Moth Smoke

Darashikoh Shezad, most often referred to as Daru, is discussed through the perspectives of many other characters, from the prosecuting attorney to his best friend, his best friend’s wife (and his former lover), and his drug dealer. These narratives are interspersed with his own first-person account of the events leading up to his arrest and trial. The reader eventually learns that the reasons for Daru’s imprisonment, as well as his unfolding of the events leading up to his arrest, are multifaceted: For example, Daru may not actually be narrating his story. His first-person accounts are possibly the work of the journalist Zulfikar Manto—which is the pen name of Mumtaz Kashmiri, Daru’s best friend’s wife and his onetime lover. The portrait of Daru that emerges is complicated: He is thin-skinned and arrogant on the one hand, but he reveals himself to care deeply, at least for Mumtaz, on the other. Fate has not been kind to him: He was orphaned at a young age, and it is suggested that he never quite gets the chance to reach his full potential—in part because of his socioeconomic status, in part because of his own inflated egotism. In an interview with Manto, one of Daru’s former professors claims Daru is “[b]rilliant” but “[likes] to assert rather than prove” and is “not the best at handling criticism” (36-37).