I was still in search of life.

Two years back, being hardly twenty six, I had become the best Image Consultant in the country; my clients ranged from politicians, TV and sports stars, to large businesses and prolific entrepreneurs. I spent two years enjoying that fashionably chosen and exquisite lifestyle and then one day an utterly featureless meeting with a client threw me into the chasms of my own useless self.

Maria was presumably the greatest film star in the country whose aesthetics and persona was followed by millions; she was the cult figure who was impeccable in everything she did, in everything she said; it was all true until one day she entered my office.

“I am losing it all, I don’t know how long can I hold it, I can’t keep up, I am breaking down and I don’t want that to be seen. Help me, help me retain myself…” she kept on rambling and I kept on thinking, “I can’t do this, what help do these people want, they are already at the top, why do I do this.”

She turned out to be my last client; I gave up on everything, sold my car and apartment and left that egocentric city where everybody was wrapped around himself. Some two hundred miles to the north of the country, I bought a small log cabin with a breathtaking view on all sides and started working on my first book, “Selfless Victories”, exploring ways in which one could help others win, those who really deserved to win but their victories had already been expropriated by some self centered winners.

That day it rained heavily and the winds wouldn’t stop throwing those raindrops at my door; they kept knocking there, keeping me from writing a word. I opened the door and a thousand tiny wet hands slammed on my face and sprayed that unsaid silence onto my eyes.

“What is it that you want?” I asked myself, “Why can’t you just live for yourself?”

There was no answer, only a thousand more knocks, a thousand more hands, a thousand more pairs of eyes and a thousand more lives right there in front of me. What was it that I wanted out of my life; I was not heartbroken anymore; I was not in an unspoken love; neither was I in any sort of pain that was usually of emotional or pecuniary disposition. As a matter of fact, I was still living a veritably peaceful life. That rain kept falling helplessly on my face trying to wake me up. “Let me live for myself”, I finally spoke to it and went inside the cottage closing the door behind me. I had no words in my head to spread on paper, but I still sat there in my comfort chair beside the fireplace, rolling to and fro, holding my chin in my hand, staring at the clumsily dancing fire. My eyes were wandering aimlessly in the room when they finally focused on a two weeks old newspaper sneaking from underneath my laptop.

“Drought continues uninterrupted by rainfall for the fifth year in Thar; populace forced to drink polluted water.”

In the far corner of the room, played a song, “My heart is bigger than the small days I am given in my life; I live all my life today; I don’t worry about tomorrow for when my life brings pain it also brings the remedy.” I felt that radiant heat of the furnace hitting my right cheek, vocals of the rainfall hitting the door on my left, a promising yet sad song adding to the mist in the air and an unfinished paragraph fallen silently on a piece of paper floating unattended on the table. This was it, I knew what I was supposed to do; rain was sending me to a place where she couldn’t go herself. I was going to Thar.

A few yards ahead I saw a hoarding of an NGO that claimed to be working for sustainable development in the country; for the good of the people in other words. I stopped for a while and then entered the building. In a couple of minutes, I had acquired the attention of one of the managers working in the office.

“I need to find out all the possible details about Thar region; geography, climate, people, languages, anything, anything at all”, I said in a very sober voice.

“Sure, we have a book about Thar written by our chairperson…” The manager tried to be a salesman instead of a facilitator.

“No, I am not looking for a book; I only need facts and figures about the region.” I cut his speech and told him what I was looking for.

“Ahan, and may I ask what purpose do you need this information for?” he apparently didn’t like my blunt refusal to buy the book.

“I am leaving for Thar shortly, I want to help those people and I need to know about the place before hand.” I told him honestly and unswervingly.

“But we are already helping those people. We have a whole committee just for that…”

“Yeah and that’s why they are drinking colored water” a wave of fury oscillated through my brain as I stood up and left the room. If anything at all, there was one thing I had learnt in my life, when action is needed, words are a waste of time.

I walked out of the building and crossed the street moving towards my jeep that was parked a few yards from the bank. I had hardly taken a few steps when I heard a callous voice following me and stopping my way.

“Why did you do that?” Those words were spoken acrimoniously and for a moment left me befuddled. I turned around and saw those Monet eyes staring at me with more of seriousness than anger.

“Excuse me?” I asked in return, expecting a more relevant, a more understandable question.

“Why did you look at me as if there was some sort of atrocious reflection pinned on my face?” She obviously didn’t approve of the wrath that carried my first look towards her.

“You reminded me of nothing but pain and misery in some other people’s lives; you, with your so perfect world and so perfect life and so perfect being that everything else looks so ugly and flawed in comparison.” May be not in my eyes anymore, but my wrath was there in my words.

She didn’t understand a word I said to her or may be she did, but she was silent all of a sudden.

“Any other day, you would have reminded me of fresh warm raindrops, but today when I looked at you, I could only think of polluted water.”

She looked at me with utmost bewildered face, “You are one strange man and you speak one strange language, I am sorry I asked”, she started to walk away.

“What is the color of water you drink?” I asked her in a little loud voice.

She stopped, turned around and looked at me with even more puzzled eyes, “What?”

“What is the color of water you drink?” I repeated my question.

“Hah”, she uttered a reluctant laughter, “Its… colorless” she told me with a slight squint that was an indication for me to explain.

“There are people, not very far away from this city, for whom the only color in life is in the water they drink.” I softened my tone but said it to her very seriously.

She seemed to have understood what I was talking about; her eyes were intelligent enough to let me know that. “And you think I am responsible for that?” she asked me with as much seriousness.

“No. But you are responsible for not helping them” I completed assigning the blame to her and walked away.

I accompanied a few silent steps when I heard some loud steps followed by a fervent voice, “And what if I want to help?”

This was absolutely unpredicted; I only stared at her and I wasn’t coming out of the spectacle of her face until she started staring back at me. “I am leaving for Thar now” I finally uttered after a long silence during which I thought of absolutely nothing.

“Now?” she asked in a bemused tone.

“Yes” I said still staring at her.

And then it was her turn to go silent.

“Make it tomorrow” she finally said with the most positive tone.

I searched for truth on her face and in her eyes and it didn’t take me even a moment to find it.

“Ok. I will wait for you here tomorrow at nine.” I tried to hide that excited tension in my voice.

“Make it ten” she said reluctantly.

And I smiled, “lazy!” I thought; “Sure” I agreed to the time.

“Good. See you tomorrow then” she said and walked towards her car.

“Yeah, sure” I said and walked towards my jeep.

It wasn’t the way I planned but I absolutely had no problem with this change of plan. I drove down to a hotel and got myself a room for the night. Before I stumbled over a few thoughts and fell into sleep, I told myself she wasn’t going to come tomorrow.

Next morning, I waited in front of the bank. It was 23 past ten and she wasn’t there; even more disappointingly I wasn’t leaving, I was still waiting for her. Six more minutes passed and I was still uncertain about my prospects of leaving when she appeared.

“You are late” I wasn’t complaining nor was I furious.

“You should have left then” she said with a confident smile and put her bag into the jeep. “I was here at 10, but I just wanted to see if you really want me to go with you.”

“And…” I asked her smiling.

“Well, you waited for me” she said with a faint squint; I told myself it was a smile.

“So what’s the plan? What are we going to do there?” she asked while settling in the jeep.

“I don’t know. We’ll see what we can do when we get there” I said reluctantly, thinking it will flare her up.

“Great. I like that better” she said looking ahead at the road.

I switched the engine on and drove off.

She had the permission of her parents to take off for this trip; how did she get the permission, I didn’t ask and she didn’t tell. She was the daughter of one of the richest men in the country; a billionaire entrepreneur who had a saying in every imaginable business. I wanted to ask her why was she coming along with me to an unknown land of less known people to do something none of us was familiar with; but I left that thought unstated and kept driving. It was going to be one long drive.

