One day a man named Aziz came to that village just to see her mother and said: "Oh, sweet lady, I see that you are very poor. I want to help you. If only you will give me just a small loan of your teeny, little daughter for just one year, I will send you a lot of money."
Now, Honzagool's mother thought that Aziz was a bad man. Nobody in that village liked Aziz and for that reason he rarely came there. But she also knew that he was very clever. Aziz was 38 years old and he always had money even though he never seemed to work very hard. So what could the poor lady do? The father of Honzagool had been a very good man. His name was Habib, but he had died, leaving Honzagool and her mother in a poor mud hut with almost nothing to eat. Poor, little Honzagool had never been to school and she did not even know how to read and write.
Meanwhile, Honzagool overheard the conversation between her mother and Aziz and started jumping up and down and saying, "I want to go to the big city! I want to go! I want to go! I want to go!" Finally, with heavy heart, the mother gave in and agreed to let her daughter go, after Aziz solemnly promised to return her daughter after exactly one year.
Now, it so happened that earlier that day Aziz had snared a passing tourist on the road named Ismail, who had come all the way from America. Aziz knew that Ismail had a lot of money, because Ismail had been there before, and so he had offered to give Ismail a very beautiful girl in return for 5000 rupees cash plus an airplane ticket and a visa for Aziz to America. Ismail had quickly agreed. Aziz had only seen Honzagool once since she was small but he knew that she was very, very beautiful and that her mother had nothing. So, this is the reason he had come to that village just to see the mother of Honzagool.
Within a few days, Aziz had completed all the paperwork and had handed Honzagool over to Ismail. Many people were happy that Aziz was going to America, but there was a man named Ghazi, who was an officer in Chitral. Ghazi said, "No! You will not take this girl from Chitral until I see the American Ambassador first." But Aziz covered the face of Honzagool with a veil and hid Ismail in the bottom of a jeep and then he said, "Oh, I am so sorry but this is not Honzagool. This is only my sister, who is on the way to visit her husband." With that, Aziz put Honzagool in the airplane and just as the airplane was about to take off, Ismail jumped on too so they all three flew away from Chitral.
A few days later, Aziz, Honzagool and Ismail all arrived together in New York in America. When they got off the airplane, an officer at the airport said, "This Aziz appears to be a bad man. I will put him in jail and send him back to his country." But Ismail argued with that officer and then brought a case in court. Finally, the judge reluctantly agreed to let Aziz enter America, but only for three months.
There was a man named Malik in a place called Bronx. Malik was also from Chitral but he had been in America for many years. Malik was a tiny, little man who always wanted to be a leader of his people. Malik said that his father had been a very important person, but some people said that Malik had no father at all. After the man had died, Malik had started a court case to be declared his son and to get a share of the inheritance. The judge in the case had been a man named Nizam. Nizam had found the mother of Malik tending a cow in a field. He said to the mother, "Who is the father of your son." The mother said, "Why, he is that famous man who died." Nizam decided the case in the favor of Malik and Malik got his money. Later on, however, the people became angry with Malik for another reason and threw stones at him and drove him from his village. That is the reason that Malik had come to America. He liked to live in the South Bronx because he thought that some day he could become the leader of the people there.
Malik became very excited when he heard that a girl from Chitral had been brought to America. He convinced Ismail to bring Honzagool to his house for a few days. He could see that Honzagool was much more beautiful than his own wife. Then he secretly contacted Aziz and tried to make a deal. First, he proposed that Honzagool be sent back to Chitral. Then, he offered to find black man to take care of Honzagool in the South Bronx. Finally, he said that he wanted to keep Honzagool permanently in his own house. However, Aziz realized that Malik did not have any money, so he rejected these offers for the time being. Malik became very angry and started screaming when Ismail and Aziz arrived at his house to take Honzagool away from there.
After that, Honzagool and Aziz went to live in Ismail's house in New York in a place called Flatbush. Now, Ismail wanted for Aziz to get a job and support himself, instead of living off of Ismail. Many times, Ismail found a job for Aziz, but every time, at the end of the day, Aziz would come back and say: "That is a job of very low status, and I will not do such a job. I am a man of very high position in my country, and you must find me a job with high status here too." But Ismail could not find such a job for Aziz, because Aziz was lazy and had little education.
Finally, after many months of this, Ismail said to Aziz, "I can see that you will never be able to find a suitable job in America. Why don't you go back to Chitral and resume your old job there". But Ismail didn't know that Aziz had actually lost his job in Chitral. All the other workers disliked Aziz and nobody wanted him back. This is why they had all been happy to see Aziz go to America.
