Asian Window

In The Hindu Literary Review, Pakistani novelist Moni Mohsin catches up with Daniyal Mueenuddin whose debut collection of short stories, In Other Rooms, Other Wonders, was published recently.

Moni Mohsin and Daniyal Mueenuddin

Despite your lyrical descriptions of Punjabi landscape, the place you portray is hard, unforgiving. Have you found it unremittingly so?

Not at all. Pakistan is, to my taste, perhaps the most beautiful country in the world, and I’ve experienced greater generosity from people here than anywhere else. It is a desperately poor country, however, and so people struggle more violently and with more deadly intention in order to secure their lives than they do in the affluent West. Grub first, then ethics, as the epigram says.

More:

Similar Posts:

• Musharraf: ‘Pakistanis know I can be tough’
• Sold, pimped, abandoned
• Bollywood’s ‘karaoke for the poor’ teaches Indians to read
• One Pakistani institution places his faith in another
• Pakistan needs more than just an election