Water is a precious thing and is treasured with care; rain seems to be the only source of consumable water. Rain fills up small ponds and these ponds are then the only source of water be it human consumption or animal. The underground reservoirs are rare and it is difficult to dig deep enough to acquire consumable water. And there is no certainty about the rainfall either, it varies every year.

I kept thinking about the place, the people; I honestly had no idea what to expect when we get there.

It was late afternoon when we reached the central village in the area. By that time, if at all, I had found two things about her; her name was Eeman and she was the most talkative girl I had ever run across. She started off from today and took me all the way back to her first day at school; and all this time all I did was pass frequent smiles to her anecdotes.

“Oh my God! We are here; it didn’t take as long as you said it would” she almost screamed when I stopped the jeep at a wide curve on the main entrance to the village.

“Yeah right” I said with a teasing smile and she laughed. So far there hadn’t been a moment in our journey where I had to explain my words or gestures to her.

A couple of dozen scarcely clad children came running towards us and thronged the jeep, some screaming with joy, some silently staring at us and some shouting back telling their families about the arrival of some city people. Eeman kept looking at those children with same eagerness as was on their faces; I started unloading our bags from the jeep.

One of the kids, who seemed more intelligent than the rest, approached Eeman and asked “Where is your camera?”

She smiled at him and told him she didn’t have a camera with her.

“Well, does your brother have one?” he asked pointing towards me.

I looked at him with mock anger in my eyes but he wasn’t looking at me; I heard a laughter before she answered his question, “No, he doesn’t have one either.”

“Aren’t you two form the newspaper?” he seemed a little disappointed.

“No we are not journalists” she told him with a soft smile in her voice, “we are just here to help.”

And now he was completely lost; he went silent.

I looked around and saw an elderly man approaching us. He was thin, tall and dark skinned man in his mid sixties. There were stories of hardship written all over his face; dirt ridden miles he had traveled were showing on his veins, countless bids of farewell were shivering in his eyes, and days of malnutrition were pasted on his wrecked lips. He walked with elegance and grace that suited his age.

“Welcome my friends, you seem to have lost your way, I can help you find your way out of here” he said as he came near us.

“No, we are not lost, we are here to …” I hadn’t anticipated answering such simple yet difficult question.

“We are here to live with you people”, Eeman jumped in the conversation with an equally unexpected answer. I looked at her completely surprised and she realized she needed to say more than that.

“We are here to help you find clean water” she so eloquently shrunk the whole idea in a few words.

The old man looked at us trying to find pieces of truth in our words and our faces, I knew what he was thinking; we weren’t the first ones nor the last who had stirred their hopes and then left them on the same dry lands. I looked back at him with as much age and maturity as I could bring onto my face. I thought he even knew what I was trying to do; he smiled and gestured us to follow him.

“Children, go take sahib’s luggage inside” as soon as he said that, the kids had grabbed all of our bags and started running towards a small hut at the beginning of a long line of similar dwellings. I looked at Eeman to see if she wasn’t nervous, but far from that, extremely excited she almost ran after the kids laughing and shouting with them. While I spoke in detail to the old man, of the reasons why we were here. The old man, whose name was Rahim Daad, was neither skeptical nor overjoyed, he listened calmly and assured me off all assistance while we were there in the village.

By the time evening scrolled on the desert sands, I had been introduced to the village men who welcomed me and promised all their help with whatever my plans were; this was extremely unprecedented as I didn’t think I was going to be welcomed like this.

Eeman had disappeared ever since she ran after those children, she was staying in the other section of the hut with the women of the house, Rahim Daad had told me. Just before sunset, I took off towards a sandy hillock just outside the village. Rahim Daad wanted to accompany me but I asked him to carry on with his work.

“Don’t go far, its easy to get lost in this sandy world, you wont find any streets here” he cautioned me.

“I’ll keep that in mind” I said with a smile and walked on.

The day was pretty hot but it was getting surprisingly chilly in the evening, I looked back at the village entrance where my jeep stood covered in dust, “I wish I had brought my cardigan” I thought and kept walking. The evening was extremely serene and quite; I could hear nothing but those soft thuds as my boots sank in the sand. I reached at the top of a raised spot in the middle of the desert and sat down there with my back towards the village that viewed like a long train of huts from that distance; I sat there watching the sun go down.

I couldn’t hear her footsteps in such overwhelming silence as she approached me and stood right next to me. I looked up over my right shoulder and found Eeman standing there with an open mouth and amazed eyes; I didn’t think she had seen such a perfect sunset in her life before. I clutched a corner of her shawl in my index finger and thumb and pushed it down a little. She looked at me and found me smiling.

“The sunset is not over a wall, so if you sit down you can still watch it” I said maintaining that smile on my face. She smiled enough that I could see her teeth shining fairly in that tender light. She sat down next to me and kept staring at the sun.

“I’ve never seen such beautiful sight in my life” she said without taking her eyes off the red sun that looked like a fresh orange.

“Yeah I know” I said calmly.

“Yeah? How do you know?” she finally took her eyes off the sun and placed her soft glance on me.

“Well if I know who was your favorite teacher in grade one, this falls in the easier questions category” I said pointing towards the sun but keeping my eyes on her luminous face.

She laughed a whole-hearted laughter and said, “And I thought you weren’t listening.”

“I had to; couldn’t just jump out the car or could I?” I tried to tease her.

“Well I was keeping you company” she said shrugging her shoulders.

“Yeah I could hear that” I said. And she laughed again.

We remained silent for a few minutes, staring at the sun that had started disappearing in the glowing sand underneath it.

“So what next?” she asked with the excitement of a child.

“Why are you always in a hurry?” I asked politely.

“I don’t know, I just want to know everything I guess”, she said with innocence of a child.

“Sometimes you just let things unfold themselves to you” I spoke to her as if I were her mentor.

“Yeah I get it” she nodded.

“Yeah? Like what?” I asked thinking she didn’t understand what I meant.

“What’s the rush mister, just let it unfold itself to you” she said with lively smile on her and I laughed.

Right then, a young boy came running and shouting towards us, “Sahib, sahib!!!´

I looked at him and as he came to a halt in front of us, he continued in his heavy gasps, “Rahim chacha says he would like you to accompany him to another village where there lives a man who can tell where water lies beneath the earth.”

“Yes sure, tell him that I will definitely go with him” I told the boy.

“Ok, good. He said we will leave soon after the morning prayers” The boy certainly was a good messenger.

“What time is that?” Eeman said before I could ok the whole proposal.

The boy looked a little confused but then he thought for a while and said “I think its five in the morning.”

“Five!!! Can we make it six?” she asked the boy with a plain straightforward tone.

The boy was confused as he looked at me for a refuge. I looked at him and shrugged my shoulders suggesting that even I couldn’t do anything about it.

“Well, ok, I will tell Rahim chacha that you will be ready by six” the boy said and left.

I looked at her questioning her laziness; she stared back at me, shrugged her shoulders saying, “What???” and walked down towards the village. I smiled and walked after her. As we reached near Rahim Daad’s house, Eeman suddenly stopped and ran back to the village’s main street. “I’ve got an idea…” she mumbled something else as well but by that time she had ran out of my sight. I ran after her; Rahim Daad had seen us coming and then abruptly running away, he came after us and so did a number of kids who loved running here and there for no obvious reason.

Eeman ran back to the jeep and started unloading all of our water stock; there were more than five dozen mineral water bottles in there; this was part of our ration for the duration of our stay here. For a moment I just stood there, trying to understand what she was up to.

“Come on, help me with this, we all will have a party tonight; we’ll drink clean water today” she said while picking up a pack of six bottles. While talking to me, she lost concentration and her grip on the pack and it almost fell on the ground when I hurried forward and grabbed it from her. She looked at me trying to find a positive answer to her suggestion.

