Sara Shagufta

Sara Shagufta was born on a cold October night in 1954, in a small town of Gujranwala in Pakistan. She was born into a family that barely had enough to survive, let alone thrive. Her father had left them for another woman, and her mother had to raise her and her siblings by herself. Her mother worked hard to provide for them, making garlands of flowers at home and selling them in the market. Sara’s letters tell the story of how she and her family struggled to make ends meet in a home where the father was a distant memory. They often faced hunger, deprivation, and discrimination. Sara had a dream of rising above her circumstances, but she lacked the education and opportunities to do so. She failed to pass her matriculation exam, and was forcefully married off at the age of 17 to a man she barely knew, who turned out to be cruel and abusive husband, such circumstances further dashed her hopes of higher studies or ever pursuing a decent career. She became pregnant with her first husband and gave birth to a baby boy, who died soon after birth. Her husband blamed her for the tragedy and divorced her. She remarried three more times, but each time she was betrayed, rejected, or abandoned by her husbands. She suffered immensely in her life, being a victim of emotional and sexual abuse by her father in her childhood, being divorced by four husbands, being shunned by her children and society, and being haunted by depression and anxiety. She developed mental illnesses that affected her ability to cope with reality. She was hospitalized for her condition, but she did not receive adequate care or support. She attempted suicide once, but she survived. However, on June 4, 1984, around 11 PM, she decided to end her pain once and for all. She took her own life at the young age of 29.