My audience

When I began writing three decades ago, my audience actually was the thousands of Western expats living in Pakistan - at least that is what I thought. Until that time, whatever travel writing for native English speakers existed was done by foreigners, and I felt that sometimes the nuance of a Punjabi phrase, or even something said by a Sindhi, Baloch or Pathan was lost in translation. I wanted to pass on the Pakistan of Sindhi, Baloch, Pathan and Punjabi people, real people, to the reader of English.

But whereas my work was then known to most expats, I soon found that a good number of Pakistanis also read it. Now, since we turned an 'insecurity state', there are few expats. There has, moreover, been a decline in the quality of diplomats as well. Time was when consul generals and high commissioners came calling at our home because they wanted to know Pakistan and read my work. A couple of years ago, a friend told me of some woman heading the American Centre at Lahore whose only interest was boutiques and a high class pimp of the old city.

There is no philosophy in my writing, no hidden meanings. I write simply and whoever reads my work, I expect, looks at it with the same spirit I write with.