CHAPTER 3: The Permission

“Hi Mama,” Neha exclaimed with joy as she entered the house.

“Hello, Neha.” She smiled and got busy in her work again.

   ‘No! No! That isn’t going to work, Neha. You have to work more hard. Make yourself happier and stretch your lips as long as you can.’ Neha told herself.

“You know Mama! I had an exciting day today.” Neha smiled as hard as she could.

“Neha, Change your uniform. Lunch is at the dining table.” Neha’s mother replied.

   ‘It may not work right now; I’ve to try in the evening. She is busy now and she will not listen to me anyway.” Neha said to herself as she walked to her room.

   She changed her clothes quickly and after having lunch, went to sleep.

  

   The voice of Neha’s younger brother woke her up in the evening.

“Common Neha, Play with me!!”

“OK, OK! Go, I’m coming,” Neha yawned.

   Neha got up from her bed. She sighed deeply as soon as she saw the big painting of

F-16 hanging on the front wall which Neha had drawn on her own two days before. After washing her face, she changed her clothes, combed her hair neatly and went outside where her younger brother was tapping his ball anxiously on the ground.

“Latecomer,” Neha’s younger brother taunted her.

“It takes time to get ready, my stupid brother.” Neha smiled annoyingly.

   They started playing cricket that suddenly Neha’s mother shouted from inside.

“Neha’s there is a call for you.”

   Neha ran into her house and picked up the receiver,

“Hello?”

“Hey Neha, it’s me, Sadia.”

“Oh hi, so did you ask your mother?” Neha asked curiously.

“No, that’s why I’ve called you. I don’t know how to start. How did you start, Neha?” Sadia said.

“Oh! I thought I am going to ask you,” Neha murmured.

“What do you mean? You haven’t?” Sadia inquired.

“No, not yet; I’ll go now.” Neha said.

“Oh man! That’s not a big deal but we are making it too hard.” Sadia explained.

“Right you are! Bye!” Neha said.

“Bye!” Sadia said.

   After talking to Sadia, Neha went straight to her mother who was in the kitchen.

“Mama, I need to talk to you.” Neha said softly.

“Go on, dear.” Neha’s mother replied.

   Neha cleared her throat and began. She told her mother every thing Gp Capt. Bilal had said to them and how he called her the lady fighter pilot in the end!

“Well…I’ll talk to your father, then.” Neha’s mother smiled and got busy in her cooking.

   ‘Good Neha, good…! That was your first step. Now, pray to God that Papa gives you the permission!” Neha whispered to herself as she came out of the kitchen and then went to her brother who was anxiously waiting for her so that he could make her loose the game.

   “Wake up, Neha! It’s getting late for school.” Neha’s mother called out the next morning.

   Neha yawned and got up from her bed. She went to her washroom. While she was splashing water on her face, suddenly she remembered about the permission.

   Neha’s father had come home late the day before as he had some work in his office. She waited for him curiously till late night but her mother made her fall asleep, as she had to go to school the next day.

   As soon as Neha washed her face and came out of the washroom, she cried loudly to her mother,

“Mama, did you talk to Papa?”

“Yes!” Neha’s mother replied as she fixed the cover of the lunch box.

“So, what did he say??” Neha said as she got dressed in the uniform.

“Common get ready, the van is about to come,” Neha’s mother shouted.

   Neha quickly combed her short black hair and ran to the dining table.

“I’ll talk to your principal today,” Neha’s mother said as she brought her lunch box to the dining table.

“Why?” Neha sipped the milk in glass.

“I’ll ask her more about the competition,” Neha’s mother said.

   Suddenly, they heard the van’s horn and Neha quickly put the lunch box in her bag, kissed her mother and dashed to the gate.

   All the way to school, she could just think of nothing but herself flying an F-16.

“My wish is coming true, I guess,” Neha whispered to herself and sighed deeply when she saw the blue sky from the window.

   The day at school went pretty exciting. Neha, Sadia, Rizwan and others talked about the excitement they were about to get. Surprisingly, none of the students had gotten the permission up till then. Most of the parents had rejected them directly but there were about five to six students whose parents were double minded as to give them permission or not. Neha guessed she was one of them.

“I am home, Mama.” Neha grinned as she entered the house after school.

“Did you call my principal, today?” Neha asked her as she took off her socks.

“Yes dear.” Neha’s mother replied from the kitchen.

“So, then mama?” Neha said as she filled up water in the glass from the cooler.

“After calling your principal, I called your father and he wants to know how many children of your class will be going?” Neha’s mother said.

“I don’t know! Up till now nobody has got the permission.” Neha squared her shoulders.