When Ismail said this, Aziz became very angry and said, "I am here to watch over Honzagool. When I go back to my country, she must go with me. I will never leave her here alone with you in America!"
Finally, after six months had passed, a day came when Aziz was not in house, so Ismail moved out of the house and took Honzagool away from Flatbush. They went to live on Gold Street. It took a long time for Aziz to find them, but he did. After that, he went to the new house of Ismail every Friday.
Now, there was one thing which Aziz wanted more than anything in this whole, wide world and that was a green card. Aziz thought that if he could just get this green card, he would become rich. So, every week he threatened to take Honzagool away from Ismail and send her back to Chitral, unless Ismail gave him the green card. But, Ismail did not have a green card to give, so there was nothing he could do.
Finally, Ismail drove Honzagool to Texas, where they met a man named David and his wife and two children. Ismail told David and his family about Chitral. They decided to learn the language from Ismail and Honzagool. But, when Ismail returned with Honzagool to New York, Aziz was enraged that Honzagool had been taken away to another state without his permission.
Meanwhile, the mother of Honzagool was very worried about her daughter. Aziz had promised to return her after one year, and now one year had passed with no sign of either Aziz or Honzagool. The mother was frantic, but she, like Honzagool, could not read and write and so she felt helpless. Finally, she asked a man named Amin, the brother of Aziz, to write letters to Aziz to demand her daughter back.
Aziz always knew that Ismail would never give him the green card if Honzagool went back to Chitral, but now he realized that Ismail could not give him the green card anyway. Therefore, he made a plan. Honzagool was very happy with her new life in America, but she wanted to visit her mother and her friends in her village and tell them all about everything that she had seen in America. Aziz told her that he was going to send her on a two week trip to Chitral to visit her mother. Actually, he had already written to Chitral to some high officers there and had told them that when Honzagool came back to Chitral, she should not be allowed to leave again. However, Honzagool didn't know about this, and she wanted to see her poor mother again.
Ismail did not believe that Aziz was going to send Honzagool all the way to Chitral just for a two weeks visit, so he was reluctant to let her go. Also, Ismail knew something very important which Aziz did not know. He knew that Honzagool was going to have a baby soon!!!!
Again, every week Aziz came to the house of Ismail and demanded that he send Honzagool on a two week visit to see her mother. Every week, Ismail tried to postpone the trip. Finally, Ismail said to Aziz, "Honzagool is going to have a baby soon. It is very difficult for her to travel now. Please, just wait a few months until the baby is born, and then I will agree to take her to Chitral."
Aziz was very angry when he heard that Honzagool was going to have a baby. He knew that once the baby was born, he would not be able to tell Honzagool what to do and therefore he would never be able to get the green card. Honzagool still could not understand English and she did not know why Ismail was having an argument with Aziz. Later, when Ismail was away, Aziz told Honzagool, "Ismail says that he doesn't want you any more and you should leave his house. Meet me outside his house in the early hours of the morning and I will take you away and give you a lot of money so that you can go to visit your mother."
Actually, Aziz was not going to give Honzagool any money at all. He was planning to collect the money from Ismail. That night, after Ismail had fallen asleep, Aziz met Honzagool outside his house. He took Honzagool all the way to the South Bronx to the house of Malik.
The next morning, when Ismail awoke, he found that Honzagool was gone. After a few hours, Aziz called and demanded money if Ismail ever wanted to see Honzagool again. Ismail refused to give Aziz any money. Then, Aziz demanded that Ismail hand over the passport of Honzagool. Again, Ismail refused. Finally, Aziz became enraged and hung up the telephone.
After a few days, Ismail decided to go by himself all the way to Chitral to visit the mother and ask her to help solve the problem with Aziz. It took him a long time to reach Chitral, and by the time he got there, the mother already knew about the argument between Ismail and Aziz. She told Amin to write a letter to Aziz and tell him to return Honzagool to Ismail. Then, Ismail returned to America, but when he got back nothing had changed.
Meanwhile, Aziz had been hiding Honzagool in the house of Malik and Honzagool still believed that she was going to be sent to visit her mother soon. Malik had always been asking Aziz to take Honzagool away from Ismail and give her to Malik. However, Malik still did not have any money, and for that reason Aziz had kept Honzagool with Ismail.
Malik was very happy when Aziz finally brought Honzagool to his house, but after one month he realized that Aziz was just keeping her there as a way to force Ismail to give Aziz some money. Finally, Malik had an argument with Aziz and told him to find another place to hide Honzagool.
Aziz took Honzagool away from the house of Malik, but he did not want to take care of her himself, because he wanted to keep his money. So, he took her to the Bronx welfare office. This is a place where poor people ask to be given money and a free place to live, but some of the people asking for money there are actually very rich. Every day, the same people come and wait for money. One such person was a lady named Agnes from a land called Trinidad, but she called herself Nadia. Nadia loved to spend her time with other women.
