechu to his forehead, he said in salutation, What Parvez bhai… come out quickly… Parvez bhai said, Yes friend.. I have taken half day leave.. Singh bhai is organising a rally today, I am going for that.
– Oh, that one about love and romance… in which they beat up lovers sitting in parks?
– Yes, yes, the same one… (Read the rest of the story below. Or click on the link below to hear the same story from Jamshed Qamar Siddiqui)
To listen to this story on Spotify, click on the link below.
To listen to this story on APPLE PODCAST, click on the link given below
(Read the rest of the story here) Well, I remembered that I forgot to tell you guys one thing about Parvez Bhai, The issue was that Parvez Bhai was a very open-minded man… very progressive and fond of progress, but I don’t know why… he was very bigoted in one matter… and that was Valentine’s Day.
Parvez bhai, who was always smiling and joking throughout the year, used to change a strange way in him by the time February came… his eyes would suddenly turn red on seeing lovers… if he found one or two, he would catch hold of them and beat them up in the middle of the road. He would roam around the nearby parks in the evenings and go out with sticks. If he found any loving couple, then there was no mercy for them. Although I tried to make him understand many times that What kind of antics are these…. Parvez bhai… don’t do this… all this doesn’t fit… are you behaving like a scoundrel… You are an educated man…
So he used to get very angry. He used to say… Hey… so according to you… Indian culture is nothing at all, This is our culture… we are telling at home that we are going for tuitions… here we are sitting in a cafe and drinking tea… this… this is today’s youth… this is how we will progress,
– Hey brother, what is your problem? Someone is sitting somewhere… sitting with someone… what does it matter to you?,
– How can it not be meant… These boys are defaming our culture… and we are sitting quietly… We will not let this happen Jamshed bhai… this… this will never happen…
Well, I used to keep quiet. What else could I do? So that day too, Parvez Bhai’s preparations were very careful… I was trying to understand what the plan was. I came to know that there is a Singh sahab in the locality who has organized a rally – which has been named Lath Bajao Rally… The plan was that All the single boys will first hold a rally. After that they will go to parks with sticks.. they will stop the greetings that happen in the bushes there. And they will set up checkposts to show that these western indecencies… this western culture will not be tolerated.
Parvez Bhai was telling all this to Achhan Paan Wala when we also reached the shop… and started listening carefully. But in the meantime the Paan Wala said to Parvez Bhai, hey wait brother… Hey, we were stopping you for some other work. Then he lowered his voice and pressed Parvez Bhai’s hand and spoke. That ice cream seller’s daughter… Afreen… was asking about you. Then he looked left and right and winked in a very secretive manner and said, She said that if he comes then send him.
Parvez Bhai’s face suddenly turned bright as he heard the name of his one-sided and old love Afreen. No matter how much a man is against love, when that girl calls you, whom you have been looking at for a long time and writing Shayari… whose name you have written on the last page of your notebook and are playing with flames by cutting the letters of your name… what did you wear in which wedding in which locality… you remember everything… and also when did she smile for the first time on seeing you… then brother… no matter how strong a man is… he melts.
As soon as Achhan the paan seller told this about Afreen… Parvez Bhai melted like wax.
– What… what are you saying Achhan Mian… Afreen really said that
, Hey, what are you saying, And am I lying to you , She herself has come and told me to tell Parvez if he comes… Afreen was remembering me… you understand… she was remembering me…
– Hey, you are not playing… you don’t want to play with us… what you are saying turned out to be a lie, the bucket in which you have kept the paan soaked… I will soak you in it…
– Hey, I swear, Parvez bhai… Go quickly, she is standing on the balcony.
At that moment Parvez bhai had not walked as fast as he had walked when free biryani was distributed in the locality. We too followed him…. We increased our pace a bit and went to Parvez bhai and said… what brother where….
He said, oh Jamshed bhai, what should I tell you now, just that… now I can’t break anyone’s heart… it means… now that poor Afreen has called me…
We said, that’s fine but what about Singh sahab’s rally….
