Ishq Ki Pheli Barish By Samaa Chaudhary

About this novel

Ishq Ki Pehli Barish (Urdu: عشق کی پہلی بارش) by Samaa Chaudhary is a complete Urdu haveli romance set in Khan Haveli, full of cousins and warmth. The pampered youngest, Ahmar, sets the comic tone, and a quarrel between Jahan and Abresham hints at the love story to come.

The novel opens beautifully: the first ray of morning slips into Khan Haveli, lighting up dew on the leaves, and every flower seems to bloom when touched by the fresh breeze, spreading an endless fragrance. Even the plants seem to lose themselves in this intoxication, writes the author, as Gul Khan waters them, lost in the beauty of the scene – until someone’s shouting makes him drop the pipe and rush to the haveli gate.

“O khana kharab, you scared us!” Gul Khan says, hand on his heart, to Ahmar. “Our delicate heart nearly jumped out. Don’t do that again, child!” Ahmar wants to know where he’s been – he has to go to college and his car keys are with Gul Khan, he’s already late. Gul Khan tosses him the keys. But Ahmar’s face falls: he can’t actually drive. As the youngest in the house and the darling of Bari Ammi, he has never had to do anything himself; Gul Khan does every job for him. “Oh my garden full of flowers, why do you do this to me?” Ahmar complains, but Gul Khan has already left.

خان حویلی کی صبح، لاڈلا احمر، اور جہان اور ابریشم کی لڑائی۔

So Ahmar goes crying to Bari Ammi, Shah Begum, who loves him more than her own children. He wants Gul Khan to drop him at college; his friends laugh that he can’t drive and his sister drops him off. Uqba – Shah Begum’s younger daughter and Jahan’s only sister – teases him for being so spoilt. Bari Ammi promises to ask Jahan to drop him – but Ahmar refuses to go anywhere near Jahan’s room, because there’s a storm brewing there. Why? Bari Ammi realises with a sigh: Jahan and Abresham have fought again.

Samaa Chaudhary fills the haveli with humour and affection, and the title – “the first rain of love” – promises romance waiting to break through the quarrels.

You can read Ishq Ki Pehli Barish online here or download the complete PDF for free. More by Samaa Chaudhary: Jo Milay Thay Rastay Mein, Mere Armaan Aur Tum and Dadi Ki Hukumat, or see all Samaa Chaudhary novels.