When Nadia saw Aziz and Honzagool standing in line in the welfare office, she decided to help them, and herself, get same money. She filled out all the forms for Honzagool, and then she took Honzagool to stay in her house that very night. Every month from then on, Honzagool gave Nadia her welfare check, and Nadia gave Honzagool food and a place to stay. Aziz was very happy because he did not have to spend his money on Honzagool and nobody else knew Nadia or where she lived, so Ismail could never find the place.
However, again Ismail knew something which Aziz did not know. He knew the exact date that the baby was going to be born. (Remember that Honzagool was going to have a baby soon!) Therefore, when that day cane, Ismail went to all the baby hospitals in New York City and sure enough, in one of them he found Nadia and Honzagool and the new baby, whose name was Shamema.
By now Aziz was completely crazy because still he had not gotten the money he had been expecting to receive from Ismail. Now, he had a new idea. Nadia had a leader who was a black man who called himself Shake. He said that his full name was Shake Abdullah Balah Awadallah, but actually his real name was Marvin Anderson and he was from North Carolina. Shake could also see that Honzagool was very beautiful. Aziz let Shake believe that he could get Honzagool by scaring away Ismail. Actually, Shake had a lot of followers and he was a very powerful and dangerous man in his section of the South Bronx, but outside of that area he was nothing.
Therefore, Ismail brought a court case against Shake and got an order forcing him to come to court. Shake was afraid to go to court. Nobody knew the reason, but perhaps Shake knew that the police were looking for him for something else. Anyway, for some reason, Shake ran away. He even left America and went to Sudan. Poor Shake was never heard from again.
Now, while the case was going, a man named Raja heard about it and came to the court. Raja was a big city slicker from a town called Pindi. After Shake ran away, Raja became friends with Aziz and agreed to take over the case. Raja could also see that Honzagool was very beautiful. However, unlike the others, he did not want Honzagool for himself. Instead, he realized that he could use her beauty to bring fame and fortune for himself.
Raja was very well connected in Pindi. He knew a lot of people working in the newspapers and in high positions. He sometimes wrote articles in the newspapers himself. He was very good at pulling strings. Raja knew everybody and everybody knew Raja. Raja had almost no money, but he promised that he would make Honzagool rich and famous.
All this time, Aziz had actually been hiding from the police. The reason for this was that the judge had only given him permission to stay in America for three months, but now he had been there for more than two years. The whole time he had been hiding in Flatbush, only a few blocks away from the very first place where he had lived with Ismail and Honzagool, but after Ismail had left that area, he had never thought to go back to the same place to look for Aziz.
Because Aziz was hiding from the police, he was not able to go to court himself. This is the reason that he always needed other people, such as Malik, Nadia, Shake and Raja, to fight the court case Ismail had started. However, except for Malik, none of these people could speak the language of Honzagool, so Aziz was always able to keep everything under his control.
One day Ismail was thinking about this problem, when he remembered something important. When Aziz had first arrived at the airport in America, he had been stopped by an officer. That officer had taken the photograph and fingerprints of Aziz. Even though Aziz had been released, Ismail knew that the police always keep these things. Therefore, if he could find that officer, perhaps he could help catch Aziz.
Now, a lucky thing happened. When Ismail went to look for that officer, instead he met another officer named Gleason who actually knew Aziz. Nobody realized this, but Aziz had been arrested another time and released on $2,000 bail. The bail money had been arranged by Malik. After that, Aziz had not come to court and a warrant had been issued far his arrest.
Gleason did not like Aziz at all. He thought that Aziz was a real creep. Therefore, he was very happy to help Ismail catch Aziz. He gave Ismail a copy of the police mug shot of Aziz and a copy of the warrant for his arrest. Every day, Ismail walked the streets of New York City looking for Aziz.
Meanwhile, Raja was working on a way to make Honzagool, and himself, rich and famous. He especially wanted for Honzagool to be famous and for Raja to be rich. He went to a place called Harlem and there he met a black man named Lake, who had once been a friend of a famous man named Malcolm X. Lake was a civil rights lawyer and was very concerned about slavery, because the ancestors of Lake (and of Shake and of Nadia) had been slaves. Raja convinced Lake that Honzagool had been sold as a slave too, and therefore Lake should help her.
Lake was very good at getting publicity. He called a press conference with Raja, Nadia, Malik and, especially, Honzagool present. (Aziz and Shake couldn't make it.) The next day Honzagool was very happy, because her picture was on the front page of the biggest newspaper in America. Suddenly, everybody knew who Honzagool was. There were photos and stories about her on all the wire services. Wherever she went, all the people in the street knew who she was. Who could imagine that such an itty, bitty, little girl from such a tiny little village so high in the mountains near China would ever become so famous.
