Mohay Prem Nachaya Thaya Thaya By Salman

About this novel

Moray Prem Nachaya Thaya Thaya by Salman is an Urdu novel set in the old kotha culture of Multan, about fame and music. It reveals the sorrow hidden behind a celebrated dancer’s smile.

The story opens on a special night. The kotha has been decorated from top to bottom, because once a month a grand mujra is held here, and the city’s important people come to enjoy the evening. This kotha is the most famous in Multan, Salman writes, and anyone who has seen it once never thinks of going anywhere else.

A car stops outside and the guard rushes to open the door. Out steps a young woman dressed in black, a fine veil over her face, through which only her rosy lips can be seen. She gathers her chadar and climbs the narrow stairs of the old haveli as the sound of ghungroo and music grows louder: “Tat tat thaya thaya.” At the top, Farhana Bai is waiting with flowers: “Hamna Begum aa gayin.” Hamna lifts her veil, and the writer describes a face so beautiful it could light up the dark.

An older woman welcomes her warmly, and they walk along a veranda full of life. Some girls are practising dance, some are putting on mehndi, and others are chatting and laughing. One of them says that tonight Hamna Begum will steal the whole show again. Since Hamna arrived, the kotha’s name has spread far and wide, and no dancer before her, not even Roohi Begum, has ever been so famous. Hamna only smiles, but tears quietly come into her eyes, and she wipes them away before anyone notices. Behind all the glitter, it is clear she is carrying a pain that this world does not see.

گھنگھروؤں کی جھنکار میں بھی کچھ آنسو خاموشی سے بہتے رہتے ہیں۔

Read more by the same writer: Talsum Araa, Cinderella and Saat Samundar Paar Raha Mera Dil, or see all Salman Daieem novels and the latest Urdu novels.