Fiction. Asian Studies. Set in the romantic Himalayan valleys, amidst breathtaking mountain snowmelts and the monsoon rainstorms, these beautifully told and haunting stories explore the lives and the longins and memories of the Lohar people of Kotli. Now, so much has changed in the Lohar village, and there is a story and a secret to every person, every family. In one story, a man's wife turns out to be a stranger, and his house is not quite his own, when two strangers appear and dig out their past from its earth; in another, a boy contemplates the mystery behind an old picture. Tariq Malik was born and raised in Pakistan, and lives in Vancouver.