Time by Shahzad Shamim (guest writer)
Illustration / Photo-credit: Saniya Kamal [inspired by Dali's 'persistence of memory' ] “How much time do I have?” Very few fortunate brain tumor patients (such an oxymoron) had the sad opportunity of asking this themselves. Most of the time the question was asked by someone from the family. But the question always came up, so it was by no means unexpected. But much earlier than I expected. Or liked. How I dreaded answering it. He was 35, tall for his ethnic background but still short for the global average. Brownish, medium weight when I first met him, but much lighter now after all the ‘treatments’ he had received. He was part of the country’s shrinking educated, middle class, an engineer working for a local firm, apparently doing really well. With him used to be his wife, a pretty girl, a few years younger and a mother of two, a boy and girl, neither older than three. The wife hardly ever participated in the discussions. I once met his parents too, but the...