Sunday book market at Frere Hall. Found a 1970s edition of Ibn-e-Insha's travelogues with someone's old train ticket still inside as a bookmark. Best Rs. 300 I've spent all year.
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Pride and Prejudice
55% through · F-9 Park
Elizabeth Bennet would have handled Islamabad drawing rooms just fine.
Anyone in London know a shop that still stocks Urdu novels? There used to be one in Southall. My mum wants Umera Ahmed's books and I've run out of ideas.
Sacred Games
4% through · Marine Drive
Okay. 4%. Sartaj Singh has already won me over. Bombay on every single page.
“Where the mind is without fear and the head is held high”
My nani used to make us recite this every morning. Found her old copy today with her notes in the margins.
Book club question: we've done Kamila Shamsie, Mohsin Hamid and Mohammed Hanif this year. Who should we read next? Women writers preferred this time.
“Sitaron se aage jahan aur bhi hain”
Exam week. Writing this on the first page of every notebook.
Moth Smoke
80% through · Central line
Lahore in the late 90s, read on a Central line carriage in London. Strange feeling. Daru is a terrible person and I can't put it down.
Went to Urdu Bazaar this morning for ONE book and came back with seven. Old Ibn-e-Safi copies for Rs. 150 each, some still with the original covers. My wife has stopped asking.
The God of Small Things
35% through · Delhi Metro, Yellow Line
Rereading this ten years later. The first time I didn't notice how funny it is under all the sadness.
Urdu fiction for someone who has only ever read English novels? My Urdu reading is slow but I really want to start. Something not too heavy please.
“What do we live for, if it is not to make life less difficult to each other?”
Our book club picked Middlemarch for winter. Twelve of us, 800 pages and a lot of biscuits. This line has already made it worth it.
Raja Gidh
62% through · Model Town, Lahore
Third time reading Raja Gidh and it still unsettles me. Nobody writes about hunger the way Bano Qudsia does. My chai went cold and I didn't even notice.
The intricate art of the Pakistani truck, what do you think? The vibrant floral patterns, poetic verses, and shimmering reflective strips painted on commercial trucks across Pakistan represent a centuries-old folk art tradition. Originating decades ago when transport companies hired master craftsmen to paint intricate logos and ownership details, the craft evolved into a mobile gallery.
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