Author: Shahmansoor Shahmirza
Translated from Persian by:
Shahrbanoo Shahmansoor
– What a beautiful sight! The sun is smiling, the leaves are shining like agates, and the light radiates everywhere. I can’t get enough of this sight. Who would have thought autumn would become spring? Delbar said, leaning against the window corner and looking out into the garden. She looked at the colours that filled the garden like a rainbow. She heard the buzz of bees on the yellow grapes and the echo of the water. Unconsciously, she put a hand on her face and filled her chest with the fragrance of the garden.
Delbar’s husband, Deldar, patiently picked up the sweeps with a shovel and threw them into the bucket. He hummed an old folk song. Deldar had been doing housework for some time. Every morning he sweeps the yard and cleans the cow and sheep barns.
Deldar entered the courtyard from the outside, put the bucket on the ground, and washed his hands. He saw his wife, who was still enjoying the beautiful weather. Delbar said to her husband:
It’s difficult to believe; it seems like autumn and spring.
Her husband replied while wearing his brand-new shirt:
– Nothing is permanent in this transient world, my darling. I told you that this incident was a warning for humans. A standstill was necessary because we were so immersed in technological development, greed, senseless wars, etc. But high places have their abysses. We had no mercy on ourselves. We almost destroyed nature, we broke it, burned it, and… it’s a pity that she has no voice, otherwise her scream would be deafening.
Delbar said:
– I believe. Since you promised me not to do anything without asking me, you have become very valuable to me, and I am proud of you. Everything you do is neat and clean. There is only one thing I am worried about. I am afraid that others will find out that you are doing housework and make a fool of you. These are my chores, and I have always done them. Let me do them myself from now on. You know these people well. It’s enough that you bought me a washing machine and a vacuum cleaner. Do you know what a valuable favour you did for me?
Deldar said:
– My dear, it was the least I could do for you. I used to laugh at some people when they said that a man’s wife is his minister (happy wife, happy life). Maybe this illness made me believe in that certain truth. You are the apple of my eye, my darling, and I swear to you that I will never hurt you again as long as I live. We both took good care of each other during this illness; I took care of you, and you became my healer and we loved each other, so God showed mercy on us.
Delbar said:
– Believe me, kindness makes suffering easier to bear. I feel like I have become the queen of the world. I never imagined my husband cleaning the cow barn or washing the dishes. All I ask is that your relatives do not find out about this, because they will make fun of you, and I do not want them to upset you because of me.
Deldar said, “What are you afraid of, my dear? I will tell them with pride. You used to do all the housework – washing clothes, tending cows and sheep, cooking, cleaning, etc. – all by yourself. I did not even notice how the children grew up. I should be ashamed that I realized your needs too late. This is a false belief of our people. Who says that helping your wife diminishes your dignity? Those who hold such beliefs are unhappy and helpless. (Those who annoy their wives are miserable and helpless.) A man like this had better not be. (A man who beats his wife should be punished)
Delbar said:
– The neighbor’s wife saw you doing housework and told her husband about you. When I talked to them today, her husband said that the total weight of this virus that destroyed the world is five grams. He also said that those who made this virus remotely controlled it through telephone waves. An extremely rich, evil man wanted to control all people and proposed to the heads of state of several countries to place a metal the size of a grain of rice under the skin of everyone’s wrist so that all information – from bank account numbers to telephone passwords to unlocking cars – could be activated with the same small metal. It seems that the government leaders of these countries did not agree with his proposal, and he developed this virus for revenge. Unbelievable! The human race is finished!
Deldar said:
-There are thousands of hypotheses in this case, my dear, and soon it will become clear what it was and what happened. Man is the cruelest creature. These cases sometimes end in disaster. You see, he lost all his wealth and didn’t even have the opportunity to enjoy it; the same calamity that he wanted to bring upon the people happened to himself. Or, “He who blows into the fire will sparkle!”
While Delbar packed a shawl, socks, and a scarf in a bag, she said:
-It’s a blessing in disguise. All I know is that the benefit of this pandemic and staying home was that we got to know each other better after twenty years of living together. Maybe, as you said, this incident gave us a reason to appreciate each other more.
Deldar said:
– We neglected ourselves. All people, not only us. Distress and misery showed the true face of the people. Depreciation, poverty, unemployment, and disease came one after the other. I don’t know how, but now that everyone has taken their Panams, you can look at those who took forty bags of flour and two tons of rice and didn’t even lend to their needy neighbor?
Delbar asked:
– What is Panam?
Deldar answered:
-In the past, the mask was called Panam.
Delbar said:
-In the first days of the illness, I walked to my neighbour’s house with a mask. Her husband saw it and said, What a strange joke this is, and he made fun of me. A few days later it was unclear where he got the virus. First, he got sick his family, us, and all the neighbours. Sometimes I don’t understand the reason for many events. The one who saved for a rainy day and didn’t help his needy neighbour, and the one who couldn’t save anything for a rainy day and was needy, both survived.
