Sheila

For Sheila, flirtation was a way of living; she could not think of life without flirtation just as one could not think of it without food and water. Every time she came upon a new guy, she intensely desired to see him stuck on her. Thereupon, in order to fulfill her sinful wish, she gave that guy an amorous eye, a seductive smile, or just gave a gentle flick to her hair by tossing her head in order to grab his attention. She repeated these tricks until she knew that the guy had finally given in. Once she was sure of that, her attitude towards that guy underwent a diametrical change. She then never gave the guy another look; if she did give one at all, it was full of disavowal and disregard rather than affection and care. This dramatic reversal in the very nature of things altogether bewildered the guy who would have by then started building castles in the air and would have been thinking that Sheila belonged to no one else but to himself. Thus when he saw all his hopes and dreams shatter, he was left all the more heart-brokenly devastated.

“I love a life of nothing but men falling for me”, Sheila would sometimes speak to her friends. “I just want to see all men abject slaves to the attractions of my body.”

And men did fall for her and became slaves to her fleshly charms for she was so frightfully pretty and so terribly attractive indeed. Curiously, there was something diabolically peculiar about her that gave her the power to get anyone into her spell. Her body was extremely shapely and comely and it had such a
mysterious appeal in it for the opposite sex. The dress that she put on was so designed that it at once brought even the subtlest landmark of her feminine figure to the notice of even of the farthest standing
most un-heedful observer. She was fresh and supple; she was long and tall; she was an eye-catcher. Her skin was fair; her hair was so long that it almost touched her prominent hips. She had such good-looking
face. Her eyes were dreamy and her lips, though intrinsically pomegranate colored, looked always blood red under the thick layers of lipstick. She always wore huge jewelry that added so much to the over-all effect of her bewitching beauty. The choker around her white neck, the bracelets around her slender wrists, the small but gold earrings and several other pieces of finest ornaments gave her forever the look
of a newly wedded bride. Ah! She was so beautiful. She was just like an angel but only for the fact that she was extremely cunning: she was a devil in disguise.

A femme fatale, no one was free from her hold, no one in fact. Almost every student of her class or even the whole THE MEDICAL COLLEGE at one time or the other was either in love with her or was just
on the road to being so.

“She is fairer than the morning star; she is brighter than the moon,” said one of her lovers who had just seen her study in the library, “for her body I would give my soul” he continued, “and for her love I would surrender Heaven.”

“You’re a heart breaker, You are a love faker”, sang one of her class fellows as his eyes fell on her and she hatefully disapproved of it by turning her face away, a pose so characteristic of her whenever she gave the second, disdainful look. Another guy who had yet received only the first look and smile, who
was all unaware of his immediate fate and who believed that Sheila was just about to become his very own strolled past the lake side singing at the top of his lungs:

Just the thought of her lips sets me afire I reminisce, and I’m filled with desire

Among all the students of THE MEDICAL COLLEGE, there was one who had not yet fallen prey to Sheila’s irresistible charms. His name was Qadeer and he was an entirely different person. As to his physical
appearance, he was rather unattractive. He had a somewhat dark complexion and pale eyes. His body was so lean and frail that some people even suspected him of being a smoker though he actually was
not. Although he was of a quite affluent origin, he never dressed up expensively or pompously. Most of the time, he was seen in his dowdy shalwar qameez and those old, rugged shoes. His hair was hardly ever combed and his thin moustache hardly ever got a chance of being trimmed. It appeared that Qadeer never bothered as to what others might think or say about his dress and appearance.

For all his corporal infirmities, Qadeer was still very distinct. Although fate had denied him physical strength and bodily attraction, he was in possession of great intellect and mental capability. He had got a scholarly mind and was known all over the campus for his philosophical thoughts. His academic performance had always been outstanding. He had a huge command of language and sometimes outplayed even his teachers when it came to arguing about an issue. His masterful style of describing
things in a discourse always left listeners flabbergasts. What was more, his approach towards dealing with his patients was so remarkable that some of his seniors envied him for the same reason. He held about him an air of mystery, a sort of uniqueness that would make even the most sophisticated girls give him more than a cursory second look. But the strangest and, probably, the weirdest thing about Qadeer was his unexplained aversion to company of women. For whatever reasons, personal or otherwise, Qadeer always avoided the female sex.

