Dr. Bari's Toothache

The sound of wheel was slashing his soul, the carriage was trotting on the streets of holy city, the cluster of alert guards around it reflected that it has some public criminal captive in it. The carriage reached the great stadium at the center of the city, it was crowded with people gathered for a very special occasion. The carriage was stopped at the entrance and the culprit was dragged out, as his foot touched the ground he took a deep breath in open air, hot wave of mediterranean summer slapped his face.

He was brought here for a trial. Te crowd, all mad with rage, had thronged the whole pass way. Among the cries of excitement and fury he culprit began the march. He was tall, bare footed dressed in rage, all the naked parts of his body bore the marks of torture. People thronged both sides of the passage, some cursing some abusing, some murmuring the holy prayers, all waiting with veracious eyes of hungry wolves for the proceedings. They were throwing stones, slippers and garbage at him laughing and cursing, guards with heaved breasts dragged him to the central platform not losing a single chance of using their whips. On the platform the convict was laid down on a large cross, both hand tied on either side. And then lay supine under the sky he made the first wave.

God give me strength� he prayed in heart.

The murmur stopped, people stood silent, then rose from the circle of elites the grand priest, with steady steps he walked to the cross, he then turned to the crowd. When he spoke his voice revealed strength.

“People of the holy city� His voice was loud and firm “today we have gathered here to have the honor of executing the dearest duty of a believer that is to punish God’s enemy, I shall recommend that the proceedings of the day shall be remembered by us all, recorded in our chronicles and narrated in our tales and songs so that our children and their children’s children and the generations who will come ages after and races miles apart can celebrate it . . . . . this rouge . . .�

He pointed the detained man “is a nuisance to our society, he mocked at our deities and questioned what must not be questioned, for God with his infinite wisdom has answered what ought to be answered�

He paused to look at the crowd, his sharp eyes swapped away the whole congregation in a flash of second. “Knowledge is complete. And after all what is knowledge? . . . the diametrical of ignorance and innocence, without ignorance let me say there would be nothing safe tears of blood shed from birth to death, as ignorance is the virtue of innocence. But here is a damned soul who wants to destroy this benevolent ignorance with speculation, he put doubt in the innocent minds of our youth, he taught our women to rebel and lead our olds to destitute. Tell me my people what would you be without your children, your women and your olds, what would happen with us mortal without certainty, without confidence in divine providence? . . . . The sprits of our ancestors are being fired in hell for this crime, they are spiteful as they seemed to me at this very moment.�

The priest was choaked with sentiments; the prisoner had a difficulty in following his moments.

“So what will you propose for this rouge? I doubt if there exists any punishment for this crime in the books of ancient or in the minds of wise for the very idea of this crime is alien to creation of God, even the evil of evils cant dream of it, it has no existence before in the history of universe, only God with his infinite wisdom kept this, he saved it for the damned of damned.�

“And now . . .� he continued in a grumbling tone “ he watched us at this critical moment whether we will share the fate of this rouge or regret our act of giving him birth, providing him food and shelter and affection� tears came to his eyes, “what will you propose?�

The crowd roared all kind of penances from most torturous to worst humiliating ones, but the grand priest was indifferent to their cries, there was some thing else in his mind, very diligently he rose his hands from behind “ I propose this� and there glittered under the shiny sun the sharp blade of an axe. “Isn’t it just to cut his body into peaces and through them to dogs� The crowd uttered the woes of agreement. The priest stood beside the cross and roe his arm, his eyes bore a cruel expression.

“You know too much� they seemed to say. The culprit wished to close his eyes but he couldn’t.

Finally the grand priest raised his head.

“For the right of divinity� the crowd echoed his words. “From the heart of revealed, by the hands of wise to the pits of hell� he hurled the axe on the chest. The blade fell right on the left cheek and pierced into the jaw, a wave of pain penetrated through his entire being as if every pore of his body was cut by the blade.

Oou . .oo … he cried and stood erect.

The first few moments in the darkness were of confused plunder during which the only sense kept in touch with him was that of a fading pain. No doubt Dr Jamil Bari woke up that morning as the most depressed soul on earth, a fresh current of pain brought him to nerves “ A-ee-e� he groaned like a strapped dog, it was a physical pain, slowly he felt for the center of pain, almost seized by terror he recognized it as toothache . . .

