COMMUNICATION (PESHAWAR RICKSHAW)

Peshawar Rickshaw

By: Nasser Yousaf

Readers may find it most interesting, if not altogether incredible 😊.

In several novels that I have read, I have found Peshawar, and in one or two Khyber, pop up out of nowhere. But the one that I am reading now titled 'FREEDOM, by Jonathan Franzen, an American, there is a reference to Peshawar that is really very funny. At one point, one of the lead characters, Richard Katz, a musician and a carpenter, is asked if his music has had any influence from the PESHAWAR RICKSHAW.

While this makes me feel proud of our boisterous little Rickshaw 😂, I simply can't stop help wondering how on earth did Jonathan come to know of this comical creation because knowing him from his writings, I believe he'd be the last person to ever even think of visiting Peshawar.

I read THE CORRECTIONS by Jonathan more than twelve years ago when the world was reeling from one upheaval or the other.

Perhaps, he might have read about the Peshawar Rickshaw in some post 9/11 travelogue 🤔 or watched it revve and trundle in one of the many documentaries made in those days by the hordes of media people visiting Peshawar.