Also, Raja found a use for his contacts in Pindi. The story published in America did not make Aziz look very good but Raja got a completely different story published in all the newspapers in Pindi. Suddenly, everybody in the whole wide world seemed to know who Honzagool was. She had finally made a splash.
However, there was one person who was not happy about all this and that was her mother. She still could not read and write but she knew what her daughter looked like. Some travelers passing through her village carried newspapers with them, and there on the front page of almost every newspaper was a picture of Honzagool, who she had not seen in more than two years. The poor lady was very sad.
Raja had never been so happy in his life. Everywhere he went, he carried under his arm the picture of Honzagool on the front page of the very biggest newspaper in America. Every day, he went around making speeches. At the end of every speech, he always said, "Please give me money to help poor Honzagool." He even conducted mass mailings and set up a corporation called the Honzagool Defense Fund to receive tax deductible contributions. The money came pouring in from all sorts of surprising places. However, Raja was truly a humble man, who never forgot his friends. He always remembered to give Aziz a fair cut of the proceeds.
Now, in the place called Flatbush there was a fireman named Pfundstein. Pfundstein was a very special sort of fireman. His job was to catch the people who started the fires. He, too, was looking for Aziz. It happened that when Aziz was out on bail he had got a job as a sweeper in a small shop on Winthrop Avenue near Flatbush. This was before Aziz had become rich by collecting all the money from the Honzagool case. On the exact night before he was scheduled to surrender, it happened that a fire had broken out in that shop. Nobody had seen Aziz since. Many times, fires like this are set so that insurance money can be collected. In this case, a lot of insurance money was involved. Also, there had been people living in the building at the time of the fire, so it was a very serious matter. Pfundstein had proof that someone had set that fire He thought that it might have been Aziz, but he had no proof of that. Anyway, he was also looking for Aziz. This meant that three people, Gleason, Pfundstein and Ismail, were all trying to find Aziz.
One day, Aziz did a very stupid thing. Ismail had always told Aziz that he worked on Wall Street, but Aziz apparently didn't believe it. One day, as Ismail was walking on Wall Street, who should he see there but Aziz! Aziz was coming out of a bank, where he had gone to send some of the cash he had collected from the Honzagool case back to his country. Ismail followed Aziz down the street. Aziz ducked into the subway, but Ismail followed him there. They met on the subway platform. Now, Aziz was really a weak man, and Ismail was able to grab him by the arm and hold him until the police came. When the transit police arrived, Aziz said, "I am a free man. There is nothing wrong with me." But Ismail had the police mug shot of Aziz which Gleason had given him. The transit police believed Ismail and put the handcuffs on Aziz. Aziz was taken to the jail for turnstile jumpers in the subway station at Union Square. That was the end of the story as far as Aziz was concerned. Aziz never walked free on the streets of America again.
Actually, Aziz did try hard to get out of jail, but there was nothing he could do. Almost everybody was secretly happy to see Aziz in jail, including even those people who had worked with him in the Honzagool case. They all thought that with Aziz out of the way, they would have an easy time with Honzagool. They were wrong.
There was only one man who wanted to help Aziz get out of jail, and that was Malik. This was very strange, because Aziz disliked Malik, so why should Malik help Aziz? Perhaps Malik realized that without Aziz, there was nothing that could be done with Honzagool. Perhaps it was because Malik had arranged the bail money for Aziz and he thought he could get the bail money back. Perhaps the reason was that Malik just liked to get involved in things like this. Anyway, for whatever reason, Malik really did try as hard as he could to get Aziz out of jail.
Malik brought a black woman to the jail named Sundra. By then, Aziz had been transferred to a big jail in Brooklyn. Sundra said, "Aziz is my husband and I love him very much. You must release him to me and give him the green card." The investigator said to Aziz, "What about your wife and four children back in Chitral?" Aziz said, "I have divorced them, and here is the paper." But the paper was false. Aziz had not divorced his wife and four children in Chitral. Also, it was too late to start a case like this because Aziz was already in jail and because he had previously been arrested by Gleason for trying to use a fake green card. Gleason told the investigator to get rid of Aziz as fast as possible before he caused even more trouble. Also, Pfundstein still did not have proof that Aziz had started the fire. After three more weeks, they put the handcuffs on Aziz and took him to the airport and sent him away to his own country.
On the way to his country, Aziz was supposed to change airplanes in Germany. Aziz was hoping to run away from the airport there. But, the German police had been warned about Aziz. As soon as Aziz got there, they locked him up until the next airplane came.
