Ghery badal by NNM

About this novelette

Ghery Badal (Urdu: گہرے بادل) by NNM is a short Urdu family romance about a cheerful student whose mother decides it’s time to marry. The morning after Mah Noor’s final exam, everything changes, and the title, dark clouds, hints that her bright days won’t last.

It opens on the day of Mah Noor’s last BSc Economics paper. She hurries down the stairs telling her mother she’s off to college, and her mother calls after her to at least eat breakfast first. Mah Noor says she’s already late, she’ll grab something at college, plants a kiss on her mother’s cheek and is gone. Her mother just laughs and goes back to her work.

آخری پیپر ختم، اور اگلی ہی صبح شادی کی بات۔

Mah Noor and her mother, Shazia, live in Lahore. Her father died when she was only a year old, so her mother has raised her alone with great love and never let her feel anything was missing. After the exam her friend Parisha asks how it went, and when Mah Noor confesses she couldn’t answer the last question, Parisha teases her: if she fails, her khala will marry her off to her cousin. Mah Noor sulks, then bursts out laughing, and runs to catch the bus. At home her mother asks lovingly about the paper and serves her lunch.

The very next morning, over breakfast, her mother says it: now that her studies are finished, she wants to see her married. Mah Noor protests that her last semester only ended yesterday. Where did this sudden idea come from?

NNM writes in a light, simple style about a close mother-daughter bond and the changes marriage brings. It’s a quick, pleasant read.

You can read Ghery Badal online here or download the complete PDF for free. More by NNM: Mohobat Nhi Ishq Hai, Barish Tham Gai and Jafa, or see all NNM novels.