A heavenly combination

Letter October 07, 2018
A tribute to the late 20-year-old student

RAWALPINDI: This isn’t a letter, this is all you will have when I will be gone, when your Urooj Fatima will leave you so early and so suddenly. You think I am here to achieve the goals that dad left behind for me.

But Mom, here’s a little truth I want to tell you. Last night, I was in pain, it wasn’t a usual pain but an extreme one. Mom, this hostel is scary but those aims kept me going.

At times, I miss you a lot and I know you miss me too when you make tea with that chapati that makes a heavenly combination for evening tea and you sit by the window sill thinking just two years more and your daughter will be home to be with you. I miss that hug you gave me when I came to see you this summer, never knew that it would be my last summer with you. I am in pain, it wearies me not to ever see you again. I have gathered enough energy to tell my friend to call the warden, the warden who seems to be careless and unaware of my ordeal. I asked my friend to call you but oh the phones or untimely phone calls are “not allowed” here. I know, I know, if you were here, you must’ve hugged me tight and told me that I’ll be all right! I am missing you even more now. I am in pain that’s unbearable but how unfortunate is it that I can’t even cry in your lap. And this warden lady is cold and indifferent. You’re all I think of, as I breathe my last!

What would follow would be the usual trail of social and legal formalities, yet none would undo what has been done.

#JUSTICEFORUROOJ

Nisma Saeed

Published in The Express Tribune, October 7th, 2018.

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