Deldar said, “Thank God everything went well; let’s go so as not to be late.
Both stepped out of the house, and Deldar closed the door. The students lined up in the schoolyard, and 20 to 25 men and women gathered. All of them wore their freshly bought festive clothes, and most of them had bags with them. Except for one old man, who spoke to no one.
They had written slogans on the walls and hung banners with the following motto: We won! Goodbye, Corona! Everything is over! A new day, a new life, and… Some hugged and congratulated each other. It was as if they had not seen each other for years, and they looked at each other smiling. Poulad told Anwar:
-I did not even dare to go out on the street to avoid getting sick; it was such a difficult time, believe it or not, but I also missed my annoying neighbour. If he argues with me this time, I will not say anything to him; if he curses, I will ignore it.
Anwar said:
-I thought this time would not end. Have you ever looked at your face? How much did we all change during that time? I fought with my wife every day, the airline I worked for went bankrupt, and I was fired. I spent all my savings on buying flour and oil and thought God had forgotten us.
– God hasn’t forgotten us, but we have forgotten him. He’s a witness and observer of all our actions. Nothing happens without a reason. I believe in God, and I know that He provides our daily bread. You’re one of the two hundred million unemployed. It was our negligence, but finally, all those terrible days are over.
Poulad said this to Akram and asked him to sit next to him. The others sat down on the benches in the courtyard, and the principal walked up to the podium and stood behind the pulpit. He tapped his finger on the speaker, which then made a hissing sound, and everyone looked at him. The principal said:
-We have gathered today to celebrate the victory over Corona. This virus has suddenly appeared and turned everything upside down. Even our small village has suffered losses. We haven’t seen each other for a long time, and today is the first day of meeting after quarantine. Fathers died hoping to see their sons again. Some mothers died longing to see their children’s faces again. We have all lost our loved ones; let’s do the same thing here, in this gallery.
The principal continued:
-History is the memory of the people; we must preserve it and pass it on to the next generation. We, the teachers, consulted with some parents and came to the conclusion that the establishment of this gallery could fulfill this task. The hard days passed, and everyone was hurt, but we won, we survived, and the disease disappeared. With your permission, I would now like to ask Baba Fayaz, the oldest person in this village, to recite a Fatiha for us. With this, this gallery will be inaugurated.
Baba Fayaz, who was sitting in the first pew, stroked his beard, came to the pulpit with his stick, and said:
-My mother was one of the survivors of cholera in the second decade of the last century. I was five or six years old when I went to herd sheep. My mother told me that there were only six or seven families left in her village, all the others were destroyed. Some villages were completely evacuated, and everyone died. I am the last survivor of this era, and I say this from my own experience. I had experienced famines and wars, but this was different. Bread, water, and peace solved famine and war, but there was no medicine for this pain. Every day new symptoms are found. I want all of you to be more appreciative of each other. You have seen that people are helpless to a small, insignificant particle.
Hatred constricted his throat, and tears fell on his white beard. A tall man gathered the corners of his clothes, stood up, and said:
– Are these things really necessary? We are all grieving in the same way. I have lost my brother. Is not this pain and grief great enough that you have gathered us today and are pouring salt into our wounds? We are wounded, and everyone who gets Corona will be in pain like a wounded soldier for the rest of his life. I thought the reason you brought us here was to give us flour and rice. What do you mean by this talk? I do not want this gallery. I have nothing to put in this gallery; I have sold all my cows and sheep, and my tears are not yet dried. Will you revive my sadness?
Someone called his name. It was the voice of Akbar. The history teacher said:
-Listen, Sultan, my sorrow is not less than yours; you have lost your brother, but I have lost my wife and my sister; they have not even let me see their faces for the last time. Do you think we are not unhappy? This gallery reminds us not to forget our deceased loved ones. It also reminds us that the memory of them is always present in our minds and hearts. It is also worth leaving memories of this difficult time for our children and future generations. So that they know what a difficult time we went through and what misfortune happened to us.
The tall man looked around and sat down sadly.
The principal again stepped up to the pulpit and invited the audience to enter the school building. He took the hand of Baba Fayaz, who could hardly walk, and both entered the building slowly in front of the others. The old man was crying and wiped his tears with a handkerchief. They prepared a class as a gallery. The principal asked Baba Fayaz to cut the entrance tape with scissors. He cut the ribbon with trembling hands. Fathers and mothers entered the library and the students stayed in the corridor. They hung two brooms on the wall, their handles meeting like the two corners of a triangle. Between them was a guide stick.
