Open it!

Translation of ’Khol do’ by Sadat hasan manto.

The special train departed amritsar at 2 in the afternoon and 8 hours later arrived at Mughalpura. Many people were killed in the journey, some were wounded and

some got lost.
At 10 ’ am in the morning when Sirajuddin opened his eyes on the cold camp ground and saw an ocean of men, women and children around him, his ability to think

got even worse.
He kept staring at the mirky sky for a long time. Though the camp was filled with noise, he could barely hear a thing. If anybody could see him at that time, they

would be certain that he is lost in thoughts. However, this was not the case. His senses had stopped working and he was in a mental void.
While staring aimlessly at the mirky sky, Sirajuddin’s eyes came across the sun and a warm light ran through his body, awakeneing him. He started having

flashbacks..loot..fire..mayhem..station..bullets..night and sakina....Sirajuddin suddenly stood up and started searching crazily through the ocean of people around

him.

He kept screaming ’sakina’ and searched the camp for three whole hours but didn’t find any clue of his young daughter. It was a mayhem everywhere, somebody

was looking for a son, somebody for a mother, somebody for a wife and sombody for a daughter. Giving up after a while, Sirajuddin sat down at a side and started

thinking hard about when and where did he lose Sakina. But while thinking about Sakina, his mind would always pause at the corpse of Sakina’s mother whose

intestines were torn apart and he could not think any further.

Sakina’s mother was dead. She had died in front of Sirajuddin but where was Sakina, about whom her dyeing mother said, ’Leave me and run away with Sakina!’

Sakina was with him and they both were running barefoot. Sakina dropped her dopatta and he wanted to stop to pick it up but Sakina screamed ’Father...Leave it’.

While thinking all this he looked at the bulging pocket of his coat and took out a piece of cloth from inside. This was indeed Sakina’s dopatta but where was Sakina

herself?

Sirajuddin tried to think even harder but could not get to any conclusion, did he bring Sakina to the station? did she embark the train with him? did he pass out

when the train stopped during the journey so the Balwais came in and abducted her?

Sirajuddin had a lot of questions in his mind but no answers at all. He needed sympathy; he tried to cry but his eyes did not help him. There were no tears!

After six days when the situation somewhat improved Sirajuddin met these people who were willing to help him out. These eight young guys had guns and a truck;

Sirajuddin showered them with blessings and prayers and tried to describe Sakina to them:

"She has a fair complexion and is very pretty just like her mother. Around seventeen years old, large eyes, black hair, a mole on the right cheek. She is my only

daughter, please find her. God bless you!"

The young volunteers assured him enthusiastically that if his daughter’s alive, they would bring her to him within a few days. All the guys tried very hard and went to

Amritsar despite the danger. In the next ten days they saved a lot of men, women and children but did not find Sakina anywhere. One day when they were going to

Amritsar again they saw a girl on a road near Che Harta. Hearing the sound of the truck the girl started running away from them but the volunteers also ran after

her into the fields and atlast got to her. She was a really pretty girl with a mole on the right cheek. They told her not be scared and asked her if she was Sakina. She

got even more devastated but when they tried to explain things to her she felt better and acknowledged that she was indeed Sirajuddin’s daughter Sakina. They

tried to entertain her well, they fed her, gave her milk to drink and made her sit in the truck. One of them took off his coat and gave it to her after seeing that she is

quite uncomfortable without her dopatta and is constantly trying to cover her chest with her arms.

A number of days went by but Sirajuddin did not get any news of Sakina. He went to various camps and offices but could not get any clue about his daughter. Late

into the night he used to pray for the success of the volunteers who had assured him that if Sakina’s alive, they would find her in a few days. One day Sirajuddin

saw those volunteers in the camp, sitting in their truck. He ran to them and just before the truck was about to go away, asked them "Could you get any news of my

daughter?"

They all said at once "News will come" and the truck drove away.

Siraj prayed for their success once again and felt somewhat lighhearted now. In the evening, Sirajuddin saw some hustle near the place where he was sitting; four

men were carrying something. When Siraj enquired, he found out that they had found a girl laying uncounscious near the railway tracks. Sirajuddin followed them

until they handed her over to the hospital staff and marched on. For a while he kept standing near the wooden pole right outside the hospital, then slowly walked in.

There was nobody in the room except a Stretcher with a dead body on it. Sirajuddin took small steps towards it. Suddenly the room was lit up and at the same time

Sirajuddin uncovered the face of the dead body and when he saw the mole on the pale face, he screamed "Sakina".

The doctor who had turned the lights on, asked Sirajuddin "What is it?"

Sirajuddin could only utter, "I am...I am her father."

The doctor looked at the dead body on the stretcher and told Sirajuddin "Open it! Open the window!"

Sakina’s dead body shivered, she opened the knot of her shalwar and pulled it down. Old Sirajuddin shouted with happiness "She’s alive..my daughter is alive."

Doctor’s whole body was soaked in sweat!