“A
Pair of Jeans” is a short story by Qaisra Shahraz. The story revolves around
Miriam, a Pakistani- British girl whose life drastically changes because of a
mere piece of clothing. The
story starts with Miriam coming out of the bus after hill walking with her
friends in the North West of England. As the occasion demanded, she wore a pair
of jeans with a short vest and jacket. After a hectic trip, Miriam reaches her
house and gets the shock of her life when her future in-laws coldly welcome
her. After witnessing Miriam wearing Western clothing, her in-laws are also
surprised as they have seen her in such attire.
They were disgusted at the sight of her
future daughter-in-law, whom they thought was a perfect eastern
daughter-in-law. Miriam tried to recover from this shock and greeted them but
was only replied with a mumbled greeting, “Wa Alaikum Assalam,” by her future mother-in-law. All three of them are
welcomed by Fatima, Miriam’s mother, who never thought to see Miriam in such
clothing before her future in-laws.
Fatima would generally never question
her daughter if she told her where she was going and with whom she was going.
But now Fatima was viewing things from a different angle. She was viewing it
through the lens of Miriam’s future parents-in-law, who had never seen Miriam
in a western dress before. Fatima signals her daughter, and she rushes to her
room to change the dress, which creates havoc. After changing her clothes to what
her in-laws preferred, i.e., a Shalwar Kameez, she returns downstairs. Fatima
tried to entertain her guests, who appeared to be quite displeased and failed
to do so. Soon after the arrival, Miriam insisted on returning, saying they had
guests. They left the duo of mother and daughter bothered without eating
anything.
They had come because of setting the marriage date between Miriam and Farook. After leaving Miriam’s house, Ayub and Begum soon reach their villa, where they start discussing Miriam’s dress and questioning her modesty. After a long discussion, they decide to break the engagement. Fatima is informed of this decision by a phone call from Begum. Begum chooses not to tell about the real reason they broke off the engagement and instead excuses herself by saying they wanted to marry Farook to his cousin (the daughter of Begum’s sister). Miriam, after hearing this news, is baffled. She quickly enters her room, takes out the pair of jeans, and starts to ruin it like it has destroyed her life.