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[This OS takes place in an alternate universe. Let's say after 10-day Nikaah challenge. Asad and Zoya are married. For some strange reasons, Najma married Imraan 🥱and had Haya 😃. Imraan is abroad and Najma is living with her Ammi and Bhaijaan and all of them are in Khan Villa.]
"Ammi, Haya kahan hain?" Najma had returned from market and
not seeing her baby girl with her mother she asked looking around.
"Asad ke saath."
"Main jaake dekhti hoon." Najma walked towards Asad's room.
It was quiet. Zoya was out. Her bhaijaan didn't talk much and neither did her
child. People say that arrival of a child in the house fills it with innocent
cries and laughter, but it didn't happen in this house. Few days after Haya was
born - yes, she was named Haya, a name given by her Mamu - her inability to
hear became apparent. Rushed visit to the doctor's clinic and consultations
with specialists occurred. Haya's almost non-existent hearing ability classified
her as a 'profoundly-deaf' child. Doctors referred her to a specialist in
Mumbai who specialized in congenital deafness. An appointment was taken.
All the relatives who visited to wish them were dismayed
learning about Haya's condition. Some were discreet enough to hide their shock,
while some behaved as if there was nothing left in the child's life. The most
common action that everyone did was to hold the child in their hands and coo to
get its attention. But, Haya didn't react at all. She would look at whoever was
holding her with curious eyes and the person holding her would give her back to
her mother not knowing what else to do. Najma had found it too difficult a
situation to deal with. Her husband was away for business and it was not
possible for him to come. Her child couldn't even cry. If she was in pain, she
had no way of telling it. Why couldn't she be like other mothers? Celebrating
birth of her child? Watching her grow? Why would Allah punish her child?
"Ammi, agar raat ko agar use kuchh hua aur hum sab so rahe
ho, to phir humein pata kaise chalega? Woh to ro bhi nahi sakti. Use kuchh ho
gaya to?" Najma had asked her mother with tearful eyes. Her brother and sister-in-law
listened. Haya was sleeping in her crib.
"Aisa kuchh nahi hoga. Kuch nahi hoga." Dilshaad had said
hugging her, running her hand on her head. More tears and assurance were
exchanged. Zoya had tried her best to cheer her. After both Zoya and Dilshaad
had gone out, Asad had come to seat next to her.
"Bhaijaan..." She hugged her brother and cried. He didn't
say anything and just held her. His anguished face told what he was feeling. His
baby sister, his tamatar whom he had tried to protect from every possible harm
was in pain and he wasn't able to do much. He was another who could not
verbalize his pain. It was his nature to keep it inside, while nature had made
Haya such that she was incapable of taking it out. That thought made Najma look
at his brother. He was holding her and staring into space. Najma looked from
him to Haya. She was awake, moving her limbs. Najma got up wiping tears and
took her in her arms. Haya's face was contorted. It seemed like she wanted to cry. Asad was gone. In no time Haya was again asleep in her mother's arms. Najma sat down on
a chair holding her, absentmindedly singing a lullaby, even if no one was listening to it. The thought that in some strange way Haya was like Asad was
uplifting. He was one whom she had seen from childhood fighting against all
odds and winning. Even her Ammi had overcome many difficulties. And, there was
Zoya who hid her problems from the world and smiled. She prayed for Haya to
take after them and not after her faint-hearted Ammi. She also had the
appointment with the specialist to look forward to. After learning about Haya's
condition, today was the first time she was feeling calm.
As days passed, all of them adjusted to new situation. One
day, Asad found Zoya in Najma's room with her toolbox.
"Aap ye kya kar rahi hain?"
"Bas do minute..."
"Ye Haya ke crib pe kya lagaya hain?"
"Kahan na do minute..." She was checking something on
laptop screen.
"Aap kuchh batayegi..."
"Allah miyan, aap thoda sabar nahi kar sakte? Achha, ab
yahan aaiye." Asad came to stand by her side.
"Look at this."
"What am I looking at? Why is everything green? Is that...is
that this crib? Have you attached a camera on Haya's crib?"
"Jee haan. It is an infrared camera. Jo raat ko bhi dekh
sakta hain. Is camera ki feed ko ek software process karega, images match
karega aur agar woh detect karega ki Haya ro rahi hain to ek alarm bajega. Poore
ghar main nahi...sirf is room main..." Zoya added remembering the times she
had set up security alarm system which had annoyed Asad a lot. "So, humein pata
chalega ki Haya jagi hui hain aur use hamari zaroorat hain."
"Woh jab hum Ammi ke shooter ko dhoondh rahe the, tab jaisa
software aapne use kiya tha vaise..." Asad said remembering those times.
