First Grain of Sand — Page 152
136 FIRST GRAIN OF SAND fresh air, but they would not even allow this. However, once in a while they would take me to another room so I could take a bath. On three or four different occasions while in this isolated room, they brought an iron cot for me to sleep on, similar to the type given to hospital patients. They would make me wear a long but thin coat that had ropes attached at the end of the sleeves and the bottom half, which were used to tie my hands and feet to the iron cot that they then laid me on top of. Then using a long and strong rope, they would tie my legs and body to the cot and leave me there for 3 to 4 hours before returning to untie me. Sometimes when they squeezed the ropes onto me, I involuntarily said a verse from the Promised Messiah's poetry: صبر کی طاقت جو تھی مجھ میں وہ پیارے اب نہیں The strength of patience that once was, that-О ту Beloved!-no longer resides in me. This is because the constant torture in Ashgabat and especially Tashkent had greatly weakened me, and every time I was tortured, my life was in danger. Also I remember well one time that two very strong guards came into my room, one of whom was holding a knife. He came up to me, pointed at my genitals and threatened to cut them. I was very scared and very humbly told him not to do so. After some time, they left. One night, while I was still in this cramped room, they removed me from this room and took me to the prison basement, which was frigidly cold. They took off my warm coat, and I was forced to spend the entire night in this dark and cold basement. The guard on duty was wearing a warm coat. I humbly said to him,