Pasheman By Riaz Aqib Kohlar

About this novel

Pasheman (Urdu: پشیمان, “regretful”) by Riaz Aqib Kohlar is an Urdu romance between a proud rich girl and the clerk’s son who loves her. It begins in a university canteen, where Uswa, who says she hates men, has just humiliated Ammar for loving her.

Her friend Rabab is shocked. “Tum pagal to nahi ho, Uswa?” Ammar is a decent-looking boy and one of the best students in the class; so what if he’s poor? Uswa only laughs at the “status” of a clerk’s son daring to fall for her, and says she has thrown so much water on his fire that not a spark can be left.

امیرزادی کا غرور، ایک کلرک کے بیٹے کی محبت، اور آنے والی پشیمانی۔

The conversation shows who both girls are. Uswa says she hates the whole male sex. When Rabab reminds her that marriage is part of fitrat, she says she’ll think about it if she ever feels the need. Rabab, from a middle-class family, is engaged to Kami, who has turned into a money-making machine and no longer has time for long calls. Uswa teases her about it, and Rabab teases back that Uswa keeps bringing up Ammar herself.

And Ammar hasn’t given up. He chooses the canteen table with a clear view of Uswa’s face and just looks. Uswa is ready to get up and make a scene; Rabab grabs her wrist and tells her not to give people something to talk about, because no one can stop a student from sitting in the university canteen.

The title tells you where this is going: someone in this story is going to be pasheman. It’s 766 pages long and sharp about class and pride.

You can read Pasheman online here or download the complete PDF for free. Also by Riaz Aqib Kohlar: Janoon e Ishq, Lado Rani and Bhagora, plus many more on the Riaz Aqib Kohlar novels page.