It was almost nine o'clock in the night. Hamdha Muhideen got to the terrace and looked around the city.
Colombo was not likely to fall asleep. Life was entirely different here. In her native village Marudur, the night hours are perfectly silent.
Hamdha would hear the creaking sounds of insects from nearby bushes. Bats would fly from one tree branch to another, winging both their umbrella wings together. She could hear these sounds, by laying on her bed.
Water would flow in a nearby stream.
The murmuring and bubbling sound of the stream water will be like a night song that makes her fall asleep.
Hamdha would sleep listening to this melody of nature. Those are the features of villages. The city of Colombo was completely different. In city life, you cannot expect the luxuries of the countryside.
Hamdha was looking at the sky. Unlike Marudur, she could see the sky from one end to the other.
She tried to count the stars. There seemed to be a lesser number of stars in the Colombo sky than Marudur.
Looking at the stars is one of her favourite hobbies. It was a pleasant sadness. It would uplift her spiritually. Her mind would voyage through the clouds and then the heavens. Whenever Hamdha felt lonely and heavy-hearted, she would get to the terrace and wander in the imagination looking at the stars that are tiny pieces of this galaxy.
Today she was deeply heavy-hearted.
Hamdha and some other Marudur girls had been staying in the upstairs of a house owned by a Marudurian, in a safe neighbourhood. This was an arrangement made by some of the important people of the village, for the girls who continue their higher studies in Colombo.
An incident had occurred in the village that afternoon. It had completely changed the atmosphere of the girls' hostel.
Shakira’s father has been attacked by someone.
Shakira was a girl who had been staying in the hostel with Hamdha and other girls. Shakira’s father was the school principal of Marudur village school. He was a blood relative on Hamda's father’s side.
After the incident, many girls in the hostel were whispering to each other as if Hamdha’s father, Mohideen Haajiyar, was the culprit and responsible for the attack and. As if he is the one who hit Shakira’s father. Though, no one except Shakira said anything at Hamdha’s face.
Shakira was not looking at Hamdha’s face at all.
Completely avoiding her.
Why can’t these girls understand a simple fact?
All these things are just rumours.
One of her friends came to the terrace climbing the steps. She was Rushdha Firdaws.
“What are you doing here alone, princess, your highness?”, her friend asked her laughingly.
Her tone made Hamdha’s heart quite light-hearted.
“Don’t be upset. Such things happen sometimes. My brother Minhaj called me. Shakira’s father is alright. Nothing to worry about”.
“Al-Hamdulillaah. What does Shakira say?”
“She is still mad at you. It is better you hide until Shakira gets to normal”.
“But, why should I? I didn’t do anything wrong”.
“Well, she will swallow you, if she sees you”.
“No. I want to go and talk to her”, Hamdha started climbing down the stairs.
“Please listen. Don’t go, you stupid girl”.
****
It was the second dawn since Shibly stepped into Marudur soil. He prayed the dawn prayer in the school neighbourhood mosque and came outside.
In the security camera footage, the faces of the men who attacked the principal were not clear. But, Shibly felt their features remarkably resembling those two grade nine boys who were punished on the previous day.
Shibly wanted to spot any other security camera in the neighbourhood. He could see only two cameras outside the mosque. Only one of them could have captured the previous day’s incident. It was the one facing directly at the school entrance.
There were not any big houses in the neighbourhood. Only the Principal’s house was fairly big. All other houses looked rather small, though not cottages.
Security cameras are there for the people who have something to protect. If people do not have anything to safeguard, what is the use of security cameras? So, security cameras couldn't have been fixed in most of the houses in this neighbourhood.
On the way to the mosque, Shibly had glanced at the principal’s house. There were not any signs of cameras. But, it was still dark then. He had to recheck again on his way back to the quarters.
If Shibly goes through the security camera original footage, he could ascertain whether the culprits are those two fourteen years old schoolboys. It would make Mohideen Hajiyar innocent. He would not have hired two fourteen years old boys, would he?
Then, all fights going on in social media between both factions of the village would come to a sudden halt.
But, it would put those boys in trouble.
It was putting some discomforting feelings on Shibly.
But, why do people still haven’t noticed this simple resemblance between those two boys and the men in the footage? Were they too preoccupied with prejudice?
Shibly was standing outside the mosque after finishing dawn prayer. Masjid Imam and a few others were inside. Shibly wanted to watch the security camera footage. How could he ask for it?
What if they said they couldn’t show it?
After all, Shibly was a fresh staff member who joined the school only the previous day. He was not known by many people here. While he was standing alone, Masjid Imaam himself came outside and greeted him.
