The Black Rainbow

by Hussain Zaidi

  Silence ensued for half a minute and then Babu Javed shouted, “What is this nonsense?”

  “This is true Javed bhai, ”said Mrs Naqvi. Farzana is also dear to us like a daughter.”

  “But Ali? Do you want me to marry my daughter to a person who isn’t capable of earning a single penny?”

  “Why do you say this,” said Mr Naqvi trying to remain calm. ”Ali will have a bright career open to him once he completes his studies.”

  “A bright career! What he would do at the most. Earn a few thousand rupees like you. Do you want my daughter to cry for a decent life like sister Fatima?”

  “Javed bhai money isn’t everything. I have led a very happy and decent life with Hassan and I wish and I hope Farzana and Ali to lead a similar life of love and mutual understanding.”

  “I’m afraid I don’t think Ali is eligible for my daughter. Besides, he’ll take at least three to four years to settle and I can’t wait for that long.”

  Before either Mr or Mrs Naqvi could speak, Babu Javed said,” I don’t want to talk about this matter further. Now if you excuse me, I have some important phone calls to make.”

  “What shall we do now?” asked Mrs Naqvi as they returned home.

  “What options do we have?” said Mr Naqvi disappointingly. Ali is not interested and Javed has refused.

  “If Ali agrees, then what?”

  “Even then the problem will not be solved. Would Farzana marry Ali in the face of her father’s opposition?”

  “I trust she will. But it’s better if he agrees.” At any rate, we need to act fast. I suspect Javed bhai will have Farzana engaged earlier than we expected,” said Mrs Naqvi.

  “Ok tonight we once again talk to Ali. I was earlier of the view that we should speak no more of this to him as it will distract him from his studies. But since we have to act fast, the sooner it’s done the better.”

  However, the Naqvis failed to convince Ali either and they finally accepted that Farzana and Ali were not destined to meet. The next day Mrs Naqvi also apprised Farzana of this but only made her more distressed.

  Farzana was counting a lot on Mr and Mrs Naqvi. She believed that they would be able to convince Ali and her father. But now all her hopes were dashed. Therefore much against her will, she went to her father and said,” I’m willing to marry where you want me to.”

  “That’s like a good girl!” exclaimed Babu Javed. You have relieved me of the greatest burden of my life. Trust me, Rashid will be a very good match for you and you would never regret bowing to my decision.”

  “Yes father, I hope so,” replied Farzana in a languid voice.

  One Sunday, Seth Nisar received a call. He told Sara that he had to leave immediately and might not be back for lunch. Seth Nisar was wont to spending the entire day-off at home. Hence, Sara surmised that her father was going on that queer business that had worried her. So she decided to spy on him. As soon as Seth Nisar left home, Sara followed her. The seth was himself driving the car, which was also unusual. He drove for twenty minutes and then stopped outside a farm house on the outskirts of the city. The guard deployed at the gate recognized him and let him go in.

  Sara parked her car at some distance and decided to wait for his father. But even after an hour he didn’t come back. Since it was holiday, the road presented a deserted look. However, she realized that if she waited there for too long, she might be noticed. So she decided to drive back. But before doing that, she drove closer to the gate so that she could read the house No. It was D-13.

  “Is Mr Rehman here?” Sara asked the guard.

  “Who? Mr Rehman? No madam he doesn’t live here,” the guard replied.

  “I’m sorry but I was told that Mr Rehman of Vital Industries lives at D-13. I have an appointment with him.”

  “No madam this house belongs to Maulvi Zia sahib,” the guard tried to be as polite as possible. “You have got it wrong.”

  “I guess so. Thanks; I’ll have to re-check,” said Sara and drove back home.

  The name Maulvi Zia sounded familiar to Sara. But she couldn’t recall. As soon as she returned home, she went online. The search engine revealed to her that Maulvi Zia was the patron-in-chief of Jamia Islamia and a religio-political figure.

  “What papa has got to do with a clergy?” she wondered. I know he’s not a religious person. Then what is so particular about Maulvi Zia and his men that papa is always at their beck and call?”

  Sara thought and thought over these questions but failed to come up with an answer. “At least I know who the cause of papa’s visits is. Why is so? I need to find out. But it’s a matter of satisfaction that papa has no relations with miscreants as Maulvi Zia is a well-known and widely respected person.”

  “Welcome,” said Maulvi Zia as Seth Nisar entered his office. ”Seth sahib, I requested your presence here because we have an important business to discuss.”

  Zia paused for a moment and then resumed, “In order to spare your precious time, I’ll come straight to the point. We want to change the govt and need your support for this.”

  “Change the govt!” Seth Nisar half rose from his chair.

