27 December 2007, Rawalpindi, Pakistan.
Benazir Bhutto is about to address a political rally. Pakistan is torn between messianic fanatics and idealist reformers. An old school Sufi-activist Professor Umer is up against Colonel Burq, a hard line radical who will do anything to prevent her from coming to power. There is Dara Shikoh, the young, epileptic troubled lover who can smell the scent of her dead mother around him all the time. Son of Colonel Burq and a pupil of Professor Umer, all Dara wants is to live with the love of his life—Laleen.
Will the two lovers be able to create their paradise? Benazir’s rally is about to begin and it will change Dara’s life forever!
About the Author
Abbas Zaidi lives in Sydney, Australia with his family where he has taught linguistics, journalism and academic writing at the University of Sydney, the University of New South Wales, and Western Sydney University. In Lahore, he worked as a sub-editor, columnist, and editor with a national daily. He is the author of Two and a Half Words and Other Stories and Language Shift: Sociolinguistic Lives of Two Punjabi Generations in Brunei Darussalam. He is an editor-contributor to Faith-Based Violence and Deobandi Militancy in Pakistan. Zaidi is currently writing The Virtuous City, his second novel.