It’s been years since he suffered his last toothache, with horror he recalled those haunted days. He was young and thin, wore his father’s worn-out trousers and ugly spectacles, penniless, humiliated and worst of all suffered torments of toothaches. He has no idea how he got it, no doubts Baris’ have real bad tooth, such of those which can occupy significant place in any catalog of molar ailments, they were yellow, they were ugly and there were cavities in between as large as mouse nest. But no one except Jamil Bari suffered from tooth aches, the reason was always unknown, he once chuckled.

“Toothaches are the pangs of philosophers and artists, like maternity pain it is caused by pregnancy rather than decayed molar� How foolishly he awaited fro some psycho-biological discovery in favor his thesis.

And now at this remote future all passed out, he is now a famous philosopher with a rare talent of interpreting any personal vulgarity, stupidity or spiritual fracture as a significant clause of his great “Cosmic Theory�. No longer thin his body accumulated a heap of flesh and lard, his trousers were nicely stitched according to the latest fashion, a sophisticated rimless spectacle swapped the old one replacing the once owlish expression with a touch of intellect. Not any more humiliated among friends and gentry Jamil Bari (Now Dr Jamil Bari) was regarded s the salt of society. And toothaches too had gone away, so he some time reflected in solitude “Whether it represented some thing real? If not then what is missing?�

But now it came back, the worst aspect of his clownish past with all its possible horrors.

“Ohoo . . . . .� he groaned.


Najma bib the house maid peeped in, she had the strange habit of peeping in his master’s bedroom every morning with the most horrible expectations on earth as if he might be slaughtered in the night. She was a simple country woman , to whom her master’s eccentricities were sure to provoke God’s wrath more than the whole population of Sidom, seeing him alive instead, aiming a vogue gaze at her always embarrassed her, confused and muddled up, she rushed out and control her composure to face the most abhorrent singularity of her cosmic view.

But that particular day was not so disappointing for Najma Bibi as she saw Dr Bari tossed up and down uttering gruesome moans.

“Sahab ji kia hua?� she could not help asking.

“Go . . . just go away, leave me . . . no .. . come . . . come, bring me some worm water.�

The maid was anxious to leave.

“Where is your mistress?� he shouted from behind.

“Downstairs sir, waiting for you at breakfast� was the nervous retort.

“Tell her . . . . tell her I can’t come, I . . . . I have a . . .� he gulped saliva before uttering “toothache�

“Tell her to send some painkillers too� he ended up with a pitiable gesture.

The maid was amazed, contrary to her master she had no regards for molar aches. “Wise men too have toothaches!� She wondered while descending the stairs.

Mrs. Bari was a stout little lady who had reached that stage of her status and sex where only scandals and calories remain active agents in life. Her relation with her husband was so pretentious that every thing in between was fully calculated and in tabular form, the couple used to appear in soirees and dinner parties with such a pretentious smile that one could not make out what’s exactly wrong with them but smell rotten eggs under the delicious pudding. She received the news of her husband’s anguish with a “cool head�, some thing like his periodical fits of depression when his articles are not dully treated in Wisdom Society or like that, off course it did disturb her peace of mind as she never remembered him having toothache before. She sent painkillers with worm water and engaged herself with breakfast.

Dr. Bari took the painkiller with worm water, but what difference it would make, if problems as big as toothaches can be overcome by things as little as painkiller why need to invent guns! So its getting worse minute by minute.

He did every thing what he used to do in those haunted days of molar aches, first he put a block in his mouth under the affected gum and pressed, then he laid straight on bed motionless trying to forget the pain, not a single muscle quivered, hours passed, he felt, finally he tried to kill the pain by pain itself. He started punching the affected jaw, at first slightly then with increased momentum, but all in vain as it was always in vain. He felt another pain that was of his blows so he ceased punching the jaw and tried to think some thing else. In his effort he remember the days commitment, he had to compile his essay on his famous “Cosmic Theory� that is going to be read on the days session of “Wisdom Society�. He was working on that theory for many years, woke up at nights thinking and writing, travelled thousands of miles by air, on wheel, on foot, to meet and discuss with philosophers, physicists, sages and hermits, his mind was quick at mathematical theorems, biological laws were on his fingertips and he worked hard to manipulate them in unified Cosmic Theory. His restless life was at pains to build the fire, the fire that warmth and light the humanity in the cold and dark night of ignorance.

