Last night I discovered that being a Muslim man doesn't always make you lucky in love...for the real-life character in life was already married with 4 wives, when cupid struck him down...
I realized that being a filthy rich man with 4 loving, devoted, dutiful wives doesn't mean that you are contented at heart...till you find your soul-mate, for he had 4 life-partners, and yet he became a pauper in love, from a wealthy princely life of a booming businessman...
I realized that age is no bar when it comes to love, for when he first spotted her, he was old enough to be his father...
I realized that even if fate intervenes in a positive way, it might be too late...for when his youngest 4th wife, Ayesha, hearing about his plight, lovingly and sacrificingly gave him Talaq, as in Muslims, a man cannot take more than 4 wives, it was too late...for his beloved Sohni was already married off to another man...
I realized that even though he had the pleasure of 4 women, and immense comfort in his palatial home, he still preferred to live miles away in another town in abject poverty, for 2 long years, just to see his Sohni every now and then...
That is how Mirza Izzat Baig became 'Mahiwal' for he became the 'cow-herder'...a chauraaha who grazes cows on the field...to earn his means of subsistence...for staying near the place where Sohni lived...
I realized that to be known as 'real lovers' on this earth, the pair must die an untimely death, in the spirit of love and abandonment...that is how they died...Sohni always crossed the river bank with a pitcher to meet her beloved on the other side, as she couldn't swim...so she held on to the pitcher till it took her ashore...
Yet that fateful stormy night, her pitcher broke, and she drowned on one side of the river, and Mahiwal also jumped into the river, looking for her, and drowned to death on the other side of the river bank...
Well, I also realized that Love is far beyond the call of duty and ethics...for Sohni lost her virginity to Mahiwal as an unwed woman, though Mirza was an already married man with 4 wives...and even after Sohni wedded Sheru, She and Mahiwal still kept meeting each other in clandestine rendezvous...
And even though Mirza's wives were waiting for him back home, he never returned from his beloved's town for more than 2 years, till death did him part from Sohni or we can say, they got unified in death, dying at the same time, having led a miserable life of painful separation...
Well, I can go on and on about the love story in this mail...for just the way I start talking, I cannot stop...similarly, when I start writing, I keep flowing, and it gets difficult for me to barricade myself..!
However, reading this tale of love was a nice journey of spiritual romanticism for me...as I believe that those who love so truly, even God descends and resides in them...that is why they become forever famous as Sohni-Mahiwal.
And this library book is titled 'Love Stories from Punjab'. It is a UBS publication (1998), written by Harish Dhillon, the Headmaster of Lawrence School, Sanawar.
I was in tears, last night, reading some excerpts of this lovely story...the events were so touching...and I could relate to myself in many ways...for the lover in me responded to the lover in Mahiwal...
So as yesterday's SMS goes, though I cannot touch you, my love...yet I always extend my hand to reach out to you, writing to you, calling you up, SMSing you, IMing you...sometimes my fingers also ache very badly, as I write so much...yet I cannot help not writing to you...for this is the only link I have with you...
Adios for now,
~ Aparna
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