#Pakistani Literature

[desigrrrl]

— Khalida Hussain, Enemy (translated by Haider Shahbaz)

[llovelymoonn]

raza ali hasan sorrows of the warrior class: "nocturnal tripping"

kofi

[importantwomensbirthdays]

Bapsi Sidhwa

Bapsi Sidhwa was born in 1938 in what is now Karachi, Pakistan. Sidhwa is best known for her 1988 novel, Cracking India (also known as Ice Candy Man), which drew on her experiences as a child in Lahore during the 1947 partition of India. The novel brought her international fame, and is regarded as an essential book on the Indian partition. Sidhwa, who emigrated to the US in 1983, has also written about American culture and the immigrant experience, such as in her novel An American Brat. She has won several awards, including the Sitara-i-Imtiaz, Pakistan's highest honor in the arts. Sidhwa's other honors include the David Higham Award and the Lila Wallace-Reader’s Digest Writer’s Award.

[have-you-read-this-short-fiction]

"The Assignment" is available to read here

Image credit to Adwaith S., who made a illustrated adaptation on art style. It's excellent, if you liked the story, read this too afterwards.

[respirelejasmin]

Oona was her mother's mother now, Oona sometimes felt, or maybe mother wasn't the right word for it, maybe daughter was fine, meaning more than she once thought they did, each having two sides to itself, a side of carrying and of being carried, each word in the end the same as the other, like a coin, differing only in the order of what face came up first on a toss.

Mohsin Hamid, The last white man

[pebblegalaxy]

Exploring Marginality and Love in Lahore: The House Of Clay And Water by Faiqa Mansab

Exploring Marginality and Love in Lahore: The House Of Clay And Water by Faiqa Mansab #Lahore #PakistaniLiterature @FaiqaMansab @PenguinIndia #Sufism #GenderIdentity #SocialJustice #ContemporaryFiction #AwardWinningNovel

The House Of Clay And Water by Faiqa Mansab is a debut novel by Faiqa Mansab, a Pakistani author who has an MFA in creative writing from Kingston University London. The novel is set in Lahore, the city of saints, and explores the lives of three characters who are marginalized and alienated by the society they live in. Nida is a wealthy but unhappy wife of a politician, who seeks solace in the…

[booksperience]

(via The Reluctant Fundamentalist by Mohsin Hamid)

While this conversation scene is fairly tranquil, the subject matter is not. Changez is subjected to constant “othering” during his stay in the US. Even prior to the World Trade Center attacks, he is never quite included in social circles, never quite one of the crowd... (Read full text on Booksperience site.)

[soracities]

Ankita Saxena, on her translation of Fahmida Riaz's poem "A Woman Is Laughing", pub. Modern Poetry in Translation [ID'd]

[dastur-e-ishq]

اصل وفا تو محبوب کی غیر موجودگی میں ہی ظاہر ہوتی ہے۔

true loyalty is only revealed in beloved’s absence.

[soul-from-another-era]

[nabihahahahahaha]

Par mein ye sab tumhe kabhi nahi bataungi, tumhare har waade per hassungi, tumhari har baat ka mazaak udaaungi. Tum mujhe sangemarmar samjhte ho, toh samajhte raho, mein tumhaare saamne reth ki deewar nahi ban sakti, mujhe toot jaane se khof aata hai.

famous lines from pakistani drama- zindagi Gulzar hai

[qalbofnight]

"bas is soch ki zarurat hai is muashrey ki auraton ko aur aisi soch ko ankh band karke hausla dene wale mardon ki bhi"

Agar aap mjhse shadi karna chahte hai to na sirf apko mujhey padhana balki meri medical education ka saara kharcha uthana hoga ,jab main kamaney ke qabil hongi to ek ek payi main apko wapas kar ke hisaab barabar kar dungi

Dusri shart - jab tak meri padhayi poori ni ho jaati aap aur aap kay ghar Waley mujh par baccha paida karne ka dabav nahi dalengey.,

Teesri shart : bacche main apni marzi aur khwahish se karungi agar meri jismani aur zehni sehat ne sath diya to agar sath na diya to kisi aise bacche ko god lungi jisey maa ki god nahin mili.,

If you want to marry me, not only will you have to support my education, but you will also have to bear all the expenses of my medical education. Once I am capable of earning, I will repay every penny to settle the account.

Second condition: Until I complete my education, neither you nor your family will pressure me to have a child.

Third condition: I will have children only if I wish to and if my physical and mental health permits. If not, I will adopt a child who has not been fortunate enough to have a mother’s care.

[mehreenkhan]

When Parveen Shakir said “ab to is raah se woh shakhs guzarta bhi nahin, ab kis umeed pe darvaze se jhanke koi” and when Faiz said “na jane kis liye umeed waar baitha hun, ek aisi raah pe jo teri rahguzar bhi nahin”

[have-you-read-this-short-fiction]

"Swimming Lesson" is available to read here

[stfu-gurl]

When Jaun Elia said

"Khuwahishein, dil ka sath chor gayi, ye aziyat bari aziyat hai"

And also when Falak from shehr-e zaat said

Sab bhikaari hain, sab ko mangna parta hai, koi ishq mangta hai koi duniya mangta hai aur jo yeh sab kuch nahi mangta, wo khuwahish ka khatam hona mangta hai.

- it reminded me of those wishes i buried in my heart

[maihonhassan]

This generation needs to understand what Nimra Ahmed has written:

"Kisi insaan ke paas itna ikhtiyar nahi hona chahiye ke wo sirf lafzon se apka zehni sukoon cheen sake."