Small things like 'alif madd aa'

One summer evening in 2025, I sat down for tea outside the Quetta Hotel in Lahore’s Firdous Market. The place was crowded as usual. Three young Pashtun boys joined my table as this was the only table with three empty chairs. I had the fourth. They spoke Pashto among themselves, but one of the boys was on the phone explaining to someone in Urdu about his difficulties in getting his National ID Card from the National Database Regulatory Authority (NADRA). Apparently, his father had mistakenly provided the same name for him and his brother at the time of registration. This boy was now trying to sort out the mistake in NADRA records to get his ID card made. “My name is Gul Khan and my brother is Agul Khan. There’s a difference of alif madd aa only... we live in Gulberg…,” he went on trying to explain on the phone. They were in their early 20s, perhaps daily wage laborers or house help in the posh locality of Gulberg. Our tea came; the waiter thought we were all together. I tried to pay for all of us as I had been at the table before them and the waiter had also thought that we were all together. But they didn’t let me do that. I insisted, they refused. I gave up, said a polite thank you, and left. On my way out, I bought a bottle of water for myself from a nearby kiosk and three boxes of juice for the boys. The vendor was kind enough to deliver these to the boys on my behalf. They were surprised. They looked around, I waved and smiled from a distance. There was no way they could refuse it now. I felt good walking back to my hotel. Small things can make a big difference, like an alif madd aa!

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