“Why didn’t I think of it” I said smiling and we took out all the packs from the jeep and placed them on the ground. By that time, Rahim Daad and all the kids were there and she was about to delegate some of the kids to carry the packs back to Rahim Daad’s place when I saw a little caravan entering the village, led by a horseman.

“Oh no. What have they come for?” I heard Rahim Dad uttering a woeful sound. As the horseman came closer, I took a detailed look at him. He was a man of small stature, wearing a clean and somber color robe. He had light beard and mustache; most of his fingers were occupied by large multicolor rings; his horse was spotlessly white and was well groomed. In one look at him, anybody could tell that this man was of considerable prestige in this area.

“What brings you here at this late time of the day Khuda Bakhsh?” Rahim Daad said in a solemn voice, taking a few steps forwards.

The horseman whose name was Khuda Bakhsh descended from his horse and walked up to Rahim Daad staring at me and Eeman with utmost disgust in his eyes.

“You have once again flung wide the gates of your village to these city dwellers who come here for nothing but to proclaim a few words of praise for themselves. I thought we agreed in the last meeting that no such welcome will be extended to any such individual; you’ve broken the accord Rahim Daad” he definitely sounded like an educated person for he was meticulous in choosing his words.

“I know of no such agreement between us Khuda Bakhsh, and these two are my guests for I have promised them my hospitality. And all that you know of me will assure you that I shall not break my promise” Rahim Daad stood tall in front of us two and made his pledge clear to his adversary.

I could see Khuda Bakhsh on the retreat as he couldn’t find any reason to argue further and this, in fact, infuriated him even more. Just then his eyes caught sight of that pile of water bottles. “Bilal, Shahid, Fazal! Pick up these bottles and carry them away” he ordered three of his men to take away those packs and as those three men moved forward, Eeman tried to stand in front of the pile and was about to take a step forward when I held her from her arm and stopped her from doing so. I had seen Rahim Daad offering a silent surrender; I couldn’t find any reason behind this but I could easily tell he didn’t want things to get worse so he remained silent.

As those three men confiscated those packs of bottles, Khuda Bakhsh turned to Rahim Daad and said in a very strong tone, “Why do you relive such painful memories Rahim Daad? How many times do you wish to put your village through this mirage? These people cannot change our tomorrow; do not let them spoil your today.”

Rahim Daad stood there wordless; he preferred remaining silent as this was the only way to make Khuda Bakhsh leave right away; and he did. As soon as all the packs were loaded on their camels, Khuda Bakhsh mounted his horse and took off. Rahim Daad stood there silently, with a somber face, while Eeman frowned with utmost disapproval of that act, “Why didn’t you put up a fight?” she asked Rahim Daad and then turned towards me, “And why did you stop me? I thought we were here to help these people, well there was your chance and you just missed it.” She didn’t wait for any of us to say a word; she turned around and walked quickly away. I thought of going after her but then decided against it as at this moment she wouldn’t have accepted any explanation whatsoever.

Rahim Daad and I walked slowly towards his house, none of us said a word to each other but I knew this affair was going to be discussed amongst the people of the village soon; and I wasn’t wrong. That young boy was sent out to deliver the call for a meeting to every house in the village; by the time we had finished dinner, the invitation had reached every house in the village and men had started appearing from all corners, gathering at the courtyard in front of Rahim Daad’s house.

It was a long meeting but a very fruitful one; they not only explored the history of hostilities committed by Khuda Bakhsh, the spearhead of the biggest village in the region, and his men, but they also talked about all the false promises the Government and numerous NGOs had made to improve the standard of life of these people. A few years ago, Khuda Bakhsh was at the forefront to draw attention of the government as well as other national and international donor agencies towards the brittle condition of the region but years of negligence and empty promises had left him bitter and now he did not tolerate any such intrusion into the region.

The village committee asked me for my credentials as well, “In what capacity can you help us find clean water?” one of the eldest committee members asked me politely.

“First we need to find out where exactly water resources are located deep underneath the surface. Rahim Daad and I will be leaving tomorrow morning for a village nearby where I am told of a person who can track such hidden water resources. Once we are done with that part, I will arrange for the actual drilling of the well” I laid down my plan as briefly as I possibly could.

“My brother, you are missing one point here” said another old fellow, “this is no ordinary land where you can drill wells; we would have done that long time ago but the fact is that the sand doesn’t allow the wells to hold together, to stay intact.”

“Yes, I very much anticipate these problems but I have planned for that …” I started elaborating my plans to them but my mind drifted away from my own words and I started thinking about Eeman. She came here primarily because of me and now she was alone and I was again the reason for that. As soon as the meeting was adjourned, I ran towards Rahim Daad’s place looking for that young boy who had been playing messenger.

“I believe she has gone to sleep” Rahim Daad knew who I was looking for.

“But its hardly nine” I looked at my watch.

“Night falls early in our world” Rahim Daad said with a sad smile and gestured me to follow him.

“The committee seems to have agreed to your proposal and I think that adds to their expectations as well.”

“Yes I am afraid so; that doesn’t leave us with much of a margin for failure” I said with a slight worry in my tone.

Rahim Daad nodded in affirmation and asked me to take some rest, there was a long day ahead of us tomorrow. Sleep already was drowsing on my eyelids but Eeman’s anger wasn’t letting it close them. I kept thinking about her until her though faded into my tired submission.

Rahim Daad politely jolted my shoulder to wake me up; Eeman’s thought woke up with me. I looked at Rahim Daad and was about to ask about her when he said, “She is still asleep I think. Last night before going to bed, she told my wife that she would not accompany us to the other village.” It clearly meant she didn’t want us to see her. I retreated back into my bed with a thud.

“We will leave in half an hour; get ready. I will bring breakfast in a while” Rahim Daad said while going out.

About ten minutes later, Rahim Daad brought in excellent breakfast; perfectly done slices of bread, butter, marmalade and a warm cup of cream coffee. Rahim Daad saw my surprise struck eyes and said, “I could never arrange for this; she prepared your breakfast.” We both looked at each other and then smiled big smiles. I started having my breakfast when Rahim Daad asked, “Is she your wife?” And I nodded in negative taking a sip of coffee.

“Fianceé?”

“No. I don’t know her.” I said spreading butter over a piece of bread.

Rahim Daad sat there for a while all wondered, trying to figure out the whole scenario and then stood up to leave, “We’ll leave in about fifteen minutes.”

It was a long and uncomfortable journey to the village where Ram Daas lived; the fellow who could track water resources beneath the surface. Even worst, Ram Daas had left for the next village where a landlord had asked him to track down his lost buffalo. “Master of all trades” I thought. Rahim Daad decided to follow Ram Daas to the next village since no one had any idea how long will it take him to come back. With a weary heart, I drove down to next village. When we reached there, it took us fifteen more minutes to track down Ram Daas who was in the outskirts of the village.

He was a small man in his early thirties, hardly five feet tall, with a puny frame but there were signs of intelligence in his eyes that made me believe that he must be master of all trades. And it was true, Rahim Daad told me he was a master craftsman as well; he could weave rugs, make furniture, tame horses and camels and build houses of bricks, mud and wood. As soon as he saw us approaching him, he ran towards us and shouted “Rahim chacha, what a good day it is to have seen you.” As soon as he came closer, he hugged Rahim Daad and then shook hands with me so enthusiastically it felt as he would rip off my wrist, “So good to meet you sir.” He sure was a very warm and friendly person.

“So tell me chacha, you are here for pleasant reasons, I hope no trouble has seen the door to your house; I heard Khuda Bakhsh was there last night” he asked with a mix of hope and worry.

“Everything is fine Ram Daas, everything is fine” Rahim Daad said, “Khuda Bakhsh brings no new worry for us. But we need your help with something very important.”

“Anything, anything at all” Ram Daas said humbly but with great anticipation.

“This gentleman here has come from the city” Rahim Daad said pointing at me, “He is going to help us find clean drinking water; for that we need your skills.”