When Aziz got back to his country, everybody asked him what had happened in America. Aziz said, "I was fed up with America and I wanted to see my country. America is a bad place and I love my country and my people."
But the life of Aziz was not good. Too many people knew what he had done in America. When he walked on the road, dogs barked at him and children threw stones at him. When he walked in the market, everyone pointed at him and said, "There goes Aziz. He is the man who has disgraced our people." Finally, it got so bad that Aziz could not leave his house any more. He was very rich, but he could not walk on the road, so he stayed inside his house with his wife and four children and his brother Amin and about seventeen other children in all. Then Aziz did a very funny thing. He put up a signboard on his house which said that he had opened an English language school in his house. Can you imagine that!
At first, nobody was willing to send their children to that school, but finally the children came. Every family who wanted their daughter to turn out like Honzagool sent her to that school. Aziz was very successful, even though he still could not come out of his house and walk on the road.
Then, another funny thing happened. Remember David, the man in Texas with the wife and two children whom Ismail had convinced to learn the language of Honzagool? David decided to go looking for Honzagool, so he brought his wife and two children all the way from Texas up into the mountains near China. But when he asked about Honzagool, the people just pointed him to the house of Aziz. David did not find Honzagool there but Aziz gave him a place to live in the house and used him and his wife to teach English to children.
Meanwhile, back in New York, Raja was busily collecting donations for the Honzagool case. Now, he had become very rich, but he started to make a lot of mistakes. It was not surprising that he made many mistakes. He really only wanted to make a lot of money quickly. He did not know anything about Chitral, he could not speak the language of Honzagool and he did not really understand the situation or the people involved.
The first mistake Raja made was that he took Honzagool and her little baby, Shamema, away from the house of Nadia. He did this to make sure that Honzagool was completely under his control. He found a man named Khwaja who lived in a place called Howard Beach near the house of a big Mafia kingpin. He put Honzagool there, but this was a mistake. Although Khwaja had a very big and beautiful house, Honzagool was not happy there. She always tried to sneak away and go back to live with Nadia.
Another reason was that Khwaja had also noticed that Honzagool was very beautiful. For that reason, he had decided to marry Honzagool to his son. This made Honzagool nervous, because she had never met the son.
A third reason was that now that Honzagool had become famous, it was very hard to hide her. Whenever she was taken outside the house, everybody recognized her. Khwaja was afraid that Ismail would find out that Honzagool was there and would attack the house to get her back. The Mafia was not going to protect Khwaja, because the police were all over that neighborhood trying to catch the Mafia. Khwaja was not a strong man like Shake. Nadia knew that Ismail could never attack her house in the South Bronx as long as she was under the protection of Shake and his followers. Khwaja was a scared rat. After only a few weeks, he told Raja to find another place for Honzagool and Shamema to live.
Raja found another place, way out on Long Island in the house of a man named Anwar, but after two weeks his family also became afraid. Honzagool and her baby had to be moved again, and then again and again. Soon, almost nobody was willing to have anything to do with Honzagool. Everybody had their own family to worry about. They all started arguing and fighting with each other about Honzagool, even though Ismail never had the slightest idea where she was.
Another mistake which Raja made was that he was so confident that he had everything under control that he decided to go on a world tour with the money he had collected. Raja went to India and many other countries to give a lecture and fund raising series about the Honzagool case. He left a man named Farooq in New York in charge of Honzagool and her baby.
Farooq was not a strong man and really he was not capable of this job. One day while Aziz was still in jail, Raja's group was going to have a big Fourth of July celebration in a place called Flushing. Farooq decided to bring Shamema, who was only eight months old. Many people came to see Shamema, and who should show up but Ismail himself!
Everybody was astonished to see Ismail in such a place, and they all became angry with Farooq for allowing this to happen. Two men, Pirzada and Beg, started to argue with Farooq. Pirzada had been a big fund raiser in the Honzagool case and now he felt embarrassed by the presence of Ismail. A crowd assembled. They decided to put Ismail in the back yard with baby Shamema while they continued the argument. The back yard seemed to be a very secure place. It was surrounded by a high fence. Also, Ismail was made to give them his shoes. Some members of the group were sent out to disable Ismail's car to make sure he could not drive it away. Then, they went in the house to continue the argument and decide what to do with Ismail.
The argument continued for about ten minutes. Then they went out into the back yard, but Ismail and Shamema were not there. All but one of the ladies in the house screamed. A mob of about 50 people surged into the streets. Ismail had left his car and his shoes behind, but he had gone. Everyone jumped into his own car and drove off in a different direction. But they never saw Ismail or Shamema again and they never figured out how Ismail had made his escape. Perhaps, Ismail had parked a rental car a few blocks away the night before.