  “Yes, I’m afraid that’s the only way to bring the operation against the mujahideen to a halt and save our noble mission. We need heaps and heaps of money to lure some twenty greedy parliamentarians into change their loyalties,” Maulvi Zia tersely explained.

  “How much do you need from me?” Seth Nisar also came to the point.

  “Only Rs 200 million.”

  “But this is a big amount,” said Seth Nisar in protest.

  “Not for you,” Zia replied with a smile. Besides, for your contribution to a just cause you’ll be rewarded both in this world and in the hereafter. To begin with, we’ll ensure that the new govt allots you that precious piece of land that you are hankering after, and much more later.”

  “Ok. You’ll have the money in a weak,” promised Seth Nisar.

  “That’s why we like you so much,” said Zia breaking into laughter. Let’s celebrate.”

  Seth Nisar was the owner of a group of industries. His only objective in life was to expand his business empire. He started off as a petty shopkeeper but by dint of hard work, cunningness and favourable fortune rose in the ranks. Hence, not surprisingly, he considered himself to be the architect of his destiny. He had little use for religion or morality except for publicity purposes.

  One day while he was in his office, his executive secretary told him that one Maulvi Zia was seeking an appointment with him.

  “Tell him I’m too busy to meet him,” replied Seth Nisar rather scornfully.

  The next day he received a parcel with words ‘personal and confidential’ inscribed on it. He opened the envelope and saw a CD. He played the disk and was shocked to see what was in that.

  Wealth had exercised a corrupting influence on Seth Nisar and turned him into a slave of his passions. The video that he received had captured one of his sexual exploits. As he finished watching the video, he received a call on his cell phone.

  ”I trust you have enjoyed the video. If you don’t want others, especially your daughter to enjoy that as well, immediately see Maulvi Zia,” said the caller.

  The CD alarmed Seth Nisar and he decided to meet Zia at once. So he went to Maulvi Zia’s house. He was kept waiting for two hours before Zia gave him an audience.

  “How are you seth sahib?” said Maulvi Zia sarcastically. “I’m sorry you were called here in this manner. But you’ll understand that we had no choice.”

  “What do you want of me?” Seth Nisar asked rather indigently.

  “Don’t be angry and don’t be impatient. I have nothing against you and mean no harm to you. If you agree to cooperate with us, I assure you wouldn’t be disappointed. Before we proceed, would you like to meet an acquaintance of yours?” said Zia and asked someone on the intercom to come in.

  In a few seconds, the door was opened and in came a tall, pretty woman in early thirties. “I hope you two are
well familiar with each other,” said Zia with a devilish smile.”

  Seth Nisar turned back and sprang up from the chair as he saw the girl before him with whom he was captured in the CD while having sex.

  “I hope you remember me, seth sahib,” said the girl with a smile.

  “You here Bazga,” said Seth Nisar in disbelief.

  “Yes it’s me, the woman said,”

  “So you set Bazga to catch me,” said Nisar.

  “I’m afraid this is true. Call her Bazga or whatever you may wish; it doesn’t matter. She is in my league. You can go,” he asked the girl and she withdrew.

  “Why did you do this? asked Nisar.

  “You are a smart businessman and you must be smart enough to see through this,” said Zia.

  “You should be ashamed of what you are doing,” Seth Nisar returned. At least, this isn’t becoming of a man of religion.”

  “Shouldn’t you be ashamed of how you exploit women who are just about the age of your daughter? Besides, why bring religion here? If something is wrong, it’s so for both the man of religion like me and the man of the world like you,” said Maulvi Zia in a crisp tone.

  “What do you want me to do?” asked Nisar.

  “Here you are. I’m least interested in whether you dishonor women or honour them, love them or make love with them. I’m not a woman right activist. Nor do I look down upon out-of-wedlock sex. However, I’m definitely interested in wealth and you have plenty of that,” said Zia with the calmness of a Zen master.

  “So you have an eye on my wealth and want to exchange that for the CD,” said Nisar. How much do you want?”

  “That’s like a businessman,” said Zia. “I told you I’m interested in wealth. This is true but it’s not the whole truth. I’m interested in wealth not for my own sake — I have already ample amount of it well beyond my personal needs — but for my noble cause.”

  “What’s that noble cause?” asked Nisar.

  “That I’ll tell you once you get our confidence,” said Zia. “For the present it’s sufficient for you to know that we can ruin your life and business by just uploading that video on the internet. But we’ll not do this. In exchange for that, you’ll be required to donate to us from time to time. I assure you that we’ll not only protect your secrets but using our influence and network will also help your business expand. You’ll agree that I’m offering you a square deal.”

