Book review: Return of the Butterfly by Moni Mohsin

Return of the Butterfly by Moni Mohsin

I just made the acquaintance of the Butterfly. She knows all of Lahore, half of Isloo (er, Islamabad to us ?), half of Dubai and a good spattering of Delhi also; her understanding of world affairs is not too nuanced, she mixes her metaphors all the time but boy, does she have a vociferous and decided opinion about everything happening inside Pakistan and outside it, too. Whether it is Osama being stolen in broad midnight from under the army’s noses by Americans and their seals, whether Imran K is really uptight (or is it upwrite, she asks), how India has always been her Most Flavoured Nation, and much more besides.

Sample this: Janoo is alighting candles in Zahoori Bagh. When he told me he was going there for alighting candles, I thought it must be something to do with load shedding. But, no. It was a do with civil society against Talibans, na. Aajkal whenever the extremists burst a bomb and fifty people die, civil society wallahs, they at once fight back by alighting candles. The poors, I mean those who can`t afford generators, they alight candles in their homes but we khaata peeta civil society types , we do it in public places only, and only when we want to went our rage.

And these: You know, if I was to start a school…I would do only one check up. That of bagground. Those with good baggrounds, children of sugar mill wallahs and big textile typhoons and other business magnets and of course, big big landlords would get in straight away.

Prince William (oho Queen ka grandson, baba, Charles ka beta) has turned out to be completely beghairat. Look at him. This trashy French magazine takesp hotos of his wife Kate Middleclass in topless and actually prints them and he can`t do a thing about it. I thinks so Prince William should burn tyres and disrupt traffic in front of Selfridges and Harvey Nicholas, he should stop anyone driving a Renault or a CitronG, drag them out of their cars and beat them up before setting fire to their cars. Mein kehti hoon, he should even come to French Beach in Karachi and burn the sea over there.

One could get addicted to this one sharp dig-three hearty chuckles style of satire.