One month later, the Prince of Chitral arrived in New York. Like so many princes in the world, he had been deposed. He no longer had any real power, but his people still called him the Prince.
The Prince lived in a town called Clifton where he spent his days driving his Mercedes and playing polo. He rarely read the newspapers and for this reason he was almost the only man left in the world who had never heard about the Honzagool case. Then one day he received a letter from his father who asked him to do something about Honzagool. The Prince drove his Mercedes to the airport and got into the cockpit of a DC-10 airplane and flew off to New York to find Honzagool.
Now, there was something else about Honzagool which almost nobody knew. Actually, she was almost a princess herself. She was descended from a long line of kings, stretching back for hundreds of years. Some people claimed that she was even a descendant of Genghis Khan, who had conquered China.
Then why had Honzagool grown up in a mud hut with almost nothing to eat? The reason was that her great-great-great grandfather had been a man named Aman who was the king. Aman had 72 children. When Aman had died, his sons all started killing each other to see who would be the next king. The great-great grandfather of Honzagool had been a man named Bahram, but he had been ruthlessly murdered by his brother Afzal. Then, Afzal had been killed by his uncle. After all this, the descendants of Bahram had all their lands, property and huge estates taken away from them and they were left with nothing. This is the reason that Honzagool had grown up in poverty. Still, there was royal blood in her veins and the Prince of Chitral was actually the second cousin of Honzagool's mother.
After the Prince had parked the DC-10 airplane at Kennedy Airport, he went into the town to look for Honzagool. He had no idea where to find her, so he contacted Ismail, who was living in Virginia now. Ismail came to New York to greet the Prince, and took him to the South Bronx where he pointed out the house of Malik. Malik was very happy when the Prince came to his house. He was very proud to have a royal personality in his house. Also, he had no idea that Ismail had something to do with this.
By now, Raja had come back from India. Malik quickly agreed to introduce the Prince to Raja, Farooq, Anwar and the rest of the gang. He was very proud to have these people know that he was associated with a prince. Raja was also anxious to meet Prince, but for a special reason.
After Aziz had been departed to his country, it seemed as though an open field day had been declared an Honzagool. Many men had contributed money to the Honzagool case, and now, as a reward, they wanted Honzagool as a wife. Raja had told everybody that the marriage of Honzagool to Ismail was not legally valid, and he had been receiving marriage applications. Most of the men who wanted to marry Honzagool were fifty or sixty years old. They wanted to marry Honzagool not only because she was young and beautiful, but also because she had a green card.
When they asked Honzagool about this, she said that she could not get married without the permission of her mother. Of course, the mother of Honzagool lived in a remote village on the other side of the world. None of these men were brave enough to undertake such a journey, but some of them claimed to have sent messengers.
When Raja met the Prince, one of the first things he did was broach the subject of marriage. Raja presented the biographies of a dozen men who wanted to marry Honzagool. Since the Prince was a prince and also a blood relative of Honzagool, Raja wanted him to be the one to select which one would get her.
When the Prince understood what Raja was suggesting, he was aghast. He knew that Ismail really was still the husband of Honzagool. However, he pretended to be interested in this proposal. The Prince said that perhaps it might be a good idea to consult Honzagool first.
It took a few days for everyone to agree to let the Prince meet Honzagool, but finally the meeting took place. The Prince spoke to Honzagool in her own language. Raja did not object to this, because he wanted to use the Prince as a translator anyway.
When the Prince asked Honzagool what she wanted to do, she did not hesitate. "I want to go to my home," she said. "I want to see my mother". In reality, poor, little Honzagool was in miserable condition.
Not only had Honzagool lost her baby, but nobody trusted her. They were afraid she would try to run away and go to Ismail and her baby. She was kept under lock and key and watched all the time. She was not allowed to talk on the telephone unless someone was listening in on the line. Ismail had been trying to contact her and Farooq was terribly afraid that she might try to call to Ismail on the telephone. Every two weeks she was moved to a new place to keep Ismail from finding her. If she got away and went back to Ismail now, they would all be humiliated.
Now, they were pressuring her to get married. She did not want to be married to any of these men. The reason she had left the house of Ismail in the first place was that Aziz had promised to send her on a trip to see her mother. Now, one and a half years had passed and still she had not gotten the promised trip. They were not even willing to let her go any more. She was fed up with America and with these people. She wanted to go back to her country and she never wanted to see America again.
The Prince knew that if he translated the exact words of Honzagool, Raja would never let her leave. Therefore, he used the same trick as Aziz. He said that Honzagool only wanted to go for a two week visit to see her mother. When Raja pressed him about the marriage program, he said that Honzagool would discuss this with her mother and the matter would be settled when she returned.