“I can locate water reservoirs beneath the surface, my grandfather taught me this art” Ram Daas said with an aura of pride in his voice.

“Yes, we all know that and no one has ever denied your skills; that’s why we are here.”

“I will accompany you right away, as soon as I find this buffalo, its been missing since morning and the landlord Hukam Zaman has personally asked me to find it before sunset” Ram Daas asked for sometime which Rahim Daad agreed to. I insisted that we stay with Ram Daas for any help he might need. Ram Daas got even more excited and kept telling us stories of how many lost goats and buffaloes he has successfully found. I could easily see that he was not exaggerating; with his skills now wonder everyone would’ve turned to him for help.

Tactfully, he moved between countless footmarks of various animals and picked up the trail left by that particular buffalo. In less than an hour, he had tracked down the buffalo that had relinquished itself into a trench some two miles out of the village.

“Poor old soul, she must have wandered off the herd” Ram Daas tapped the animal with affection. I was extremely impressed with his skills and knew right away that Rahim Daad had chosen the right person for the job.

By the time we got back to our village, the sun was about to drown into the far corner of this vast sea of sand. We were still a hundred yards from the village when I saw her standing their in a posture that showed impatience and anticipation. I had a feeling she had been standing there for quite sometime. A few more moments and she couldn’t wait; her patience ran out as she hurried towards us. I slowed down the jeep and stopped as she came closer. Rahim Daad moved slowly and went to the rear of jeep, sitting face to face with Ram Daas. She hopped in and started firing those questions that were roaming in her head since morning; “So did you find him? Where’s the guy? Is he any good? What took you so long? You think we are going to make it?”

I smiled politely at her and pointed towards Ram Daas, “He is the guy. Meet Mr. Ram Daas.”

She looked back at him, threw him a blank hello and then looked back at me again with a question mark.

“As much as I know, he is the one we want” I said with a firm voice.

She looked back at Rahim Daad this time.

“He is the best tracker this region has seen in a hundred years” Rahim Daad vouched for him.

Hearing this, she was relieved; she looked back again at Ram Daas and welcome him on the team with utmost warmth in her voice this time. I smiled again and drove off towards the village.

Rahim Daad took Ram Daas to his home asking him to take rest as tomorrow we would leave in search of reservoirs. Eeman remained seated in the jeep and so did I.

“So you are angry no more!” I looked at her with a warm smile.

“I wasn’t angry even then; but wanted to make a point” she replied with an even warmer smile.

“Point well taken” I laughed.

“Yeah?” she looked for an elaboration.

“Well, life is too short, let’s not waste it while waiting. Right?”

“Correct, you got it” she seemed satisfied and back to her usual self now.

“And … thanks” I said with a hint of a whisper in my voice.

“For?” she asked even though I was certain she knew what I was talking about.

“The breakfast” I said with another smile.

“You don’t have to thank me, I didn’t make it for you” she said with an extreme shine in her eyes.

I looked at her with a bewildered face.

“I made it for Rahim chacha but he refused to have it and gave it to you, and I didn’t say no” she said shrugging her shoulders.

I went silent, thinking of an answer to this situation.

She looked at me with a somber face and then burst into laughter, “I am kidding you stupid.”

I nodded my head and started laughing with her.

“So did you miss me while you were gone?”

I didn’t know what she meant by that; this time I couldn’t tell the expression on her face, I couldn’t describe it. For a moment I thought I would say yes and would tell her that I truly had been thinking about her since last night but then decided against it.

“Of course I missed you” I said with a sarcastic smile on my face, “I mean there was this buffalo we couldn’t catch and naturally you would’ve been a very handy resource there.”

She laughed out again, “Good one, good one.”

We walked down towards Rahim Daad’s home. She reached the door of the women’s section and stopped. I walked a few more steps and stopped; looking back at her to say good night since I didn’t think I would be able to see her again till morning.

“Good night” she said as the last rays of sun washed her face and left a soft gleam on her skin.

“Good night” I tried to give out another smile.

She was about to turn away into the house and I had almost turned back when she stopped and looked at me, “I missed you” she said with a softened voice, almost a whisper and then disappeared into the house.

She deliberately chose that moment so that she didn’t have to face me afterwards and I couldn’t say anything in response. I stood there for a few moments, numbed; then I realized what had happened and walked towards Rahim Daad’s room, happy as a sand boy.

“Hurry up; she is outside waiting for us” Rahim Daad said smilingly and walked out the door.

I followed Rahim Daad out into the street and found her standing next to the jeep. She was dressed in all white; her shades, baseball cap and short hair suited her even more. I kept staring at her until I reached the vehicle; I thought she would hesitate to look at me but she stared equally back. We exchange greetings as well as warm smiles and hopped in the jeep. Rahim Daad passed by us with a faint smile and occupied his seat in the back, while Ram Daas was all so ignorant of what was happening, he sat face to face with Rahim Daad.

At first, Ram Daas guided us to various places where he had already searched for water reservoirs over the past few years. Most of these places had dried out; he couldn’t locate any further signs of water at those places.

“As time goes by, these reservoirs become scarcer” Ram Daas told us, “but we will find some reservoir sufficient enough for a village.”

“We are looking for more than one reservoir Ram Daas, keep that in mind, its not just for one village, its for the whole region” I said walking alongside Ram Daas.

I believe Ram Daas wanted to hear this, something that would benefit the region and not just some; he nodded excitedly with a broad smile appearing on his face.

We kept on moving from place to place until it was noon; Rahim Daad noticed Eeman and I were wearing off so he halted the expedition for the time being and told me to drive towards south west, where we could eat as well as take some rest at one of his nephews’ house.

Rahim Daad’s nephew, Fazal Daad was a sober man in his late thirties who welcomed us to his home and allocated a spare hut for us four. By this time I had figured that Rahim Daad was a man of a great reputation and honor who enjoyed a great deal of respect amongst the people he knew. We were lucky to have found him without having to look for him.

After lunch, Rahim Daad went out to spend some time with Fazal Daad’s family while Ram Daas, who was the most tired of us all, went to take a good nap. While I opened my bag, took out my satellite cell phone and dialed a number of the country head of one of the world’s largest petroleum companies. Salman Durrani was one of my clients; I helped him in making his way out from a team member to a team leader. Today he earned more than a million rupees a month; and owed me a favor. After a few seconds he picked up the phone.

“Salman it’s me, Rafeel” I expected him to have forgotten me over the years.

“Rafeel, its you! I am so glad to hear your voice. Where have you been? I had looked all over the place for you; I needed you with this new…” He certainly hadn’t forgotten me, but at that moment I needed him more than he needed me so I had to cut his speech.

“Look, we can talk about this later, but right now you have to give me a favor.”

“Anything, anything man, just name it” he said while his excitement still alive.

“I need a couple of wells dug and built in Thar, and I want you to convince your company to do it for these people” I said in a firm voice.

He went silent for a while; he didn’t expect me to talk about something at such large scale. I let him think over it for a while and didn’t say any further.

“What’s the whole idea? Can you give me any details?” he finally spoke.

“There are people here who are drinking polluted water and I want your company to drill some water wells here. As much as I know, for a petroleum company that shouldn’t be a problem” I said while my tone still remained firm and serious.

“Ok, sure. I will talk to these people back in the US. But this will take time.”

“No Salman, time is one thing I don’t have. Do it now; I want them to be here in a month.”

“A month? Rafeel, it takes time even to move the equipment to a place that far away. Its at least four hundred kilometers from here. Give me some time, let me talk to those people and I will get back to you, on this same number” he spoke slowly but firmly.

“I understand. Just let me know when you’ve talked to them and if necessary get them to talk to me, I will convince them” I also told him that once I was done with this project, I will help him with his problem.

Once I had finished the call, Eeman looked at me and said, “Who were you talking to?”

“You were listening to my conversation?” I said in a mock angered voice.

“Come on. Tell me, this sounded exciting” she asked with the eagerness of a nine year old.

