‘Gulshan ka Qadi’
TRIBUTE: Translation of Sahil Maqbool’s Urdu short story
Maqbool Sahil/ File Photo
Don’t know of what mysterious sins I have been penalized, least I know the reason of the ordeal or try-out I have been put to and bafflingly how and when I was restricted in this garden. I was unaware of the my identity, my name to me is yet another issue to be set on, my birth place and my parents are at a standstill mode like who looked after me, who brought me to this state. All I knew was that I was bordered by picturesque splendor from all sides with clear and sweet water streams, the canopy of tall and refreshing trees laden with dulcet fruits, the colossal flower beds with uncountable variety of birds chirruping melodiously. All their tuneful songs enthrall entire aura but I fell short to interpret the language of their songs. My occupation in the garden was limited to eat, drink, roam and rest. Everything that endorses sustenance was abundantly available but what made me to wear a sad look on this face was uncharted to me. It was still a question which I kept asking myself but failed to find the answer. At times to hunt for the answer my consciousness underwent deferrals yet at times on purpose I kept looking for the answer but for the ages together this state severed my wreckage and it appeared like an unending stretch of gloom. After all how long one can enjoy the chirruping of birds, to sit under the soothing shades of trees, to get pleasure from thirst quenching fruits or how long one can survive in the aroma of colourful flowers? Apparently my physique seemed well in order, my limbs were intact. Although there was no mirror around yet in the clear water streams I had many a time analysed my form which was extremely stunning, neither my health was bad nor did I ever experience any threat. I was all alone. There was neither a horrible animal around nor any armed robber but what was it that kept consuming me up. I tried my best to resolve this mystery but failed miserably!
Then one day I awoke from my slumber and I felt something astonishing around and I felt as if I was thrown down from a mount and my chest had received severe injuries, on left side of my body my ribs were struggling in ruthless pain and for the first time I felt a pulsation within my breast and I could sense the presence of someone close at hand, I raised my glance and I found just in front of me like my own self impressively gorgeous but in different form and shape, one more creature of my kind luring my attention, whose face was decked up with holy light, the eyes had all the depths of seas , the softest body was aided with sweet-smelling appearance before me kept my senses engaged and I kept gazing at this creature, bewildered and still in a state of shock, I felt as if for a fraction of second my breath was ceased, I was dragged into a different world or as I was thrown away from this garden and this creature too kept gazing at me , then a smile passed on which branched like the lightening over my eyes and through the subways of my chest reached deep into my bosom obliterating the valleys of my heart and escaped from somewhere else. The creature finally broke the silence and in a tune so sweet to ears revealed: Don’t be scared and stop looking at me so astonishingly, I am Eve, the remedy of your grief, for whom you were often reflecting and troubling yourself a lot. I embraced her and this is how the world came into existence.
Note: This translated version of Sahil Maqbool’s urdu short story ” Gulshan Ka Qadi” was presented on 129th session of Jammu and Kashmir Fiction Writers Guild today which was dedicated to late Sahil Maqbool.
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