Namaste — traditional Hindu greeting
fanoos — (Arabic: lamp or light); a traditional ornamental hanging lantern found in Morocco and Egypt
chai — a tea consumed across much of the Indian subcontinent, usually cooked with milk, sugar and a variety of spices
ghee — clarified butter
bindi — a Hindu custom of adorning a woman’s forehead with a red dot, usually to indicate that she is married
(sari) pallu — the decorated border or hem of a sari (traditional women’s attire worn across the Indian subcontinent)
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
I am delighted to see this first collection published by Inanna, under the editorship of Luciana Ricciutelli. Profound thanks to you, Luciana, and your intrepid crew, for expertly navigating this tipsy craft to safe harbour.
I am fortunate to be surrounded by individuals whose creative energy, wit, and wisdom inspire at every turn; in this regard, I am especially grateful to my cherished and supremely accomplished comrades, Tanis MacDonald and Philippa Gates. Thanks also to Tamas Dobozy and Tanis MacDonald for proving that it is possible to conduct an academic and creative life in productive harmony. And thanks to Eleanor Ty for bringing “Corazon’s Children” (in its earliest iteration) to the attention of her students, and to the rest of my dear colleagues of the Department of English and Film Studies at Wilfrid Laurier University for their uniquely patented brands of friendship and support.
Beyond university halls, Waterloo-based activist Ulises Fuentes is owed my sincere thanks for taking the time to share his insights regarding the plight of the migrant agricultural worker in Southern Ontario.
To my family, I owe everything. The enduring love and unflinching support of my father, Rafiq Pirbhai, is always near at hand, as is the special kind of passport to the world that has been and continues to be his self-replenishing gift to me. And every story I tell is animated by the irrepressible creativity and quiet resilience of my late mother, Qamar Iqbal.
I am awed, as always, by my brother Reza Pirbhai, for his fierce intelligence, effortless artistry and enviable command of Urdu (!), and my sister Nooreen Pirbhai, for a depth of conviction that is equally matched by her depth of compassion: thank you both for giving me a kinship, a friendship, and a source of emotional and intellectual nourishment that is as invaluable as air. I am blessed to be part of our very special little family of global misfits, including your beautiful life partners and children: Reem Meshal and Ilyas; Mandeep Flora and Zahya. (And a very special note of thanks is due to Mandeep, for opening a door to a vital segment of the South Asian Canadian diaspora, allowing me to deepen my connections therein.)
To my husband, Ronaldo Garcia, who lives with my stories as intimately as I do, be it as beloved muse, cultural conduit, keen translator, patient sounding board, or adoring partner: these words take flight with you and find meaning through you, always.
NOTES
The story “Outside People” was first published in Maple Tree Literary Supplement, Issue # 19 (May-August 2015). It was also re-printed in a backdated special creative issue, edited by Ameena Gafoor, of The Arts Journal (TAJ), Vol 10.1 & 2 (2014-2015): 14-20.
An earlier version of “Air Raids” was first published in the anthology Her Mother’s Ashes III: Stories by South Asian Women in Canada and the United States, edited by Nurjehan Aziz (Toronto: TSAR, 2009: 114-123). Print.
An earlier version of “Sunshine Guarantee,” was first published in a special creative issue titled “Pakistani Creative Writing in English (Tracing the Tradition: Embracing the Emerging),” guest edited by Waseem Anwar and Fawzia Afzal-Khan, of the South Asian Review Vol. 31.3 (2010): 274-288.
The epigraphs appear with permission from Sheep Meadow Press and The Monthly Press.
Note also that the poetic stanza in “Crossing Over” is extracted from the poem “Prometheus” by Lord (George Gordon) Byron (1816).
Photo: John Ternan
Mariam Pirbhai was born in Pakistan, and lived in England and the Philippines before emigrating to Canada. She lives in Waterloo, Ontario, where she is an Associate Professor in the Department of English and Film Studies, at Wilfrid Laurier University. She has published several academic books in the field of postcolonial and diaspora studies. Her short stories have appeared in numerous anthologies and literary journals, in Canada and abroad. Outside People and Other Stories is her debut collection of short fiction.
Outside People and Other Stories Page 16