“I have this client who is some big shot at a giant petroleum company. These companies drill oil wells and then guard it with a steel sheet from inside protecting the well from collapsing. If they can drill oil wells and keep them intact, they should dig water wells as well. So he is going to talk to his bosses about it” I tried to explain the whole idea to her.

“Wow, this is great. And all this time I was wondering how we were going to actually dig a well. So are they going to do it?” she was extremely excited all of a sudden.

“I don’t know; he is going to talk to them” I said.

“What if they say no?” her excitement was replaced by a slight worry.

“Then I will talk to them” I said confidently, smiling at her.

“Ahan” she smiled sarcastically back, “and who are you?”

“Just a man who is fighting for clean water. Good enough a reason for them to listen to me, don’t you think?” I said staring into her eyes.

“Yeah, that’s fair enough. Actually I will talk to them as well” her excitement came back.

I smiled and put my cell phone back into my bag.

“So why is this guy helping you?” she asked after remaining silent for a few moments.

“He owes me a favor” I said with an expressionless tone.

“Owes you? What are you? A don or something?” she asked laughing.

“No, I am just a man who is fighting for clean water.”

She didn’t buy it of course as I could see her curiosity unfolding in her eyes. She stood up, came over and sat on the charpoy next to mine; she put her face between her hands, placed her elbows on her knees and stared at me, “I never asked you this before but … who are you?”

I laughed out in a low pitch so that Ram Daas wouldn’t wake up and then looked at her, “Do you really want to know?”

“Yes” she skidded forward a little.

“Well…” I paused for a while and then said, “I am just a man who is fighting …”

“Oh shut up” she picked up the pillow on her right and threw it at me, “tell me seriously. What do you do, for a living, or for fun?”

I caught the pillow at my face, placed it on my left and told her seriously, “Well, until two days back, I was writing a book. And before that I worked as an image consultant.”

“Image consultant?” for a moment it didn’t register in her mind, “Rafeel. You are Rafeel, the image consultant?” she almost cried with excitement.

“Yes” I said not knowing what excited her that much.

“You are The Rafeel, The Best Image Consultant in the country?” she was looking at me as if all of a sudden I had taken off my mask and shown her my real face.

“Yes, that’s what they used to call me” I said trying to remain humble.

“Oh my God, I can’t believe it. I mean, all this time, I had been with Rafeel, The Rafeel. I can’t believe it. I have heard so much about you, you were great, you are great I mean. It was so difficult to get an appointment with you” she kept on talking with same excitement.

“Ah, well, I wouldn’t say that” I tried to defend my extreme fame and even more extreme unavailability.

“Yes it was. My dad once tried to have an appointment with you. After two month, he got one for ten weeks later; but just before that you had left the city and no one knew where you went.”

“I am sorry about your dad’s appointment but I was just tired; I needed some time for myself” I tried to explain.

“I still can’t believe it that all this time I was with you; the one who could not be tracked down by anyone.” She really was quite flattering at that time.

She kept on mumbling; praising me most of the times and telling me of anecdotes she had heard about my disappearance. All this time, I just kept smiling at her. And then all of a sudden, she jumped off the charpoy and stood right in front of me, “Ok, now that you are here and seemingly available, I need an appointment with you, right now?”

“Now?” I was bewildered.

“Yes. I am here, you are here, and as far as I can see, you don’t have any other appointment at this time” she said with such a convincing smile that I agreed.

“You don’t have to keep standing during this, you can have a seat” I said with a hint of tease.

She smiled and sat down again. Even though it had been a long time, I told myself that I hadn’t lost my touch. I asked her questions and answered her queries. I didn’t think she needed any changes in the way she looked or the way she carried herself, but I did suggested some equally impressive alternatives; colors, dresses, fragrances and even the brands she used for her shades. She just sat there and listened to me, all attentive. For those few moments, I felt as if I really wanted to start that part of my life all over again. I finally had started enjoying the profession I had given up.

If there was any certainty in my mind until last night about the way she felt about me had evaporated in mid air by now; I couldn’t tell if her smiles came to her lips because of me or the atypical image consultant she just met. In an absolute inactive place where there was nothing but sand, a few thuds here and there of wandering feet and an air marred with fervid rays of the sun, her smiles were thrilling. As long as I walked beside her I felt suspended in mid air, weightless, worriless; I even forgot my purpose of being in such God forsaken place until I heard a tired yet joyous shout.

“I think I have found it” it was Ram Daas who yelled in a dry voice and I saw Rahim Daad running downhill with an agility of a fifteen year old. He kept on amazing me ever since I met him.

Eeman uttered a slight scream of joy like a warrior who was ready to feast after a long day’s battle; I ran after her towards Ram Daas who had marked a slightly think colored surface covering an area of no more than seven square feet.

“I think I have found it” Ram Daas repeated those words, this time with a softer and more firm voice, “you see, at this place, the sand changes its color. This happens only because of two reasons; either there was a pond here that dried only a few weeks back or there is water underneath the surface.”

“Yes and since there hasn’t been any rain for years now; it cant be the dried pool” Rahim Daad contemplated.

“And this means that there is a water reservoir here” Eeman said with a heavy breath mixed in happy tone.

“Yes!” Ram Daas said with a faint shine of yet another accomplishment entering his eyes.

“But there is this one problem” I was continuously thinking of a disturbing fact.

They looked at me with utterly fretful expressions on their faces. I was about to mess with their joy.

“If the surface has changed color due to water reservoir then isn’t there a possibility that this reservoir is not deep, its closer to the surface and for that reason its not in abundance?” I asked with utmost reluctance in my words.

Eeman quickly turned her face towards Ram Daas for a quick answer to this and I was certain she was looking for a more favorable answer to such disappointing query.

“Yes. It is quite possible that water here would not run deep and thus might only last a few months” he said slowly, emphasizing on each word he said.

I saw shades of sunset appearing on Eeman’s face.

“But we could be wrong as well, so unless we are sure about the water resources here, we will add this place to our list of possible reservoirs” I said to make up for ushering too much reality into their moments of success.

A somewhat muted calm returned to their faces and we decided to go back to Fazal Daad’s place before the sun would set. Nothing much was spoken between any of us during our ride back; I somehow felt I was being a little too realistic in my quest for water. I had to allow a little more consideration in my words and gesture; I started thinking of ways in which I could do that.

There were still some shadows outstretched ahead of us as we dismounted and walked towards Fazal Daad’s house; those shadows of silence were equally long. Fazal Daad had heard the roar of the jeep and was standing outside the door to welcome us. He had been waiting for Rahim Chacha anxiously I guessed and as soon as Rahim Daad was in his range he clutched his hand politely and took him inside towards his private quarters. While Ram Daas, Eeman and I stepped into the little hut that was allotted to us for rest.

Ram Daas spread his tired body over the charpoy and in a few minutes had fallen asleep. We remained silent for a while; I was still thinking of something interesting to say, something that would fall away from the day’s routine. I hadn’t even reached the middle of my thoughts when she spoke up.

“I never really knew that such trivial thing would be of such significance for some people” she spoke with a polite but dismayed voice.

“Neither did I. It feels like I had been living in a fabricated world where things happen regardless of your efforts. But here, nothing happens in a lifetime unless you give it your life” I said something without paying any attention to my words; may be that’s why they didn’t make any sense.

“Isn’t there any other way? Like a water pipeline, just like they spread all those oil pipelines?” I could clearly see she had put her heart to this quest for sweet water.

“Yeah but even with that they remain dependent upon others; that’s not the kind of solution these people will accept. They are looking for something more sustainable, something they know is there with them and they can control it” I tried to explain to her as much as I understood of the situation.

“Yeah, if I were them I would do the same” she said nodding her head and I knew she understood what I tried to mean, “Today when Ram Daas found that place I thought we had done this, I thought we were there, but then you turned the picture upside down; for a moment there I hated you for being so skeptical but when we were coming back I thought about it. Its not just about two people trying to find water; it’s a lot more serious than that; its about life of generations.”

