Who Has Seen the Wind

Dadu khan has no idea why his parents named him that. All his other brothers have good names like Alamgir Khan, Rahimdad Khan, etc. But why did his parents name him after a small city in the province of Sind? A city they have no connection or linkage with. Nobody knows, not even his parents.

Dadu Khan has always been sad about his name and has thought many times to change it. He still remembers the trauma and humiliation he had to suffer during his childhood days, when his school mates used to twist his name and call him Padu Khan (farter khan). Not that he farted a lot in school; it was just that his name rhymed with the word for farting in Punjabi language. Not all his school mates called him Padu Khan, there were a few who changed the pronunciation of his name from Dadu to Dudoo (frog in slang Urdu), and preferred to call him Dudoo Khan. “Oye Dudoo, why don’t you croak for us? You motay (fatty) dudoo�.

These names caused a lot of grief to Dadu Khan in school, and while growing up his personality got marred and scarred by these insults. For this reason he pleaded with his parents countless times for a change of name but his parents either ignored his pleas or just admonished him and told him to concentrate on losing his weight and everything will be alright. Poor Dadu had started getting fat when he couldn’t take the playground abuse anymore. He quit playing sports and started hanging out at the cafeteria with other school rejects and fatsos who drowned their school sorrows in elaborate helpings of burgers and cokes. This is how Dadu Khan grew up, that is getting fat and piling up enormous personality complexes about his ridiculous name.

They say in college he had once pinned a boy to the ground and farted in his face shouting, “I will show you what this Padu is capable of, if Cassius Clay can punch with his fists, this Gaseous Clay will punch your face in with a mighty fart�. They say that the boy who had his faced gassed in by Dadu Khan had to be treated for gas poisoning in the hospital for two days. After this untoward incident, Dadu Khan had confronted his parents and asked for their permission to change his name. The confrontation had turned ugly and there was a lot of shouting and cursing in the house.

Dadu Khan’s grandmother who was critically ill at the time had called him to her dying bed and whispered in her hoarse but stern voice. “Dadu, you Padu, if you change your name, I will never forgive you and might even come to haunt you from the grave�. Dadu they say had been so terrified, that he had forgotten all about the name change for many years.

Time moved on, Dadu passed his civil services exam, became a magistrate and was posted to the city of Dadu. The place was more nightmarish than his wildest dreams. It was a small town in the backwaters of Sind, with hardly any social life. Plus Dadu had to stomach the daily reminders that he had to face in his work memos that mentioned his name with his working title. “Dadu Khan, Special Magistrate Dadu City�.

It was during this time, when Dadu fell about courting a comely courtesan from the red light district. He had gone to the night bazaar with a police party to arrest a kingpin of the local pimps who was allegedly involved in the murder of a prostitute. Walking back through the musical streets he caught the liquids of a comely courtesan who was standing in her door way and had sneezed right when Dadu was walking by. Dadu was so close to the door that he had caught the nasal spray of her sneeze and had looked down at her in total disgust and anger, but had been instantly floored by the heavenly sight of her beautiful feet.

This is how Dadu fell in love with the comely courtesan who had big bosoms and smoked two packets of cigarettes a day. She also had these neatly painted and properly trimmed toenails, that so fascinated Dadu that there were times when he couldn’t take his eyes off her beautiful feet. And she had to say in her husky voice. “Damn it Dadu, stop looking at my feet and look me square in the eye, you fabulous city of Sind�. Then she would lovingly and coyly blow smoke into his face and say. “By the way, Dadu darling whenever you are ready to marry me, just make sure that you ask for my feet and not my hand from my pimp. And one more thing darling, please forget about this business of changing your name shame. It is your name that I am after, not your status, money or magistracy. You maybe a magistrate in your own home, but for me you are my Dadu. You remind me of this dusty city of mine that has given me so much and more.� Then lighting up another cigarette she would get aggressive. “By the way Dadu, mind you, if you ever dare change your name, then you will be asking for my hand instead of my feet for marriage. It wouldn’t be the same as it is now.�

At this monologue of the smoking courtesan, Dadu would fling himself at her feet and cry out loud. “I desire for your feet my love, nothing else. I even forget my name, when I am with you. I am your Dadu and shall remain so if you so desire. My ravenous cravings for your supple paws make my head spin. I am your slave my love, the slave of your nimble feet and supple bosoms�.

Dadu finally married the courtesan had a few children from her and made his life in the city that he had once so despised. Years went by, his comely princess of pretty feet died of lung cancer, his children grew up and had children of their own, and Dadu one day retired as the deputy commissioner of Dadu city.

Today Dadu still gets angry and then content when his grand children play about him and lovingly call him Dadu (grandpa in slang Urdu pronounced just like his name). But he still has no idea why his parents named him that.