Daldal by Riaz Aqib Kohlar

About this novel

Daldal (Urdu: دلدل) by Riaz Aqib Kohlar is a very long Urdu social novel about an educated young man from a poor family. After one failed job interview too many, he takes a step that could pull him into a daldal, a quicksand, he may never escape.

It opens with him coming home from yet another interview. His mother is waiting at the door, and before he says a word she can read the answer on his face. The house has just two rooms: his old father, mother and younger sister share one, and he has the other. He has a degree and good marks, but he has learned that in this system a job needs either a sifarish or a bribe. His father, who should be resting at his age, still works as a waiter because his son has no income. His sister finished her matric and is learning embroidery at a vocational institute.

نوکری کے لیے ڈگری نہیں، سفارش یا رشوت چاہیے۔

Over dinner he finally tells his mother the truth: the job he applied for is available, but only for a price. She doesn’t hesitate. She brings out the gold bangles she had saved for her daughter’s jahez and tells him to sell them. Once he has a job, he can buy new ones. He protests that she already sold her jewellery to pay for his education, but she won’t listen. The next day the jeweller cheats him on the weight and the price, and this isn’t the first shop he has tried. He takes what he can get, gets on an overcrowded bus with the money in his pocket and his sister’s bangles on his conscience, and heads off to meet the man who has promised to “arrange” the job.

Riaz Aqib Kohlar writes about unemployment, corruption and family sacrifice with real anger and sympathy. Many readers will recognise these characters, and the title warns that the easy way out may be the most dangerous one.

You can read Daldal online here or download the complete PDF for free. For another social novel by the same writer, read Rakhail or Pasheman, or see all Riaz Aqib Kohlar novels.