Zahra speaks

Time is funny. Sometimes it goes by the pace of a turtle and sometimes a year seems like a moment passed by. It passes in a blink of an eye but one thing is for sure that every year teaches us something new. It's not what happened in the year. It's not about the achievements and failures or the highs and lows. It is about your transformation and what you learned out of it. Every year a new chapter initiates in your life. You begin the new year with a new version of yourself, the evolved version. For me, this year has been good and I learned a lot in this particular year. I'd call this year, the year of “the stranger”, my book. My first book got published from two platforms. As a writer, it was the biggest thing that could happen. The feeling of your book being out there for the people to read is an incredible feeling. A real sense of achievement. It felt very different but not for a moment I was apprehensive. I have seen people getting nervous about these things but for s

I have always been patriotic and very vocal about my opinions. As much as I love this homeland, I am deeply concerned and affected by the recent turn of events and their aftermath. I am not the person who judges people for their opinions and I have repeatedly talked about the difference in opinion being alright but recently, some people wrote comments on social media that moved me or should I put it this way, they shook me. I have never lost faith in my country. Even the thought of leaving this country used to haunt me but the first time in my life, the words that my fellow countrymen wrote broke my heart and I felt disappointed to be a part of such a society. People were spewing venom, literally. There is no discrimination in being compassionate towards people who are suffering, you just need to be human but unfortunately, the latest case of Dua Mangi made it very clear that people from our country have almost lost humanity, let alone being sympathetic. When such cases against w