Pakistan’s obedient daughters: Nice, calm but never angry

New Delhi, Sep 4 (PTI) Girls in many Pakistan householdsare supposed to be nice, calm and pretty and in doing so theyneed to suppress their anger at all costs: this is the centraltheme of a new quirky graphic novel. "The Suppressed Anger of the Pakistani Obedient Daughter"is designer, illustrator and improv artist Ayesha TariqÂ’s takeon hurdles faced by Pakistani daughters. Girls there often suppress their anger. "Because girls are supposed to be nice, calm and pretty.It would be a crime if she were to displease somebody. Oursociety and religions emphasise a lot on respect of authorityfigures. Sometimes this creates such a divide that it eithercauses fear or a great distance in communication. A lot ofwords remain unspoken," says Tariq. "The Suppressed Anger of the Pakistani Obedient Daughter,"published by Penguin Books, was originally the author’sthesis. The book’s central character is Sarah, a 17-year-old girlfrom a conservative urban family who has to do all the choresof the house, keep her family members happy, keep herreputation clean, so that people don’t gossip about her andalways look good so that she can be a good candidate for themarriage proposals that come her way. All this really upsets Sarah, but being an obedientdaughter, she can only suppress her anger. However, this timeSarahÂ’s patience runs out and she cannot hold it in anylonger. "I had proposed a few ideas to my advisors and this beingthe third one that I scribbled down because I had gottenscolded by my parents and didn’t think much of it. At thattime, I had almost zero belief in my own ideas. I used tobrowse online and look at various works and always wanted tobe as good, hence thinking that my ideas and skill are notgood enough. "I’m lucky that my advisors urged me to think more aboutthe theme. So, I reflected over my own experiences, talked todifferent girls and conducted some surveys in order to draw amore relatable picture," Tariq told PTI. (MORE) PTI ZMNTRS