“The idea of necessary ignorance is quite convincing to me� he once claimed before a large audience. “I feel alright with it, but isn’t the time to push back the boundaries of our necessary ignorance a little.�


“Oh oo� he groaned with pain in sorrow “only if I can give a final touch? . . . such a beauty� he enjoyed the memory of his thesis. “And now this pain!� Terror crept in the heart of his heart. “This pain comes with every thing I loath . . . . the trousers, thin physique, grotesque spectacles, it will slack every thing�

He jumped up and rushed to the writing table “Wont let the damned thing!�

Papers were placed on it like they were left last night . . . with difficulty he read the last paragraph, to his surprise it gave him pain, the only pain he could comprehend since morning. The whole script seemed so base and worthless like a silly joke, and what’s more its banality coalesced with the physical pain to transform it into a spiritual one.

“A misplaced black hole can not disturb the theory but an unexpected molar pain can� he thought with disgust. The whole script seemed so idiotic so base.

“How could I be . . . . oh . . eeh . . . so stupid and blind to plunged into such stupidity, and people! What about people?� He recalled the public applause for his thesis with wonder.

“Public? What concern public would have in this affair, all they want is a pompous air to boast ‘let me explain this’ give them something which serves the purpose and can be gulped with coffee and cake and it will be popular, it seemed that what I pushed back is not the boundary of necessary ignorance but that of public boast�

Ha . . .ha . . .� he laughed madly.

Pity all that realization came at the turning point of his career, it was not there during the glorious years of fame and fortune, while our hero was acclaimed by the whole world. The tooth aches also vanished mysteriously. It seemed however that it never turned its back from the old foe, but it hid behind the cavities waiting for the right moment, the most curtail stage of his career, it seemed to Dr Bari to spoil the most glorious achievement of his enemy.

Mrs. Bari got anxious towards the noon, it was half passed 1 and Dr was still in his bedroom “Its some thing more than the periodic depressions� she thought “What about the evening’s address� Now she sensed the real threat, obviously she had great expectations with the evening’s address. Their only recourse was Dr’s lectures and books, and as their financial affairs were going on the couple badly needed a best seller, the address would be the first mile stone toward a new best seller by Dr Bari. And besides what use of marrying a freak if he can’t write a best seller.

“And what would happen to all those philosophical thesis mathematical theorems and natural laws if I weren’t about to look after him, ‘The man behind great cosmic theory’ the only thing he would be able to do is to mummify himself with all that stuff, its me who keep him going with all that, how tiresome and awful it is, yet I have to go to him� She concluded.

Dr Bari was on his bed holding his head in both hands, his face was swollen like a rotten pumpkin.

Honey is it all right� she asked politely.

“I am not well . . . the pain .. . . it .. breaks me to peaces�

Come on its just a toothache, have you taken some thing for it�

“Yes but useless it won’t work�

“Why it won’t work? You some time make me . . . .�

“No . . . nobody can understand, all has gone I am done for�

“Done for! By toothache?�

“Its not toothache� Dr Bari muttered with tears in his eyes “Its . . . . .� He collapsed on the bed.

Mrs. Bari understood the situation, with due effort she controlled her composure “How deliberately he developed the taste of sabotaging my designs, the only thing he cultivated sincerely� She thought about her husband, “He only needs to know my expectations�

“I guess you are not going to address the Wisdom Society�

Dr remained silent. There was a fresh silence in the room, she closed her eyes, her jaws quivered, she seemed to make a violent effort to recover herself, finally she spoke, her eyes still closed, a sigh of inner agitation.

“Give it up Jamil, I plea!�

After his wife left Dr Bari couldn’t stay on bed, he stood before the mirror, face to face, he looked at his face, he was eager to read pain on his features, it resembled to a wild boar having three consecutive gun shots right on the cheeks, only a comedian has nerves to face mirror with such a face.

He found nothing unexpected, terror and torment, with a sense of guilt he touched the affected cheek to feel the heart of pain, his finger trembled as he touched the gill, a slight shudder like the first step on alien land.

“That’s one small step for [a] man, one giant leap for mankind�

He took two steps back to have a look at his frame, his body seemed to represent all the feebleness of his kind.

