Lakeer
INTERVIEWS
BOOKS
ART & PHOTOGRAPHY
ON THE COVER
Interview | Archiving the Familiar and Familial: a conversation with Irum Rahat by Maliha Hasan
"But it just depends on what I think the narrative requires or how I want to think about it before reaching a resolved piece of work. Plus, the initial inspiration of where the process really begins is just me living through these experiences. Because these are familiar spaces and moments to me, it’s very much painting my own life."
Fiction | Mrs T Receives a Gift
by Tayyba Kanwal
Two months ago, as Mrs Tarar returned from Lahore airport after seeing Yasir off on his flight to Houston, she had looked forward to curling up in her quilt in the silent darkness of her room with her own thoughts. There had not been a day in the last twenty-five years that she had neither son at home. As the chauffeur drove them back, she kept her gaze on the streets, unable to engage with Tarar Sahib’s chatter.
Books | The Metaphysics of Murder (and Motherhood)
by Fatima Shamsi
Written from the dual perspectives of the two women, the narrative shifts between autodiegetic and third person, and between present and past, as though to situate this story within the maelstrom of stories it references – fairytales, old wives’ tales, Sufi parables. This enforces Layla’s view of narratives as identity, as language, as currency.
Essay | Reflections on Jagged Movement
by Durre Shahwar
I have my own story that sits neatly within these narratives; it defines my own difficult relationship to the concept of movement, as it is the reason why mine is "jagged" – rough, uneven, irregular, punctuated by doubt and hesitation, as opposed to fluid and unafraid. The latter arises out of "scattered" or "dispersed" movements of people under colonialism, as often referred to within postcolonial frameworks.
Essay | Lahore Between Two Trains: Then and Now
by Faizan Ahmad
I was new in the city, I didn’t know how to belong. The Metrobus had just launched at that time. For twenty rupees, I could go from one end of Lahore to the other without asking anyone for help. I still remember that first ride, standing in line, copying how others swiped their card, pretending I wasn’t lost. Once onboard, I stayed near the door. Everyone else looked like they knew where to get off. Nobody asked where I was from. In my hometown, a stranger is like a public event. In Lahore, you could disappear and no one would notice.
جو اسی دھرتی نال کیتی، اوہی اسی اپنیاں دِھیاں نال کیتی، اِک دے بعد دُوجی نال
،جو اسی رُکھاں نال کیتی، اوہی اسی اپنے وڈکیاں نال کیتی
منجی پا، ڈنگراں دے واڑے وچ سُٹ دِتا
light falls upon brown faces becoming gray,
get ‘em! make it a knockout! teacups rattle and spill
their insides while a brass paan box is shuffled
And that’s why everything always tastes rotten
No amount of incense can mask the smell of the scorched earth,
And that’s why your knees are always weak, she tells you
The rot, the decay, it all comes from within.
Your voice, like waves, dissolves the stone,
A river’s grief, a heart alone.
Books | Paying Attention to the Past and the Present
by Maham Farhan
Jashn, the first anthology of the Pakistan Youth Poet Laureate Program, is a landmark publication; a celebration of coming-of-age voices in poetry. With nineteen poets writing in Urdu and English, it is an introduction to a breadth of writers, and an invitation into the evolving literary consciousness of Pakistan’s youth.
From the archives
ٖPoetry | Jealousy for Breakfast by Hibah Shabkhez
Squinting at you, I chew on jealousy:
My own fruit bowls hung for a fleeting week
On house walls, and you – no better looking
Essay | ایک گلاس پانی، ایک جلتا ہوا لڑکا: فادي جودۃ اور غزہ کی تصاویر by Fady Joudah, tr. by Mir-e-Shaheer
تصویروں اور ان میں بسی زندگیوں کے پس انجام کا کلچر۔ نیشنل جیوگرافک کی سبز چمکتی آنکھیں۔ جنس اور ماحول۔ ایک گِدھ، جو غیرجانبداری سے ایک نیم مردہ بچے کو بھوک سے مرنے دے رہا ہے۔ لاش، بس لاش ہوتی ہے۔
Fiction | سڑک پر, by Samira Azzam, tr. by Amama Bashir
میں ایک ایک کر کے انگلیوں کو سُکھاتی ہوں، اور سونے کی انگوٹھی کی غیرموجودگی کو محسوس کرتی ہوں۔ میں نے پوری زندگی انگوٹھی پہننے کا خواب دیکھا تھا – کوئی بھی انگوٹھی۔
Poetry | جے میں مرجاواں by Refaat Alareer, tr. by Na Maaloom
جے میں مر جاواں
توں تاں جیونداں رویں
میری کہانی لوکاں نوں دسیں
Fiction | Giants by Sadya Hamid Siddiqui
The two little brothers went off to Masjid-e-Noor for Jumma prayers just like all the other boys in the building. It was right before the summer vacation. The lack of space inside the small mosque irked Irtiza and, like he always did when something did not go according to his expectations, he decided to march back home. Murtaza couldn’t let him go on his own; they had walked for a good ten minutes, he estimated. And he made a firm decision that he was going to offer his prayers with the congregation. He had a special request to make to Allah Mian, and the chances of acceptance of his request application were at their highest at the Friday prayer at the masjid.
Interview | Between Places: a conversation with Sayera Anwar by Rabia Malik
Living far from my homeland, I became acutely aware of how my experiences of migration and displacement differ from those of my peers in America. This physical and emotional distance has heightened my sensitivity as an artist. I have begun to recognize that my creative expressions are deeply informed by the nuances of my heritage, and I now understand how the pain and complexities of migration echo in my work.