Once it happened that while Qadeer was studying in the library, Sheila came along accompanied by her friends. This sort of accompaniment always gave Sheila the look of a Queen being escorted by her courtiers or a chieftain being followed by his gangsters. Almost every one studying in the library paused at one moment or the other to give a hungry look to (or receive a seductive one from) Sheila except Qadeer who did not seem to have the least idea  of her arrival and who still was fully absorbed in his work.  Rani: (In a whisper to Sheila) Now, this is the man whom you can never attract.

Sheila: (Confused) What do you mean by that?

Rani: (Explaining) I mean what I say. Qadeer is  the guy that no girl has ever been able to impress. You are so proud of your beauty. I bet you even can’t gain his attention.

Sheila: Oh, I see. If it is like that, then I will certainly give it a try. Let’s just see where this guy stands. (She rushes towards Qadeer trying that Qadeer doesn’t make a note of this
rush as she wants to maintain the casualness of the occasion. She speaks in an extraordinarily polite manner) Hi, Qadeer, do you mind if I talk to you?

Sheila anticipated a warm and heartfelt welcome, something like “Why on earth would I mind?” or “I certainly don’t mind” or “Oh, lucky me, you have come to talk to me?”

Qadeer’s response however was not at all as warm or heartfelt as Sheila might have surmised.

Qadeer: (In a queer indifference) Ok. What is it that you want to talk to me about?

Sheila: (Startled by the the strange response, yet regaining her sense of composure) Oh, actually I wanted to know which book you are studying. She said these words in a manner that clearly
suggested that Sheila just did not have anything else to say.

Qadeer: (Walking toward a nearby shelf taking another copy of the book he has been reading and coming back) This is the book I am studying. Take it if you will. Now, please excuse and
leave me alone so I can study. He sat down and started reading his book once again.

As soon as Sheila walked out of the library where she was received by her rascally friends in a sardonic laughter.

“How was that, Sheila?” said Rani reproachfully to her, “Did I tell you he is not the one? Or did I not?”

The following one month or so was a horrible nightmare for Sheila. Of course, it was one of the heaviest blows she had ever received in her life. To be disgraced by a a non-entity like Qadeer was worse than anything. She could have hardly ever thought of being humiliated by a numskull-of-philosopher, as she would later on call him. She felt so badly defeated. Qadeer’s treatment of her was magnified and exaggerated in its more insulting traits every time the story was told and retold in the various circles of THE MEDICAL COLLEGE. Social interaction became a misery for her due to the haunting questions put
to her with mockery by everyone she talked to. Boys, most of them the heart-broken lovers of Sheila, looked at her in sarcastic delight and almost every other girl of THE MEDICAL COLLEGE confronted her with a that-is-what-you-deserve attitude. Belittled and denigrated, Sheila developed a strong
hate for Qadeer and vowed to take her revenge on him even if that wasthe last thing she did.

One day Qadeer was attending the birthday-partyof one of his class fellows in the cafeteria. Sheila came to him herself and got into conversation with him. With a sweet flattery cloaked in facial and superficial sincerity, she started to boost his ego. Sheila thought that by so-doing she would be able to trap Qadeer
who otherwise appeared entirely immune to all the snares of her physical beauty. She presumed that her unlimited praise and acknowledgement of his accomplishments would make him feel that she
was the only girl who seriously cared to think so much about him. He would feel that she was the only one who truly regarded him for his wit. Thus Sheila kept on praising Qadeer most generously. She told him that she was so impressed by his philosophical disposition and best academic performance. She also made a special mention of his simplicity despite all his intellectual success and high social class.

“Ah, Qadeer, how I wish I could be someone like you,” she said to him one day, “how I wish I also could develop those artistic and scholarly tastes, which come to you so naturally.”

Sheila had undividedly bent all her energies upon conquering Qadeer. No signs of success at it had, however, become apparent hitherto fore. Qadeer hadn’t as yet dropped even the slightest hint to suggest that he had been affected in any way. All of Sheila’s charms of which so far she had been so proud , now seemed to be a sheer failure. Sheila now was decidedly face-to-face with an
insurmountable difficulty and all her efforts to circumvent it had badly gone phut. She was constantly tormented by the realization of losing at the hands of a very insignificant player. All the time, she
seemed to be morbidly preoccupied with a pathological sense of defeat and this created in her great mental turmoil and a maddening dissatisfaction. She remained depressed and irritable all the time.
Her face didn’t any longer reflect that pride which was at one time so part of her. The mixed feelings of shame, frustration and anger took her mental peace away. Her intra-psychic apparatus was shaken as a
consequence of the war going on within her mind between the impulsive wish to take revenge and the bitterly agonizing fact of her obvious incapacity. Now, even Sheila herself would concede in private that
failure was but inevitable.

