The Freeloader

After duping his father many times by asking money for setting up business, civil services coaching, higher education etc later only to spend it on clothes, high-end smartphones and other useless electronic gadgets Rasik had lost all the credibility with his father. Despite all the harm he caused to family’s wealth and honor his father still tolerated him in the house. Yet Rasik was largely ungrateful, not just to his father. He had a sense of entitlement. He felt he was a king and people around him should be thankful for having been bestowed with honor of pleasing him. Having a lofty opinion of himself he picked up fights with anyone in and around the village. Most notable of his delusions were that he belonged to a rich family, that he was highly educated and good looking. With regards to first it wasn’t true anymore, thanks to Rasik’s extravagance and taking huge risks to become a millionaire overnight the riches of the family had depleted considerably. But he still held on to it afraid to accept the reality. He felt it was just his father depriving him of the money. 

  As far as being highly qualified was concerned, he after taking five years to complete graduation and some pressure from his father and contacts of his uncle got admission in the university and took his time to complete post graduation with marginal marks. The jobs he felt suited him required hardwork which wasn’t his forte and those who he might have got he felt suited only  these poor villagers who didn’t even know how to dress properly. 

        Being handsome was not exactly a delusion but he certainly wasn’t as much as he thought he was. But the confidence he got from this helped him a lot. He put social media to best use. He was simultaneously in a relationship with many girls not as per his profile information but in real life. And he was getting adept with each passing day in leeching money for his needs from these girls. Borrowing money from them fully knowing it is very unlikely they will want it back or even if he pretends to return it they won’t accept. Asking some of them to recharge his phone, going shopping with one of them and creating a situation so awkward that the poor girls were compelled to pay for his shopping.
             Rasik didn’t feel any shame in what he was doing. Despite everything he did he still looked down upon everyone that was around him. While on the way to the town, to have Kebabs a car honked behind him. It was Anwar, one of Rasik’s old classmates who used to work in their fields with his father. Rasik got in the car and after some casual talk Anwar told him that he went out of state for work just after completing graduation as unlike him he couldn’t afford a university education and his conditions were such that he needed to start earning very soon. He told him that he had now saved enough and will be opening a readymade garments shop shortly. Everything Anwar said was true except that the car was his own. Anwar knew how Rasik’s mind worked and how he insulted him whenever he got a chance just because he was a poor boy whose father worked in his family’s fields. Anwar had observed that whether it was a girl having a friendly chat with him or he got any recognition in sports or studies Rasik had always made comments about his poverty and caste out of jealousy. So, with a truth or a lie he wanted to cause some pain to Rasik. Anwar smiled when Rasik asked him to drop him just after a few minutes that passed in silence. The lie had worked
              Rasik was burning inside with anger and jealousy. He had no appetite for Kebabs now. Fuming he went straight home and had a heated argument with his father when he declined his demand for a car of his own. The feeling of jealousy didn’t wear off any soon. He cried in frustration not because of him not having a car but because of “someone like Anwar” having it He even contemplated working at the places he had got jobs  at earlier  but soon realized it can’t get him a car soon enough. He considered asking all of his girlfriends for money but felt the idea was foolish because how much could really be amassed from college students. He then decided to increase the number of girlfriends so he sent friend request to many girls and “hopefully girls” on Facebook feeling stupid soon after doing it. It took him many days to overcome the pain Anwar had inflicted upon him but eventually he did.
            “Getting the divorce was the right thing to do. Alhmadulillah! I have my own boutique now which I always wanted. I am employing girls from the villages around. It is good that I came back to my place of birth. This is my home after all and it is better caring about your own. But was it really worth it?” She thought, laying on her bed her account book on her bedside table. “It certainly is. Yes, I still miss him and have no resentment against him but I couldn’t have lived with someone who didn’t respect my aspirations. I have an identity here. People know me for my skills, integrity and benevolence. Not that I do it for recognition but being able to do this is a good feeling.”
       Her chain of thoughts got interrupted by a notification sound on her phone. She checked the time it was very late into the night and yet she was awake, her nephew sleeping peacefully besides her. She took a look at him and next she had disturbing thoughts. “For how long will I live in my brother’s house? What am I doing wide awake at this hour? So, is this what I really want? All this exertion, success and having practically no one to care for or be cared by. Did I make wrong choice choosing my ambitions over love?” She started sweating with anxiety. Past couple of years had been of grueling struggle that setting up a new business involves.  Then she would doze off just at the mere mention of a bed and only thing if ever that kept her awake was work related. Now that she had realized her dream and had a staff working for her, reducing her workload considerably she like any other human longed for companionship. She looked at her nephew and desired for a home, a husband and children. Her heart beat rose. She wanted some distraction someone to talk to. 
       She browsed through her contacts hoping to talk to some of her friends. But it was different now after all these years. She understood it won’t be appropriate to call them at this time when most of them are married and others might have a lot of explaining to do lest the overly suspicious boyfriend on the other side of line hears a beep or something. She couldn’t sleep so she logged into her Facebook just to pass time and find someone to chat with. She had been away for a longtime now and there were dozens of friend-requests to welcome her. With no particular criteria for acceptance she accepted some.
           Like sperms competing with each other to fertilize the egg not all the friend requests made it to Andleeb’s Whatsapp messenger. Given his expertise only Rasik was the one who could do it and it was not long before he infiltrated her heart too. It was not love for Andleeb, she was too smart for that to happen too soon but she did like him. After sometime with Rasik she learnt he desired money, lacked ambition and to some extent was practically dumb. 
           Andleeb went with the idea of marriage too soon. Being in want of a companion and coincidentally finding someone who will be completely dependent on her for the basic necessities of life and who had no intentions of ever changing his life she felt it was not just a coincidence it was destiny.  Love or not she felt he was made for her. Rasik had already become a liability for his father always disrupting the peace of the household so when Andleeb’s brother suggested that Rasik hads to live with Andleeb he was more than happy to accept. They were living happily even though Rasik’s contribution to this setup was buying groceries, watching TV all day and spend a lot of Andleeb’s hard earned money. But she didn’t mind although it disturbed her that he spent too much, too often and generally on futile things. He didn’t interfere with what she did, respected her and most importantly she had a companion now was what mattered.  She was happy and so was he. But true personalities get revealed at the time of crisis. 
                 Anticipating a hike in orders as the marriage season and Eid were around the corner she had ordered a lot of raw material in advance and had already finished so many dresses that the storage space in her boutique was getting smaller so she rented a store temporarily. Just two weeks before Eid due an electric fault a line of shops including Andleeb’s store caught fire. 

Excerpt from The Doorbell and The Other Stories by Waseem Wani 

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