Shumaila Taher

That Night

(Figment of my imagination)

I was angry. An argument with my friend at a party got out of hand. Things wouldn’t have gotten worse if the tone in which it was said would have been taken into account. It is rightly said” To err is human”. Well I don’t put all the blame on her . Truth has its own forms. Infuriated as I was I dashed out of the room, down the stairs, through the hallway and in no time i found myself walking down the road. I felt a gust of cold wind rush through my face, it’s when i realized how cold it was. It was midnight , stars shining with all its blaze and the moon appeared as beautiful and luminous as ever. I saw a number of people sleeping on the streets, people with no shelter ,wrapped up in thin blankets trying to protect themselves from this BITTER cold. Ignoring the world around me, i kept on walking.“This was the third time this month that we fought, i wasn’t going to take it anymore”. I thought to myself. My mind on war, preoccupied with the events that had followed, i didn’t notice a girl sitting on the footpath .As soon as i heard a cry i looked around to see, where it was coming from. My eyes met the glaze of the girl who looked at me with frightened eyes, eyes that were sore due to constant weeping, eyes that spoke more than words could. I went up to her. It’s when i realized the dilemma she was in. Her clothes were all torn and shaggy , her hair brittle and dirty. Her little feet were swollen and i could see cuts and bruises on them which she had got walking barefoot. She looked scared and hungry, helpless as I was I stood there staring at the little girl in utter disbelief. For a moment neither of us spoke, she because i was a complete stranger to her and i because the sight that i saw left me speechless. After a few minutes of silence , I gathered the strength to talk to her. At first she didn’t speak, I could see the horror in her eyes, my presence was not liked by her. I somehow wanted to help her. A part of me said that I should go back home ,it was getting late while the other half of me felt a sense of obligation towards her. I closed my eyes and took a deep breath , i had taken my decision i wasn’t going to leave this poor child alone in this cold. I gave her a pack of chips i had in my purse.( I wonder how junks come to the rescue even in adverse situations.) However, before i could hand over the packet to her , she snatched it from me. I watched her empty the packet , the way she started licking it. She hadn’t had a meal for days, which was evident. I regretted having eaten the other packet . She looked at me again, but this time her eyes told a different story…………….

A Face only a Mother can love

I woke up to my mother’s loud but affectionate voice that always worked a million times better than an alarm clock . She opened the windows , letting the bright sun break the darkness that lingered in and around me . This was her usual routine. I took a glance at my mother who still radiated beauty , her slightly brown hair tied up in a neat bun , she looked as serene as the white snow and as lively as the spring. Her hands constantly moving as she folded the bed sheets , her eyes sparkling , throwing beams of warmth and love and hope. She would talk about the neighbors cat who was nothing but a menace , about her favorite daily soap while she would still continue cleaning up every little thing that’d hamper the hygiene she’d never failed to keep. For once , I couldn’t stop staring at her. Her voice fading away as I was encircled by a ring of thoughts that took me into a land of dreams. There, I saw my mother sitting under a tree . This time she looked completely different. Startled , I stepped back . My mother had lost her charm , her energy , her radiant beauty. Her eyes were now dark and empty. She looked old. That’s when I was hit by reality. I moved towards her . The closer I went , the more excruciatingly painful the sight appeared. The next moment I found myself running while I struggled to catch my breath . I called on to my mother to stop but she didn’t seem to listen . I saw her going away from me , I could see her body becoming smaller as she moved farther , I cried for her to turn back , I cried for her to listen but my voice seemed to encircle around . ‘Stop, please stop!!’ , I screamed. I stumbled and fell hard on the ground. Ignoring the pain I kept running . But she wouldn’t stop. Didn’t she love me ? Wasn’t she supposed to pick me up and make things alright ? Tears streaming down my cheeks , I felt dazed. My vision became blurred and I finally stopped breathing.
I could feel the familiar touch , sense the familiar smell and at once breathed a sigh of relief. As I began to peel back layers of my own consciousness , my feelings of isolation and desperation lessened. I felt my mother’s strong hands tightly wrapped around me while her soothing voice played like music in my ears. Like a piece of stardust , something deep inside of me began to illuminate my soul as I met her shining eyes . ‘I love you, my child’ . She whispered. ‘ I love you too , mom’ , I said and crawled into her arms and slept for what seemed like eternity.