But then, one day, it seemed that the whole story would take a new turn. It was a peaceful, beautiful and cold morning and a serene fragrance of the loveliest flowers pervaded the convivial atmosphere of the college. The bright sun above was throwing rose rays at the shoots of grass now turning fiery green. The grass with dew-drops upon it shone by sunlight looked like a green carpet with radiant diamonds scattered interspersedly upon it. The chirping of the cutest birds and sweet cooing of the enthusiastic cuckoo sitting in that big, old tree in the middle of the courtyard in front of the lecture halls made the scene all the more romantic. Sheila was sitting in the quad leaning against the wall alongside the main notice-board, surprisingly alone.

Suddenly, the tall form of Qadeer loomed from the male-hostel side.

Sheila saw him at once and looked towards him so as to catch his eye and greet him. She thought he was going to the cafeteria for breakfast as he routinely did. Quite unexpectedly, however, he turned,
stepped towards Sheila and, getting closer, spoke in an extremely meek way:

“ Hello Sheila. Can I sit here with you and talk to you for a brief while?”

For a good while, Sheila wasn’t very sure if things were happening in reality. The enormous change that had occurred in Qadeer’s personality was evident not only from his speech but also from his dress and make-up. Today, he was clean-shaven, well-groomed and was wearing blue jeans with a matching color casual T-shirt. Sheila could instantly smell the expensive perfume and probably some other costly osmetics that Qadeer had so lavishly poured on himself. Sheila was momentarily taken in by his fresh, much dandier look; she however, was able to conceal this and said:

“Hi, Qadeer. Please sit down here with me and bless me with the pleasure of your company. You can talk to me for as long as you can possibly desire.”

 Sitting down rather too close to her, Qadeer outright made a mention of the gorgeousness of Sheila’s
new dress. It was only then that she realized she had on her new green shalwar Qameez sent to her from home by her aunt as a gift--- the same aunt who never got tired of sending Sheila grand gifts and who wished Sheila could become her daughter-in-law. Recovering from the initial shock set off by Qadeer’s words she retorted by praising his seldom seen smartness. Both then entered into a conversation that continued in a harmonious way for more than an hour. In the meantime, whoever
saw the two sitting together in that chummy fashion was surprised and confused. Even some of the consultants who either knew Qadeer or Sheila couldn’t pass them without giving them a thoughtful, prolonged look. It was evidently something very unexpected and unusual for the people around. All the THE MEDICAL COLLEGE started ringing with the news of Sheila and Qadeer’s nascent love-affair.

“Sheila and Qadeer are going to make a couple.” People said to each other. Growing with fabulous rapidity, their affair soon evolved into a tempestuous campus-romance with only one difference: lack of sincerity. Although she was playing her part faultlessly, Sheila always looked on this affair as another one of her successes. She read her lines so cleverly that Qadeer had no reason to doubt her. Now, it appeared that Qadeer had eventually surrendered to Sheila with complete self-abandonment. Long after the college hours were over, the two could be seen sitting in the Quad, the cafeteria, the student’s lounge and where not. Now studying, now chatting, they really seemed to be cherishing one another’s company.

Sheila was getting out of her frustration as her success was getting closer. She had ultimately conquered Qadeer although it had not been so easy. She admitted that she hadn’t been able to wind him around her little finger like other boys but what did it matter as long as she had the final say over all of Qadeer’s
thoughts and actions. She was feeling triumphant, jubilant and satisfied. She could never see Qadeer be any happy but she had to allow for that transient joy since she wanted the revenge to be complete: she intended a full blown drop-scene to follow.

When Sheila was sure that Qadeer was now fully in her grip, she resumed her flirtatious nature. Once again she starting acting on her impulsive desire to get men hooked on her. But she wasn’t really able to satisfy her devilish whim since the “affair” with Qadeer left her no time for such activities. At last, she made her mind. Every now and then, she started ignoring Qadeer in order to make him realize how difficult it was to take a defeat.

