Our ace poet Ahmed Mushtaq writes: “Yeh hain naey loagon ke ghar, sach hai ab inn ko kya khabar/ Dil bhi kisi ka naam tha, gham bhi kisi ki zaat thi [These are the dwellings of new people, understandable that they won’t know/ There was something named heart, there was sorrow that defined a being].”

With the inscription of this verse begins the 12th short story collection of Dr Shershah Syed (widely known as Shershah), titled Dil Bhi Kisi Ka Naam Tha. Overall, Shershah has published more than two dozen books, including an original novel and many translations of fiction, non-fiction and science writing from English into Urdu.

During my years spent in Karachi, we lived for the longest in the southern city neighbourhood called Garden. We were a stone’s throw away from Gandhi Gardens, which also housed the city’s oldest zoo. Our place was on Garden Road (later renamed Aga Khan III Road). The road had some old and historic establishments, including the police headquarters — where they have now also instituted the Sindh Police Museum — the Anklesaria hospital, the Makki Masjid, the Habib Girls’ School and the Pakistan Medical Association (PMA) House.

The PMA House not only served as the headquarters of the association, it provided a space for dissent, free speech, resistance literature, cultural performances, labour movements and enlightened political organisation during the long-drawn martial........

© Dawn (Magazines)