“We admire statues� he thought “because they coalesce the grandeur of elements with the beauty of life, majestic Ab-Ul-Houl, the beauteous Venus, the statue of liberty. If a part, a small fraction of their material is replaced by a real alive cell that can experience pain … then one can see how the charm vanishes and they collapse into frailty.�

Now our hero was in the most serious jeopardy of his torment, the stage of physical pain where his pangs after paralyzing his body started slashing his soul, amidst the darkness of agony he sought the lost contact with the purest hope he once felt more than knew, one could call it God. The current of pain were circulating in his body like a twister, all within him was in the twister, circling and revolving around some thing more mysterious and more majestic. He knelt down and closed his eyes, he murmured the prayers “Oh God . . . please God .. . .� he tried to concentrate but the pain seemed to succumbed our hero.

I vain he remained on knees muttering prayers, trying to forget the pain, after a momentary pause the absurdity of this effort frowned him and he flopped up like a wet hen towards the bed, cursing, his wings folded around (obviously the hen). The next two hours were on bed.

I the meanwhile this news was received in the intellectual circle of the city with anxiety that Dr Jamil Bari will not address the ‘Wisdom Society’ on the subject of his famous theory for some mysterious reasons. Off course the news breaker was his wife.

Professor Qazi Abdusalam, the vise president of “Wisdom Society� (the president was the governor of the province who never visited the society once after his election) was a friend of our hero and such a true expert of popular intellect that one could extract the most comprehensive commentary on the recent trends of street crimes or the best possible solution to the traffic problem in the city from his wise company. His face seemed to bore the inscription, like the fine cooper plate affixed to the door of his office

PROF. QAZI ABDUSSALAM
POET, ORATOR, INTELECTUAL
WISE PRESIDENT ‘WISDOM SOCIETY’

The poor man got a fit of depression by the news. In his perturbation he phoned Dr. Bari and after latter’s refusal to receive his call, uttered the most uncivil ejaculations in his mother tongue.

“It will ruin us all, the country’s top minds, experts from all over the world, what will they say . . .�

Prof. didn’t care a straw for the top minds or world experts, his only concern was the ire of the society’s president, there would be no choice except to visit his friend.

2

When professor Qazi entered the room, it was a little before 4 pm, two and a half hour before the scheduled address. It was dark there and Dr Bari lied on the bed like a mummified pharaoh enjoying the nirvana of pain, a thick towel wet with worm water was put on right gill.

I guess it be an appropriate time to explain some thing about our hero’s present condition, his agony is now three dimensional, at one side he was suffering such a mighty molar ache that the only wish remained alive in him was to get a pistol (of infinite rounds) and fire every bullet one by one to that dammed teeth, the savage pleasure of shooting every atom of it dead up to eternity was the only thing alive in him and off course the nerves breakdown, the first symptom of which appeared with the toothache has now completely succumbed him, and there also appeared the sick man’s vengeance, the satanic hatred towards every thing healthy and happy, they all accumulate to what can be summed up as one’s feeling of having the devil’s hand on one’s heart.

Dr. Bari welcomed his friend with an expression of pure ire that is genuinely reserved for the most detested relationships, the pain deprived him of the social hypocrisy.

“How is your molar?�

“Worse than a hundred swords wounds�

“Have you taken a pill or something?�

Dr Bari eyed him vaguely. “Your pills are something and my pain is some thing else�

Professor took a couch near his friend’s bed and felt somewhat relaxed. “Anyway come to business� with a nervous giggle “you better wash your face before the adre . . . ..�

Dr cut him short “I won’t address anything�

“Why! Wha . . .� prof couldn’t help expressing his revulsion.

“I will disown everything I wrote, I said till now�

Professor approached the sick man, examined more clearly, the frame looked so fragile and helpless, he felt a deep pity.

“Look Doctor we can fix it, I will arrange a new date when you recover your humor�

“Its not my humor that maters� Dr Bari could not help shouting, he felt a sudden current of pain, “why don’t you understand, its all fraud, a whole bunch of lies, we can’t pass on with it.�

“So! a fraud is discovered by decayed tooth.�

Dr. Bari didn’t reply, left the bed, grabbed the towel by the affected chin and started pacing the room. He was in great mental torment also.

