The Birth of this Blog, Place: Quetta, Pakistan

Fatima Ijaz and Taha Kehar were invited to the Quetta Literary Festival 2022, in the capacity of artists - poet and novelist. In the markhor city, they decided to pen down their creative thoughts, using the technique of 'response'. The following entry is the first of the series of write-ups that emerged from this collaboration.

BIRTH OF AN IDEA

Calculating Quetta

By Fatima Ijaz

Would the night be of any use to you?

Ash black star centipede

In the engine eye

climbing tears

reaching, ladder.

Is that a black, black rose?

sin to porcelain touch;

black tissue

gathers my blood

in esoteric starfish

circling in cosmic stare.

I see you, iridescent,

Sincere – fragmentary.

Shall we begin to write…

--

Untitled

by Taha Kehar

‘Shall we begin to write?’ The question, cradled in his gentle voice, didn’t bear the urgency of a command. The distant hum of a cricket rose as a brisk reply in the fruity air. I didn’t need to respond to his query. I plucked out the pen tucked neatly behind my ear and held it against the blank page. My words performed gymnastics on paper, but the catharsis never came. He eyed me with suspicion as I wrote feverishly.

‘Remember,’ he said. ‘We have to write about Quetta.’

How could I tell the story of a city that I didn’t know. The crickets hummed, as if to protest on my behalf.