Other Days (Novel)

Description

Sara, a Pakistani immigrant living in the UK, meets Daud, an old acquaintance, on New Year’s Eve of 2000. This chance meeting triggers the memories she had been trying to evade since she left her country more than two decades ago.

Dreams. Kinships. Metanarratives. Their fears and vulnerabilities. Sheher was calling Daud and Sara again.

She remembers her days in Sheher in the 1970s: basant, festival of lights, cultural discourse, reinterpretation of folklore, and an extremely charged political environment in university campuses. Daud left the country, after he was assaulted by a group of students. Later, a chain of events compelled Sara to move to the UK in 1977, along with her new-born daughter, Sammi.

Review

“A novel with a difference. Minimalist in approach, it is a playground for a subject seldom addressed in our part of the world. The novel pays special attention to the actual workings of social organization. With assured authenticity and delicate intimacy, characters are drawn to interact with shadows, which admit of much symbolic significance. Destinations are pursued with disastrous outcomes, yet compassion reigns and quiet dignity comes out unscathed.” – Amin Mughal

Author Biography

Arshad Waheed’s first novel “Gumaan” was published in 1995. He has also translated the works of Gabriel Garcia Marquez and Milan Kundera. He studied policy at London School of Economics. He lives in Islamabad.