"Kolachi Dreams"

Kolachi Dreams. I kid you not. That is the name of a new book launched yesterday in Karachi. The book is written by Nadya A.R. At the launch was none other than Shobha De:

According to the Daily Times, the book's plot centers on a young man who becomes a terrorist after his sister is raped and murdered by the landlord of their village. He comes to Karachi and becomes enmeshed in the criminal underworld. Now, I haven't read the book, so I can't be sure about this. But I wonder if the author isn't doing us a disservice. I mean, I think if she had really tried, she could have packed in even more cliches into the novel. Maybe she could have added Osama as a fringe character; a Daniel Pearl-type could have made an appearance. And I'm only scratching the surface here...

Anyway, with a plot like that, it makes perfect sense that Shobha De was at the launch. When asked what she thought of Karachi, she said:

"It seems to me that Mumbai and Karachi are twin cities in terms of people, culture and environment! I wish we lived in a borderless world."

Welcome to the club, Shobha-ji.