Scrapyard

These are the parts of the story that couldn't make it to the finals! The deleted scenes.

Sign the Dotted Lines
The Khizars have been living in the bungalow for twenty five years and today Mr. Hayat signed a contract of selling the property. Over the years, the house had turned into a large store room, overflowing with wanted and unwanted things. Moving out to a new house had been a decision that demanded courage and bravery, which the Khizars had.

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Clearing the Cupboard
The four shelves at the bottom were an easy task as Sultan was only required to dump all the clothing and books into the huge carton that lay adjacent to the cupboard. He did not have to sort or look through them, so he had decided to do the bottom shelves later.

Sultan to Himself
Its Sunday and I am up at 7:23 ...We have to go at 11:00am to see the new house that we are moving to....then I will be staying over at my friend’s house...so I have about two hours before I can go down and declare that I am awake... if I go downstairs now and get spotted by Mum or Dad, I would get chores to do for the day’s trip. Maybe I can stay in my room and continue reading Grandpa’s book, as I won’t be able to read it until tomorrow.

He recalled what day it was and if there was any pre-decided plan for the day. 

Sultan opened the book and flipped the pages, while he was turning them he read parts of it till he finally reached the point where he had stopped.

It was the agony that he had forgotten to take them off after he had worn them for fifteen minutes, as he had decided. He couldn’t imagine that he was wearing those good-for-nothing goggles for more than an hour. His dislike towards them had mounted to such a height that he wondered why he had not thrown them last night.
He took off the goggles, adjusted the strap to fit him comfortably and then wore them again.

Bringing his Empty New Room to Life
He did visionary murals for the walls. Although all the while his mind was corrupted with the thought of the book and the goggles, he was still capable of achieving success.

In Mahmood’s House
He requested some time off to call his family and inform them about his welfare. On the phone things did not sound good at the other end which troubled Sultan greatly. He knew he wouldn’t get an accurate answer, still he kept guessing what might have happened at home that made Mum sound so down and depressed.

Tired Sultan
Sultan felt himself crashing into the sleep-ground, beginning the journey to a new day.
Sultan was excited to explore Stick Lip’s relevance in the real world and to meet the other bookish people. The arrival of a fresh new day made him happy.

He thought about the book, goggles, the nap in the car, the new house, playing chess with Uncle Yousuf (Mahmood’s dad), the PlayStation 2 competitions, dressing up and singing songs in different pitches. His thoughts were accompanied by plentiful smiles which was the best thing about reviewing the entire day in one go.

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Carrying His Troubles
Sultan searched to find an appropriate bag for Hush-Gush (diary and goggles). The clock struck two. Mummy and the kids had dispersed from the dining table so as to get ready for the outing. Dad was expected to come any moment so everyone hurried. Although Dad did not make any mentioned to the previous night’s episode to anyone in the family, Mum was sure he still had a lot to talk about. There were many instances when he just wanted to speak his heart out, without waiting for a response or even an acknowledgment.

Tiff – Sarah vs. Sultan
Nothing looked suitable enough to nest Hush Gush so Sultan walked up to Sarah’s room begging for a good-looking bag. First things first, ‘What do you need the bag for? What will go in it?’ demanded Sarah. Sultan retaliated, ‘Sarah, do you have to ask questions? I am going to keep some books in it, to carry with me.’ ‘The books you need go in the carton and the ones that are not needed go to the kitchen, clear? I thought you were listening to me last night!’
It was obvious to both of them where there conversation was leading. Sultan tried another way of getting his thing done, ‘Sarah, do you have a bag to share with me? I will return it by today. Thanks.’ Certainly, it was an impressive statement. Sarah was flattered; she reached the back of the door and pulled out a printed pink jute bag. Sultan quickly fetched it, bombarded some more thank-yous and left the room. It had been one of the few rare times when he did not comment on something being pink.

Within ten minutes everyone had assembled near the main door. Sultan was the only one who was carrying something. He walked towards the letter box situated on the wall adjacent to the main door, just below the door bell. This was one of the few jobs he liked to do and the reason Sarah stated was that, ‘he usually got something in return.’
Sultan put the lot of letters on the console and walked to the car.

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Sultan forcefully gave three knocks at Sarah’s door although he knew she had just gone to dress up. He waited for a few moments after which his impatience made him knock rhythmically at different places on the door until finally Sarah came out.

Upon hearing the door unlock, Sultan smiled cynically because he knew exactly what was coming his way. Keeping up to his expectations Sarah started telling Sultan, in an unusually calm tone, using unbelievable polite words, taking sincere interest and showing great concern that life DEMANDS SERIOUSNESS.

Jumping over cartons and dodging numerous floor traps, Sarah and Sultan made their way to the main door where Mum was ready to see them off. Every Thursday the two of them used to go for collecting newspapers from the neighborhood for the cause of recycling. Knowing clearly that this would be their last time, they were more determined and enthusiastic. Already they had started feeling the loss of leaving their neighbourhood which they were a part of since birth. They had bidden farewell to many of their neighbours without having the thought pass their minds that may be, they too would be in their positions. From the two of them, their neighbourhood was their world; they had hardly been to other areas of the city. Whenever they had to go visiting they would be so involved with the happenings within the car that they wouldn’t be bothered to observe roads, buildings and areas. There were times when Sarah and Sultan played travel games, observed their Dad changing gears, did their homework, played PSP or simply kept a secret eye on each other so as to register complains with their parents. Like normal brothers and sisters they wanted to enjoy getting the other one in trouble. However, their statements and expressions were so innocence-full and obvious that all their efforts of creating problems for each other went in vain.

Whizzing to Clear-up
Mum was alone in the house attempting to make things appear orderly. The condition of the house had become completely unbearable. The main reason for everything eventually landing on the floor was that the Khizar family had been living in the house for forty three years. Fulfilling the resolution of not taking all the things that looked important or that had a zero decimal zero one – 0.01 probability of being used, was a monstrous task. On top of this, to a not-so-perfect team of inexperienced people this task seemed to be a super-monstrous one. Especially Mum, who couldn’t, just couldn’t put any of their belongings in the give-away box or the garbage; at least not in front of everyone. Mum did not like people commenting and suggesting alternatives while she was busy working. She dreaded confrontations or opposition because many a times she found herself speechless.

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Sultan Feels All New
Moving to the new house... felt like moving in with a new family... it wasn’t wrong for him to say new... the looks were new and so was Sultan’s approach and attitude to life... and the people around.

New House
The door bell rang. Even after serious discussions and people getting freaked with its noise the family had not got it changed. The job kept pushing down the to-do list by other more important tasks.

Sultan had started feeling more comfortable in his new room. He had got familiar with the new setting. He exactly knew what each of his drawers contained. It took him no time to fetch something from his study table or his wardrobe. You name it and he would retrieve it in seconds. Sultan knew it pretty well that this was only to last for a month. As time would pass, he would loose track of all his belongings and they would eventually settle back to the eternally unknown places.