I am sharing an excerpt from my translation of Bilal Hasan Minto’s short story “Postmortem” from his collection “Model Town”.  The story is about the death of a beloved pet dog and a little boy’s desire to give him a proper funeral.  This desire comes into conflict with the norms of Islam which forbids funerals for animals.  The entire story can be read in the June issue of The Peshawar Review. 

It was a frost-laden evening in December when our Happy stopped eating. Naveed Bhai went into the garden, where Happy was sitting quietly tied to his post, to cover him with a coat. Happy looked at Naveed Bhai with barely opened eyes, and smiled. Then he moved his tail weakly from left to right. That was it. This was unlike him. He didn’t stand up and wag his tail vigorously, or play around with Naveed Bhai. Naveed Bhai was worried.

“Happy, Happy,” he cajoled.

Happy didn’t even open his eyes and just moved his tail from right to left. It was clear even that was not easy for him and he did it only out of love for Naveed Bhai. Naveed Bhai’s eye fell on his bowl. Happy’s afternoon meal was sitting there untouched,flies buzzing around it.

That night at the dining table, Naveed Bhai told Abba about Happy’s condition and said with concern it seemed he was ill because he hadn’t touched his afternoon meal. Abba said maybe he hadn’t liked it.

“But he gets this food every day,” I said, “and he always eats it.”

“Perhaps that’s why. If you got the same thing every day you would get tired one day too, wouldn’t you?” Abba said.

“Oh! So now I have to prepare a new feast for him every day!” Ammi said angrily. She hated Happy.

“Anyway, let’s see if he eats anything tonight,” Abba said, wanting to end the conversation.

“But why didn’t he move? I even had to put on his coat while he was lying down,” Naveed Bhai said anxiously.

“Maybe he has a cold. It’s freezing. If he doesn’t eat at night or is the same tomorrow, take him to Dr Walter,” Abba said. Continue reading Postmortem (Translation from the Urdu)