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Tunnel Vision
By
Shandana Minhas
‘…In a coma, reduced to the sum of my biological functions, with none of the inconvenient audible interference of the brain or the ego, I was THE perfect woman, Pretty, Pliant, Docile, Accepting…’
Ayesha Siddiqui, 31 and independent, has just proposed to the man she loves, his silence makes her crash through the windshield of her car. In her comatose state, Ayesha floats between Time Past and Time Present.
The narrative meanders through Ayesha’s life, throwing up startling facts about her immediate family, relatives and friends. It brings to the fore her anguish, her love-hate relationship with her mother and her failed relationships with men, as she struggles to survive and build a career and an identity in a male-dominated society.
The story is set against the backdrop of Karachi – a city where the past, present and future battle it out on billboards, TV and the backs of rickshaws. The throes of flux, fluidity and transition being witnessed by the country provide a parallel to Ayesha’s own angst.
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