Author: Mariyam Suleman

This is a story of a little boy who belongs to a town in a peninsular in Baluchistan.

He was born in a family with financial difficulties, but his mother’s love often enriched his soul. He felt like he was the richest and the luckiest person on the planet because he had the greatest relationship to comfort him.

His soul often got more satisfaction when he held his both parents’ hands and walked through his early years of life.

He always craved for a younger sibling. Finally, one day he got to know that he’s soon going to be a big brother for a younger one. His happiness had no limitations, when he heard the news.

But he had no idea that his life was going to evolve forever. His innocent smile would never appear on his pinkish cheeks again!

One night he heard the painful cries of his mother. He saw his mother suffering from severe pain. He didn’t know how to cope with the situation. With his little wet eyes, he looked at his helpless father.

Later, his mother was taken to the district headquarters at a government hospital. Owing to having no surgeons, his father was suggested to take his mother to the bigger city. Being a fisherman, his father had no money for the treatment in a bigger city. His mother even didn’t give them more time to do something for her.

He was only eight years old when his greatest relationship left him behind. His father thoroughly grieved almost forever, and was concerned about his little son.

He missed the precious moments that he had spent with his mother. One day the little boy asked his father thoughtfully, “Why did my mother leave me, Abba¹? ” His father had no answer for his innocent question, but he did reply, “My son, because you don’t deserve a mother.”

He got into deep thoughts : why didn’t he deserve a mother? He blamed himself first then he asked again, “Abba, why don’t I deserve a mother?” His father replied with great concern, “Son, because you live in Baluchistan. We couldn’t save your mother’s life because we live here, son”.

He was deeply thoughtful about his father’s words. He remembered a moment from the past when his mother said, “My son, I want you to be educated, learn for you nation kid”.

He began to go to school to overcome his grief as well as to fulfill his mother’s wish. But he found that the instructor already had sixty-nine more students to take care of, so no one cared what he learnt at school.

He asked his father to send him to bigger cities for a better education. Sadly, his father didn’t have enough resources to be able to do so.

The son again asked his father, “why don’t these schools get better, why can’t I get a better education without any cost here?”

“My son you don’t deserve a better education without any cost”, replied his father.

“I don’t deserve a good education either! why not Abba?”, the little boy insisted.

“Son, because you live in Baluchistan”, replied his father looking through the window.

The little boy finally grew up into a young man and now works as a fisherman with his father.

Yet these critical situations don’t go away. Recently, one morning when he woke up, he went to earn a living. He couldn’t find his boat near the shore where he last saw it. Instead he saw lots of large stones all the way on the shore. Later he found out that the name for these stones was “Protection wall from coastal hazards”. He was thus informed that he could not go fishing any more.

Now, he didn’t question his father about why he couldn’t have the right to earn a living, because he knew the answer.

He often questions himself about numerous things that happened in his life and tries to find the answers. His mother’s death was a great shock for him but forthcoming situations were also not less than shocks either.

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