Qabool Hai by Isha Gill

About this novel

Qabool Hai (Urdu: قبول ہے) by Isha Gill is a short, light romantic Urdu novel about a college girl and a very persistent admirer. Nimra finds the same young man waiting for her at the corner of her street every single day.

The story begins on a day Nimra is late for college. As she hurries round the corner, she glances back and sees him standing there again, just as he has for several days, quietly watching her pass. He is tall and fair, with brown hair falling over his forehead and honey-coloured eyes, clearly from a wealthy family. That is exactly what puzzles her: why would a boy like that stand in her narrow gali waiting for her? She never dares to ask and walks on to the main road.

گلی کے موڑ پر روز کھڑا ایک لڑکا، اور ایک سیدھا سا سوال۔

Then one day he stops her. His name is Hamza, and when she sharply asks what he wants, he tells her plainly that he likes her very much and wants to marry her. Nimra’s first reaction is a mix of nerves and anger: “Tum pagal ho?” He is younger than her, she doesn’t even know who he is, and she warns him never to block her way or stand in her street again. Hamza only smiles and asks how she knows he is younger. The answer is a funny little twist: a few days earlier she had picked up an ID card someone dropped in the lane, read the date of birth, and Hamza had taken it from her hand, telling her to take better care of her precious things in future.

Isha Gill keeps the tone sweet and playful, built on quick dialogue and the age difference that Nimra treats as a wall and Hamza treats as nothing at all. As the title suggests, it’s a story about whether she will finally say “qabool hai”.

You can read Qabool Hai online here or download the complete PDF for free. For more by the same writer, try Agar Tum Saath Ho and Heer, or see all Isha Gill novels.