Perennial College Tales
By Nadya Chishty-Mujahid
Liberty Publishing
ISBN: 978-627-7626-46-4
300pp.

Few Pakistani Anglophone authors have made a conscious effort to explore the chaotic yet exhilarating realities of student life in their work. It is, therefore, refreshing to note how writer and academic Nadya Chishty-Mujahid’s oeuvre has ventured into this gritty terrain with grace and gusto.

Last year, she published a debut collection of stories — Timeless College Tales — and a play, The Political Chess King, set in the elite Saeed School of Business (SSB). The fictitious university serves as a backdrop for conflicts involving shrewd, but impressionable, student politicos. Perennial College Tales, her sophomore collection, takes readers back into those hallowed grounds.

While the stories draw us into familiar territory, they aren’t steered by the same considerations as the tales published in her debut collection. Weightier than her previous collection, Nadya Chishty-Mujahid’s latest instalment is a “standalone sequel” to her previous collection and is more layered, refined and nuanced. The stories benefit from a stronger spirit of interconnectedness. Some tales act as forerunners to others, leading readers to view the text as a string of novellas stitched into a cohesive whole rather than a mere collection of short fiction.

Some ardent readers might also perceive this technique as an indication that Nadya Chishty-Mujahid’s subject matter lends itself easily to a longer form. If the stories in Perennial College Tales are to serve as a gauge, the adventures surrounding SSB’s motley crew of characters could very well find themselves at the heart of a novel.

A ‘standalone sequel’ collection of college stories by Nadya Chishty-Mujahid draws readers into familiar territory but is more layered, refined and nuanced than her debut

At its core, the 24 stories in Perennial College Tales capture the thrills and ambiguities of those glorious university days when life is filled with possibilities. During their university years, students view life as an empty canvas on which they can paint their own masterpieces. The final product isn’t just a glowing portrait of their victories, but also a reflection of their numerous failures.

The students who flit in and out of the stories in Nadya Chishty-Mujahid’s second collection carry the weight of their mistakes and flaws with an endearing charm. Each of them dances off the page as full-blooded, strong-willed individuals driven by purpose. Their personalities often come to life through the conversations they have with each other, peppered with witty repartee, a generous sprinkling of humour and some choicest expletives for good measure.

Nadya Chishty-Mujahid relies heavily on a cinematic mode of storytelling, which allows the characters’ demeanour to shine through. Her uncluttered prose not only allows readers to immerse themselves in the stories with ease, but also provides the characters with ample space to negotiate the catastrophic battles of youth.

The SSB administration, though, isn’t as permissive. At every juncture, a hawk-eyed provost is prepared to clip their wings for even the slightest misstep or lapse of judgment. Fortunately, Dr Madeeha Sulaiman — a recurring character in Timeless College Tales — still lurks through the corridors of the SSB as their guardian angel, confidante and unwanted trouble-shooter.

At times, her involvement in student affairs verges on a breach of the crucial boundaries between students and teachers. Unencumbered by a stereotypical professorial air, she has no qualms about overstepping her bounds to ensure the well-being of her students. She even records a ghazal in her own voice and sends it to a student who requires some encouragement.

In a nutshell, Madeeha belongs to a rare, refreshing breed of educators who treat students with some semblance of dignity and equality. As witnessed in Timeless College Tales, she stays abreast of the activities of the SSB’s student-based political groups and, thereby, recognises some of the challenges faced by her pupils.

The students who flit in and out of the stories in Nadya Chishty-Mujahid’s second collection carry the weight of their mistakes and flaws with an endearing charm.

Despite Madeeha’s popularity among the student body, her meddlesome nature and unconventional tactics don’t always gain widespread approval. In ‘The Interview’, she makes Soban Sanaullah — a diffident yet astute student with a stammer — recite the first few stanzas of Edgar Allan Poe’s To Helen during auditions for the university’s public-speaking society.

Madeeha admits that it is “a treacherous poem” to read for someone who stutters, but her reasons for subjecting the student to this test aren’t needlessly cruel or vindictive. Soban, too, is no weakling and delivers a satisfactory performance. Forgetting this short-lived ordeal, he develops new-found respect for the professor, which gradually morphs into an enduring bond.

In ‘The Daughter’, Madeeha plays Cupid for two of her students, albeit her intuitions are far more reliable than those of any run-of-the-mill rishtay-wali (match-making) aunty. ‘Creme Brulee’ features the meddling professor directly approaching a celebrity involved in an unpleasant exchange at a university event, much to the chagrin of her pupils. Be that as it may, Madeeha doesn’t compromise on her ethics to pull her students out of a quagmire and only takes drastic measures when the need arises.

A vast number of stories tackle disciplinary concerns involving student leaders and the unique strategies adopted by the management to address them. These challenges include a near-fatal incident of violence at a concert on university premises and the reprehensible practice of ‘grouping’ at the boys’ hostel.

Even so, it is stories which are insulated from political wrangling and administrative concerns that stand out. ‘The Cufflinks’, a tale of a doomed romance between Hansa Elhan and Anwar Khan, is a heart-breaking reminder that SSB’s students are essentially young, despite their impressive credentials as student leaders. ‘Frozen Feelings’ is a moving tale of male friendship that bears some slight homoerotic undertones. When read in conjunction with the first-person account in ‘Hostel’, the story reveals how most masculine brotherhoods are rooted in intense emotional bonds.

The affinities between twins also figure prominently in Perennial College Tales. Dean Musaffa Sulaiman is outraged to discover that a student has made an unflattering remark about her twin, Madeeha. Wamik and Raza’s devotion to another is competently handled in two stories, which raise crucial questions about mental health among men.

Although most of the tales deal with male-dominated spaces, women also feature as integral characters. Mercifully, not all women characters are portrayed as the romantic interests of their male counterparts. For instance, Hadia Furqan poses a counter to the testosterone-fuelled energy that pervades the landscape of student politics at SSB. A diligent, ethical student politico, she frequently finds herself locked in a battle against the “party patriarchy.”

The dynamic Umar Kapadia, a memorable character from Timeless College Tales, doesn’t appear too prominently in the sequel. Nevertheless, he remains an abiding presence in some of the stories and is lionised by his juniors as a veritable campus legend. Mercifully, Soban Sanaullah emerges as a worthy substitute to Kapadia in Perennial College Tales. The former combats his weaknesses and evolves into a discerning, devious and level-headed student leader.

A compelling sequel to Timeless College Tales, Nadya Chishty-Mujahid’s new fictional offering is a racy, readable paean to the intricacies of student life.

The reviewer is the author of the critically acclaimed novels Typically Tanya and No Funeral for Nazia.

X: @TahaKehar

Published in Dawn, Books & Authors, March 23rd, 2025