“So, would you be the only one going?” Neha’s mother asked her surprisingly.

“No! Maybe Sadia and Rizwan and some others will go,” Neha explained.

“But you said just now that nobody got the permission,” Neha’s mother said.

“I mean, they are not sure…. maybe, they would go.” Neha explained.

“OK, so…call up Sadia in the evening and ask her if she is going,” Neha’s mother said.

“But if…” Neha said sacredly.

“Then you cannot go, Neha.”

   Sadly she came to her room and lay down straight on the bed. She started watching the sketch of F-16 hanging on the wall anxiously. Suddenly, she felt hot tears in her eyes.

“Oh man! Why are you crying, Neha? Common, be bold. God will help you.” Neha said to herself softly and tried to overcome her tension. She then slowly closed her wet eyes and tried to sleep.

   The bell of the telephone woke her up in the evening.

“Where is everybody? Why is nobody picking up the damn phone?” Neha shouted.

   There was still no answer. The bell was terribly irritating Neha. At last, she angrily jumped off her bed and picked up the receiver forcibly,

“Hello!!” Neha shouted at the top of her throat.

“Hi, I am Sadia, what happened?” A soft voice came form the receiver.

“Oh, Sad, You know what? You spoiled my extremely wonderful dream I had ever dreamt,” Neha said angrily.

“I am sorry pal, but what was it about? Same old topic, huh…?” Sadia said annoyingly.

“Are you taunting me or what?” Neha raised her eyebrows.

“Oh just forget it! I called you for an important matter, buddy,” Sadia said as soon as she realized that Neha was in a terrible mood and was ready to fight with her on phone.

“Oh yeah, I’d have called you in the evening. You know Mama says that if you will go for the training only then, I can go,” Neha said worriedly.

“Really…? What a con-incidence? That is what exactly my Mom has told me and that is the reason why I’ve called you,” Sadia said excitedly.

“Oh man! I realized now, parents think same about their children.” Neha said.

“So…it means we can go! I’ll tell my mother that you have been given the permission and you tell your Mama that I’ve been given the permission,” Sadia said wickedly.

“Hurray! You are right, Sadia! I am so happy. Oh my God, I’m going to see real fighter planes? In reality…?” Neha jumped with excitement.

“I am excited too!” Sadia said happily and put down the receiver.

   ‘I am about to reach my destiny…Pakistan Air Force.’ Neha smiled to herself.

   After talking to Sadia, Neha ran to her mother who was out in the lawn, watering the flowers. Neha’s younger brother and his friend were playing cricket on the road in front of their house and Neha’s father had not been home yet.

“Mama, Guess what?” Neha smiled willingly.

“Oh, you are awake!” Neha’s mother said as soon as she saw Neha walking up to her.

“Mama, Sadia phoned me a little time ago and her mother has given her the permission!” Neha clapped her hands excitedly.

“Really…?” Neha’s mother said.

“Yeah and it means, I can go, right?” Neha inquired worriedly.

“Maybe…yes, you can go, dear.” Neha’s mother smiled charmingly.

“Ooh lala, I can’t believe it!” Neha shouted and kissed her mother.

CHAPTER 2: The Announcement

   It was Monday afternoon, which showered Neha with the great news of the initialization of her dream’s accomplishments. Neha, who is a twelve years old girl, is studying in grade 7 at NHA. She is extremely patriotic with a firm aim of serving her country by becoming a fighter pilot in Pakistan Air Force. Neha fails to understand the logic behind barring the girls from becoming fighter pilots in PAF which was at the moment policy being followed by Pakistan. But Neha wanted to fight for her rights till the time the door of Air Force opens up for girls in the flying branch. Neha never thought that her prayers would be answered in such an early stage of life which would mark a beginning of her efforts in the direction of becoming a fighter pilot.

  She was having her silent Math’s class in the school. The teacher’s explanation and the running ceiling fan were just the sources of noise in the class. The students were trying hard to understand the strange topic of trigonometry.

   Every one had their minds fixed at the teacher’s explanation that suddenly the door slid open and all the students looked at the door with widened eyes. Sir Amir entered the class. He was the steadfast PT teacher of the school. As soon as the children saw him, they stood up in respect and wished him good morning.

He cleared his throat and said, “I am sorry for disturbing your class, Miss, but …it was really important.” He then smiled.

“Oh! No problem, go ahead,” She smiled sweetly and left the classroom.

“Common in, Captain,” He said, after the teacher left the class.

   Captain!  Captain! It echoed in Neha’s skull at least ten times.

