Awoken Nation

Let me tell you a story—a story drenched in irony, coated with dark humor, and wrapped in the suffocating grip of power. It’s about a dictator, a young cadet with a thirst for justice, and yes, a crate of mangoes. Sounds strange? Well, welcome to A Case of Exploding Mangoes by Mohammed Hanif. The Paranoid General and the Young Cadet At the heart of this story is General Zia-ul-Haq, Pakistan’s military dictator, a man so consumed by paranoia that every shadow looks like an assassin and every mango tastes like poison. Picture him—wearing his aviator glasses, his mustache neatly combed, a prayer bead clutched tightly in his hand. Power has a way of turning even the most confident men into trembling souls. Then there’s Ali Shigri, a sharp-witted, rebellious Air Force cadet. He’s not your typical soldier. Behind his composed demeanor lies a storm—a deep, burning anger over his father’s mysterious death. Colonel Quli Shigri, Ali’s father, was allegedly found hanging from a ceiling fan in wh...