Shamal Days
By author Sabin Iqbal @sabiniqbal
Publisher: @harpercollinsin
Gulf countries are quite popular for their job opportunities for many. Young minds in the hope of shining future and luxurious life land up there. But do their later lives match what they dreamt of? Have you ever noticed political power sometimes and very unfortunately have a great hand in influencing the fourth estate of many such lands?
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Blurb:
A middle-aged bachelor heading the editorial at a newspaper in an imagined country in the Arabian Gulf, Abbas is beset by loneliness and the attendant regret - a life punctuated by ifs and maybes, and the dreariness of the dry and dusty shamal winds. Presented with the opportunity to finally bring change in his life, will indecision get the better of him or will he be able to steer his life away from his less-than-beautiful reality? Set in the 1990s, with escalating violence in West Asia serving as the backdrop, this is the story of Abbas and of the small newsroom that brings together people - from different backgrounds and with individual stories but shared editorial goof-ups - to a country built and run by the expatriate workforces. Shamal Days is a whimsical, ironic take on the aspirations and resentments of expatriate life in a tiny desert country and on the political unrest in the region.
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✨This book is not only the story of many such dreamers professional life but their personal turmoils too. Subtly it touches upon nuances of one's private relations as well. Through the tellings of each character's background, the pages let us understand the delicate human emotions.
If you are looking for a book with something fresh, may be you can pick this up sometime soon.