Chapter 6: Part 2 Robinson Crusoe of Pakistan

Now، this Mr. Saeed who always used to look a little lost and confused, would often come to me from time to time and he would also say that, Mr. Tardar, I have settled my own little world apart from the world, do pay me a visit someday.... But it was not an honorable act to pay him a vist with my army of naughty children on the day of the holiday without informing him beforehand.... When I hesitated a bit, my wife started saying, "We have bread with us, we also have the meat. There is also a cake, they will not have any issue... We would, at most, drink a cup of tea at their place... And besides I have a strong desire for tea right now.... If I don't get tea, I might fall off the bike..."

Now if there was a sensible husband here, he would have taken advantage of such a golden opportunity and would not have given tea to his wife as she desires but I was exhausted now so we started looking for Mr. Saeed's house.... There was a high wall right next to the road side and in the center of this wall there was a huge rusty iron gate which was closed... I knocked at it. First honorably slowly, gradually increasing the pressure on my hand and then all the family members started raining punches on it. A child peeked through a hole and asked, "Who is it?" When I mentioned my name, he disappeared. After a long time, another child's eye appeared in the hole and he repeated, "Who is it?" I mentioned my name again to him and he also disappeared.... The third time the gate creaked and began to open... Mr. Saeed was standing in front with a few iron tools in his hand. Their children were staring at us as if we were creatures from another planet. And with him stood his wife, smiling at us looking fresh while holding a hen in her hand.... "We haven't had any guests for such a long time.... come in, come in.... You have done well to come here... "

There was a strange world behind Mr. Saeed and his family... A world spread over two or three acres that we were looking at with amazement and joy... Fruit trees, ponds and vegetable plots, vast plains and between all this, was Mr. Saeed's residence on a higher level....

"Abu! This whole place belongs to them? Aini asked in surprise.

"Let me show you the fish." Samir grabbed her hand and said.

Kamran took Seljuk and Samir with him and went into the jungle.

"About twelve years ago, due to some family differences, I left the city and bought this land.... It was very cheap in those days. First we built the boundaries and one or two rooms to stay in."

"You were not frightened here?" My wife asked.

"We were," said Mrs. Saeed. "The area was completely deserted and we both made a program that kept me busy until midnight. Then I would fall asleep and Saeed would stay awake till morning. This habit has become so strong that we still keep "guard" like this. At first some thieves tried but now they know that we have electricity in all our walls and we are never negligent."

"Look! this is a pond with about a thousand fish.... There are Guava, lemon and orange trees. This is the chicken coop... That is my workshop where I have construct things by myself. There is nothing in this house that I haven't made by myself... Chairs, tables, tube wells and this old car. Swings for children... I made everything myself... My needs are limited... I have a roof, we grow vegetables, the fruit are in good quantity. We have our own fish and chicken, my wife can bake cakes and cookies... We don't buy anything else from the market other than clothes."

Mrs. Saeed plucked some ripe guavas and threw them into the pond.

"Why are you doing this?"

"We either eat the fruits by ourselves or feed them to the fish, we don't sell them... You should also eat some."

My kids were getting wild in this environment. It is as if wild animals have returned to the forest after being locked up in a zoo... Everything had a wonderful taste. The taste that gets lost somewhere on the way between the field and the city and we only eat some kind of carrot, radish, orange or guava and remain unaware of the taste...

At lunch we ate chicken and vegetables from Saeed's house... The yogurt also tasted different and was delicious... In the open air, perhaps, everything becomes more delicious... Across the wall were fields of marigold and roses. Their warm scent wafted through the air and spread around us.

"My children are also very happy in this environment... I am sure they will be relatively honest and innocent because of their closeness to nature once they grow up. We don't have any servants and do all the chores by ourself... We earn enough from the fish and hens and the rest we eat ourselves and use to feed the fish..."

The desire to return to nature arises in the heart of every human being who is fed up with roads, cars, buildings, noise, smoke and density. A few years ago, in the United States and Europe, there was a movement where young boys and girls left the big cities and went to live in the deserts and forests. They would make all the necessities for themselves and get food from the land... Mr. Saeed was not part of any movement.... He had built a world of his own close to nature. And he settled it successfully... I think he's the Robinson Crusoe of today... A Pakistani Robinson Cruzo.

On returning home, all the children were completely silent... They were lost in the wonder of seeing a new world. A world in which their grandfather lived. Their father had seen a glimpse of it but they were deprived of it.

"Abu now I know what color mustard is!" Samir said.

"What color is it?"

"Red." He spoke mischievously.

"Abu, shall we go there again?" Asked Aini.

"No dear... If we go there again, there will be no attraction for you in this world, that world will make you feel dirty and barren. It won't attract you anymore... Because the city has overpowered us and we prefer VCRs over mustard fields."

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