I kept listening to her; for a moment there I fell in love with her. She had such sincerity in her tone, such consideration in her words. She wasn’t just another rich girl who would talk about her belongings or her disappointment or disillusions in life; she didn’t talk to me about lonely and sad parts of her life but she talked about others; she talked about life that wasn’t hers but she knew the worth of it. She had such scintillating thoughts, such caring ideas that for those few moments when I listened to her and stared at her, I was in absolute love with her.

“No one will ever care about me as much as you have, as much as you do” she said so slowly, I could hardly hear it.

“Why do you say this? It sounds like you won’t be there for me to care for all my life” I would register a soft protest.

“I don’t know. I just wanted to tell you this” she would say with a childish smile on her otherwise serious face.

“Don’t think like that; I am here and I have no where else to go” I would assure her with a smile.

She would smile back and we would continue walking silently on the crackling leaves on the concrete.

I had never loved anyone in my life but her; from the very first moment I saw her to the moment she one day walked up to me and asked me about a book; I had fallen for her like an autumn leaf, ready to spend my time walking beside her on the sidewalks. I never really knew if she loved me or not, be it for a moment or two, I just never knew. May be if I had told her I loved her, she would have told me so too but I never did because that she already knew. She liked me for sure; she said so herself many a times but that was just a little less than what I wanted.

We hardly ever talked openly about ourselves; there were always some curved conversations that would clear the path ahead.

“Last night I was listening to the cassette you gave me” she would say.

“Yeah!” I would shorten my response to listen to her more.

“What are you trying to say?” she would give me a charming look and ask with a tinge of smile.

“Well, I think you heard that” I would say with an equal touch of smile.

“It said something like… In the night of a strayed moon, sleeplessness will remain awake in your open eyes” she would repeat the first lines of a song.

“So you stayed awake that means” I would tell her by asking the question.

“Not really, I fell a sleep while the song was still on” she would teasingly say and then laugh her soft laughter.

I laughed with her knowing she had been thinking about me last night.

Every good thing always carries an element of fear with it; the fear of something bad happening, the fear of the end to the good thing. And sometimes you are too busy looking at the good thing from so close that you lose sight of the mist that surrounds you and your life. I never knew what Gulzar meant when he said;

Nazdeek se kuch bhi tau dikhai nahin deta

Thori si alag ho tau terey chehrey ko dekhoon

But I was soon to find out the meanings of this.

Things were falling apart but I was too busy loving her that I didn’t have time for anything less perfect. She had changed her worlds, there was some other cosmic dust engulfing her life. She told me she had to go; I thought she wanted to go as well. I let her go and promised myself to keep all the distance in the world from any acquaintance I was ever to make.

And I did just that.

I would often see Eeman making long calls in the evening, to her family and friends; she was missing them I could tell that but she never said a word about it. She was there with us in every expedition we took; sometimes extremely silent and sometimes she would chatter so much that we couldn’t keep track of her conversations. Everything about her was so natural, may be that’s why I had started to predict her moods; I had started expecting her reactions. Yet, surprisingly, she was becoming more and more interesting as a person. She was real.

On the sixteenth day of our rough expedition, we finally brought it an end. We had eight places marked with high possibility of a water reservoir. Salman’s oil company had promised to be there in next two weeks; by that time they would be done with one of their expedition in Badin and thus would be able to spare a team for this project. I made a few calls to arrange for full media coverage of the event, to make sure the oil company gets all the credit. It wasn’t difficult; I hadn’t lost my touch I guessed.

There was a two weeks waiting period and I was looking forward to it; I hadn’t yet had time to explore the culture, the place and the people and this was going to be a great opportunity. Before I could share this idea with Eeman, she had already proposed it to Rahim Daad who had agreed to take her to a wedding that was taking place on Friday next in a village next to our village. She asked me to come along but I knew this would become complicated for the people of that family, since she and I were practically nobodies to each other. I could see she didn’t approve of my denying her request but I knew she understood the reason.

“I want you to come with me to the wedding, it will be fun” she said while sitting down at the same spot where we had seen our first sunset together.

“It will be too complicated for those people” I said as I sat next to her.

“What will be complicated?” she asked looking straight into my eyes.

“Us” I said looking straight back into her eyes.

“Is it complicated?” she asked without taking her eyes off.

I paused for a while and then said, “No, its not.”

“You hesitated; you thought about it” she said almost complaining.

“Well, what can I say, I am thinker” I tried to lighten up the conversation.

“It is complicated for you isn’t it?” she was still insisting to know the exact answer.

“I don’t know, may be, it’s because I am not thinking about it” I really wanted to get out of this conversation.

“You are not thinking about it… ok” she said almost silently, looking down the dune.

“Is it complicated for you?” I asked even thought I knew the answer.

“No” she answered even before I could complete my question.

We went silent for a while, this was not the right time to talk about this all; I knew there was another time for this, time to come.

“Take my jeep with you, it will be convenient for you” I tried to change the subject.

“I was taking it with me anyway; you didn’t have to offer” she said with a hint of teasing smile and I laughed.

Ali, the messenger boy, came running in from the village to inform Eeman that Rahim Daad was ready to leave; it was time for her to go. She nodded to him in affirmation and Ali left. We stood up and walked silently towards the village. When we reached there, I saw Rahim Daad and two veiled ladies standing there beside the jeep; they were ready to leave for the wedding.

“So what are you going to do while I am away?” she said while walking beside me.

“I don’t know; you have any suggestions?” I asked as we almost reached near Rahim Daad.

“Yes … Just, miss me” she said with that squint and a smile and hurried towards the ladies.

Rahim Daad walked towards me and said, “Thank you for letting us take your jeep.”

I mockingly stared at Eeman as she posted me a sheepish smile, “It’s my pleasure Rahim Chacha. Any idea how long will these people stay there?”

“About four days; I will come back tonight and then go back on the 18th of the moon to bring them back” Rahim Daad laid down his plan.

“All right then, have a safe journey” I stood there bidding them farewell and watched the jeep disappear in a dust storm.

I went into my hut and opened my laptop to check my emails. I had hardly switched it on when my cell phone rang, it was Salman Durrani and he had great news for me. One of the drilling teams was coming back from Badin, they were only about seventy kilometers from Thar and he asked me if I was ready with our research for water reservoirs. I told him we were ready.

“What about media coverage, can you manage it that early?” he asked in a bit worried tone.

“Don’t worry about it, they’ll be here” I assured him.

“All right then, the team is having a stop over now, they will be there in the early hours of tomorrow morning” Salman couldn’t have given me a better news.

I had to make a few more calls for immediate action by the media people. Qaisar Khan owned a private TV channel InSet, I helped him in complete overhauling of the look and theme of his channel and today it was listed amongst top five TV channels of the country. Afaaq Hasan was the editor of an English newspaper which was owned by a largest chain of publications in the country. There were a few more professionals as well as freelance journalists who had promised to show up whenever I wanted them to. The showdown was all set.

“They are here” I tapped Rahim Daad on his shoulder while passing him by and running towards those giant vehicles. A man appeared form an SUV and walked towards me; I had a feeling he was in charge of the drilling team.

“You must be Rafeel Khan” he said in a loud voice as he approached me.

“Yes that’s me; I had a talk with Salman Durrani yesterday afternoon” I said.

“Yes, I got my orders and I am here with all I have. Salman will be coming over in a couple of days and I think we will need the media people then” he informed me as we walked towards the village.

“Rahim Chacha, these are the people who will drill the wells, he is …” I definitely didn’t know his name.

“I am Waseem Ahmad, the chief engineer, I run this whole team” Waseem introduced himself while shaking hands with Rahim Daad.

