Stories from Pakistan.

Now that we have settled in a bit with Ramazan¹, I’m back with an exciting post. A little more than a week ago we found out that my mom’s book got published in the US by Rosedog Books. We got a glimpse at the first copies in print and as you can imagine it was such a proud day for our family, mA².

‘This book is a refreshing glimpse into the life of people in Pakistan today. Seen through the eyes of the author, who keeps moving home every year or so, to live in different cities of Pakistan.

Most of these articles were printed during the last two decades in different magazines and dailies. Shireen Gheba Najib has a refreshing and humorous viewpoint of the incidents and situations she finds herself in. There are also interviews of prominent personalities from different walks of life. These articles fulfill the need to get out of statistics of poverty and illiteracy, and measure the charm and hospitality of Pakistanis.’

It brought so many memories back. I remember vaguely my mom writing her first article on the invasion of Kuwait and her memories of our time there, and I remember the day that article got printed. I remember how my father got us to wake mama up that morning with the newspaper in our hand. It was exciting and so began her journey.

I remember going with her whenever she had to meet newspapers and magazine editors, I remember those long corridors of the Dawn³ office in Karachi⁴ and the particular newspaper-y smells of them. I remember my mother taking the three of us with her for interviews, from TV personalities to artists and doctors and teachers and religious scholars and just every-day inspiring people etc. I remember finding her articles in the paper and feeling pride in seeing her name in print. There are just so many memories. Her first article was printed when I was barely 7 years old and I have seen her working on one article or another almost all of my life.

A series of her books on Cooking and Entertaining have been published in Pakistan already and are available in most large bookshops. These include Fun Cookbook, Kitchen Management and Its all about entertaining your guests. This collection is a perfect one for newbie married or working girls who are starting their own home lives.

She also started a blog where she hasn’t gotten round to posting much yet, but you can go here to read an introduction and maybe leave her some encouragement or messages to motivate her to get back at it.

This current book of hers is a collection of some of her articles that have been printed in different Pakistani newspapers and magazines over the years. It is a beautiful journey into the life of a Pakistani seen through her eyes that I’m sure would be an enjoyable read for Pakistanis and non-Pakistanis alike.

You can buy it here or the Kindle version on Amazon here. 

Thanks for reading.

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FYI

¹ Ramazan is the month of fasting for Muslims. More here.

² mA stands for MashAllah. and means God willing. It is commonly used by Muslims whenever they are appreciating something to show that all good is from Allah.

³ ‘The Dawn’ is the oldest Pakistani newspaper in English and is still one of the leading dailies.

⁴ Karachi is the largest and most populous city of Pakistan and it’s main seaport and financial center.