CLOSING SCENE (21) – GET CONSOLE FROM ALAM
Characters
- SAFA
- NUR QUTBI ALAM
Setting
- A small khanqah room at dawn.
- A prayer mat. A low lamp. Books stacked unevenly.
- The world feels far away.
(SAFA enters slowly, unguarded. Her composure is gone.)
(She stops, as if unsure she is allowed to be here.)
NUR QUTBI ALAM (without turning)
Sit.
(She does. Silence. Safa Breaks.)
SAFA
He is dead.
And I keep asking myself—
What if I had stayed silent?
What if I had not advised him to pray?
What if I had not slowed him down?
(Her voice cracks.)
What if my presence was the last permission history needed?
I told him to be calm. I told him anger clouds reason. I told him to trust stillness.
Stillness killed him.
I saw everything inside the palace – Begum Sultana, Raja Ganesh, The waiting.
And I stayed.
NUR QUTBI ALAM
You stayed because you believed presence could protect.
That is not a crime.
SAFA
I loved him.
And love should save. Not delay death.
If I had done nothing—someone else would have acted.
And yet—it was my night.
NUR QUTBI ALAM
When Arjun stood between two armies – his bow was in his hand, yet his heart refused to move. He believed – if he did not fight, he won’t be responsible for blood of his relatives.
But Krishna told him something harder – If he refuses his duty out of fear or attachment, he will be bound. Arjun learned — acting binds when done for outcome, not acting binds when done to avoid responsibility.
(She looks up.)
You are responsible for your intention—not the entire weight of consequence.
SAFA
Then what was I?
NUR QUTBI ALAM
A witness.
History moves through witnesses because it cannot move through gods alone.
SAFA
So his death was inevitable?
NUR QUTBI ALAM
Death is never inevitable.
But once many hands reach for power, no single hand can unclench them all.
SAFA
I was not the cause.
NUR QUTBI ALAM
No.
SAFA
But I was part of it.
NUR QUTBI ALAM
Yes.
Being part of history is not the same as owning it.
SAFA
Will this guilt leave me?
NUR QUTBI ALAM
No.
But it will soften—into wisdom, if you let it.
(He gestures toward the doorway.)
Go live.
That is how remorse becomes prayer.
(SAFA rises. She bows—not in submission, but in acceptance.)
(She exits.)
(ALAM sits alone. The lamp flickers.)
(Azan is heard from distance. Announcement of coronation is heard. Drums roll, and crying are heard at the same time.)
(Blackout.)
— END —
Pages: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21