“Welcome to our village, it’s a great pleasure to have you here” Rahim Daad welcomed him and afterwards gave orders to some of the men to take care of the guests. The rest of the team was escorted towards the largest cottage in the village, while Rahim Daad, Waseem and I walked into the little hut where I was staying. I wanted to have a long session of discussion with Waseem but Rahim Daad quite wisely suggested breakfast and some rest instead. I had to wait until noon to have a chance of conversing with Waseem.

The wait was worthwhile; sine after having talked to Waseem I had figured out he knew his work and knew exactly what was to be done. While he was explaining me the whole procedure of drilling wells, my mind drifted towards a strange fact; everything had fallen into its place so subtly, so perfectly. From Eeman to Rahim Daad, from Ram Daas to Waseem, everyone fitted in like fictional characters in some movie script. It was then I realized it was God’s will and there was nothing that could stop it from happening; there were no obstacles, there were no fears.

In the evening, Ram Daas, Rahim Daad and I took Waseem and a number of his crew members to the sights we had marked with having the possibility of containing a water reservoir. Even those experienced and learned experts were impressed with the skills of Ram Daas and I had a feeling they were thinking of making sure he works for them as well. This was getting better and better.

In next few days, Waseem’s team finalized two marked places where drilling will actually take place. Salman had arrived and so did all the media people. I had arranged for a small ceremony and everything was in place when Rahim Daad reminded me of something I was missing; Eeman.

“I honestly think she will protest at not being informed about so many things that have happened over the days. Why don’t you call her on her phone?” Rahim Daad suggested.

“I don’t have her cell number” I said with an anger that was only directed at myself.

“You have ceased to surprise me anymore” Rahim Daad surprised me with his first sarcastic comment, but I sort of enjoyed it.

“Don’t worry I will arrange for it” I tried to smile.

“And how are you going to do that?” he was right since I didn’t have a clue what village she was in.

I looked at him for help and he smiled, “I’ll make sure she gets here before the celebrations begin.”

Not surprisingly, Rahim Daad proved to be a man of his words; within next twelve hours Eeman was back; and with a bang. She entered the village like a hurricane; extremely excited and impatient. Within half an hour she had met the whole engineering team and found out all their names as well as what they had in lunch. She actually drilled down that drilling team; from their experiences to their educational background and from their ethnicity to their marital status, she had found everything about them. And that was not it, soon after this session, there was another session where she dug deep into all the details of drilling wells; she so vehemently asked questions relating to geology, geo physics, mechanical and construction engineering that for a moment I thought she was cross-examining the credentials of those experts. Waseem would quite often look at me during that storm of technical and no-technical, insightful and sometimes stupendously insane questions; and all I could do in return was to shrug my shoulders or look down and start counting the pebbles on the ground.

For her, I wasn’t even there; for those couple of hours I didn’t even exist. By the time she was done with her questioning, I thought she could lead a team of her own engineers.

“You guys are great, I am so glad that you’ve come” she finally stamped her approval and I saw a wave of relief spread across the cottage room.

“Thank you, we are glad to be here” Waseem said in a humble tone, “And you are…” he definitely had no idea who she was.

“Oh, sorry, I am just one of the persons helping these people find water” she answered the vaguest answer possible and left him even more bewildered.

“And I am Rafeel” I said to her with a hint of taunt as we walked out of the room.

“Oh really; nice to meet you Rafeel” she said with an equal hint of tease and I laughed.

The media event turned out to be great; there were news reports running throughout the day on two of country’s largest channels while news and articles had appeared in newspapers and current affairs magazines throughout the country. Salman and his company got what they wanted while it was the turn of the people of Thar to get the favor back.

In next five weeks there was great progress; the machines had been placed and actual digging had begun. Eeman and I were constantly at the site, watching and learning every step of the activity. Rahim Daad would remain there as well for most of the morning and evening, however during the day he would return to his place to attend to his daily chores. Ram Daas had already left for his village but had promised he would keep visiting us on and off.

Things were going as planned until one day, a subdued fear in the back of my head, took shape and appeared in real. It was an early morning of week seven when I saw a large cloud of dust rolling on the ground and moving towards the drilling site. It was Khuda Bakhsh, whose patience had finally run out and who had finally gathered enough force behind him to stand as an obstacle in front of this operation. Unfortunately there was no Rahim Daad around to argue with him and to evade him. I saw fierce anger appearing on Eeman’s face as she saw Khuda Bakhsh approaching the site, sitting on his spotless white horse and accompanied by at least a hundred men armed with axes and guns.

“I thought you city dwellers would go away after that publicity feast you enjoyed a few weeks back, but it seems like you are determined to pollute my motherland with your disgusting presence” he said as he halted his men right next to Salman’s SUV.

“We are here to help Khuda Bakhsh, and you can clearly see that we didn’t just offer you our words, we are proving it with our actions” I tried to convince him of our intentions by pointing towards the large machine that had stopped drilling after the commotion.

“I have seen this before; these people, these companies drill wells in land and once they have got what they wanted, they abandon it like an unwanted child, they leave the place making it a hell to live and I, Khuda Bakhsh, the landlord of this ground which you dig, forbid you from doing so. Leave or I swear upon the head of my daughter that I shall have my men make you leave” he roared like a wounded lion whose kingdom was being taken away by some less royal beasts.

“We shall not leave this place until we have found water here and no one, not even you and your thousand men can stop us” before I could think of a way out, Eeman jumped into the conversation by standing in tall in front of Khuda Bakhsh.

This worsened the situation as Khuda Bakhsh didn’t approve of a lady from some city threatening his authority. Salman, Waseem and I tried to reason with him but I knew destruction was inevitable since that was the only thing on the mind of Khuda Bakhsh; that was the only thing he had come to do and he couldn’t afford to lose his credibility by backing off now. I had sent one of the boys to the village to bring Rahim Daad but we couldn’t indulge Khuda Bakhsh in argument for that long. He ordered his men to destroy the well and uproot the tents. Eeman tried to stop them but I grabbed her from her arm and pulled her away from there. I can’t remember all that she called me as well as Khuda Bakhsh and his men, but it was that furious anger that I knew only stemmed from her pain she was suffering at that moment.

Within fifteen minutes, the site was ruined; they ruined the well, ripped off the tents and burst the wheels of the Caterpillars. Fortunately they didn’t hurt anyone in the crew. I held Eeman in my arms in a way that she couldn’t watch all this; but she had already given up as she wasn’t trying to resist her way out of my grip anymore.

When Khuda Bakhsh and his men had left, Salman and Waseem approached me and stood there in silence.

“I don’t think its going to work” Salman said in a broken voice.

I didn’t have any answer at that moment; I didn’t want to analyze the situation at that time so I remained silent.

“This could endanger my men as well, I think we better pull these men off” Salman continued in his broken voice.

Before I could say anything to convince him, Eeman wrested herself off my grip and said in the midst of a couple of controlled sobs, “I am going home.”

I tried to say something but she looked at me with so much anger that I knew anything I say would infuriate her even more. She asked Salman if he could take her to the city which he agreed to do as he was leaving the place himself. Within in next ten minutes the team had started leaving. They left the damaged machines behind to be picked up later. I stood there silently with a dirt ridden face and watched them leave in their vans one by one. Far in the horizon, another dust storm was disappearing. I looked up towards the sky, there was not a thread of white there; it was all mercilessly dull blue.

“It’s not your fault” Rahim Daad said as if he could read my mind.

“There has to be a way out” I said without thinking about what I was saying. Rahim Daad looked at me with a big question mark on his face. “If there is one thing I have learned in my life, it is that you can do anything that you set your mind to, there is no stopping you once you have put your heart and soul into something” I stood up, “where does Khuda Bakhsh live?”

Rahim Daad was absolutely bemused; he couldn’t understand what I was trying to do. “You cannot fight evil with evil” he tried to stop me from taking any rash step.

“I just want to see him again, let’s go to his place” I looked at him with truth in my eyes and he didn’t say anything but walked beside me.

