While There is Light

by Tariq Mehmood

On bail for charges of suspected terrorism, Saleem decides he must travel back to Pakistan to visit his ailing mother. It is not a trip home, exactly, because 'home' is a hard concept for a man who was exiled as a boy into 'this bitch of a country called England'. Saleem's story moves between high comedy and tragedy, taking in a host of characters, some living by the old traditions, others emancipated and radical. Lives separated by continents and cultures, however, remain intricately linked.

220 pages, Paperback

First published April 1, 2004

Reviews

[Clare · Rating 4 out of 5]

A story with the power to break your heart. The author deftly conjures up and contrasts the two worlds his characters must straddle - the grim working class reality of Pakistanis in Leeds, struggling with employers, landlords, skinhead attackers, and law enforcement officers, for the most part all racists, and Pakistan, home of family, childhood memories, poverty, and crazy money-making schemes and antics. The reader can't help but ache over Mehmood's beautiful descriptive language and compelling characters. He clearly expressed the harmful repercussions of colonialism, its cascading cruelties and poisonous effects on colonizers and colonized people alike.

[Tariq Mahmood · Rating 4 out of 5]

Excellent book if you want to find out about the Mirpur and Potohari culture which forms the second largest slot in the UK. Must read for all second generation UK Pakistanis, at the least.