back at home at 70 Clifton the day
passed painfully it was evening mommy
was in the kitchen cooking and I went
into my parents bedroom and sat with
Zulfi as he watched television on the
bed he was a little child then and was
always so easy to take care of with his
easygoing and affectionate nature we
were lazily watching lost in space a
show made in the 1960s about missing
astronauts there was nothing else on
Sofie was lying down on his stomach his
head in his hands and I sat on Papa's
side of the bed reclining and resting my
head against the headboard it was close
to 8:00 when the phone rang it was a
girl from my ninth grade class at the
Karachi American school she was calling
to arrange for us to meet over the
weekend to discuss a history project I
slumped down leaning against the bed
sitting on the floor with my knees bent
talking on the phone we were speaking
when I first heard the gunfire it was a
single shot and it sounded very close I
moved the phone from my ear and waited
to see if Zulfi had heard it the sound
was still ringing in my ears when
several seconds later the echo the first
shot was interrupted by a barrage of
bullets they were coming from right
outside the window I could hear the
shooting as if the guns were being fired
right over our heads I'll call you back
I screamed into the phone and left
across the bed to pull my brother into
my chest he was close to the window and
though I had no idea what was happening
I knew that was the one dangerous
position for us to be in in the event of
gunfire I carried him skinny
six-year-old Zulfi into the dressing
room a small windowless corridor I
slammed the door shut and went to the
bathroom door I closed that too we sat
down with my back against the wall
Sophie's small and gentle his shiny
black hair was part of neatly across his
hair
sat next to me his bird-like features
betrayed his sudden fear and confusion
while the shooting lasting lasted five
minutes at the very least with no pause
in the crack of the bullets zalfie
huddled against me I hugged him and
pushed his face into my arms as if I
could protect him from the sound where's
mummy I didn't know I hope she was still
in the kitchen it faced the other side
of the house and the gunfire would not
have been as close to her as it was to
us we waited finally it stopped as I
stood up to open the door our mother
burst into the bedroom screaming she
pulled me and Sofie off the floor and
took us into the drawing room yet
another windowless room in seventy
Clifton we sat in the drawing room for
close to half an hour waiting the
shooting had stopped and we asked the
Chokey down the gatekeeper to check
outside and tell us what had happened
the area was thronged with police he
said and they wouldn't let him out of
the house
stay inside till it's safe the police
told him I paced up and down the room
there were no mobile phones in Backus
and then they had been banned by the
then democratic government who managed
to keep a few for themselves before
closing down the market for the rest of
the country we had no way of reaching
papa no choice but to wait for him
patiently it was past 8:00 in the
evening and he should have been back
home but we tried not to worry I grew
more agitated with every minute not for
one instance though did I imagine that
my father had been hurt maybe he had
been arrested and the firing was the
police signaling their victory I worried
out loud there had been a lot of gunfire
more than the typical burst of bullets
one heard in Karachi in those days
don't worry Fatih said Zulfi as he swung
playfully behind our father's green
armchair it's only fireworks it must
have been close to nine forty-five
minutes later when I'd had an
I couldn't wait any longer and I decided
to call my aunt the Prime Minister by
that point I was convinced that's
Benazir my aunt's had had my father
arrested and I wasn't going to sit by
and wait while he was taken to jail I
picked up the red intercom phone and
asked whoever answered to connect me to
the prime minister's office don't take
no for an answer
I have to speak to what Dean the phone
rang minutes later sooner than I thought
it would it was usually a considerable
hassle getting through to the prime
minister even or especially if she was
your what Dubois her father's elder
sister and Cindy I was put on the line
with the Prime Minister's aide to camp
my sat down in the armchair to take the
call is everything all right the ADC
sounded shaky scared even yes
everything's fine I answered can I speak
to my aunt please I was Curt but he kept
talking he's your family okay is
everyone fine is everyone all right yes
yes I responded everyone's fine please
put me through the music on the other
end of the line as I was put on hold was
soon interrupted by a click and then a
silence hello woody I said calling my
aunt the name that only I used for her
no she can't come to the phone right now
came the reply it was their diary it was
no secret that none of us in the family
liked Asif Zardari my aunts
oleaginous husband
on the few social occasions where I saw
him we shared nothing other than a
cursory hello I need to speak to my aunt
I said tersely not wanting to talk to
him you can't he applied equally brusque
it's very important and I need to speak
to her now well she can't come to the
phone it's very important and I don't
want to talk to you I need to talk to
her I insist it's my voice quickening I
had wasted enough time on this phone
call already she can't speak their Barry
replied what no I I have to speak to her
please put her on the phone I continue
to grin confused at what seemed like a
theatrical attempt to keep me from
talking to the one person who was in
charge oh don't you know so that I
responded your father's been shot
well thank you I am without fixed it's
my my pleasure to do this and I come
with admiration for a lot of the choices
you've made in your still young
professional life to approach this book
as a journalist would and another
journalism that you've done and I
suspect without being able to see very
well that there are some people out in
the audience who know everything about
you or believe they do and some others
who came because of your family name and
probably don't know exactly where to
place you in the family tree and haven't
yet made the important decision to
purchase the book which has a useful
family tree in it but why don't you just
start a little bit by talking about your
grandfather his marriage and the four
children of whom one was your father
well like all good feudal families my
grandfather's family tried to arrange
his marriage considerably early in his
life and he was a teenager when he was
told that he would be marrying a woman
ten years older than him he didn't like
the sound of that so he was told if he
did go through the marriage he would be
given a cricket bat and and he made the
choice then to proceed he was 13 so you
can forgive him for that choice but he
he was allowed other freedoms and other
luxuries he was allowed to travel abroad
and he went to Berkeley to study
political science as an eighteen year
old and from there to Oxford and
Lincoln's in and it was when he returned
to Pakistan that he began to work as a
lawyer that he began to make his name in
karachi circles at least and he married
he remarried rather
my grandmother nurse Rance
it was a love marriage and their parents
opposed so they eloped they eloped
our family has Aronian origins yes miss
let's family was Iranian
and they had lived in Bombay and had and
had come over during partition and she
was from a Shia family and so for guys
family didn't quite like the sound of
that
so they eloped and and married and their
first child was born soon Lee soon after
being a zero and a year after that
mother and another daughter and son
followed and it's quite soon after that
that he begins his career in in politics