“Qazi do you know what I discovered this morning? When I retired last night all seemed okay to me, ‘A fine thing it would be if there is something wrong with me tomorrow’ I thought.�

Words came out from his lips with marked effort, it seemed that he had great difficulty to concentrate his thoughts and continence, “but this morning I woke up with toothache and a changed world view, pity how we take our thoughts and assumptions as concrete while their fragility is known, completely apprehended by another in us. This is the secret of transcendental evil within us, the ultimate reality of soul, only pain equates this evil perception with the happy world view�

Pain? Physical pain! Equates ultimate reality of soul with happy word view.�

“Only God knows how deep we exist in our physiques�

“Why don’t you get it pulled out?�
“Yea, decayed tooth can be pulled out, but real knowledge can not be because it did not penetrate in body but in soul.�

He stopped pacing the room, sat down on the sofa in despair and clutched his head tightly with both hands. He tore off the wet towel and flung it away in vexation. It was evidently of no use.

“One can pull out all tooth, every bone of his body but one cant pull out the pain�

Professor left his chair, approached the sofa with an intension of sitting beside the sick man but the later responded with such a stare that he changed his mind, stood erect fumbling with his pants, he continued

“Its great . . . . great indeed to listen to you in your old flare� there was a sort of curiosity in his eyes that Dr. Bari did not like, it was not clear whether prof thought his friend’s metal condition rather queer only or utterly sick also, or the man just meant to have a good look at our hero, the later watched him coming with an expression which, as he got into visual range, took effect and froze his very soul. Dr Bari didn’t give him a chance to open his lips.

“Enough I think on this loathsome subject�

“I love to hear you like this, you know I used to help you in these maters, I always has share in your thoughts that’s why you dedicated more books to me than any body else, a fine gratitude I must appreciate�

Shut up� groaned Dr Bari, coloring all over with shame, “I forbid you from mixing up your petty thoughts with mine, you only contributed in things which were stupid in me, every thing I experienced In my dogmatic slumber, every thing that is now trashed out from my mind, and now this torturous wakefulness, you have no contribution in it since you cannot perceive toothache.�

At that moment our hero lost his eye contact with his friend who found his stare so powerful that can travel the longest journey from heart to heart in micro seconds, he felt it terrible, the shadow of the most abhorrent singularity of universe, one that continues mocking and jarring at the rest of existence.

“Things will change� professor’s words seemed to address himself more than Dr Bari “It would be over in few hours, thing will be changed as they meant to be changed, then we will write the thesis again in the light of this pain and your new revelation, or we may write a review or after word sort of thing, I think it would be a better one.�

Dr Bari sat with his hands pressed against his ears and his eyes fixed on the ground, he began trembling all over with sudden rage.

“Nothing will be changed, nothing can be changed only we wonder things to be changed. Nothing is change and will not change, the inertia of soul is more than the inertia of matter. The very idea of change is the greatest pain killer ever invented. All destinies whether organic or inorganic are travelling in never ending never changing circles, and there are the moments when the wrills of this aimless destiny cause the most treble pain of realization, then we take the painkiller and say ‘how wonderfully thing have changed around me’. But fragile are they against reality, any real crisis, any thing an ached molar can drag us back to the world of immense pain�

Professor Salam felt him in serious jeopardy, he stole a glance at the watch, all the attendees would have left for the address, the foreign scholars, country’s intellectual cream and the president f the society. Drops of sweet appeared on his forehead. He left his chair.

“You don’t know what you have done to us all, you stay in this bedroom and fancy what sort of reality suits your way of thinking, be the best possible, you can also convince yourself as long as you remain in this bedroom that the reason means to satisfy your demands. Your new revelation as oppose to “Cosmic Theory� springs from a kind of self doubt a belief that universe propels around some childish scheme. I hope this will not seem to you in future as foolish as your last night’s papers. The question my friend is that in view of your innate stupidity how long will you continue with this new revelation, so long you need to retire in your bed and forget about this damned toothache and its nirvana�

The visitor talked, evidently carried away by his eloquence, raising his voice more and more and throwing ironical glances to the host. But the other took no effect.

