On an eventful night of 14th August 1947, Asghari was born. The legend has it that she was born to a very fair mother. As soon as the mother gave birth to Asghari, the whole of hospital washed away with blood. It wasn't just the only child in the womb of the mother. The doctors advised that they will not bother taking out the second twin. They said they will wait for it till the night after. It is then the two bitter sisters were born.
The fair mother adopted the two daughters away to her neighbors. Asghari was given to a conservative family; who was bigotedly religious and traditional. Akbari was given to the other neighbor who was adjacent to Asghari’s adopted family. Their family was a rather bigotedly secular family; alcohol and religion went hand-in-hand. The rivalry of these two neighboring families was age-old, and between them they decided not to reveal (to the) the girls that they were sisters.
The families also decided that the sisters will not visit each other. If they ever attempted to visit each other, they will be confined to certain areas. Educated from their adoptive families; the two daughters grew up, and in hatred for each other. They saw each other as step-sisters and blamed each other’s fathers for the break- up of their families.
Asghari grew older to be a beautiful, lean and a religiously-conservative girl. She had problems with the men she married, and she married many. Those men had a great influence on the way she thought. Over the years, she started developing identity crisis and eventually chose an identity of a woman who is obsessed with her religion. The obsession lead to self-harm and the self-harm lead to disability. The scars from her obsession of self-harm are still visible from far far away, even to this date. It is said that Akbari had a part to play.
Akbari grew older to be a voluptuous, secular and yet still a slightly religious woman. Akbari would enjoy a nice glass of red wine while also celebrating her religious devotion. Like her sister, she had also been very corrupt in dealings of her professional life. The sisters were quite similar in their contradictions and yet had always portrayed themselves in a different light (to each other). It was almost as if they lived purposeful-life to down-play each other.
It was the height of contradictions, when Asghari learnt the art of black magic (coming from a religion denouncing magic altogether). It was her adoptive family's relations living in the desert, who sent her the book of black magic . She used that black magic to perform it on her “step” sister, Akbari. Adversely, the black magic emotionally tarnished Asghari (because the relatives failed to tell her that the magic tends to destruct the life of the performer). The black magic continued having inimical effects on Asghari, taking her to the darker sides. She became emotionally and mentally unstable. Her friend Xin still supported Asghari in her troubled times. Although Xin had a secret agenda which was to voyeur into sisters’ rivalry.
Asghari continued on a down-hill journey. Akbari looked down upon Asghari (on her sister's self-destructive-suicidal-mission). Akbari never bothered to help out, but instead enjoyed each and every moment of the sisters destruction
While Asghari was going down, Akbari started a great career at a BPO. Her wealth grew and she prospered. Akbari took pride in being the wealthier sibling.
The sisters are 66 years old now and as I type this they are carrying on forward with their rivalries. I have grown up and matured over the years. I hope the sisters will do too one day!
Written by Fahad Sher Hussain and Edited by
Mehwish Mughal
Mehwish Mughal
Good story!
ReplyDelete