Ay Mery Hamdam By Shumaila Jutt

About this novel

Ay Mere Hamdam (Urdu: اے میرے ہمدم) by Shumaila Jutt is a long Urdu family romance that opens with a sweet brother-and-sister bond. A young man can’t imagine home without his Aapi, whose wedding is near, and then a lively girl named Dania bursts in with shopping bags.

The novel begins with a poem addressed to “my companion”, asking the beloved to listen to the silent sobs of the heart, to find their own name shining as tears in someone’s eyes, and to hear the cries of lost wishes in their laughter.

Then the story starts. Unlike every other day, a young man walks into the house without humming, without spinning his motorbike key on his finger, without whistling. His eyes search the house and light up when he finds what he was looking for: his Aapi, sitting in the hall at her sewing machine as always, surrounded by piles of clothes. He walks over in small steps and sits in front of her. “Aapi, I’m thinking – after you leave, who will make my food? Who will iron my clothes? Who will do all my work?”

آپی کی شادی، بھائی کی اداسی، اور گھر کا ایک خالی کونا۔

His sister, trying to focus on the machine, looks up and sees how sad he is. She promises that she’ll come every week to wash and iron his clothes, cook his favourite food and even clean his room. “Happy now?” But he is still upset: if only she weren’t getting married. Why is everyone at home so eager for it? She teases him – does he want her sitting at home forever? “Yes, so you’re always in front of my eyes. I can’t live without you,” he says, sounding like a four-year-old. She warns him that when he marries, his wife may not tolerate her in the house. She teases that he can’t even bear ten minutes without a certain someone in the house, and he admits, hiding a smile, that her absence from home is hard to bear too.

Just then the door bursts open and Dania marches in with shopping bags in both hands, announcing herself with full drama and immediately demanding a cold glass of juice.

Shumaila Jutt writes with warmth, humour and emotion, and the title – “O my companion” – promises a heartfelt love story.

You can read Ay Mere Hamdam online here or download the complete PDF for free. Also by Shumaila Jutt: Khawab O Khayal, or see all Shumaila Jutt novels and more romantic Urdu novels.