Sulaghtein Rahein By Hamna Tanveer

About this novel

Sulagti Rahein by Hamna Tanveer is a long, intense Urdu novel of secrets and hidden pain that opens on a stormy night. In a grand house a mysterious deal is being made, and the title means smouldering paths.

It is some unknown hour of the night, and the clouds are roaring as if trying to lighten their hearts. Raindrops dance in the darkness, and in the drawing room of a huge, palace-like house, tiny drops break against the window. Hamna Tanveer turns the rain into a reflection on human pain: just as these clear drops wash the dust off the earth, tears wash the dust off a heart. When the darkness lifts, something like a diamond shines through.

The writer then pauses to say something important about people. When the sky cries, everyone calls it ordinary, but if a person cries in front of others, they are mocked. Many people know how to understand someone’s grief, but few actually help. We all talk big, she writes, but when the time comes, we become like everyone else. In today’s world, laughing at other people’s pain has become our favourite pastime, and we never stop to think what that person might be going through. Breaking hearts is easy, but the real skill lies in mending them.

Then the scene comes back to the room. The thin rain is getting heavier, and the thick curtains are drawn so that no one outside can see in. A woman has just finished speaking and is waiting for the reaction of the man in front of her. “Yeh paise, baqi jab zaroorat pare mujhe ek phone call kar dena,” she says, offering him help whenever he needs it, with a warning in her eyes. He looks at her coldly, with eyes that say he knows exactly what he is doing. “Kaam main apni marzi se karoon ga,” he replies, picks up his briefcase and walks to the door. In the fireplace, flames are rising, just like the fire burning inside that woman. Hamna Tanveer promises a story full of tension and burning paths.

دل کی آگ جب بھڑکتی ہے تو راستے بھی سلگنے لگتے ہیں۔

Read more by Hamna Tanveer: Tawaif, Uljhay Bandhan and Shab e Chiragh, or see all Hamna Tanveer novels.