Heart Lamp: Selected Stories

Zeenat is thrilled to learn that Mujahid has been assigned a work transfer, necessitating their move from the city to a suburb near the Krishnaraja Sagara dam. Mujahid is Zeenat’s husband, though she is reluctant to use this term because the word is too “bookish.” She lists the many terms that could be used to describe their relationship, emphasizing the connotation that husbands are seen as earthly gods and wives as their most devoted servants. Zeenat and Mujahid have been married for nearly a year. Before their marriage, Mujahid tried to influence Zeenat’s personal style to signal his liberal attitudes. Zeenat usually met his attempts with indignance. 

At first, Zeenat spends most of her days alone while Mujahid goes to work. Late one afternoon, Mujahid announces that they will be visiting the house of his work acquaintance, a factory owner named Iftikhar Ahmed. Iftikhar and his wife, Shaista, live in a large compound with a garden that impresses Zeenat. They have six children, the eldest of whom is a daughter named Asifa. Shaista is currently expecting her seventh child, after which she hopes to get a tubal ligation procedure. She and Iftikhar disagree over this plan, since Iftikhar makes enough money to support their family.