Please Stop by Sara Khan

About this afsana

Please Stop (Urdu: پلیز اسٹاپ) by Sara Khan is a short Urdu afsana about Nazneen, a quiet young woman haunted by the memory of that night. She tries to start over in a new office, but the past is not so easy to leave behind.

The story opens over a cup of tea. “Nazneen, yaar, let’s go out somewhere – look how lovely the weather is,” Ayesha says, watching birds flying in circles high in the sky. “No, yaar, I really don’t feel like going out today,” Nazneen answers, pulling a face as she takes the last sip of her tea. Then Ayesha asks the question that clearly weighs on both of them: “Nazneen… do you still remember that night?” She looks at her friend searchingly. “No – not at all!” Nazneen says, trying to keep her voice steady.

Ayesha doesn’t push. “Then let’s go – what are you thinking about? This kind of weather doesn’t come every day.” She takes Nazneen’s hands to pull her up, but Nazneen gently frees herself and says she’ll follow in a little while. “Okay, I’ll be ready in ten minutes, then we’ll go,” Ayesha says. Left alone, Nazneen watches a squirrel jumping from branch to branch on the jamun tree in front of her – and, watching it, she drifts far away into the past.

ایک بھولی نہ جانے والی رات، اور نئی زندگی شروع کرنے کی کوشش۔

The flashback takes us to an office. “Welcome, dear,” Ayesha says warmly, hugging Nazneen. “Come, I’ll show you your table.” She points out Nazneen’s desk and the one next to it, her own. Ayesha is cheerful and friendly, the kind of girl who makes friends with people in a moment. Barely five minutes after they sit down, the peon arrives: “Miss Nazneen, Asif Sir is calling you to his cabin.” Nazneen picks up her notepad, steadies herself and walks to her boss’s cabin. “May I come in, sir?” “Come in,” says Asif, busy typing on his computer. When she asks why he called her, he looks up at her with a smile.

Sara Khan builds the story slowly around a painful memory and a woman’s struggle to protect her dignity. The title – a plea to stop – hints that what began in that office is connected to the night Nazneen is trying so hard to forget.

You can read Please Stop online here or download the complete PDF for free. More by Sara Khan: Ishq Ka Rang Laal and Itani Achi Hai Meri Qismat Kia, or see all Sara Khan novels and more Urdu afsanay.