Burnt Shadows

by Kamila Shamsie

‘There is a phrase I have heard in English: to leave someone alone with their grief. Urdu has no equivalent phrase. It only understands the concept of gathering around and becoming “ghum-khaur” – grief-eaters – who take in the mourner’s sorrow.

With her dying breath, Khadija Ashraf had whispered in his ear the ritual salutation from elder to younger – ‘Keep on living’

But exaltation was always the bugle cry that awoke lamentation

‘If the greatest loss of his life is the loss of a dream he’s always known to be a dream, then he’s among the fortunate ones.’

‘They want to be grown men as much as we want them to be little boys, but really they’re neither.