O. R. Nizam Road

Ash C. Milan 1 story

Summary

On a hot and dusty afternoon in Pakistan, a young boy awaits the return home of his father. His searching eyes notice a girl appear from within a local store. Spellbound, he continues to watch her, until a rickshaw comes to a nearby halt. The boy turns away from the young girl and rushes towards his father. He will run in her opposite direction for many, many more years. On a hot and dusty afternoon in Pakistan, a young girl emerges from a grocery store. She spies a boy on the opposite side, at some distance. He seems somehow strangely familiar. As a chaperon escorts the girl away, a hurried glance back seals the moment. Once home, the memory of the boy is lost. But never quite forgotten. On the hustling, bustling street corner of O. R. Nizam Road, a young boy and girl meet for the first time. Moments later a shattering gunshot fells the young boy. So begins the story of Kareem and Meena. Both families soon emigrate to England but only as adults do they eventually return to Pakistan to realise an entwined destiny. The year is 1971 and there is huge change and upheaval in the country culminating in rage and a civil war for the independence of Bangladesh. Once again the families are uprooted, only now they are fleeing for their lives.