Sparrows by K.A. Abbas – A Tale of Dreams and Despair

About the author

Khwaja Ahmad Abbas is an Indian short-story writer, novelist, screenwriter, journalist, film producer, and film director. He mainly wrote in Hindi, Urdu, and English. His versatile talents made him win the National Film Awards four times including the Urdu Academy Delhi Special Award etc.

About the story

● ‘Sparrows’ is a fictional short story that is told from the third-person point of view.

● The story revolves around how Rahim Khan failed in every sphere of life, how he started revenging everyone including his family and society, and how he changed himself when he came in contact with sparrows.

● In the story ‘Sparrows’ are used as symbols of community, protection, and joy. They entered Rahim Khan’s life as messengers of nature and infused love and affection in his heart with ease.

● The story deals with various shades of life and the society where we live. It portrays how neighbours criticize Rahim Khan without trying to understand him, how his parents control his entire life by destroying his wish to marry Radha and joining a touring circus, how patriarchal society allows him to beat his wife, and how Rahim Khan loses all tastes of life by sticking with his failures of past.

● This story enriches us with the message that circumstances turn a sensitive and kind-hearted man into a cruel and hard-hearted man. Rahim Khan had not been a bad fellow since his birth, and later we can find a true heart in him when Rahim Khan worried about the sparrows at the last moment of his life. Again this story claims that human beings should move on according to the situation to attain happiness and love without blaming others, unlike Rahim Khan who misbehaved with others and did not get happiness during his entire life.

Summary

Rahim Khan was the son of a farmer. He had two ambitions in life. His first ambition was to join a touring circus and his second ambition was to marry a Hindu girl named Radha, but his parents killed both of his ambitions. His parents did not allow him to join the touring circus as such kind of work was considered ‘too lowly’ and ‘immoral’ by his parents. Again they planned for Radha to marry Ram Lal by convincing her father that she was a Hindu girl. So Rahim Khan had to marry a girl whom his parents had chosen for him, but he was infused with pain and anger. His hatred for family and society made him cruel to everyone and turned into a hard-hearted man who seemed to be none but a beast. He had two sons Nuru and Bundu, but they left him because they could not bear more than the usual beating of Rahim Khan. He became unfriendly with everyone. His neighbours criticized him for his misbehaviour while gossiping. As a hard-hearted devil, he wanted to take revenge, in which his wife was the first and immediate target. So his wife left him after suffering physical and mental pain for thirty years of his ill-treatment. Rahim Khan carried the burden of his frustrations, unfulfilled dreams, and hatred of certain people in his life with loneliness.

One day when Rahim Khan cleaned his hut, he saw a nest of sparrows. There the mother sparrow was trying to protect the baby sparrows from him. When he tried to peek in, mother sparrow attacked him. Rahim Khan observed the family of sparrows and how the sparrows took care of their young ones with so much care and affection. Rahim Khan realized the duty and responsibilities of being a parent and husband and learned the reality of family. Gradually, he was drawn to the sparrows and named the young ones after his sons. He took care of the nest of four sparrows as his family.

From the next day onwards, Rahim Khan transformed himself into a man with feelings. He went to his farm to take care of the two little sparrows which had now grown. He considered the four sparrows as his only friends. He would not beat his bullocks Nathoo and Chhiddoo and did not quarrel with anybody.

One day Rahim came back to his home early when the sky was overcast with threatening clouds. It was raining heavily After he reached home. He inspected the nest and worried if it was getting drenched in the rain. He started repairing the leakage of the hut. From the next day, he had been suffering from a high fever. His neighbours did not see him for several days, and they went to Rahim Khan’s hut and observed him through a crack in the door. They saw him calling the names of Nuru and Bundu and thought that he had been mad. They sent for his wife. When the wife and children reached the next day, the neighbours broke open the door. Entering the hut, they saw that Rahim Khan was dead and the four fluttering sparrows in the hut.

Disclaimer: This content is created solely for educational and informational purposes. It draws upon publicly available educational materials, literary texts, and the author’s own interpretation. All summaries, analyses, and explanations are original and intended to support learning. No copyright infringement is intended.