Noor E Angan by Zunaira Anjum

About this novelette

Noor E Angan (Urdu: نورِ آنگن) by Zunaira Anjum is a short Urdu novelette about a young woman who wakes from a three-year coma. When she opens her eyes she does not know who she is, and the people around her have their own reasons for what they tell her.

The story opens with a shout in a private hospital in Islamabad: “Doctor! Your patient is moving.” A nurse comes running to Dr. Khalid with news about the patient in Room 102, and the whole floor is suddenly alert. Dr. Khalid has been looking after this case for a long time, so he rushes in, checks her pulse and sees her eyelids flicker. In her medical history the chances of her ever waking up were described as very slim, so even this small movement feels like a miracle.

The patient belongs to Malik Tabraiz, a self-made businessman with a big name in business circles. Behind his success lies a personal tragedy: years earlier an accident took his wife and left his only daughter fighting for her life. She survived, but slipped into a coma, and for three long years Malik Tabraiz has waited praying for her every single day. Now Dr. Khalid calls him with two simple lines – “Congratulations Mr. Malik! Your patient is moving” – and Malik promises he will be there within the hour.

تین سال کی خاموشی کے بعد آنکھ کھلی، مگر اپنا نام تک یاد نہیں۔

When the girl finally opens her eyes, the room is full of faces she doesn’t recognise. Dr. Khalid gently asks how she is feeling and whether she is in any pain. She looks at him, then around the room, and asks the question that sets the whole novelette in motion: “Main kaun hoon, doctor?” – who am I? Her father’s long wait is over, but a new struggle is only beginning.

Zunaira Anjum keeps the story compact and emotional, focusing on a father’s love, a lost identity and the slow return of a life that had stopped. It is a quick read for anyone who likes family drama with a touch of mystery.

You can read Noor E Angan online here or download the complete PDF for free. More by the same writer: Ishq Be Mool (Episode 1) and Ishq Be Mool (Episode 2), or see all Zunaira Anjum novels and other novelettes.