REVIEW : The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo

Author : Steig Larrson

Genre : Crime/Thriller/Mystery

Sometimes, you read a book and it fills you with this weird evangelical zeal, and you become convinced that the shattered world will never be put back together unless and until all living humans read the book. The girl with Dragon Tattoo is one such thrilling novel.To be honest i was awestruck after I read this MILLENNIUM TRILOGY , a crime novel by the late author and journalist STEIG LARSSON (Also, now a popular movie) . The book is highly complex , engrossing and equally frustrating because every time one mystery is solved another just crops up and leaves you wondering and wanting for more. For those of you who are planning on reading this book , there’s one advice that i would like to give. : DO NOT GET DISAPPOINTED after reading a few pages because this book does require a lot of patience for starters. I almost put this book down so many times due to lengthy expositions and too many details about too many characters but, and this is a big BUT, once i finished reading 45% of the book , i simply couldn’t put this book down.

The story starts when Mikael Blomkvist, the editor of an investigative financial magazine called Millennium is found guilty of libel by a Swedish court for the article he published about a shady financier. The dense back story on Blomkvist’s predicament unfortunately slowed down the narrative to the point that I began to wonder whether the book may have been overhyped. But twenty pages into the novel when the intriguing Lisbeth Salander is introduced, the story takes off like a rocket.

Disgraced and derided by the Swedish press , Blomkvist takes a temporary leave of absence from Millennium.Out of work, he is hired (enticed actually) by Eric Vanger of the venerable Vanger Corp to investigate a cold case that happened thirty years before: the disappearance of sixteen-year-old Harriet Vanger, the likely heir to the Vanger fortune. Blomkvist accepts the job and searches for an assistant to help him with his research.

Enter punk-haired and severely underdeveloped Lisbeth Salander (yes, the girl with the dragon tattoo, among her other body art), a mistrustful, anti-social, and oft-violent twenty-five-year-old woman who has been declared mentally incompetent by the state and placed under guardianship of a state-appointed lawyer. What the government doesn’t know is that Salander is highly intelligent, a kind of wonder girl, who secretly works as an investigative researcher for the biggest security firm in Sweden. Through his unthreatening wiles, Blomkvist is able to earn Salander’s trust and the two of them embark on an investigative journey that uncovers a sinister Vanger family history that eventually endangers both their lives.

This novel describes the life of a very VERY special investigator agent.
She has no sort of past high school education but has the intellect and writing skills of anyone with post college education. The name, Lisbeth Salander. one of the most interesting characters brought to the written world. She is not your typical girl, she’s a lanky young adult with an edgy style impossible to not define from miles away. She comes across as someone who needs to be attended with help, but once you get passed all the judgement and her reasoning, you begin to connect and understand her life almost like a good friend. Not only does it discuss about Salander and her life, but it also incorporates the case she has been set to do. The best part about this book is that it connects her life and Salander’s past experience with her job so much. Definitely , A GIRL OF MANY THOUGHTS.

The story that unfolds is as dark and cold as Sweden itself, but will never, for one moment, bore or cease to surprise you. There is a lot of sex and violence, often combined in graphic prose. Even outside of the main plot, Salandar’s story is a dark, intriguing enigma in itself.

The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo is highly recommended for the reader who likes smart, complex puzzles and unusual, complex characters. You won’t quickly forget Blomkvist or Salandar.I didn’t and i often think about these characters.

Luckily, we also have The Girl Who Played With Fire and The Girl Who Kicked Over the Hornet’s Nest.