Chand Meri Dastras Mei Novel by Ana Ilyas

About this novel

Chand Meri Dastras Mei (Urdu: چاند میری دسترس میں) by Ana Ilyas is a light Urdu family romance about Wahab and his arranged marriage. His parents have fixed his marriage to his cousin Radia, who is five years older than him, and he is determined to get out of it.

It opens with Wahab phoning his best friend Saad in total despair, announcing that he’s about to bang his head against a wall. Saad, lying on his bed, makes him get to the point, and out it comes: Ammi has settled his rishta with Radia. Wahab has already argued with both his parents, but they won’t listen to a single word. Saad tries to calm him down. Radia isn’t a bad girl, he says, and people marry women ten years older. Wahab is not comforted. He has always respected Radia the way he respects his older cousins, and five years feels like a lot.

بڑے بھائی کی غلطی کا کفارہ، چھوٹے بھائی کی شادی سے؟

The story behind the match comes out the next day, when Saad, who is like family in Wahab’s home, walks into an argument in the lounge. Wahab’s parents, Samee and Zeba, have become stricter ever since their elder son Shahab went abroad and married a foreigner of his own choice. Worse, Shahab had kept Radia’s older sister Farah waiting in the name of an engagement before he did it. Wahab is sure his parents are now trying to make up for Shahab’s wrong by marrying him to Radia. Radia is a good girl, he admits, but he tells them their approach is wrong, and asks why he should pay for his brother’s mistake.

Ana Ilyas keeps the tone warm and funny, with plenty of banter between the two friends and a family that clearly loves Wahab even while it pushes him. The title, “the moon within my reach”, hints that the girl he’s trying to avoid may turn out to be exactly what he needs.

You can read Chand Meri Dastras Mei online here or download the complete PDF for free. For more cousin stories, browse Cousin Romance novels, read Ana Ilyas’s Usay Panay Ki Chah, or see all Ana Ilyas novels.