The Prince did not want to waste any time, so he said that they would depart on that very day. Still, there were a few matters to be settled. Raja said that Doctor Khwaja in Howard Beach had spent a lot of money on the Honzagool case and actually Honzagool had been promised to his son, who had still not arrived. Therefore, Honzagool could not leave America without the permission of Khwaja. Next, Honzagool said that she could not go because she had nothing to give as presents to her family. In her country, it was customary for a person returning home to bring a present for everybody. Honzagool had nothing to give.
All this time, while Aziz and Raja had had getting rich over the Honzagool case, they had never bothered to give anything to Honzagool herself. Worse yet, she had been forced to sell the expensive gifts which Ismail had given her in America, such as a suitcase, a wristwatch and a radio cassette player. In fact, poor Honzagool still was wearing most of the same clothing which she had when she left her country two and a half years before.
The Prince felt sorry for Honzagool, but what could he do? So, he promised to take Honzagool to a shop in Clifton on the way to Chitral. However, he insisted on leaving that very day, because he already had been in New York for three days and he needed to fly his DC-10 home.
Finally, there was one more thing. The Prince secretly contacted Ismail and asked his permission to allow Honzagool to return to her mother's house. The Prince wanted to make sure that everybody agreed to this so that nobody could complain later. Ismail agreed and provided money for the expenses of the journey.
It was a good thing that the Prince had moved quickly, because the next morning Raja realized that he had been taken. By then, however, Honzagool was safely up in the sky and on her way home.
And that is the end of the story. How did you like that story? I bet you didn't think it would end that way? Have you ever heard a story like that? I don't think you have.
By the way, there is, of course, a moral to this story: Do not believe everything you read. It might not be true, but maybe it is.
AFTERWARDS
Now that you have read about all those nice and wonderful people in the heartwarming story of poor, little Honzagool, would you like to know what happened to them later on? That would be another story for another day, but here is part of that story.
The same day that Aziz arrived back in Chitral, there was a religious riot. A Dreamland Hotel was burned down and 12 people were shot and killed. Some believe that Aziz participated in the riot.
As you already know, Aziz opened a school with the money be had gotten from the Honzagool case, even though he had little education himself. If anyone ever tries to tell you that money can't buy everything, don't believe him!! However, Aziz never had anything much more to do with Honzagool or her family. He was not welcome any more in that village, and he never tried to go there anyway.
Aziz could have never done anything without Malik, but poor Malik, who tried the hardest just so that he could be accepted by his people and become their leader, never got anything from this case. He became so enraged that he disconnected his telephone and he never had anything more to do with any of the people involved. He was especially upset that the Prince never contacted him again.
Neither Nadia nor Shake were ever heard from again. Maybe they were dead, or maybe alive. In the South Bronx, where they lived, it was not unusual for people to disappear.
Lake, the lawyer from Harlem who called the press conference and got the photographs of Honzagool published around the world, turned out to have brain cancer. He died a very painful and horrible death within two years.
The judge on the case in New York was indicted by a grand jury on a bribery charge and had to retire.
Ismail took his daughter Shamema to Virginia where he hired a lady named Shelby to take care of her. Shamema turned out to be an exceptionally brilliant, beautiful, happy and gifted child. After four years, Shelby refused to give her back, so Ismail had to take Shamema and run away again.
The Prince delivered Honzagool to her mother's mud hut exactly as he had promised, and after that he never had anything more to do with the Honzagool case. He mostly worked at improving his polo. He turned in his DC-10 and went back to school and learned how to fly a new kind of airplane. The press often tried to interview him about this case, but he declined. When Raja finally tracked him down and asked him why Honzagool had not come back after two weeks, the Prince reminded him that he had only promised to take Honzagool to her mother's house, which he had done. He had never promised to bring her back to America.
Most of the others, like Anwar, Farooq, Pirzada and about twenty or so more of them of whom there was no time for mention in the story either lost interest in the case or went back to their countries or both. The son of Doctor Khwaja found another girl to marry. The police cleared the Mafia out of Howard Beach and put some of the top gangsters in jail.
Raja was the only one who stuck with the case. He stayed in contact with Aziz and finally mustered the courage to visit Chitral. However, the family of Honzagool would not let him in the house and when be tried to return to America he found that his name had been placed on the U.S. Embassy watch list and he could not get a visa any more.
Raja also found that his name "Raja" did not go over very well in Chitral, so he stopped calling himself Raja and started calling himself "Professor Ehsan Aziz." This name gave people the impression that he was a respectable person.