   A tall man stepped inside the classroom with a bright smile on his face, dressed in the PAF uniform neatly. He glared at the whole class and Neha looked at his light brown eyes. He was rather handsome.

   The students were staring at him surprisingly. Sir Amir noticed it and said happily,

“I know you all are surprised to see a PAF man in front of you. Well…” He looked at them and smiled and then continued,

“He is Group Captain Bilal…”

“Captain Bilal? Captain…?” Neha shouted excitedly but suddenly her eyes met Sir Amir’s furious gaze.

“Amm… I am really sorry!” Neha said abruptly before Sir Amir could remind her of the manners. Neha felt extremely ashamed of herself but it wasn’t her fault! ‘The words just slipped form her tongue!’ she tried to explain herself.

“Captain Bilal has come here for an important announcement. So…Captain Bilal…” Sir Amir looked and smiled at him after every two words. Then, indicated him to continue.

   Group Captain smiled at Neha.

‘What? Is he smiling at me? Me??’ Neha smiled back at him and he continued.

“Well…students, first of all, nice to meet you, here.”

   He had a smooth, manly voice. He looked at Neha again, which made her blush once more.

“I have come here to tell you that a competition has been organized by Indian Air Force between Pakistani and Indian students and it is going to take place at PAF Masroor Base, Karachi. Students between the ages of twelve and fourteen will be selected for the competition. This will not be an ordinary competition, therefore a forty days training…I think, it is appropriate to say, one and a half months training which would be given to the students. During the first twenty days, the Pakistan Army will train the students. They would teach the cadets the basics and priorities of a cadet’s life. The cadets who get through this training successfully would be declared fit for the final tough exercises at PAF Masroor Base.” He took a deep sigh and continued his speech.

“There, the students will also be taught about different fighter planes; its basic parts and equipment, the weapons which has a lot to do in the quiz of the competition. A few sports and an abundant of exercise would be the daily routine. A tough training, I must tell, it would be to triumph over India. So…I think that’s it! Would you like to participate in the competition?’ Gp Capt. Bilal said and smiled heartedly.

“Would PAF be kind enough to let girls participate in the completion, this time?” Neha asked him airily.

“Of course, this competition is for both boys and girls and we will take students from the co-ed schools. But…” He paused for a second and then added. “Will you elaborate what you meant by, ‘this time’?”

Neha smiled at him and said,

“Actually, I meant to say that PAF thinks girls are weak and that is the reason they don’t allow poor girls to become fighter pilots. So, I was in a doubt that maybe this time too, they will not give us a chance to serve our country which is actually our right.”

“Well…it seems that you are willing to participate in the competition.” He said and smiled.

“I would just love too! How can I miss such a lovely chance!” Neha exclaimed.

   Watching Neha, other students also raised their hands to let him know that they also wanted to participate in it.

“Good!” He said. “Your class is really a good one. I am pleased to see their willingness.” He laughed.

“Thank you, Capt Bilal…. so, shall we go, now?” Sir Amir inquired.

“Sure!” He said and referred to Neha, “So, we will be waiting there for our lady fighter pilot!”

“Oh…I can’t just afford to miss such a lovely chance, sir.” Neha smiled.

   He wished the students good-bye and walked out of the classroom along with Sir Amir.

“Fighter pilot…! He was calling me a fighter pilot! Oh my God, I can’t believe it.” Neha shouted happily.

“Of course, he had too! You seemed to be so excited then.” Sadia, Neha’s best friend, laughed.

“But the thing is…how are we going to make our parents let us go for the training?” Rizwan said worriedly.

“Oh yeah…that’s a big problem.” Neha said.

“I know…what to do!!” Sadia shouted and snapped her fingers.

“Would you please let us know?” Another student asked.

“Butter them up! Simple!!” Sadia shouted happily.

“Amm…which one Sad? Blue Bang Margarine?” Neha taunted.

“Yes, Neha is right! Blue Band will be okay.” Rizwan sided with Neha.

   There had been a good friendship between Neha, Sadia and Rizwan since they were in junior classes. They loved teasing each other but never took the remarks as an affront.

   While, Neha and Rizwan were busy making fun of Sadia, the bell rang. The students wished ‘best of luck’ to each other and left the classroom.

“Sadia, I think, I’ll call you in the evening.” Neha shouted to her who was going inside the  school van.

CHAPTER 1: The Mysterious Girl

“I just don’t want to listen to anything; I want to be! I want to be!” Shizah shouted.

“Don’t be stupid, how can you be?” Sadia said, shaking her head with irritation.

