The story ‘Homecoming’ (August 19) by Rutaba Tanvir completely bowled me over! It was beautifully penned, too; in fact, I read such a poignant piece after quite a while. Rutaba, you have expressed the feelings of countless people who cannot boast of hailing from a village
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Dear Ed,
The story ‘Homecoming’ (August 19) by Rutaba Tanvir completely bowled me over! It was beautifully penned, too; in fact, I read such a poignant piece after quite a while. Rutaba, you have expressed the feelings of countless people who cannot boast of hailing from a village, especially the ones who immigrated and are made to feel they are not citizens of this country. Way to go, girl! It’s time we get over ‘where are you from’ stuff and consider all people as fellow Pakistanis.
Publishing the partition stories (An echo from 1947) in the same issue was a great idea. We are not aware of the hardships suffered by the people who sacrificed so much for Pakistan. But, of course, the crowning glory was ‘Three lessons The Cursed Child taught me’, ‘Did Harry Potter end well?’ and ‘Pensieve’. After all, once a Potterhead, always a Potterhead! All in all, a great issue.
Rida Jawaid, Karachi
Hi Eddy,
I am a student of first year from Islamabad. I want to praise the issue of Oct 30, 2015, in which I loved the story ‘A perfect life - not really’ written by Rumeesha Zaheer. You are doing a great job for the youth of the country. I am a regular reader and would like to inform you that your magazine is too good! You just cannot be bored even if you read the same content again and again. Keep up the good work and continue serving the nation.
Aliya, Islamabad
Price of books
Ed,
High prices of books have become a big problem for the students and their parents. The habit of reading books has many benefits but what about the students whose parents cannot afford to buy books for them? The government should revive public libraries as there are very few libraries in Pakistan. Provincial governments in Pakistan have failed to give priority to setting up libraries, denying opportunity to those who cannot buy books. The prices of books should be monitored and regulated by the government to promote reading culture.
Ateeq Shay Gulab, Kech
Dear all,
It’s always nice to have a chat with you, and we grab the opportunity to do so whenever we have space. This week, we hardly got any letters, so we thought we should chide you for this omission. :) So please stand chided!
We would like to remind you that the deadline for the upcoming story-writing competition is approaching fast. We would be accepting your entries till November 15. There is no word limit as such, but bear in mind that for a one page story, we need 550-650 words. If you go beyond it, we will have to cut it to size! Two pages can hold 1100-1200 words, while 1700-1800 words for a three-pager would be enough. The max is 2500 words; please don’t exceed it!
Just one more thing: last time, our judges commented that most stories were ‘dark’ and ‘pessimistic’. Try to give them a bit of variety, folks!
Since most of our readers are high school to university students, we have to offer our apologies to the young poets who send us stuff on their pets, toys and similar stuff. In the same way, stories that are suitable for fifth graders cannot be entertained.
Can we also remind you to send us your complete mailing address, CNIC No. and if possible contact numbers as well with your stories and articles?
For our contributors who are university students, we have a proposition. Would you like to interview your deans or vice chancellors regarding any new innovation your alma mater plans to introduce or is in the process of introducing? If yes, email us the details so we can chalk out the modalities.
Folks, it’s your feedback that makes us go round, and we hope to have our inbox flooded with your letters, as it used to be by your words of praise or scathing criticism.
Till next time,
Allah hafiz
Reflection
Narrated by Abdullah bin Umar (R.A)
Allah’s Apostle (S.A.W) said, “A lady was punished because of a cat which she had imprisoned till it died. She entered the (Hell) Fire because of it, for she neither gave it food nor water as she had imprisoned it, nor set it free to eat from the vermin of the earth.”
Sahih Bukhari, Volume 4, Book 56, Number 689
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Lubna Khalid
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