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"Presents from my aunts in Pakistan" and "Hurricane Hit England".
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| Submitted: Wed Oct 01 2003
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"Presents from my aunts in Pakistan" and "Hurricane Hit England" Moniza Alvi contrasts the exotic garments and furnishings sent to her by her aunts with what she saw around her in her school, and with the things they asked for in return. Moniza Alvi also shows a paradox (apparent contradiction), as she admired the presents, but felt they were too exquisite for her, and lacked street fashion. Finally, the presents form a link to an alternative way of life (remote in place and time) which Moniza Alvi does not much approve: her aunts "screened from male visitors" and the "beggars" and "sweeper- " in 1950s Lahore. The bright colours of each salwar kameez suggest the familiar notion of exotic clothes worn by Asian women, but the glass bangle which snaps and draws blood is almost a symbol of how her tradition harms the poet - it is not practical for the active...
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