Of Smokeless Fire by A.A. Jafri (i wanna iguana read aloud TXT) 📕

and struggled in the new country’s early days. They taught me the importance of honest work and persistence.

To Yasmin, who encouraged me throughout the writing of this novel. Without her constant support, her readings and rereadings, her thoughtful suggestions and her literary insights, my dream as a writer would have remained just that. There is no one I would rather spend my life with than her.

To Farhan and Nabeel, who, in their childhood, insisted that I create stories for them. Their questions about why, what, when and how helped me structure my stories to their satisfaction. To Saara, who became our daughter and brightened our lives.

To my bhaiya, Safder, who introduced me to literature and sent me novels and plays from London that were not available in Karachi. He encouraged me to write when I showed him my first effort at Urdu poetry.

To all my other family members who have impacted my life and supported me in so many ways.

To Jack Luzkow, my best friend, who read several early and later drafts patiently and gave me much-needed encouragement and valuable suggestions.

To my friend and brother Lokesh Chaturvedi, who read an early draft of this novel and whom I’ll always miss.

To May Maxwood and Hatice Husnu, my first readers, who always thought that my book was very publishable. I am grateful for all their support.

To Venugopalan Menon, my dear friend and roommate at university, for his wisdom and hours of conversations about films and literature. His concerns about my studies were fully noted.

To my dear friend Shashi Lalvani, whose family was also uprooted from Sindh during the Partition and whose love of the province I share.

To Karachi, my birthplace, for the beautiful memories that pepper this story.

Finally, I want to thank my editorial team at Penguin Random House India: Tarini Uppal, who took a chance on me and was unstinting in her generous guidance and expertise. Her emails always came promptly and as a wonderful boost; and Aslesha Kadian, whose careful reading and excellent suggestions helped me greatly. I was fortunate to have such brilliant editors.

THE BEGINNING

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This collection published 2021

Copyright © A.A. Jafri 2021

The moral right of the author has been asserted

Cover design by Ahlawat Gunjan

This digital edition published in 2021.

e-ISBN: 978-9-390-91468-5

This book is sold subject to the condition that it shall not, by way of trade or otherwise, be lent, resold, hired out, or otherwise circulated without the publisher’s prior consent in any form of binding or cover other than that in which it is published and without a similar condition including this condition being imposed on the subsequent purchaser.