“I will kill you,” said the voice on the phone. “I will kill your whole family. I don’t care about a single fucking thing. I will fucking kill you all.”
“Okay. But talk to me with respect,” Walli replied calmly.
“You don’t know me. I have abused lots of people in my time. I was known for my terror,” said the voice again.
“I know. I don’t care and I am not afraid of anything,” Walli replied with the same steady tone, while a storm was beginning to brew.
“Nothing will be left for you. I will pay 15 lac 20 lac and all will be done,” the voice threatened.
“I am not afraid of death,” Walli’s voice rose a little, “I am more afraid of life perhaps. And to die in the pursuit of my daughter would be an honor. You do what you can do and then I will do what I can.”
“What do you want?” The voice finally quieted down.
“My daughter.”
“Why?”
“Why not?”
“You don’t deserve your daughter,” said the voice, causing the winds to blow more angrily.
“Well a person who knows nothing but lies will say that,” replied Walli in an unusually loud tone. “I am not going to justify myself. My Lord will do that as He has promised me. What I promise you is that I am not going to back down. I am not going to be silent. I am not going to be blamed again. I sacrificed everything that I had. I gave up my name. My reputation. My money. My honor. But now it is my daughter. I am not going to give up my daughter. It may cost me my life. So be it.”
In the ancient times of Walli, it hadn’t been like that. Back in the times of Great Africa, everything was normal. Parents were not denied of their children. During the Caliphate, parenthood was respected.
Now times had become tough. All those centuries, Walli travelled to see his daughter. And just when he saw her, she was taken away from him by her mother. By a conspiracy. By a series of events.
Walli never thought that lies consistently told for months ultimately become the truth. He himself was a victim of blame games and horrible lies and half-truths.
Now Walli doesn’t mind. He answers when you ask. He won’t answer when you won’t ask.
But his daughter is not a person for him to compromise. His daughter is not a tool of revenge for him. He has been abused. He has been tortured. But he hasn’t ceased to smile as soon as he sees her. Even in his dreams.
Walli never realized that life is threatening until he got death threats. Life has more to mourn. Death has a charm. He was here for a purpose. For an eternal mission. Death was a holiday for him till he was born again and came back.
“I repeat,” Walli continued in the same high tone, “You have done a lot of damage for years. I remained silent. I’m not silent anymore. I am going to courts. I am going to police stations. I am doing it the just way. I can do all these things the other way too. But I won’t. Because it is a matter of a future generation. It is a matter of my daughter for whom I have given everything already. Next time when you address me, you talk to me with respect. Otherwise I will wipe the slate clean.”
The voice on the other end started to shudder. The threatening tone became threatened. The sun started to rise from the dark clouds of this age.
Yet the storm continues to brew.