“But I am not asking for anything which is impossible…it is possible but unfortunately no one realizes it,” Shizah replied stoutly.

“Shizah, why don’t you develop interest in something else…I mean, anything except that...” Sadia said.

“Why should ‘I’? Why should ‘we girls’? Why not them? And above all, it’s our right!” Shizah said.

“But you know you can’t be!” Sadia said gruffly.

“Na, Na, I won’t give up so easily. I will fight for my rights,” Shizah stamped a foot.

“Oh, Neha…! Stop it. It’s enough! You can’t be a fighter pilot. Although it’s your right but not in Pakistan…you listen to me, you CAN NOT!!” Sadia said angrily.

“Now change the subject,” Sadia added.

Shizah looked at her surprisingly and said, “Neha?”

“Who is Neha…Sadia?” Shizah asked her.

“Who… Neha…?” Sadia said innocently.

“You just took her name.” Shizah reminded.

   Sadia seemed confused.

“Oh really, did I??” Sadia inquired puzzlingly as if she didn’t remember what she said.

“Yeah…!” Shizah yelled.

   Shizah is a sixteen year old, enthusiastic girl. She is 5.2 in height, with short mushroom haircut and of whitish complexion. She is extremely patriotic and an amazing girl having an imaginative mind.

   Sadia lives opposite to Shizah’s house. They are very good friends and thus very much close to each other.

   Sadia is seventeen years old. Her height is 5.4 but she looks taller than her height. She is fair in complexion, an ideal figure of feminine charm. She shifted to this house a year before and now Shizah and Sadia have become very goof friends.

“Tell me Sadia…who is she?” Shizah asked curiously.

“No one,” Sadia said in a tearful tone.

   Shizah looked at her and was surprised to see tears in her eyes.

“What happened?” Shizah said worriedly.

“Nothing Shizah… so did you watch that drama yesterday?”

   Sadia wiped her eyes and tried to change the subject.

“Hey! Why are you being so rude…why are you retracting your words?” Shizah said surprisingly.

“No, I am not!” Sadia replied.

“How can you say you are not? You are! It is obvious…first you took her name and now have suddenly changed the topic!” Shizah said softly, amazed because of her friend’s behaviour.

“Oh Shizah, she’s no one…it just escaped my lips. That’s it.” Sadia tried to explain it to Shizah.

“No one can take somebody’s name accidentally and when somebody takes it that means he or she knows him or her…Miss Sadia.” Shizah said annoyingly.

“Well…I can’t just tell you.” Sadia at last found an excuse.

“Why not…? Is she your friend or someone?” Shizah asked.

“Shizah…I just don’t want to tell you, that’s it!” Sadia said stubbournly.

“But you should at least give a reason, why?” Shizah said anxiously.

“Just leave me alone, Shizah. I am going home. I will see your tomorrow evening. Bye!” Sadia said and stood up. She ran to the door. Shizah tried to stop her but she didn’t listen to her and rushed to her house.

   Shizah kept standing at the same place, shocked with great amazement. She remained standing at the same position for two minutes like a statue with a worried face but then came to her senses and shook her head sadly.

“What’s wrong with Sadia? She never behaved like that before,” Shizah said to herself.

   Shizah was extremely puzzled by Sadia’s behaviour. They had been very close to each other. They shared their secrets and never kept anything away from each other.

   The next day dawned and Shizah woke up at her usual holiday’s time i.e. 9’0 clock. The first thought which clicked her mind was about that mysterious girl- Neha. Shizah was quite mystified about what happened the day before as up till then her friend had never kept anything from her.

   Minute after minute the query about Neha was rising in her mind.

“What is so special of that girl that Sadia is hiding from me?” Shizah said as she sat on the dining chair.

“What did you say, Shizah?” Shizah’s mother asked her.

“Oh me, nothing…!” Shizah said abruptly as soon as she realized that her mother was in front of her.

   Shizah ate her breakfast swiftly. She had something on her mind. After washing her mouth, she dashed to her room and slammed the door so hardly that even the glass of the windows shuttled for a second. She jumped on her bed, picked up the cordless and lay down on the bed. She dialed Sadia’s phone no but unfortunately the line was busy. She tried once again as perhaps she might have dialed the wrong number but once again she heard the engage tone. She closed her eyes for a moment to make her relax. She was extremely curious to know about Neha, though she herself didn’t know, why!

   She dialed Sadia’s phone number again and to her excitement, the bell was ringing. Sadia picked up the phone.

“Hello?” Shizah said softly.

“Oh Shizah, hi…!” Sadia replied.

“Well…Sadia, I need to talk to you about an important…thing.” Shizah said slowly.