One day, outside the library, Qadeer went to Sheila and quite unabashedly proposed marriage to her.
Seemingly, this came as a big surprise to Sheila, although it was something she had been waiting for all along. The time was at last right there for the revenge to be perfectly complete. Her eyes dilated
with artificial amazement, her lips tightened with extreme emotion and her face flushed with the un-controlled anger, she yelled like a thunder-fall: “Hey, hey! Imbecile Qadeer, how dare you say all that?
You should be ashamed of yourself for bringing such words to your mouth. How can a person like you even dream of marrying a person such I am. Don’t you understand I am far too better for a nothing like
you?” These and few more derogatory remarks had soon Qadeer begging on his knees:

" Sheila, don’t for Heaven’s sake say such things. I simply can’t imagine life without you. You’re to me everything--- everything. I will die without you. I’m telling I won’t live a day further.” He cried and cried in vain. The same old story of sacrificing everything for Sheila’s sake was repeated once again; how he would toil morning noon and night to make her happy, how he would devote life to her, how
he would…

Though Qadeer besought to her in the most pitiable way, Sheila was not to listen to any of his pleas. The more he squalled, he more she got cruel. The stone-heart inside Sheila’s bosom was not to be softened by anything. She finally spoke to him:“Look, Mr. Qadeer. I have been bearing you too much already, I can’t bear you anymore. I just don’t want to see your face any longer. Don’t exasperate me into calling the police for dragging you away. Don’t even dream of talking to me again. I don’t care whether you live or die. You don’t really exist for me even now.”   

Saying this, in high dudgeon, she rushed toward the library where her friends had been watching and enjoying what had been happening outside. There was such a huge roar of laughter that the security guard on-duty had to ask them to keep it low.

“Sheila, you made it. Now, don’t forget your promise. You're going to treat us at the Pizza Hut tonight. Do you remember?” said one of her friends.

“Yes, I remember very well.” Said Sheila victoriously, “Tonight we’ll all have hot Pizza at the Pizza Hut.”

That night all her friends were invited by Sheila to the Pizza Hut. There were laughing and chatting about the event that had taken place earlier that day. Meanwhile, someone calledSheila on her cell phone. The following conversation took place.
Stranger: Hello, can I speak to Miss Sheila?

Sheila: Yes, speaking.

Stranger: Miss, I have to convey a message to you. Qadeer, your class-fellow has been been seriously injured in an accident while driving his car too fast. Now, he is in the emergency room counting the last moments of his life. He has been sighing your name again and again. I found your phone number his notebook and thought I should call you. His bed number is 03.

Sheila: (Nervously) Oh, how did it happen? Who are you?

Stranger: I’m a nurse in attendance to him. No one knows how it happened. Miss, if you would come, be it as quick as possible.

The call ended. Panic stricken, in a spell of self-reproach, Sheila ran out of the Pizza Hut without even informing her friends, plunged into her car and drove toward the hospital as fast as she could. Shouldering her way in the crowd she was quickly able to reach Qadeer’s bed.

His was a grotesque and queer sight, wrapped up in all those bandages with fresh blood sprinkled all over his body. His eyes were half open and he seemed to be in a stuporous state. Upon seeing Sheila, she suddenly got a little oriented but was still very drowsy and exhausted. He briskly tried to rise only to fall back obviously due to the intensity of pain. Suddenly, he started uttering these words:

“Sheila, I’m glad that you’ve come. I know I caused you much discomfort but let me tell you it was all
unintentional. I never wanted to hurt you. I told you I won’t live a day longer without you. See, I’m dying. Death is the brother of Sleep. Isn’t He?” Saying this, he paused. His eyes blinked once or twice and his hands clasped those of the attendant’s. In in a flash of a second, he was gone.

Sheila was as if thunder-struck. She remained expressionless, speechless and motionless for a while and then suddenly started crying. She probably for the first time was realizing how wicked, mean and evil she had been. She got sort of hysterical and tried to hold Qadeer’s dead body unto herself. But the attendants held her back and she started to wrestle with them. She cried and cried in
a psychotic fashion. All of a sudden, something yet stranger happened. Qadeer jumped out of the bed with all those bandages around him.

“Thank you for the assistance friends”. He said to the attendants. “Now, please remove all this from me”. And then, turning to Sheila who once again was thunder-struck, he spoke. “Now, this was the first time you were not weeping crocodile tears. Anyways, how was it? Do you really think I can die for someone like you? No, I’m certainly not the kind ok. You must have supposed me a much bigger fool than I actually am. You must have thought you had been winning but the fact is that you never had.
And you were right, a person like me could never even think of marrying someone like you. I would die sooner than enter into any relation with you. I would rather get hacked into pieces than marry blackguard of a woman such as you are. Now, off with you.” Saying this, he hurriedly left the emergency-room since too many people had gathered together to watch this picaresque spectacle.