The principal said:
-We lost two dustmen and a geography teacher; these are their memorials, he said, pointing to his colleague. His colleague, a young teacher, was sitting next to a table with a notebook and pen on it. An old woman with blue eyes handed the young teacher a pair of glasses and said:
-God has mercy on my husband’s soul, he used to read books with these glasses.
The young teacher took the glasses and wrote in a notebook. Others also gave him something: a shirt, a mirror, a scale, and a walking stick in memory of a loved one. Siraj, the village cook, came to the young teacher and said:
-This disease killed my only son, a pediatrician who tried to save children like a guardian angel. Please pray for him and hang his son’s white doctor’s coat on a nail.
Abdulsalam, the barber, said:
– This mirror reminds me of my mother. I leave it here; we should look at it from time to time and remember what we have done and what we will do.
Deldar took out from the bag in Delbar’s hand two pairs of socks, a shawl, and an embroidered scarf with a dove sewn on it, and explained:
-During this time we did not leave the house, just like you. These were made by my dear wife, and I would like to place these handicrafts here in remembrance. My wife learned to weave and embroider fabrics during the outbreak of the war. Sometimes deprivation is not a limitation, but an opportunity to develop and grow. I drew this dove on the fabric, and she sewed it. We did not think we would survive this disease. We wanted the dove to pass on our message to future generations that hardships will eventually end.
Sultan took the picture of his brother out of his pocket and stared at it for a moment. He kissed it and placed it on the table. Baba Fayaz opened the chain of his pocket watch hanging from his coat, placed it on the table, and said:
-It was with me for fifty years, now it belongs here. Time is a great healer. The young teacher took the objects one by one and wrote the names of their owners in a notebook.
The silent old man named Saqi, who had said nothing until that moment, raised his gaunt hand and said:
– Dear friends, my grief is endless.
Sultan said:
– Why should you be sad when you have lost no one?
Saqi said:
-It is not like that; your sorrow is my sorrow. I remember asking my father, “How much do you love me?” He replied, “I love you as much as the neighbour’s dog.” I was very disappointed and whispered to myself, So my father does not love me at all. I gave him a meaningful look and he understood and said, “When you grow up, you will understand the meaning of what I said today. When your neighbour, your fellow citizen, is happy, you also feel happiness and positive energy. However, when he is sad, you are exhausted and depressed. The crying and wailing of mothers that I heard from night until morning did not let me rest; I could not sleep during that time, and when I woke up in the morning, I was afraid of hearing bad news immediately. The village was filled with sadness. Now let us deepen our happiness. Happiness brings more joy. Your love, calls, and greetings kept me alive. You were my safeguard. I, too, was stricken with the Coronavirus, but I kept telling myself that as long as I had such kind friends and neighbours, the disease could not defeat me. The hope of seeing you again brings me back to life. Believe me, most of those who died of Corona died out of grief and fear; do not doubt it. The Sultan became angry and said:
– Are these words really necessary? God heals.
Saqi said:
-You are right, but eighty percent of diseases depend on strong spirits. If the human spirit is strong, the disease will be defeated. Cowards die many times before they die. You all have left something here to remind you of your loved ones. I also want to leave my pain and sorrow here forever. Honestly, I am not sure if the doors and walls will withstand the weight, but my grief is very deep. And it’s intense. I’ll leave it at this: let’s not be hypocrites, envious, or miserly from now on. We saw with our own eyes how powerless we were before a small particle; no one could do anything. We saw how slowly time passed because we were waiting for that day. In those days, life was dark and colourless because we were sad. During that time, our sadness became deep and long-lasting. Now we want to increase our happiness. There are some things that make us sad. Baba Fayaz, who was listening, waved his stick after hearing Saqi’s speech and said:
– Why don’t we admit that in this small village, we used to get sad when we saw the happiness of others? Pecans and ginger were an effective remedy for Corona; we old men couldn’t make it to the mountains to get them. I don’t want to name anyone, but the person who sold these plants to people at a very high price, what profit did he get from this work? Let’s promise that from now on we won’t deviate from fairness. As long as we can help someone and our goodwill reaches those around us, we live. Surely all of you who are in quarantine should understand this point. Let us remember our loved ones who died before our eyes and leave our bad habits here in this gallery. No one else said anything. The director asked the students to leave. Baba Fayaz, Sultan, Niaz, the old woman with blue eyes, Siraj, Saqi, Abdulsalam, Poulad, Deldar, Delbar, the principal, and the young teacher left the gallery. No one bothered to close the door. The gallery was open, and the scent of sadness drifted out…
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1. The first literal meaning of the phrase “Al-Fatiha” is “The Opener/Key,” which could refer to the fact that this surah is the first in the Quran, the first chapter to be recited in its entirety at each rakaat of salah, or to how it serves as the opening for many functions in Islamic daily life.
АХТАРИ ЗУЛМАТСӮЗ 