Mein Tehra Awara by Pakeeza Tayyabba

About this novel

Mein Thehra Awara (Urdu: میں ٹھہرا آوارہ) by Pakeeza Tayyaba is a light Urdu cousin romance about Maroon, the carefree leader of three idle friends. The sharp-tongued girls in his family never let him get away with anything, and the fun and the romance grow from there.

The story opens with three boys busy playing games on their mobiles. They spend their whole day free, roaming around and having fun, or helping anyone in the neighbourhood who needs it – that’s where their happiness lies. With a week left until Ramzan, Bilal suddenly sighs: “Why don’t we go to Dani’s dhaba today? Where will we get such feasts once the fasts start?” Abbas agrees, pulling his face out of his phone: let’s make a programme and give Dani the honour of serving us today. “Maroon, are you listening? Let’s arrange the treat.”

Maroon is the group’s leader, and all decisions are his. His long hair is tied with a rubber band, he wears loose kurtas over jeans with the top button open like a typical awara, has a thick moustache with a light beard, and dark eyes that nobody can look into for long. At that moment, though, he is seriously watching two girls in the distance. When Bilal follows his gaze, he quickly lowers his eyes, because the girls are Maroon’s sister and his khala’s daughter. The three friends spend most of their time sitting at the street corner chatting – they’re not troublemakers, the writer assures us, they help the whole neighbourhood and only fight for what’s right.

گلی کے نکڑ پر بیٹھا “آوارہ” لیڈر، اور ہر بات کا جواب رکھنے والی کزن۔

Maroon gestures to his friends to stay back and walks over to the girls. “Look, your brother’s turned into a bodyguard again,” Anfal says haughtily to Maarukh, who looks embarrassed. “Can’t you two stay home in the afternoon?” Maroon asks irritably – and don’t answer back, just go straight home. Anfal shoots back: they’re going to the parlour for something important – you sit with your gang of loafers planning your next fight. Maroon retorts that girls only have one job, dressing up for twenty-four hours; thank God Allah gave them their full share of looks already, or they’d spend half their lives at the parlour. Anfal is furious, and Maarukh is burning with irritation too.

Pakeeza Tayyaba keeps the banter quick and funny, and the title promises that this “awara” will soon find his heart caught.

You can read Mein Thehra Awara online here or download the complete PDF for free. More by Pakeeza Tayyaba: Rafaqtin Qurbatin Manzalin, Hidayat Ka Wasila and Wajdan Mohabbat, or see all Pakeeza Tayyaba novels.