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Enduring lessons from the Pakistani poet Parveen Shakir’s ‘Khushboo’

The renowned Urdu poet’s 1976 debut collection finds new life online even as romantic expression for and by women continues to be dismissed

By Karishma M
A photograph of Parveen Shakir in speaking into a microphone at a public event. She is mid-sentence, with one hand raised in
Parveen Shakir in 1976. In 'Khushboo', she invited her readers to embrace emotional complexity even in a world that often dismisses vulnerability – especially when expressed by women.
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IN THE 1994 EDITION of Khushboo, Parveen Shakir left a note thanking readers for embracing her book 18 years after its original publication:

mujhe to sirf itnā patā hai ki muhabbat ke rivāyatī tohfoñ meñ yeh ek kitāb kā izāfa ho gayā hai
I just know this: that this book has become an addition to the customary gifts of love.

Just seven months later, the Urdu poet passed away in a tragic car accident in Islamabad.