The major theme of this story by Ghulam Abbas is how people judge others by their appearance. A clearly impoverished man uses an overcoat, scarf and cane to create the persona of a well-to-do dandy. He enjoys a leisurely stroll through the streets of Lahore, and is welcomed in shops he could not otherwise enter. Importantly, the reader is also taken in by the guise until it is stripped away as his clothes are removed in hospital. Other themes include loneliness, social class, the human desire to “fit in” and be treated with respect, the unpredictability of life and death.
An interesting question is the reason for his fatal fascination over the young couple who seemed to have stepped out of the pages of a romantic novel. To me, this suggests a longing for something that his disguise can’t provide: companionship and love in the arms of another person.
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