Broadsheet columns that stir emotions

‘Bund Darwazoun kee Cheekheen’ is the latest book of columns written by Kishwar Naheed, equally impressive, a delight to read because of its quality of writing. These engrossing, poignant columns touch on everything.

Her voice is strong and consistent throughout. This collection of columns and the material it covers is a glimpse into the life and the world that surrounds her. While the sentiment is very clear in the material, the book itself stands on its own without being sentimental. It has something for everyone.

She talks about everything under the sun. Her columns about Shibli Faraz, Sania Nishtar, etc. are timely issues to be taken seriously. Nonetheless, you feel you are in trusted hands with Kishwar Naheed. She will not let you down. In every one of her 184 pages, she never does. Her steady, flowing writing lulls you into the candor of her world. She magnifies her own world to make it our own.

I appreciate the collection of her columns into a book form to read at my leisure. She writes wonderfully and very real. The book is a collection of more than 90 columns, represents many years of her career, and much of what she has learned about life. It is a lovely bouquet of womanly thoughts about things little and big, sad and funny, and topical to today’s modern life. She writes about what she knows best and how our life shapes, and colors who we are.

Kishwar Naheed’s piercing columns loop with everyday messages and solid facts. Her writing is a treat for anyone seeking details from the reality of everyday life. Nothing exaggerated or scandalous, just a wonderful gathering of reflections on varied aspects of life.

However, where Kishwar Naheed differs from other columnists is her finely-honed skill of transforming every day into the extra-special, and making it look so very simple. Anyone who has tried to re-tell an event simply and with meaning knows just how very difficult this is.

Heart boosting, loving, and true, she captures the best of everyday life and spills it for her readers to mop up with their own paper tissues, in the context of their own lives, savoring each and every drop along the way. I loved this book.

If you think we are living in a world of hurt, then Kishwar Naheed has a concrete plan that will surely interest you. Her roadmap for radical economic and political transformation begins with a straightforward, well-written analysis of the problems that confront us.

It is one of the happiest aspects of a columnist’s life that, for all the exquisite care with which she creates the work, it finds itself into a book form titled ‘Bund Darwazoun kee Cheekheen’. It is a book, where the familiar subjects rain down like manna.