Half Death

Shakoor Bhai used to stay up late at night. In the wee hours, he had finally dozed off. As usual, in the morning, his wife woke up and tried to rouse him for prayer, but he did not get up. She kept calling him, and by the time she realized the time for prayer had passed, she prepared breakfast for him and even packed food for him to take along. Despite her repeated efforts, he remained asleep.

She shook his elbow, still to no effect, and finally broke into tears, thinking, “He had a fever last night. The officers made him work so much that he must have died, and now I am a widow.” Suddenly, the news spread throughout the entire neighborhood that Shakoor Bhai had passed away.

They carried him to the courtyard to wash him. He was still clothed when someone accidentally put soap on his face.

At that very moment, Shakoor Bhai regained consciousness. Sitting up, rubbing his eyes, he exclaimed, “Who put chili in my eyes?”

Seeing him alive, the nearby weak-hearted people were terrified. Chaos erupted throughout the house. Women screamed and ran about, paying no attention to their slippers. In the commotion, no one could find a way out. Some women ran into rooms, while others stayed outside and closed the doors. Those outside started pounding on the doors, shouting, “Let us in too!” but the women inside, scared, did not open them.

Even Shakoor Bhai’s close relatives, without thinking, had left the house.

Outside, a large crowd had gathered. They saw the panicked people fleeing and tried to stop them one by one to ask what had happened, but no one could stay to answer. A few summoned courage and muttered, “Ghost… ghost…” in trembling voices, but that explanation was not enough.

Eventually, when the house emptied, curiosity got the better of the people standing in the street. They slowly entered the house, not knowing who had supposedly died. Inside, they saw that only Shakoor Bhai was present. All the other room doors were closed. One door had accidentally been locked from the outside, trapping his wife inside.

Shakoor Bhai sat there, wearing a helpless expression. People asked him, “Who has passed away?”

Annoyed, he snapped, “I have passed away.”

The newcomers, unaware of the situation, could not comprehend that the person they had come to see dead was standing right in front of them. How could this be possible?

Some respected elders in the neighborhood tried to explain, “This is Shakoor Bhai… the one whose death we heard about.”

One elder, not listening carefully, asked, “Where is the one who died?”

Shakoor Bhai, furious, shouted, “I am sitting alive! People were even making arrangements for my grave. Was it expected that I would die while sleeping?!”

One of his friends said, “Brother! We had heard that you had died.”

Shakoor Bhai angrily retorted, “Who said that I had died? I was in a deep sleep. My wife thought I was dead. The poor woman cried in shock, thinking she had become a widow, and people even started arranging my burial?!”

A neighbor asked, “But how did it seem like you were dead?”

Irritated, Shakoor Bhai explained, “Yesterday, work at the office was very demanding. I worked late into the night. Exhausted, I returned home. On the way, dust and cold caught me, and I developed a mild fever with cough. My condition was not good, so I stayed awake late into the night. By morning, at prayer time, I finally fell into an extremely deep sleep. Because of this deep sleep, I did not wake up, and my wife mistakenly thought I had died. That foolish woman killed me while I was alive.”

At that moment, when the locked room was opened from outside, they found his wife lying unconscious inside.