"Very good, Asad. Aap ko bhi samaj main aa raha hain. Kuchh
aise hi..." Zoya said patting his arm. He rolled his eyes, but listened as she
explained how it was going to work. She later showed it to Najma and Dilshaad
and the system was put to work. "Tamatar, ab tum chain ki neend so sakti ho."
"Zoya, chain ki neend? Ye raat ko kitni baar jagati hain
pata hain?" Najma said smiling at Haya who was in her arms.
"Ab woh to ye karegi. Hain naa, Haya? Hain naa?" Zoya took
her in her arms and played with her. Zoya was the one whose behaviour with Haya
was almost normal. If she didn't hear sounds, no problem. Zoya would make strange
faces and make her smile. If toys that made sounds didn't catch her attention,
she got her toys that emitted colourful lights. Zoya Asad Khan had solution for
every problem. Yh...she couldn't help but talk with Haya, too.
"Pata hain, Najma. Tumhare Bhaijaan se baat karne ki koshish
karte karte, meri achhi practice ho gayi hain. Hamari Haya to smile karti hain.
Jahanpanah ke saath to iski bhi guarantee nahi. Ab to sudhar gaye hain. Pehle
to beech baat main uthke chale jaate the. Hamari Haya aisa nahi karti." She got
busy playing with her niece.
The specialist in Mumbai said that once Haya was old enough,
they would be able to do cochlear implants - an expensive but effective
treatment. The treatment supported with appropriate rehabilitation would allow
her to hear and with her hearing back, she would be able to speak, too. It was
a relief to know that a cure was possible. It was a matter of time and proper
treatment. With that hope they raised Haya and now she was two year old.
When Haya was very young, Asad didn't spend much time with
her. That young child constantly required her mother, but as she started
growing, sitting up, crawling, walking - Asad started spending more and more
time with her. When she wanted something or wanted to convey something, he had
knack of understanding her. On doctor's advice, they had started using sign
language with her. Zoya, Dilshaad and Najma struggled. They would end up
speaking and Haya would first look at them with blank eyes and then look around
to search for her Mamu, because Mamu got her.
She was a quiet child otherwise, too. While Asad worked on
his laptop, she would seat next to him and play with her toys without making
any fuss. Asad would get her picture books and she would curiously turn pages
mesmerized by colors, animals and strange shaped black lines that were letters.
Her Mami made her smile a lot, but there were times when her Mami's actions
confused her and she got an expression on her face that was identical to her
Mamu, if he was watching her Mami's antics. She had even learned to knock on
doors as it was something that her Mamu always did. Because of her inability to
hear, unlike other children she couldn't enjoy the noise that such knocking
created. Yet she found it very funny. She would just keep banging, even if a
door was open.
"Seekhiye...Haya se seekhiye...darwaze pe knock karke aate
hain." Asad had teased Zoya, while Haya happily banged on their room door.
One day on the dining table, her mother dropped a fork and
it fell down with a clinking sound. Sudden sound might have surprised other
children, but Haya did not know anything about till she saw her mother bending
down. When her mother came up with the fork, she looked where her Mamu was
sitting and her lips moved. Haya didn't understand anything, but her Mamu's
face told her that dropping things was bad. When she was taught to hold spoon
and eat her own food, she was very careful.
When others got hang of sign language, they would use both
signs and words. But, in case of Asad, it was just those signs. Silence didn't
bother either him or Haya. One day Zoya told Dilshaad,
"Ammi, agar bolna mere liye Oxygen ki jitna zarrori nahi
hota, to main bhi pure time sign language main baat karti. Dekhiye, Asad Haya
ke saath kitni baatein karte hain?"
He would also play guitar to her. She couldn't listen, so he
would put her tiny hand on strings. Haya would giggle feeling the sensation of
vibrating strings against her palm. It seemed she also liked the instrument
rather the magical strings that vibrated. She would drag the big man that was
her Mamu with her tiny hands and would take him to the place where guitar was
and then would use signs to tell him to play. He would play; she would sit in
his lap and feel those vibrating strings.
Today when Najma peeped in Asad's room, he was working on
his laptop sitting on the blue-green settee. Haya played with her toys next to him. Najma saw that Haya pulled her Mamu's
hand to get his attention and showed him a toy and then made some signs. She
being still too young, her sign language was mostly an invention of her own and
it changed every day. Asad seemed to get it. He smiled and Haya smiled wider.
He got back to his laptop and Haya was back to her toys. Najma smiled seeing them and quietly closed door. Only sound in that
room was of his fingers tapping on the keyboard.
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