The cat had been thrown in the by-lane, and when Mir Nihal went out in the evening he saw that she was not dead after all. She had licked the water from the gutter and had come back to life. So does life inflict wounds on men, thought Mir Nihal, and looking grey for some time they become whole and hale again. Fate treats human beings with cruelty and is unconcerned. Death takes lives, parts lovers, bereaves mothers and children, husbands and wives, and , with callous indifference, goes about her ravagers with the hard-hearted grace of a fell beloved who prides herself on breaking both hearts and homes.

Ahmed Ali