SAKINA was a small girl who lived in a big city with her mother. They once had enough resources to lead a good life. One day Sakina`s father Karam Dadd was found dead on a railway platform because of drug abuse.

These were the hardest times Sakina and her mother Allah Rakhi had ever experienced. Sakina and her mother started begging on the roads and it somehow helped them make their ends meet. Sakina wished for colourful and neat clothes, new shoes and toys which she saw in other kids` hands as they walked past her with their parents.

Sakina, who was just nine years old, walked on the roads barefoot and her mother waited for her at home. She would beat her severely when she would not bring enough money. Sakina used to wonder why God has made her so much different from others. She also wished to go to school but she could not afford it.

One day she woke up shivering. She had high fever and it was raining outside. She requested her mother to let her stay at home that day but the latter refused and started beating her. Poor Sakina had to get up and go out and beg.

There were fewer people on the roads than usual. It was colder outside than she had imagined. She started her usual work and started begging to people. She heard two guys wearing warm clothes and sitting in a car saying: “Thank God, it is cold now, we shall sit by the heater and have coffee. This rain has made the weather so pleasant.�

When she went home, her whole body ached with pain. She went to her old bed and pulled over the ragged quilt which was not enough to stop the cold.

Allah Rakhi, her mother, came to her and asked her what had happened to her. When Sakina told her, Allah Rakhi wept bitterly; after all she was her mother. She did not have any money to call the doctor for her poor daughter. She called the neighbours to get some money from them and called the doctor.

Poor Sakina was lying peacefully on her bed. Nothing mattered for her now. She had passed away. Allah Rakhi could do nothing else but cry.

NOUMAN SHAFQAT

Lahore