Ishq Kinara[Love Ashore] Complete

Epilogue

It wasn't the first time Elaf was leaving Karachi. But it was definitely the first for her where she was actually happy to do so. Pretty excited as well. She looked around at the small group of people accompanying her. Deepak Bhai, Zohra Ma'am, her teammates, and fellow artists.

They were travelling to Lahore for the Annual Faiz Festival. Officials from the academy hadn't been invited to it before but that was before Amanta.

The play which exponentially soared through the literacy circles of the country. The first show itself was trendsetting in its own way, garnering the attention of masses interested in performing arts. First play led to the second. Then to the third and soon Elaf and her team got to perform it in front of a vast audience, people from different walks of life and she realized how true were Sarim's words when she was working on the preliminary stuff for this play.

Sarim Haider.

She smiled leaning into her seat. Her finger fiddled with the wedding ring on her other hand, caressing it fondly.

Ten months of being together. Ten months of love, companionship and so much more. Ten months where Elaf knew she was living fully. Without any remorse. Without any fear. Without any worry.

She was thriving professionally and on a personal front she had her whole world on the other side of the bed, on the other corner of the couch and on the chair next to her on the table.

Everything warm and everything hers.

___

"Amanta is a story woven so delicately and executed with such conviction that every woman of this country can pause and whisper to herself 'this is me'. It covers a vast span of time, the 50's charm, the 60's turbulence, the 70's change, the 80's radicalization, and the stability of the 90's. But in all this the never changing plight of the women, in different capacities, morphing into new themes and new ideas but not inching away from the core. This play and its intricacies are something that can make us all think and we should. We should think about what we have done for our women so far and what we let them do for themselves."

The presenter was in all praises standing on the podium. The people sitting in the Alhamra Arts Center were applauding and looking at the kind faces around, Elaf felt her breath hitching in her throat.

She had never even dreamed of it.

She remembered those days when theater was just her way of feeling her true self. To keep something alive within her. She never thought she would be able to do anything about it, making it her professional was something she couldn't even think about.

But here she was.

And oh, she was here.

Because that was her arena since the very beginning.

The smile didn't falter when her name was announced as the play writer. It didn't falter when she was called the new face of performing arts in Pakistan and it also didn't fade when she was called to the stage.

Clad in a long shirt with trousers, her hair in a messy bun, there was nothing extravaganza to her appearance. She was so Elaf. But her work was proof that there was everything special about her, her thought process and what she added to her plays.

She stood there, facing the people who had the same thing common with her, love for arts. Love for theater.

"Asslam Alaikum. I hope you all are doing fine. My voice is a bit scratchy. It's early winter and Lahore air is somewhat different from Karachi. I'm getting the hang of it, though."

The easygoing tone. Her trademark.

"But that's where the differences end. I've gotten the same love and acceptance from all of you here."