Illustration: Arati Kumar-Rao
Illustration: Arati Kumar-Rao

Mardangi

Shortlisted in the Himal Short Story Competition 2019.

Anika Khan works as faculty at the Centre of Biomedical Ethics and Culture, SIUT, Karachi. She has written academic papers for international journals and has also published articles on gender, education and environment, in the Pakistani press.

Published on

A mild winter morning in Karachi; smoky fog, smog. It makes Wasif's eyes water a little and his nostrils prickle. Irfan meets him on the broken footpath, dressed, as Wasif is, in school uniform – a white shirt, greying at the cuffs and collar, and badly ironed trousers in a drab brown colour. Both of them wear backpacks.

With a flourish, Wasif takes out the cigarette packet stashed in his trouser pocket. He runs his fingers through his hair and lights a precious, forbidden cigarette. He takes a long drag and feels manly. Then, with a munificent air, he hands Irfan the cigarette.

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