Chitral itself became a different place. It was no longer the most remote spot on the map. After the photographs of Honzagool had been published around the world, planeloads began arriving of men hoping to get a beautiful young wife like her. There was no known case of anyone who got one. One medical doctor came all the way from California for this purpose but was turned dawn flat. Still, the number of weekly flights to Chitral had to be doubled. The standard of living also improved. They even got electricity and telephone service which extended almost to the village of Honzagool.
Many other people who were involved in the story need to be mentioned. There was a lady named Josiane, perhaps the only real friend Honzagool ever had in America. She had met Honzagool on the first day she arrived and stayed in touch with her until she left. But Josiane became mentally ill. Her boyfriend left her and she was last known to be living as a shopping bag lady and sleeping on the back seat of a car.
Then there was another fellow named Abdullah who knew the language of Honzagool and who had always tried to help Ismail by mediating the disputes involving Honzagool, Aziz and Malik. Somebody reported Abdullah to the immigration police (perhaps it was Aziz or Malik, but perhaps not). He was arrested and deported. He spent the next five years trying to get back to America. Finally, the Mexican immigration caught him near the border and he spent six months in jail in Mexico City. Ismail went to Mexico and sprung him from the jail. Abdullah was last known to be in El Salvador.
Another fellow who had been a bit player in the main story was named Nadir, also from Chitral. He went back while Honzagool was still living with Ismail. Nadir never could get a second U.S. visa, but he became a wealthy and successful government contractor in Chitral.
David and his family established a permanent residence in Chitral and devoted their lives to mastering the language.
Then, there was a fellow named Mansour. He was in the University of Toronto as a graduate student learning how to make atomic bombs for his country's nuclear weapons development program. He was also a friend of Raja and somehow he decided that he could get to marry Honzagool by inducing Ismail to hand over Shamema. Mansour formed a one-man terrorist group he called the "Black Muslim Underground Militant Organization," and wrote threatening letters to Ismail. Mansour was considered to be one of the most brilliant students in his entire university, but his idea was much less brilliant since, in the same handwriting, he wrote letters proposing marriage to Honzagool. Ismail went to Toronto and tracked him down, but by that time Mansour had married another girl and had a child.
But what about Honzagool? What ever happened to her? This is just the thing. We really don't know what happened to Honzagool, because nobody seems to know where she is any more. What we know is this: After the Prince dropped her off at her mother's house in Chitral, she found everything just as she had left it two and one half years earlier. The next day Honzagool went back to tending the same four cows she had left behind when she had started on her journey. Many people wrote letters to her and some went all the way to her village to try to meet her, but she did not answer her letters and she did not agree to meet with anybody. Even the governor of the province came there and wanted to meet her, but was not successful. The national television network sent a camera crew to interview her, but she did not agree.
The village of Honzagool became a spot an the map. Tourists to Chitral were always pointed to that village, whereas previously even most of the local people had not heard of it. The Minister of Petroleum came there, even though there was no petroleum there. Then it happened that airplanes from a hostile foreign government bombed that village and killed 13 people, including a lady friend of Honzagool. The President of the country then decided to use that village as the place to make a major foreign policy speech. Everybody in that village thought that the real reason he came there was that he wanted to meet Honzagool, who had become famous for her beauty. Perhaps he got to meet Honzagool, but nobody knows for sure.
After Aziz had returned to Chitral, he had hired a lawyer and filed a case to divorce Ismail from Honzagool. Ismail went to Chitral to fight the case. When Ismail arrived in Chitral, Aziz sent a telegram to Raja telling him to come quickly. Raja came, but after one day he became frightened and went back to Pindi. The judge on the case was a man named Mian. Mian was a religious man. He refused to issue a divorce decree. Raja wrote a bunch of newspaper articles from Pindi attacking Mian and saying that he was a corrupt judge. A few months later, Mian was found murdered. His body had been thrown into the Chitral river.
Raja still wanted to marry Honzagool to one of his friends. He found a rich middle-aged Punjabi lawyer who was interested and willing to pay the price and take the risks. Then he found a judge in Pindi named Mirza who was not going to cause any trouble like Mian had done. Raja started a new case before that judge and somehow managed to get Honzagool brought from Chitral to Pindi. After that, nobody ever saw Honzagool again. There is a rumor that Honzagool has a new baby girl. That is the real end of the story, but remember the moral: Don't necessarily believe anything you read!!!
Here is Honzagool's Green Card
Here is the Wanted Card for Honzagool's cousin, Aziz-ur-Rehman
Here is a Photo of Honzagool
Charles and Shelby Roberts are Wanted for the Kidnapping of Honzagool's daughter, Shamema.
Here is Page one of the BMUMO letter and the full text.