BOOK LAUNCH! THE GIRL WITH THE PAISLEY DUPATTA

On By Mahvash K. M.In Shortstory, writing2 Comments

Dear all,

It is with a mixture of joy, some pride and truckloads of excitement that I announce the publishing of my second book – my book of short stories. This enterprise of the heart has been in the making for the past two years and has finally culminated into an anthology of tales.

It is said that shame dies when stories are told in safe places. THE GIRL WITH THE PAISLEY DUPATTA AND OTHER STORIES forges within its pages the sanctity and dignity that allow fragile stories to become powerful, purposeful, healing and exhilarating epics of personal courage and enterprise.

Many of the stories within this book are from outside the bell curve of our lives, and come straight from the truth-telling corners of the heart: from the brutal vigilante justice dispensed in the name of religion in “The Gods of Fury”; to the harrowing custom of honour revenge in the “Sins of our Fathers”; to the patriarchal ruthlessness that so many young women are subjected to in the title story “The Girl with the Paisley Dupatta”.

Others are stories of women and men negotiating life, love, friendship, careers and tradition in the sometimes tumultuous and many times limiting folds of their families and their communities: from the love affair of the enterprising 61 year old Nighat in “Love in Rawalpindi”; to the shenanigans of a dancing queen in “Riotous Love”; to the complicated friendship between two society girls in “Days of Purgatory”.

The last three stories in the book are a tribute to that most ingenious art form, political satire.

These tales will make you laugh, cry and ruminate in equal measure while niggling at the peripheries of conventional value systems.

The book is currently available at the Jam Fruit Tree bookstore on Galle Road in Colombo. I will try and make it available for friends and family in Pakistan and Dubai soon.
To pre-order your copy of the book, please contact me here. It may take me some time, but I will try and get it to you 🤓

VERSE | RISE

On By Mahvash K. M.In hope, kidlit, Kidsbooks, poetry, verse, writing1 Comment 
There was once a blade of grass
Shining an emerald green 
It swished it’s bright little head 
In the gently flowing breeze 

The other plants stood tall and proud 
They seemed miles away 
The little blade grew in its glade 
In the warmth of sunny days 

One day a big machine rolled in
With a mighty roar of a sound
It scooped up all the twigs and leaves
Scattered on the ground 

Then it gathered everything 
Dead branches, wilted flowers 
And slowly groaned away crushing 
Down the blade of grass

It lay upon its side a while 
The breath knocked out of it
But then quite miraculously 
It straightened up again 

It wiped away the beads of sap
That the trampler had wrung out
It took three long steadying breaths 
And then bobbed its head about 

And so it is with life sometimes 
She seems to come down hard 
That’s our cue to stop and rest 
Breathe in and move onwards

VERSE | PARADISE LOST

On By Mahvash K. M.In poetry, socialissues, truth, verse, writingLeave a comment 
I see a woman standing at the traffic light
Even in her shabbiness, she’s neat and clean
She stands on the wayside wondering 
For the hundredth time what she is doing on the street.
People look at her from their car windows
A nonchalant glance up and then away
Their psycho-social barriers
Comfortingly coming down to save their day
From unpleasant pangs of conscience 
As they niggle at the edges of their minds
The world is troubled, their impact small
Sometimes it’s just better to be blind.

She looks at the faces in the cars
Indifferent, unseeing; wishing her away 
She clutches the hem of her tattered shirt
Picks up the gumption to still walk their way
She looks at a lady who hasn’t averted her eyes
The shame is too much and she swallows hard
Even so, she manages a faint little smile 
Hoping for kindness, compassion, regard
The lady looks up, seeing her for the first time
She’s irritated, she’s irked for letting her guard down
Beggars, pleaders of various requests 
Destroy her peace of mind, she frowns.

She waves a dismissive hand at the sight
And looks away, she will not lock eyes
Maybe the beggar will go to the next car
With her chafing, imploring enterprise 
The woman feels the withering blow
As she hurriedly backs away from the car
The wounds in her heart are bleeding anew
Everyday there are fewer healing scars 
She stumbles back onto the foot path 
Eyes stinging with hopelessness and fatigue 
This world seems done with the likes of her
She too is done with her destiny.

VERSE | YE, CHIP OF THE OLD BLOCK!

On By Mahvash K. M.In food, Foot in the Mouth, poetry, satire, verse, writing4 Comments 
I carry this thing, it sits on my shoulder
Some call it a chip; I call it my boulder
It gnaws at my insides, it makes for low blows
When I’m swirling around in its treacherous throes

I am sometimes deceitful when I feel its weight
Dignity and grace I cavalierly leave at the gate
If it tells me I’m worth nothing, that I’m wretchedly small
I’ll lash out blindly at one and all

I grew up believing this weight that I hold
Of inflated egos and machismo bold
Is an age old legacy that’s been bestowed
From father to son and from son down below.

With time, it has morphed into an ugly avatar
Sometimes the pricks of conscience are stark
But driven by habit and custom and time
I let my massive chip drag me into the grime

I’m weaving this rhyme when I’m feeling lucid
And can see the chip: festering and putrid
Most times though it pokes me with its manly muscle:
I could murder that person who honked at my Honda Vezel!

And so I go blundering and blustering through life
Ego in one hand; in the other an invisible knife 
When my shoulder can’t bear the weight of the chip
I unburden, I plot and I rage. I’m insidious.

KIDSBOOKS – COLOURS | AUBERGINE

On By Mahvash K. M.In writingLeave a comment 
There was once an aubergine
The lightest of lilacs
All the other eggplants made
Fun of him behind his back

He would drop his little stem 
And give his breath a pause 
He thought this would make his skin 
Purpler than it was 

But that never really worked
He continued to be pale
Sitting small with the other brinjals
Never included in their play

One day the lady of the house
Had a friend over for tea
she saw Lilac Face and exclaimed
“Oh how perfectly lovely is he!”

