Ibrahim 's POV:

The lecture was proceeding. Today our sir was motivating us:
"Listen kids! You know what's the difference between the successful and un successful people?.... It's their approach. They all are the ones who faced great hurdles, huge barriers and problems, but they didn't give up instead they let these problems polish them...and this made them, diamonds. Colonel harland David;the kfc guy, bill Gates; the windows inventor, Thomas edison ;the bulb inventor, J. K Rowling writer of the Harry Potter series, and even in our land, famous people like faiz and manto... What do they have in common? . The" problems ", if they would have been defeated by them, they wouldn't have been known today. Remember! heartbreaks make one stronger. If your life is not hard, but comfy, then you need to be worried.
And remember this too :
'Allah never puts burden (azmaish ) on a soul more than they can bear' "

We had been excusing and complaining a lot about home work recently. So, sir decided to boost us up again. Sir picked up his stuff from the dise and was about to leave when he searched through the class. When his eyes met mine, he motioned me to come outside with him. And so, I went. At first, he smiled at me and asked "Mister Ibrahim! You really are a man full of surprises. Aren't you? Why do you think I called you out? "
"I don't know sir " ,I honestly had no idea, but it surely wasn't going to be a scold. I could tell by his recent smile. He hummed and then said, "You are quite a silent hero my lad! I heard your story from a by stander of that event. You did the right thing. I won't ask you of where that boy is now. I'm sure you have already handled everything. But tell me if you ever need any help. You are just like my younger brother." He then gave me a proud embrace and I whispered "Thank you sir. "

At home I had a hard routine these days. Teaching mustafa, Ali and our  neighbour along with studying for my upcoming tests was tough. At last I placed the book down at 10 pm. I made the ablution and said my isha prayer. I was a five times prayer. Never was one from the beginning, but I had set my priorities now. And this was where I always found peace, an escape from torments. So, I could never abandon it. A while later when I was about to lay down my friend called " Assalam o Alaikum Ibrahim. Sorry to disturb you at this hour my friend. But I knew that you would have been now free. So I called. " "walaikum us salam! No problem yar. Haha... You know me too well, don't you? . Yes, what is it? " 
"I wanted to know what we learned today and what's the homework? " I remembered now, that's right , he was absent today. I knew why too. He had told me that a neighbour of his was shot by a thief at night , such a terrible thing to do. But the incidents of theft and crimes were rapidly increasing due to inflation . Hope Allah makes everything better for the bearers. Ameen. I told hamad all the tasks to do and finally crashed on bed (charpai ). I wondered off to our sir's recent lecture. He was right afterall I too was a sufferer.
My mind flashed back to the past... The time I set my priorities... The time I'll never forget, which still bleeds as if yesterday.

Flashback :

It was 6th of March from last year. I was studying for a test when my little 11 years old sister came and decided to annoy me. I scolded her to go away but she kept coming back. I scolded her, "go away hania! Go do your home work right now "
" Bhaiya! I did it as soon as I got home. You are the one who's slow " she then started giggling.
"Haaa... How can you say that? That's because I was helping baba "
"oh please, I help mama too. "

My, my she was getting smart. I closed my book deciding to study in the morning "Ok... Fine. What do you want from me? " she thought for a moment then finally, happily said "let's play badminton! I am competing in it at school so it might help "
"At this hour? Let's just play ludo inside. It's 8:30 pm and too dark outside to play. You'll win anyway "
"You are such a baby bhaiya! We will just turn the lights on. It will be enough bright".
I knew that she wasn't letting me off the hook. So I went out to play with her. She was a champion at this game. I sometimes felt ashamed, that I taught her and still often lost to her. She always won the competition at the school levels. Her smart little body provided her mobility, eligibility and stamina. We played and laughed for half an hour when I got tired and gave up. "Yay! I won! Again! I won, again! The loser will treat an ice cream "she kept jumping and telling mama and baba . I drank water and said "Who says? Because I won't. It's not the right season for ice cream. Now go to bed! Hurry up. " she made a face "You meanie! It's summer already. " After rebelling a bit finally she left. I too decided to drift off to sleep.

A few minutes passed when I heard a little noise from the room. I had been sleeping outside so I ran in and saw that hania had fallen unconscious in mother's lap while baba carried a large stick. As soon as baba saw me he warned "Wait right there! don't come here, there's a snake in this room. It has bitten hania. "
We lived in a village and there were trees all around, so this could be expected. Mama was crying, but she had tightened her leg from above to prevent the poison from getting elsewhere, but it was only going to slow it down , I ran out to get a stick as well, and started to look for the snake "Is it poisonous baba? ", I asked him with a worried look. I finally saw the snake in the lamp's dim light. A distant triangular shaped head, baba didn't have to reply now. It was indeed a poisonous snake. Both of us attacked it together. We missed a few times but finally hit it. I crushed it's head while baba held it still with his stick. Mama ran to get a knife. I ran towards hania. She was growing cold and blue, I hope we weren't late . Mama then came back along a knife and olive oil then she gave them to baba. Baba carefully made a little cut, then sipped and covered his mouth from the oil.

I ran to get a riksha. Baba meanwhile sucked the poisonous blood out. I got back with one of my neighbours who was a rickshaw driver and we all took her to a hospital. I had taken the picture of the snake too. The hospital was far away. It took us twenty minutes to reach there. A single doctor was available at the moment. That too just a student in training. Both the doctors were engaged in a serious accidental surgery. They told us that it would at least take half an hour. My mother was completely losing herself, and so was I. My all sensations had left me from the fear of losing my little angel, my little champ. Mama then suggested to take her to the traditional hakeem. But father refused saying that they are also far away by twenty minutes. We announced in the masjid if there was anyone who could help. I guess we expected too much. We lived in a village how could we find a doctor in such a backward area. That was the day when I truly felt helpless. The other closest hospital was an hour away... She left us in our arms with her head placed in mama's lap. Mama screamed and cried and moaned hard. Baba couldn't contain it either. He cried like a baby. I too feel on my knees. My eyes were flooding as I tried to look at the sky from the little blur vision. Why? Why here? Why now? She's too young! Please Allah don't do this to us. For a minute or two I sat right there then stormed in and screamed at all the useless staff members and security. I even tried banging in the surgery room,but I was stopped. I screamed and blamed them for everything. These stupid and careless doctors were responsible! They killed her!

Flash back ends.

The thought of my little sissy always made me cry. But the truth was that she was gone and no one could bring her back. Actually, I soon understood. It wasn't the doctor's fault, it wasn't the staff's fault. It was the fault of the whole community. The reason of unavailability of doctors in our village was because no doctor was ever produced from here. Everyone was a businessman, teacher, farmer, land lord or a Labour. There was nothing more than this for these people. If any of the people or their ancestors had taken the right decision then my sister would have been with me, annoying me to come play with her. But I wasn't going to let such history repeat again. No matter what, I was going to become a doctor! A hero!