Page 137 - Till the Last Breath . . .

‘There is just so much work,’ she said.

‘It’s not safe at all. And this area is so dangerous. Only yesterday there
were reports of a chain-snatching incident in the neighbourhood. I think you
should get married. At least then we wouldn’t have to worry so much about

you.’
‘So you would have someone else to worry about me, and not you?’ she

snapped.
‘You know what I mean.’

Her mom’s rants went on and on. She told Zarah about the overage girls
in their family who were having trouble finding a suitable match, and Zarah

chose to ignore her concerns with a brief smile. In the corner of the room,
her dad was watching television and had not noticed that she was in the
room too.

‘And the house is so dirty. Doesn’t the maid mop the floor? And the
bathroom mirror looks like it has never been cleaned. How much do you

pay her? I will talk to her when she comes tomorrow. Why don’t you say
anything to her? And you leave hundred-rupee notes lying everywhere. I

am sure the maid flicks a lot of them. She will take all your money and run
away some day!’

‘I am busy, Mom. I don’t have three hours to look over what the maid is
up to,’ she argued and lay back flat on the drawing room sofa.
Her dad noticed her. ‘Oh, you are here? When did you come? Your mom

has been cleaning the house. I asked her not to, but you know your mom.’
And I know you. ‘Yes,’ she said, met his eyes and looked away. Her mom

rolled her eyes. She had always wondered what Zarah’s father had done
wrong. He was a good man, a good Muslim, but his relationship with Zarah

had been strained for as long as she could remember. That one summer long
ago, things had been quite all right … great, even. And over the course of

one day, they had become as bad as they could have been. She had waited
for it’s to sort out on their own, assuming every father–daughter duo goes
through such a phase, but things never looked up.

‘I will go and change,’ she said and went to her room. She closed the
door behind her and bolted it. Michel de Montaigne once said—‘Nothing