  Seth Nisar having understood that he was in the net assented. Since then he had been part of the racket. Gradually he came to know more about Zia and his movement. The more he knew, the more awesome they appeared to him. He also came to know that Zia had record of his other illegal and illicit activities and that there was no way out for him. He was asked from time to time to donate money to Zia. The latter on his part honoured his word. He safeguarded Nisar’s secrets and also helped his business grow. This led Nisar to realize that while the deal with the maulvi might not be a square one, it wasn’t a completely lose-lose situation for him either.

  Chapter 9

  “Last week,” said Prof Ghani, “we started discussing materialism. To recapitulate, Sara was of the view that the reality was essentially material and empirical, while others disagreed with her. Let’s resume the discussion. Who’ll speak first?”

  Naila was the first to raise her hand. “I would start with Sara’s thesis that a view cannot be regarded as valid just because the majority of mankind holds it,” she began. “I see eye to eye with her. However, if most of the people subscribe to a belief, one needs to look at why they do so. Such a belief cannot be brushed aside as simply a collective folly. Coming to the problem on hand, I mean the existence of a non-material reality, the important question is why do people believe in such a thing? Prima facie there’s a lot of evidence in support of materialism. The world we see around us is physical. Our body is physical. Our primary needs are physical or physiological. We cannot survive without matter, whether it’s food, water, air or sunlight. It’s material progress that has made our lives so comfortable. The book before me is a collection of atoms. It was published in a printing press, which has physical existence.

  “In short,” she continued, “matter is essential for both our bare survival and well-being. But with all this importance of matter and material wants and needs, why are we not satisfied with a mere mechanistic explanation of the world and an economic interpretation of society? Why do we need to look beyond matter and mechanics, physics and economics? The answer is simple. Man is never satisfied with a purely materialistic interpretation of the world, life, history, society or humanity itself. I know that the light of the sun, the circulation of the blood and the beat of the heart are vital to my existence. But I also know and feel that there’s something beyond these phenomena. Call it mind, idea, reason, spirit or soul. I wouldn’t mind it as long as they aren’t reduced to matter.”

  “Correct me if I’m wrong. You mean to say that the world of matter is an appearance and the world of ideas is real?” Prof Ghani asked.

  Naila thought for a moment and then replied, “Not really sir. I don’t regard matter as merely an appearance. To me both matter and mind, the body and soul, the senses and thought are real in their own right. Neither can be reduced to the other. Nor is one a substitute for the other. Our desire for food can’t be satisfied by that for companionship and vice versa. A philosopher must live before he can philosophize and he must eat if he is to live. Yes of course. But it doesn’t mean that a philosopher, or for that matter any other person, lives only for satisfaction of material needs, physical wants or carnal desires.”

  “Naila must be given full marks for her eloquence,” said Sara. “But an eloquent argument is not necessarily valid. Just as a valid argument is not necessarily eloquent. The whole force of Naila’s argument is that we feel that there should be something non-material. But there’s a wide gulf between what one feels and what actually is or likely to be. I may feel or desire that I’m the prettiest girl in the world. But does this make me the prettiest girl? Certainly not.”

  Naila refusing to surrender said, “I’m afraid Sara you haven’t got my reasoning. What I’m trying to establish is not that merely by desiring we can bring something into existence. My position is that the majority of the people cannot be wholly satisfied with a mechanistic-cum-economic interpretation of the world, society and human nature and that’s why they want to go beyond that. And that’s what we as students of philosophy are supposed to do: to go beyond what appears on the surface to what lies deep. If we take it for granted that things are only what they appear to be, then in that event there’s no need for philosophy. Sara do you really believe that things actually are what they appear to be?”

  Before Sara could reply Prof Ghani intervened: “The points of both Sara and Naila are well taken,” he said. “Remember that we are here not to come up with final answers, assuming there can be such answers, but to stimulate in-depth discussion. Hence, here will be no winners and no losers. Though Naila’s question is addressed to Sara, I’ll like others to answer that or come out with views of their own.”

  Riaz accepting the invitation said, “I believe that philosophy must grow out of everyday experience. And our everyday experience tells us that things and people are often not what they appear to be. What seems altruism is often concealed self-interest; what seems good-will is often malice; what appears to be intelligence is often ignorance; what appears to be bravery is often stupidity; what seems to be beauty is often ugliness; what appears to be prudence is often cowardice; what appears to be friendship is often animosity. Likewise, matter may be merely an appearance and mind the reality. Even modern physics regards matter as ultimately a form of energy.”

  After Riaz had finished, Prof Ghani remarked spontaneously: “It’s like Hindu philosophy of Upanishads. The world of matter is maya and the reality, which is essentially non-material, lies beyond the veil of maya.”