Speak, What about them… Jamshed bhai, I think that what you used to tell us… that what someone does in his personal life… what do we care about it… is absolutely correct… you… you were absolutely right… hey bhai… what else is there in this world except love… there is… meaning… God resides in love… and Nauzbillah we cannot be against God… hey why has man come into this world… to love…
That day we were convinced that how big a hypocrite this man is… I mean there is so much difference between his words and actions… you people are seeing it… till a few days back he used to say that falling in love is indecency… it is shallowness… it is western culture… and now look… how he is running around with a smile spread from ear to ear… look at this… this… this shyness, look at it… ufffo… really… those women who say about us men that all men are equally scoundrels… you people are absolutely right… absolutely… you people should not trust us men…
Anyway, when we reached the corner, I stopped at one place. When he reached Afreen’s balcony, he held his heart. Afreen was indeed on the balcony. She was looking beautiful… Afreen and Parvez Bhai’s eyes met. It felt as if the sky had burst… a crack appeared in the ground… the sun and the moon were visible together and the birds started singing.
She smiled, Saru also smiled. We were standing in the corner shop and watching all this flirting. Just then Afreen, standing on the roof, hung a plastic basket with a string tied to it on her balcony. As that yellow basket was coming down, Parvez Bhai’s blade pressure was also coming down. When the basket came within the reach of his hand Then Afreen, standing on the balcony, gestured and said… this is the slip for you. Seeing what was in it, his hands started trembling. A shy red rose and an envelope. Oh! He picked up the envelope with trembling hands and looked up when Afreen signaled him to write his mobile number on a slip of paper and put it in the basket… Parvez Bhai hurriedly took out a slip of paper from his pocket, wrote his number and put the slip in the basket. Afreen pulled the basket up…
Parvez Bhai now looked carefully at the pink letter taken out from the basket… It was written on the envelope –
She writes, don’t mistake it for ink from blood,
I want you not to think of me as unfaithful
Which song is that… La la la… la la… that song started playing in the background… and it felt as if thousands of pink hearts were falling from the sky… in slow motion Parvez bhai raised his head and started looking up… and then like Shahrukh Khan he walked a few steps backwards and then turned back and started walking while running his hand through his hair… he wanted to reach home quickly so that he could sit at home peacefully and read the letter inside the envelope. He and I started returning home together. Then on the way, we met a boy near Mustakim bhai’s mobile shop… he was going on a scooter… he said… Hey Parvez bhai… Slalekum… someone was telling me that you are going to a rally… what is its name, Lath Bajao Rally… should we also go…
Parvez Bhai looked at me and after thinking something he spoke to him in a philosophical mannerNo, I think this much strictness is not right. If love and affection is no longer there, the world will not end, go…love… And having said this he moved ahead…
Anyway, I reached home after a while… I took out the bottle from the fridge and took two sips and tore the envelope and took out the letter… it was written – Today is the day of Eid for lovers… what better day than today to confess our love… I love you…
Just then Parvez Bhai held our hands and started dancing… That day I saw Parvez Bhai dancing like this for the first time. He stood up from the chair out of joy… He started throwing things kept in the cupboard down with pride… I was watching him thinking how much love really changes a person… But then the room echoed with the ringing of the mobile… Parvez Bhai got down from the chair… He took out his phone… It was an unknown number… He received it…
– Hello
– Oh… hello… this is Afreen speaking.
hello…. A smile came on his face again…. He immediately put the phone on speaker… so that he could listen to me… the same childish act of boys… I started putting the utensils back in the kitchen and started listening with a smile… He said…
– Yes please… I got your letter… I swear you have taken my heart out…
– Yes… whatever I have written is from my heart… thanks for your help too brother…
– Yes…brother…
the cooker dropped from my hand Suddenly there was silence in the room… I quickly came out of the kitchen. I saw Parvez Bhai looking at the phone in surprise… Afreen’s trembling voice came from the phone…. Brother, I just need your help… Please give this letter to your friend Mustakim… It is written for him… Will you give it to me?
He fell on the bed behind me and started laughing holding his stomach and hand on his mouth… Parvez bhai’s face looked like that toy from which air suddenly comes out… and then it gets flattened… I have never laughed so much till date… it was amazing, I dialled a wrong number… in the phone of love
Parvez Bhai cut the phone… said four such nasty things about the family of the person with the mobile… which I cannot even say here… threw the phone on the bed in anger… went to the bathroom… when he came out, his eyes were red…
I walked fast and picked up the phone from the bed…. I called someone and said…
Hello…. Everybody get ready… play the sticks, the rally… it will happen today… get ready… we have to break the bones of all the lovers… everybody meet in an hour…
And saying this he started oiling his stick in preparation for the rally.
(More similar stories SuTo listen, open SPOTIFY, APPLE PODCAST, GOOGLE PODCAST, JIO-SAAVN, WYNK MUSIC on your phone and search STORYBOX WITH JAMSHED,