A story without any pretension

creative Andaleeb Wajid

Though it took a long time to publish, Andaleeb said she is happy that it is finally out for people to read.
Kite Strings tries to portray the life of Lababin Muslims through the eyes of Mehnaz. It traces her journey from an adolescent to a young woman and the challenges she faces in the conservative environment, in which she lives.

The protagonist had similarities with Andaleeb and one wondered whether Mehnaz was her, “She certainly reacts the way I would in real life but at the end of the day, it is a fiction,” Andaleeb explains.
The chief guest of the evening Wendy M Dickson, who is also a teacher of Andaleeb, described the book as “a simple story told without any pretensions.”
The book, she says, deals with delicate issues like roles defined for women in society, impact that family feuds have on young minds, sibling rivalry, complexity of relationships, child abuse etc.

“All the characters are so real in the story that one can actually feel for them and wonder what each character is thinking,” says Wendy.
“The mother-daughter relationship, the humour and the sensitivity through which she has explained the life of a modern Muslim girl is well-handled. The smell of biryani and kheema samosas pervades the novel,” she adds.
Author Christina Daniels, who was also present at the launch, said, “Often one sees influences from other authors but after reading the book, I felt that her writing was very original and from the heart.”

The launch was followed by a reading from the chapter Fat in Fire, which described the a naughty sequence between the two children.
“I found a different thing to say each time someone asked me about the book. All I can say is that it is a coming of age kind of novel which captures those memories of growing up which one cannot forget and those that points out a direction to one’s life,” says Andaleeb, who is now working on her second novel, More Than a Biryani.