Justaju Meri Akhari Ho Tum By Yusra Shah

About this novel

Justaju Meri Akhari Ho Tum (Urdu: جستجو میری آخری ہو تم) by Yusra Shah is a long Urdu family romance set among the children of a big haveli. It follows them as they grow up, opening on a bright, breezy morning in the haveli garden among rustling leaves and flowers.

Nine-year-old Samal, a mischievous girl in her school uniform, sits on a bench waiting for someone, her heavy school bag dumped beside her. Ten-year-old Hamza creeps up from behind and pulls the rubber band out of her hair. Her ponytail falls open, and he runs backwards, teasing her that she’ll be punished at school today for coming with her hair loose. Samal suddenly stops chasing him and calmly looks behind him. Hamza turns round and knows he’s in trouble.

حویلی کے آنگن میں بچپن کی شرارتیں — اور انہی میں چھپی کسی کی آخری جستجو۔

Standing there is eleven-year-old Shehroz, eyebrows raised, already the boss of the house. “Kyun tang kar rahe ho Samal ko?” Samal puts on her most innocent face and shows him her ruined hair, and Shehroz orders Hamza to give the rubber band back and get in the car. Then his eyes go looking for someone else. Eight-year-old Zimar comes along with a long face, two little pigtails and a red nose from crying: she didn’t do her homework and her teacher will scold her. When Shehroz asks why, she calmly blames him. He always helps her with her homework, and yesterday he didn’t.

Yusra Shah fills these opening pages with sweet, funny childhood moments, and you can already see the bonds forming between the haveli children. The title, “you are my final quest”, suggests that one of these childhood attachments will become the search of a lifetime.

You can read Justaju Meri Akhari Ho Tum online here or download the complete PDF for free. More by Yusra Shah: Kab Hui Teri Rab Janay Mera and Mera Kharos Humsafer, or see all Yusra Shah novels.