hamza 
My mother’s cousin came to visit us from a small village near Chakwal about four years ago. He had finished his matric, was a decent cook because he had helped in his family’s small dhaba since he was twelve, and had absolutely no idea what to do with his life next. He was one of … Read more
A close friend of mine spent three years preparing for CSS. Smart guy, genuinely hardworking, the kind of person who reads Dawn editorials for fun and can discuss constitutional amendments over chai without checking his phone. He cleared the written exam once but did not make it through the psychological assessment. After that, he was … Read more
My childhood friend Tariq wanted to join the police since he was about fourteen years old. Not for glamorous reasons, not because of some television drama. His older sister had faced a genuinely difficult situation involving property fraud, and the family spent two years navigating a system that felt completely indifferent to them. He watched … Read more
My younger cousin Bilal had been sitting at home for almost eight months after finishing his intermediate exams. He had applied to a few places; nothing was clicking, and the family pressure was quietly building the way it does in Pakistani households where every relative has an opinion about what you should be doing with … Read more
Three years ago, my neighbor’s son Hamza was in a situation that a lot of young men in Pakistan know too well. He had finished his matric, his family could not afford to send him to college right away, and the pressure of finding some kind of income was real and immediate. His father worked … Read more
My father’s friend Ustad Ghulam had been driving a private car for a government official in Lahore for almost six years. He was good at his job, reliable, knew the city roads better than most GPS systems, and had never had a serious accident in his life. But private driving work is unpredictable. When the … Read more
Anyone who has travelled by train in Pakistan has interacted with a booking clerk, whether they realised it at the time or not. That person behind the counter at Lahore Junction or Karachi Cantonment station who processes your ticket, checks seat availability, handles your payment, and answers whatever confused question you have about platform numbers … Read more
A friend of mine named Kamran spent two years after graduation sending CVs to private companies in Lahore. Marketing agencies, small software houses, retail chains. He got a few interviews, a few short-term jobs that went nowhere, and a growing frustration with the instability of private sector employment at entry level. His mother kept telling … Read more
I still remember the day Rescue 1122 showed up at our street in Lahore when a neighbor’s house caught fire. They were there within minutes. The way those rescuers moved, calm and completely focused in a situation where everyone else was panicking, left an impression on me that I have never forgotten. My younger brother, … Read more
When my senior from university told me he had gotten a job at the Ministry of Defence, my first reaction was confusion. I genuinely did not understand how a civilian with a commerce degree ended up working for what I assumed was a purely military institution. I pictured uniformed generals and weapons procurement, not accountants … Read more