Deep Ties

Shilpa Suraj, the winsome author of the delightful romance 'Driven By Desire', shares her thoughts in a guest post on my blog 'Deep Ties'. The Value of a Moment “Could you give me a moment?” I say those words close to fifty times a day. Sometimes I do get that moment of breathing space. Most times I don’t. My life is a constant juggling act and I often fear that if I slip up, I’ll get buried under all the balls that will come crashing down on my head. So, how do I deal? By stealing those moments. A moment to watch my daughter dance to Skidamarink for the 100 th time. A moment to hug my dog as he nuzzles my neck. A moment to watch a butterfly land on my rose bush. A moment to watch the birds splash around in the birdbath. A moment to read a line from a favourite book. A moment to listen to a song on the radio. A moment to watch my daughter sleep. A moment to breathe. A moment to be. Without the magic of those moments and so many more, I w...

‘Bahir’ by Monisha K Gumber is the tale of the stunning Sawera, a young girl who is born in Pakistan and adopted by her mother's sister, and the travails she goes through as she grows from “a petite girl with lots of facial hair” into a beautiful young girl with “the knack of attracting trouble”.  She moves along with her Ammi and Abba to Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. Once her brothers, Omar and Rashid, are born, she senses a change in the attitude of her Ammi towards her. Sawera turns into a rebel, craving love from others, as she looks for some excitement in her monotonous life. When she is caught with a boy, her parents take her back to Karachi to attend a wedding – her own. In her hurry to get married, she chooses Wasim, “nearly thirty and after a broken engagement and a broken heart, fell in love with my picture.”  However, she is soon disillusioned with her husband, and after delivering three children, she decides to leave him and go to Saudi, back to her parents,...