Banaam

Mahnoor

Islamabad · 2019

TarapAwaami khat

Ek awaami khat. Is ke likhne wale ne ise sab ke parhne ke liye khula chhora.

Ishara

We took the 6:40 bus every morning for two years and never once spoke, and you always had a library book with a yellow spine.

Mahnoor, I only learned your name from the conductor, who shouted it the morning you left your umbrella behind.

For two years we sat four seats apart on the 6:40, and I knew the way you held a book open with one thumb, and the way you looked up at the hills each time the bus came round the last bend, as if checking they were still there. I never said a word. I thought there would always be tomorrow's bus. Then one morning there wasn't you. If you are reading this somewhere far away: the hills are still there. I check for both of us.