Surat hari Minggu

Setiap hari Minggu, beberapa surat, dipilih dari surat-surat yang penulisnya izinkan untuk dibaca dunia.

Minggu, 20 September 2026

01Harapan
Untuk ⁨Divya⁩
Mumbai · 2014
Divya, the number on that screen was never the size of you. I watched you shrink in front of it in that hot little café while the man at the counter pretended not to see you cry. You thought your whole life had just been decided by a website that kept crashing. It hadn't. Ten years later you are a woman who fixes things, who rings our mother every evening, who laughs too loudly at weddings. None of that was on the…
Baca
02Cinta
Untuk ⁨Sunita⁩
Patna · 2018
माँ, आज मैंने पहली बार अपने बच्चों के लिए आँगन में आग जलाई, और धुएँ से मेरी आँखें भर आईं। सिर्फ़ धुआँ नहीं था। मुझे याद आया कि तुम हर बार आँखें मलते हुए कहती थीं कि उपले गीले हैं, और मैं मान लेता था। अब समझ आता है। पापा के जाने के बाद तुम अकेले चार बच्चों को पाल रही थीं, और रोने के लिए तुम्हें धुएँ का बहाना चाहिए था। मैंने कभी पूछा नहीं, कभी तुम्हारा हाथ नहीं थामा। अब थामना चाहता हूँ। अगले महीने घर आ रहा हूँ। इस बार…
Baca
03Maaf
Untuk ⁨Naveed⁩
Faisalabad · 2022
Abbu, I watched your hands at my cousin's wedding and couldn't stop looking at them. They were only holding a cup of tea, but I remembered all at once that they were the same hands that gripped the handlebars of the rickshaw from six in the evening until two in the morning for four years, so that I could sit in a lecture hall and be bored. I never thanked you. Worse: in my first year, when my new friends were…
Baca
04Selamat tinggal
Untuk ⁨Faisal⁩
Lahore · 2021
Faisal bhai, aap ki kursi pe ab ek naya larka baithta hai jo headphones laga kar kaam karta hai. Woh acha hai, tez hai, lekin raat ke do baje chai ke liye awaaz nahi lagata. Aap ne mujhe pehle hi hafte bata diya tha ke akhbar mein sab se zaroori cheez khabar nahi, saath kaam karne wale hote hain, kyunke khabar to subah tak purani ho jaati hai. Aap retire hue to hum ne cake kaata, taaliyan bajayin, aur mein ne kuch…
Baca
05Selamat tinggal
Untuk ⁨Ellie⁩
Vancouver · 2023
Ellie, we were right to stop, and I want to say thank you before I say goodbye. Three years of setting alarms for each other's evenings. Three years of watching you eat breakfast while I ate dinner, of holding the phone to the window to show you my rain while you showed me your snow. We got so good at the distance that we forgot to ask whether we were good at anything else. I'm not angry. Most days I'm not even sad.…
Baca
06Cinta
Untuk ⁨علی⁩
Islamabad · 2017
علی، مجھے ہر کتاب میں تمہارا رکھا ہوا پتا ملتا تھا، اور میں نے کبھی کسی کو نہیں بتایا کہ میں وہی کتابیں جان بوجھ کر لیتی تھی۔ میرے پاس اب ان پتوں کا ایک پورا ڈبہ ہے: چنار کے، املتاس کے، اور ایک پیپل کا جو ٹوٹ کر آدھا رہ گیا ہے۔ میں نے کبھی ان پر کچھ لکھا نہیں، کبھی تم سے کچھ کہا نہیں۔ محبت کبھی کبھی بس یہی ہوتی ہے: کسی کی چھوڑی ہوئی نشانیاں چپکے سے جمع کرتے رہنا۔ اگر تم یہ پڑھو تو جان لو کہ تمہارے پتے کہیں گرے نہیں۔…
Baca

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Minggu, 20 September 2026

01Harapan

Untuk ⁨Divya⁩

Mumbai · 2014

Divya, the number on that screen was never the size of you. I watched you shrink in front of it in that hot little café while the man at the counter pretended not to see you cry. You thought your whole life had just been decided by a website that kept crashing. It hadn't. Ten years later you are a woman who fixes things, who rings our mother every evening, who laughs too loudly at weddings. None of that was on the…

Baca

02Cinta

Untuk ⁨Sunita⁩

Patna · 2018

माँ, आज मैंने पहली बार अपने बच्चों के लिए आँगन में आग जलाई, और धुएँ से मेरी आँखें भर आईं। सिर्फ़ धुआँ नहीं था। मुझे याद आया कि तुम हर बार आँखें मलते हुए कहती थीं कि उपले गीले हैं, और मैं मान लेता था। अब समझ आता है। पापा के जाने के बाद तुम अकेले चार बच्चों को पाल रही थीं, और रोने के लिए तुम्हें धुएँ का बहाना चाहिए था। मैंने कभी पूछा नहीं, कभी तुम्हारा हाथ नहीं थामा। अब थामना चाहता हूँ। अगले महीने घर आ रहा हूँ। इस बार…

Baca

03Maaf

Untuk ⁨Naveed⁩

Faisalabad · 2022

Abbu, I watched your hands at my cousin's wedding and couldn't stop looking at them. They were only holding a cup of tea, but I remembered all at once that they were the same hands that gripped the handlebars of the rickshaw from six in the evening until two in the morning for four years, so that I could sit in a lecture hall and be bored. I never thanked you. Worse: in my first year, when my new friends were…

Baca

04Selamat tinggal

Untuk ⁨Faisal⁩

Lahore · 2021

Faisal bhai, aap ki kursi pe ab ek naya larka baithta hai jo headphones laga kar kaam karta hai. Woh acha hai, tez hai, lekin raat ke do baje chai ke liye awaaz nahi lagata. Aap ne mujhe pehle hi hafte bata diya tha ke akhbar mein sab se zaroori cheez khabar nahi, saath kaam karne wale hote hain, kyunke khabar to subah tak purani ho jaati hai. Aap retire hue to hum ne cake kaata, taaliyan bajayin, aur mein ne kuch…

Baca

05Selamat tinggal

Untuk ⁨Ellie⁩

Vancouver · 2023

Ellie, we were right to stop, and I want to say thank you before I say goodbye. Three years of setting alarms for each other's evenings. Three years of watching you eat breakfast while I ate dinner, of holding the phone to the window to show you my rain while you showed me your snow. We got so good at the distance that we forgot to ask whether we were good at anything else. I'm not angry. Most days I'm not even sad.…

Baca

06Cinta

Untuk ⁨علی⁩

Islamabad · 2017

علی، مجھے ہر کتاب میں تمہارا رکھا ہوا پتا ملتا تھا، اور میں نے کبھی کسی کو نہیں بتایا کہ میں وہی کتابیں جان بوجھ کر لیتی تھی۔ میرے پاس اب ان پتوں کا ایک پورا ڈبہ ہے: چنار کے، املتاس کے، اور ایک پیپل کا جو ٹوٹ کر آدھا رہ گیا ہے۔ میں نے کبھی ان پر کچھ لکھا نہیں، کبھی تم سے کچھ کہا نہیں۔ محبت کبھی کبھی بس یہی ہوتی ہے: کسی کی چھوڑی ہوئی نشانیاں چپکے سے جمع کرتے رہنا۔ اگر تم یہ پڑھو تو جان لو کہ تمہارے پتے کہیں گرے نہیں۔…

Baca