Kaif E Baharan by Sabeen Ahmed

About this novel

Kaif E Baharan (Urdu: کیفِ بہاراں) by Sabeen Ahmed is a complete Urdu novel dedicated to the soldiers of the Pakistan Army. It opens in a very dark place, a kotha where a frightened girl is being forced into a life she never chose.

It is early afternoon, the sun lighting up every corner, and the light falls into a room where a girl sits on the floor beside a dressing table, wrapped in a black chadar and crying. At the door, Basheer tells Sitara – a heavy-set woman in a fiery orange outfit – to get her ready quickly and bring her to Chandni Begum’s hall – a “customer” has arrived, a man for whom she has been kept hidden even from Malik Sahib. Sitara complains to Basheer, who stands twirling his small moustache, that this one is far more stubborn than the others; since she arrived she hasn’t agreed to anything. Basheer tells her to get it done by force if she must, because Shehar Bano Begum is waiting outside with the buyer.

Sitara opens the cupboard to find something for her to wear, mocking her as a “shehzadi” whose buyer has come, while the girl stays exactly where she is, refusing to move.

کالی چادر میں چھپی ایک روتی ہوئی لڑکی، اور باہر انتظار کرتا ایک خریدار۔

The writer then takes us into Chandni Begum’s hall. Sunlight pours in through tall windows, expensive chandeliers hang from the ceiling, sofas line the walls, and pictures of dancers – including Chandni Begum’s mother, Sultana – decorate the room. Musical instruments wait in one corner for the night’s performances. On a raised platform in the middle sits a woman of about fifty-five, in a white gota-trimmed gharara, her head neatly covered, apparently busy making paan – though her sharp eyes miss nothing.

Sabeen Ahmed doesn’t shy away from showing the cruelty of this world, but the focus is on the girl’s courage and refusal to give in, and the dedication hints that help may come from those who protect the country. Readers should be aware that the novel deals with human trafficking and exploitation.

You can read Kaif E Baharan online here or download the complete PDF for free. You may also like Muntazir E Saza by Munaza Mirza and Wo Jo Qaraz Rakhty Thy Jaan Par by Imran Liaqat, or browse more army Urdu novels.