Be Basi By Shagufta Mukhtar

About this afsana

Be Basi (Urdu: بے بسی) by Shagufta Mukhtar is a short Urdu afsana about Zoobi, an orphan living at the mercy of her brother’s wife. It is a quiet story about the helplessness of having nowhere else to go, just as its title, helplessness, suggests.

The story opens with Zoobi rushing into the kitchen, hands trembling and sweat running down her face, nervously chopping onions. Behind her, her sister-in-law Resham is shouting: haven’t you made the food yet? How lazy can you be! Papa will be here any minute – get your hands moving, and the food had better be ready when I come back. Muttering that the girl is “number one nikammi aur kaahil,” Resham walks out and settles in front of the TV, while Zoobi stands there crying silently over her own be basi.

Shagufta Mukhtar then tells us how things came to this. When Aslam had just finished his FA, his parents passed away and left Zoobi in his care; she was still at school then. Soon afterwards Aslam married Resham, and from that day on Resham has wanted Zoobi out of the house. Six years into the marriage, the couple still has no children, and this hurts Resham deeply – especially because Aslam treats Zoobi like his own child and never had any complaint against her.

بھائی کا گھر، بھابھی کے طعنے، اور ایک لڑکی کی خاموش بے بسی۔

Resham’s forty-five-year-old father makes things worse. When Zoobi brings in a tray of pakoras, samosas, chutney and tea, he greets her with a creepy remark, and Zoobi leaves the room muttering in disgust at a man who should be ashamed at his age. Resham, in a foul mood as usual, fills Aslam’s ears with complaints about Zoobi every night, and slowly Aslam’s trust in his sister begins to slip as he leans more toward his wife. Zoobi can’t even tell her brother, because she knows Resham would then leave her with nowhere to turn, so she stays silent. And in one tense exchange, Resham herself warns her father that if Aslam ever found out what he was suggesting, there would be serious trouble.

The afsana handles family cruelty and harassment seriously, showing how a young woman without parents can be trapped by the people meant to protect her. It’s short but hard-hitting.

You can read Be Basi online here or download the complete PDF for free. You may also like Jafa by NNM and Chaman Zahra by Noor Shaal, or read more Urdu afsanay.