I’m not proud to admit it, but I hadn’t read a book in Urdu in a very long time. But I’m glad that Bangley ki Bawali by Ali Akbar Natiq was the book to break that spell. Honestly, it isn’t the kind of book I’d usually pick up at first glance, but it is definitely a collection of short stories that has expanded my paradigm when it comes to thinking about human emotions and how writing can highlight and examine them through honest storytelling.

Through the fifteen stories in this collection, Bangley ki Bawali takes you on a journey across several different stories and settings. Each story is a reflection of the different sides of the human experience, especially the underbelly of it — all the emotions and desires you really don’t want to admit or talk about.

As you start each story, you are automatically transported into the specific town, village or city, and placed inside that community by way of the characters. The way each setting is described, the foliage, the structure, the streets and homes, immediately pulls you in. I don’t think I’ll ever forget the dilapidated house in Mughulpara ki Haveli, the jheel in Shikari ki........

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