“If it is about Neha then I am disconnecting the line,” Sadia said stubbournly.

“You can’t, I called you!” Shizah replied annoyingly.

“So what…! Can’t I put the receiver back?’ Sadia snapped.

“Oh, oh…pleeeease, Sadia. You don’t understand, I couldn’t sleep all night. Please tell me al little about her or just tell me who she is. I promise, I won’t tell anybody.” Shizah said softly and slowly to make Sadia realize that she was extraordinarily crazy to know about Neha.

“Well…Shizah…you are my good friend…anyways…alright, I’ll come to your house in the evening.” Sadia was at last convinced.

“Evening…?? You mean after six hours! Are you insane???” Shizah shouted so loudly that even her mother had to remind her of good manners.

“Well…if you want to know about her, you’ll have to wait till the evening.”

“OK, Bye!” Shizah said sadly.

   Shizah tried to divert her attention so she started studying. So, the time passed until the precious evening.

   Exactly at 5’o clock in the evening, the doorbell rang. Shizah rushed to the gate. Sadia was standing in front of her with a charming smile. A quick bright smile went around Shizah like a streak of sunshine. They both went to Shizah’s room. Shizah squeezed a pillow in her arms. There was complete silence in the room. Shizah was looking into Sadia’s eyes anxiously and so was Sadia as if she was also waiting for a big surprise. Both of them kept quiet, each waiting for the other to break the ice. At last, Shizah spoke out,

“Hey common, what are you waiting for?”

“I am scared!” Sadia said dryly.

“Scared?” Shizah asked her surprisingly.

“Yeah, actually I am very much, in fact, extremely worried about you,” Sadia said softly.

“I am not getting you, Sadia.” Shizah was puzzled.

“Neha was my best friend. We had been with each other since we were kids, when we were admitted to our nursery classes. We loved each other very much…” Sadia suddenly stopped her emotional speech.

“So…?” Shizah asked her curiously.

“That’s it! You wanted to know about her…I told you… what else do you want?” Sadia whined.

   Shizah looked surprisingly at Sadia, as if saying, ‘is this what, she has to tell me? Just this…?’

   Suddenly Sadia burst into tears. Shizah was once again shocked. ‘What’s going on? What is she hiding from me?’ She forced her mind.

“Hey Sadia, why are you crying? There is nothing to cry about, I think!” Shizah said worriedly.

   Sadia was still crying. Shizah tried and tried to stop her.

“Alright, tell me one thing Sadia, where is Neha nowadays? I want to meet her,” Shizah said.

“She is not in Karachi.” Sadia said, wiping her eyes.

“Was that the reason that you were crying?” Shizah said annoyingly.

“Shizah, I have brought you something.” Sadia said and opened her bag pack. She looked at Shizah sadly and then slowly took out a thick notebook, covered in royal blue paper. A big ‘DESIRE’ was written in bold letters and a PAF symbol was drawn in the middle of the cover with a golden marker.

“What is this?” Shizah asked curiously.

“I have hidden form you a very important and a happy and a…excitingly wonderful period of mine and Neha’s life.”

“What period?” Shizah interrupted.

   Sadia looked into her eyes sternly.

“First let me finish Neha.” She held her head and nodded. “I mean, Shizah. Neha was very much like you. She was a perfect girl in all respects. I want you to read this book.” Sadia said and moved forward the book to Shizah.

“What is in it?” Shizah asked deliberately.

“Neha has written a story in this book, which is in fact the story about herself and her pleasant and precious moments of life. She didn’t want to forget them so she inscribed them in this notebook in the manner of a story about a girl named ‘Neha’ which is not even completed yet. You’ll get to know all about her and me through this book, Shizah.” Sadia handed the book to Shizah.

   Shizah looked at it curiously and then looked at Sadia,

“When should I return it to you?”

“Take your time.” Sadia smiled.

“Neha had a great craze for PAF too and that made her…leave Karachi.” Sadia said suspiciously.

“Really…? Like me?” Shizah asked excitedly.

“Yeah, and that is what all about in this story.” Sadia said.

  

   Sadia kissed Shizah and so did Shizah and then went with Sadia to see her off.

   She ran back to her room gladly and jumped on her bed. She fluffed her pillow and leaned against it, making herself comfortable. She started gazing at that precious book. She picked it up slowly and carefully pressed it against her chest lovingly.

   Shizah glanced at her black, shiny, latest fashioned; sports watch to check the time. ‘I think this is the best time to start the reading.’ She opened the cover slowly, her eyes still sparkling with excitement. She swallowed hard and then turned over the first page…