“You are the new teacher?”
“Yeah, I am a newly appointed teacher”.
“I saw you yesterday also. I guessed you must be the new teacher”, Imam said. His Tamil accent was clearly an eastern province accent; easterners usually speak a variety of Tamil closer to standard Tamil.
The Imam must be in his early thirties.
“You are from?”
Shibly said his village name.
“Where are you staying?”
“In the school quarters”.
“But, there is only one quarters house. Izzadeen sir lives there, right?”.
“Actually, it's just temporary. Izzadeen sir has gone to his village. I am looking for a suitable place for myself”.
“There are rooms in Akbar mosque. Not so comfortable. But, you would not have many choices. Not many boarding places are here in Marudur”.
“Akbar mosque?”
"You don't know, right? You will have to walk around two kilometres".
The Imam told Shibly the route and gave him a contact number. He was in fact a very friendly and helpful man.
"You heard about yesterday's incident, right?"
"Yeah, I know".
"It is sad. No such incidents have so far occurred since I came here".
"I watched security camera footage. Was it taken from this mosque camera?", Shibly asked.
"Yes. There is no other security camera here. But, the quality of our cameras are not so high. We have them for the sake of having them. Footages are not clear".
"Faces were not clear in those videos. I think faces must be clear in the original?"
"Original is also the same. I can show you if you want to watch it, sir?"
The Mosque Imam voluntarily offered to show the footage. Shibly never expected things would move at such an easy pace.
The faces in the original footage were also not quite clear as the Imam had said.
This footage was not enough to prove that those two fourteen years old boys were the culprits.
It was good news for those two boys. Obviously, not good news for Mohideen Hajiyar. It was really hard to prove this man’s innocence if the real culprits were not found. The opposing faction would try to make use of the situation to throw mud on Mohideen Hajiyar’s face.
Now Shibly’s sympathy towards those two fourteen years old boys had vanished. He felt sorry for Mohideen Haajiyar.
****
The morning was not so pleasant to Hamdha. Shakira was not ready to talk to her even in the morning. Girls seamlessly gossiped.
No one ever cared how Hamdha would feel. She was the last one to get out of the hostel.
Colombo sun was burning even before eight o’clock in the morning.
"What are you doing? Come on, quickly. Let's go. It’s getting late”, Rushdha, said.
“You still look upset?”, Rushdha asked Hamdha again.
Hamdha couldn’t respond for a few seconds. She was trying hard to hide her tears.
“Why do people behave this way? Always gossiping?”.
“I understand how you feel. That’s their nature”.
“Actually, Shakira has been my friend. I have treated all the girls here as my family”.
“People easily forget your good things and never forget your bad things”.
“But, what was the bad thing I did?”
“It is not like that. People need something to talk about. They have to pass their time. They hardly see any difference between teledrama and real-world events. They comment on their day to day events as they comment on a teledrama scene”.
“You know how it hurts?”
“I know. I can understand very well, Hamdha ”.
“You believe my father did no wrong?”.
“Hundred per cent. More than you trust your father”.
“What do you mean?”
“My brother called me”.
“So…?”
“Guess what? They found who hit Shakira’s father”.
“Really, Who?”, Hamdha got excited.
“What a pleasant scene. This happiness is what I must always see in my dear friend’s face... They were two grade nine boys“.
“Grade nine boys?”, Hamdha exclaimed.
“Yes, two grade nine boys”.
“But…”
“They found it. But, they decided to keep it a secret".
“Who decided? I don't quite understand”, said Hamdha.
“Your father and others”.
“But... why? When everyone is blaming us….. ”
“Shakira’s brother had seen those boys hitting Shakira’s father. But, your father had told him to keep the secret to himself”.
“Why?”
“For those boys' future”, Rushdha said. “Their future will be spoiled if they were caught”.
Hamdha kept silent.
“Your father has decided to accept the blame. They have decided not to interfere until everything gets to normal”.
“Why don’t we tell Shakira about this?”
“Please, don’t do it. Everything will get spoiled. Let her blame you. She will be sorry when she comes to know the truth”.
“You have brought me very good news. I must give you a treat”.
“Not now. Your happy face is more than a treat”, Rushdha said smilingly. Soon they reached the University.
((To be continued))
_ _ _ _
* Characters, events and the places in this story are fictional and a mere product of the author's imagination. Any resemblance to real-world events or characters is merely coincidental.
** Vijayapura and Marudur are fictional places.
Riza Jaufer
Akurana -Kandy,
Sri Lanka
