Pakistan, July 12 -- "Six years after the writing of this book, my mother died. Her hope - as I mentioned at the end of the book - 'to live to see the end of this tragic story' was not fulfilled. The way things are going, it doesn't seem likely that I will live to see the end of this tragic story either. But then I listen again to the birds in my garden and wonder what I can do to make it happen, and so

I continue to write."

Grief is a circular staircase. Reading When the Bulbul Stopped Singing, Shehadeh's parting words pen down the inexplicable dilemma of a crumbling world, one that bears witness to the tragedy, loss of moral compass and unforgivable violence-yet still demands hope, to survive. The pulse of hope, fleeting in nature, st...