“Please leave me� Dr Bari replied coldly. “You are buzzing over my head like a bee, what you want is some thing to buzz over and flyaway, I have nothing for you to buzz over and fly, nothing left after pain except God�

While professor was making his leave he was certain that it was the right moment for Dr Bari to die, his sole chance to die happily. ‘Man as a rule has to die with immense pain’ he thought. ‘Only few get the chance to die with pleasure’

After words, when he was consulted to comment on his friend’s behavior that evening, his whole explanation seemed to be “Dr was clumsy not to say muddle head�

3

“Never Saw a case worse than that� The dentist scratched his bald head “Whole inner raw is done for, honestly speaking, you wouldn’t have smelled toothpaste for decades�

Dr Bari Spat salt water and eyed a young nurse eagerly, he felt a powerful attraction towards her. His expression resembled that ill lucked bison who after days of struggle with hunting wolves collapsed to ground and face death with serene and somber expression, two contrasting features that can only unite in a lateral perception.

After the departure of Qazi Salam Dr Bari‘s condition got worse and worse, finally he laid unconscious for half and hour and was brought to a famous hospital during this brief interval. There some therapy brought him back to sense, but he seemed somewhat lost afterwards.

While the dentist was occupied in the opposite corner of the room compounding drugs and uttering some stupid speech about tooth ailments, Dr Bari glanced the young nurse. She was no doubt charming, probably in early twenties. She seemed quite busy in her job yet was fully aware of his intentions, the sense of being the focal point of the great celebrity’s attention made her a little nervous. Dr. Bari rested his back on the couch and closed his eyes.

It is difficult to define the current of his thoughts at that moment, whether it was molar pain, his thesis, friends, wife or the young nurse.

“We need a minor operation over here, all three tooth ought to be pulled out� Dentist voice brought him back.

“It wont take long, you may address your speech tomorrow or the next day�

Dr approved the scheme with a nod.

The staff was engaged in preparations of the operation, Dr watched the whole activity with dull eyes, every now and then he stole a glance to the young nurse trying to capture every movement of her smart frame.

The room was engulfed with the moist odor of artificial lights, Dr Bari always felt uneasy in artificial lights and the sense of pain and isolation made it worse, he began to weep.

The young nurse approached him with an injection and cotton, as she saw shadow of grievance of his face her expression almost changed, a confident smile appeared, replacing the previous shy one.

“It wont hurt any more�

Dr Bari looked up, their eyes met, there was gratitude in his eyes.



“oh . .oo … God how I suffered the pain …….. intolerable it was, the blade, the horrible blade of the axe, oh lord how deep it penetrated in my body. The taste of my blood is still on my tongue, I can smell it, I can smell the blood and soil blended into one . . . .oh God . . . God. How deep that axe cut me�

“Sir! Listen� an amazed voice rose.
“Ho! Let me . . .� another whispered.

There was a momentary silence in the room.

“Peace, peace at last . . . how did? What is it? Death! . . . Oh lord so I am dead, where am I by the way? In the paradise.�

His eyes opened a little. Every body was attentive, the staff circled the operating table, anxiety was the common mood of the atmosphere.

“So I am in the paradise . . . at last in the promised kingdom. Farewell to earthly pains, petty thoughts, priests, wives, friends, no pain, no philosophy, no . . . . toothaches.�

He surveyed the surroundings with childish astonishment, it seemed that our hero faced a difficulty in apprehending the scene around him.

Then his eyes glued at the young nurse.

“Horris!!� He chattered, “My reward, so there are horis�

He then flunged to grab the girl, who in complete horror flew with a low scream. The patient was then forced to stay on bed in utter embarrassment where he broke into shrill protest.

“But where is my harp! God! I want my harp, how can a pure heart exist without a harp, what is heaven without harp, ‘ A harp ... a harp . . my kingdom for a harp’, I always wished to play harp, I dreamed during that awful sleep to play harp before you, I sitting on a rock in paradise playing my harp you listening�

A guffaw cut him short. One of the male attendants could not stand listening any more.

“So you laugh, at last you laugh the holy laugh that reconciles us after millennia of existence from filthy insect to Dr Jamal Bari�

Every one around him was holding his breadth to keep his raptures going, with huge effort they restrained their laughter in expectation of some thing more interesting ahead.

“The divine laugh, the melodious, the radiant one, how I longed to hear this laugh, it makes us one, unite for ever, no more existence to separate, yes no more existence in element, space and time, and this laugh will continue to eternity, together we exist, and laugh and sing and create, create a new world, . . . . No voids for toothache this time . . . . I am with you.