Chahat By Anabiya Khan

About this novelette

Chahat (Urdu: چاہت) by Anabiya Khan is a short Urdu family romance about two cousins and best friends, Farah and Iqra. A rishta has come for Iqra, and Farah wants to know why she is agreeing to it when Farah’s own brother loves her.

It’s Sunday morning and Farah’s mother has been trying to get her out of bed for ages, because Iqra is waiting downstairs. “Even on a Sunday you don’t let me rest!” Farah grumbles, and runs down. Iqra has news. A proposal has come for her from a doctor, and both her parents are happy with it. What does Farah think?

دو سہیلیاں، ایک رشتہ، اور ایک بھائی کی ان کہی چاہت۔

Farah’s answer is a question. If Iqra hates mohabbat so much, why get married at all? Iqra could at least have pity on Farah’s bhai, who loves her. Iqra flares up. Farah ruins her mood every time she mentions her brother, she says. She hates him, and Farah shouldn’t test her patience. She walks out, and Farah calls after her that one day Iqra will see her brother as a groom and be left watching.

Anabiya Khan then lays out the family. In his own lifetime, Mubeen divided his house into two identical portions for his sons. In one live Farooq, his sons Rehan, Salman and Maan, and his daughters Iqra and Laraib. In the other live Arbaz, his son Ehsan, his daughter Farah and his son Fahad. Their childless Phupho Nasreen lives in between. Since they were small, Farah and Iqra have been closer than sisters. Deenu Chacha, the family driver for as long as anyone remembers, takes them to college and brings them home, and is treated like family.

It’s 111 pages, a light read about friendship and one-sided love.

You can read Chahat online here or download the complete PDF for free. More by Anabiya Khan: Khula and Umeed e Wafa, on the Anabiya Khan novels page.