“I am going to draw this little fruit
His colour is so divine”
And so she sketched and painted him
Every curve and every line

The other aubergines all stared
Their amazement never ceased
This was the same little guy
They’d laughed at and they’d teased

And so the faded aubergine
Had a very happy end 
He lives on in that painting  
A fruit and vegetable legend.

** Brinjals, aubergines and eggplants are different names for the same fruit

KIDSBOOKS – COLOURS | RAVEN

On By Mahvash K. M.In bookworm, kidlit, Kidsbooks, poetry, verse, writingLeave a comment 
Brightened by the twinkle of stars
I am the shadowy shade of the night 
I am the colour of the mysterious cat 
All you can see of her are her eyes 

I am the colour of the scuttling beetle 
Of the bear that lives in a cave 
I am the colour of the berries he eats 
I am like the panther, fast and brave

I am the colour of the birds that caw-caw
And watch you with a beady eye 
I am like some of the cars you see on the road 
Not red, nor blue, nor white

I am the colour of ants and chimpanzees 
Maybe the colour of your backpack 
I am deep, I am dark, I have a magical spark 
I am the majestic colour BLACK.

KIDSBOOKS – COLOURS | ACORN

On By Mahvash K. M.In bookworm, kidlit, Kidsbooks, poetry, verse, writingLeave a comment 
Almonds and walnuts, cholocate and ginger
All share the colour that I am
Woodchucks that chuck wood, baskets and bagels
I am the colour of a beaver dam

I am the colour of the moose and the swaying camel
The ruddy duck and the wolverine
Wood and toast, I am the colour of roast
The garden snail and the centipede

I am the colour of the giant fin whale 
And of your sweet little sun-kissed face
I may even be the colour of the desk on which 
All your favourite books are placed

I am the colour of well-loved teddy bears
Bearded dragons and kiwi birds
I am all around, from beige to BROWN
I am the beautiful colour of the earth

KIDSBOOKS – COLOURS | GRAPEFRUIT

On By Mahvash K. M.In bookworm, kidlit, Kidsbooks, poetry, verse, writingLeave a comment 
I am the colour of cherry blossoms 
And of the beautiful magnolia 
I’m like the onion, chopping which is no fun  
I’m also like the flesh of the guava 

Himalayan salt and the Pygmy seahorse  
Are the colour of your little tongue 
Which is the same as the river dolphin
I am also the colour of bubble gum 

I am the color of lychees and the guppy fish 
Turnips and the galah cockatoo 
I am also the colour of some sea anemones 
They don’t have brains like me and you! 

I am the colour of ripe raspberries 
Of the lotus and the carnation 
I am the hints of health on your little face 
I am the delicate colour pink

KIDSBOOKS – COLOURS | ARCTIC

On By Mahvash K. M.In bookworm, kidlit, Kidsbooks, poetry, verse, writingLeave a comment 
I am the colour of cold winter days
When the snow falls in big flakes 
I’m the colour of the graceful swan
The seagull and the beluga whale 

I’m also half of a panda’s colours 
Of clouds and vanilla ice cream
Persian cats and cauliflowers 
And the sweet smelling jasmine

I’m the colour of your pearly teeth
That you brush twice a day 
I’m the colour of rice and milk
And also of the polar bear 

I’m the shade of the coat of a billy goat 
Of dandelions and of ice
I am the dazzle of daytime brightness 
I am the gleaming colour WHITE

KIDSBOOKS – COLOURS | PERIWINKLE

On By Mahvash K. M.In bookworm, kidlit, Kidsbooks, poetry, verse, writingLeave a comment 
I am the colour of the dancing peacock 
And also of the humpback whale 
I am the delicate shade of a robin’s eggs
I am the colour of the racer snake 

I am like the rising and falling ocean 
I am the shades of a summer sky
I am the colour of the planet Neptune 
As it circles up on high 

I am the color of your little hands when 
They’ve held these smarties too long 
I am the colour of some millipedes
Of macaws and the moor frog

The emperor butterfly lifts off 
In lovely shades of this hue
The earth itself when seen from afar 
Is this incredible colour BLUE.

KIDSBOOKS – COLOURS | STRAW

On By Mahvash K. M.In bookworm, kidlit, Kidsbooks, verse, writingLeave a comment 
I am the colour of ripe corn fields 
And of the dancing daffodil 
I’m the colour of cheese, if you please 
And also of the pineapple 

The singing canary is the same shade
As the yolk of your breakfast egg 
Which is like the “get set” traffic light 
And the marmalade on your bread 

I’m the colour of little ducklings 
Of vanilla cake and sunflowers  
Some butterflies and some jelly beans  
Of tennis balls and bananas 

I’m the colour of the fading bruise 
On your knee, as it gently mellows 
I am the gleam of sunlight healing you 
I am the shimmering colour YELLOW.

KIDSBOOKS – COLOURS | CHERRY

On By Mahvash K. M.In bookworm, kidlit, Kidsbooks, verse, writing2 Comments 
I am the outside arch of the rainbow
And the colour of tropical sunsets
I am the colour of sweet scented roses 
I am like the seeds of the pomegranate 

I am the colour of the lovely ladybird 
Of lobsters and flamingoes 
The colour of rubies and autumn leaves 
Of watermelons and tomatoes 

I am the colour of the fiery garnet 
And the shade of fresh strawberries 
The colour of some skittles and rambutan 
And of playfully dancing poppies 

I am the glow of the planet Mars
Shining in the sky overhead 
I am the colour of your cheeks when you laugh with joy 
I am the radiant colour RED.