I stopped the jeep in front of Khuda Bakhsh’s house and I could clearly see that the news of my arrival had already reached him since I saw him standing in the door with half a dozen armed men guarding him on his right and left.

“So you are here to fight?” he tried to mock me.

“No, I am here to talk and tell you the truth; let’s see if you have the courage to listen to it” I said with a firm face and a resounding voice that was arrogant enough that Khuda Bakhsh didn’t resist my walking through his men and into his quarters. It was time for me to bring back the Rafeel I was a few years back when I would speak and people would listen and not dare interrupt.

“How many daughters do you have Khuda Bakhsh?” silence fell across the room as I asked that question staring into the eyes of Khuda Bakhsh who was more bewildered than angered.

“And why do you ask such outrageously personal question” he unsuccessfully tried to bring some roar into his voice.

“I asked because you shamelessly swore upon the head of your daughter to stop those men from brining clean water to these people; that’s why I ask, so that I know where does this arrogance come from” I never took my eyes off his face.

“If it is of any consolation to you, I had one daughter” he said with an aching voice.

“I already know that; she died two years back of a stomach ulcer, didn’t she?”

“Yes she did. And this is enough, I don’t want to talk about this and I will not allow you to take leverage of my hospitality; I am tolerating you because you are my guest.”

“Her ulcer was because of the poisonous water she drank, isn’t that what the hakeem told you? You ignored it, you told yourself you couldn’t help her because you had tried enough and nothing worked; you gave up. Your arrogance and pride got in your way. You are not afraid, you are not scared of failing; you have grown too numb for that. You listen to people wail but you tell yourself you are deaf; you see people in pain but turn a blind eye to it all. You came in anger and swore on your daughter’s head because you still know you let her go, you failed her and now you can’t take the success that comes after she is gone. But I tell you this, it wasn’t just about your daughter; it’s about life, no matter to whom it belongs. And you are one of us; one day you will be dieing in your bed, of same ulcer; don’t wait till then to regret your actions” I kept my voice low but there was enough anger in it that no one interrupted my speech.

There was silence in the room, no one even moved.

“If you think you can emotionally instigate me and weaken me, you are wrong” he said in a plain tone.

“I know. Your daughter’s soul couldn’t do it, how could I?” I said with disgust in my expression.

“Don’t mention my daughter like this” he said angrily but I could see drops of tears appearing in his eyes.

“Then don’t do this to these people; let them live. Don’t make them to have to strive to be happy” I said in a softer tone this time.

I could clearly see him breaking down; he loved his dear departed daughter, it was written all over his face. He remained there in silence for a while with his head bent as he seemed lost in deep thoughts.

After sometime he raised his head and looked at Rahim Daad, “You are an old man, a wise man; we have always looked up to you for advice and justice. You seem to stand beside this man; do you really think it’s worth it?”

“I know one thing for sure, it’s worth a try” Rahim Daad whispered in a convincing tone.

“What I have done” Khuda Bakhsh looked at me with softer expression this time, “can it be undone?”

“Nothing is impossible” I said with utmost belief; I knew I had to make only a few more calls.

I was standing across the street beside my jeep when I saw her coming out of the bank. She was wearing a dark gray jeans and a white cotton shirt; I could tell she was growing her hair long and she had also changed the brand and look of her shades; exactly the way I had suggested. She crossed the street and then turned left; she was too busy settling her cards into her purse that she didn’t notice me standing there. My favorite fragrance spread its muse in the air as she kept walking away from me.

“Rahim Daad sent something for you” I said staring at the waves of her hair.

She stopped and turned around sharply; for a moment I saw a glint of happiness brightening her face which right away was taken over by a more serious expression.

“Yeah?” she asked to confirm what I had said before.

“Yeah” I whispered with a soft nod of my head.

The street was no place to talk so we walked into a nearby restaurant and occupied a seat near the window from where we could see a fork in the road ahead.

“How are you?” I asked after we had ordered coffee.

“I am fine” she said in a straight voice and then silence fell again. “So you were saying something about Rahim Daad?” she obviously wanted me to come to the point.

“Ah yes; he sent this for you” I took out a cylinder object wrapped in a paper bag. I pealed off the clumsy packaging and placed a clean glass bottle at the table in front of her, filled with sparkling water. I could see those sparkles traveling and then resting in her eyes as she glared at that spotless bottle and then looked at me.

“You did it” she said with extreme yet controlled excitement in her voice.

“Hah, no… they did it” I smiled a tired smile.

“Yeah” she whispered and nodded. We went silent again for a while; and then she lifted the bottle, poured the water into two glasses, gave me on of them and lifted the other in her hand and said, “Cheers!”

I smiled a fresher smile this time and lifted my glass, “Cheers!”

“This is to Rahim Daad” she said with a raised glass of colorless water in her hand.

“This is to Ram Daas” I couldn’t forget the man whose skills made the quest easier.

“This is to you” she said unexpectedly, with a polite voice and an affectionate shine in her eyes.

“This is to you” I knocked my glass with hers and we drank that refreshing clean water.

She didn’t let another episode of silence fall amongst us and said right away, “I am very impatient, don’t you think?”

“Well, as a matter of fact you are” I said honestly.

She laughed that little laughter of hers, “Can you help me with that?”

I looked at her trying to find the reason behind those words; there was nothing but a pair of Monet eyes waiting for an answer. “No” I finally said, “You don’t need any help; I know you can do it on your won.”

I saw a shadow of sadness falling over her as she went silent again, but clearly thinking of a way she could change the course of conversation.

“So what next?” she asked.

“I am going back?” I said taking a sip from my coffee.

“Back?” she asked completely surprised, “Up north?”

“No” I said looking into her eyes, “I am going back to Thar. I promised Rahim Daad a school.”

“That’s nice” she said with a somewhat subdued excitement, “I wish I could help.”

“Yeah, I wish you could” I said that for no reason. Sometimes when a conversation drifts into entangled words and uncertain expressions, it gets more and more difficult to find a way out, to find words that make up for your ramblings.

“Thank Rahim Chacha for me when you get back” she said in an effort to keep the conversation alive.

“Yeah, I will” I was getting better and better at small talks.

“I see you are keeping your hair long now” this time it was my turn to keep our conversation from falling a pray to unbearable silence.

“Yeah; I thought they looked better this way, at least that’s what I think” she said unsuccessfully trying to smile.

“No they look great… You look great” I said with a slight break.

“Thanks” she said with another hint of smile.

I just couldn’t take it any more, she was so irresistible; everything about her was so luring, her hair, her eyes, the way she talked and the way she twisted her lips and squinted her eyes when she smiled, her presence there and the fragrance that accompanied her; it was all so loveable.

“I better go now” I gathered all my resistance and spoke.

“Yeah, I know.”

It was on heavy feet that I walked out of the café with her; but the weight on my feet was that of my heart. Silence walked beside us as I reached my jeep and stopped, she strode a few steps and then stopped to turn around.

“Good b…” she was about to bid farewell when I cut her speech.

“There is a Monet exhibition in town tomorrow and I was wondering if…” I hadn’t even proposed the idea when she cut my speech in half as well.

“I would love to” she said with that energy I had always seen, adding into her voice again.

“Great” I could hardly utter.

“What time?” she asked with an obvious eagerness.

“I was thinking about seven in the evening but let’s make it eigh…” I knew she would prefer it a little late as usual.

“Lets make it six” she cut my speech with an unexpected answer.

I smiled and agreed to the idea, “Ok, sure.”

“So see you tomorrow then?” she asked to confirm.

“Yeah, see you tomorrow.” I affirmed.

I saw that lively smile coming back on her face. I hopped into my jeep and turned the engine on; then I turned back and said, “And…”

She stopped and turned around sharply with a face that glowed in the soft light of dieing sun.

“I missed you” I told her with a warm smile and drove away.