WELCOME TO SUMAYYAH'S WORLD
THE PITCH PAGE
Here are two stories from the Sumayyah's World Series
MAYA'S MIDTERM:
By Naz Sohni Uppal
Midterms are today and Maya is in trouble.
Maya immigrated to Edmonton a few months ago. Although she knows how to speak English, and was the top student in her English class in Pakistan, Maya is having trouble reading and writing. She’s embarrassed that she doesn’t know English and has asked her friend Adnan to help her with her assignments. Because Adnan has been helping her, the teachers don’t know that Maya is having trouble.
Although she is doing quite well in her class, she fears that she will fail her midterms miserably. Maya’s biggest fear is that her teachers will find out that she actually reads English at a grade two level and will put her in the remedial class. She is trying desperately to catch up with curriculum, but it is still going to take quite a bit of time.
Maya is not a weak person, but there’s a lot at stake here, including her academic record. She doesn’t feel confident in her ability to take this exam without Adnan’s help, because if she doesn’t pass this, she’ll be humiliated in front of her classmates and in front of her teachers. Everyone will think that she’s dumb and they will make fun of her and treat her differently.
“I have to talk to Adnan,” -thought Maya.
***
It is 8:00 am, the next day - the day of the exam. Maya and Adnan enter the classroom and sit beside each other in the back row. The teacher starts distributing the exam papers.
“Hold on Mr. Duncan,” Maya calls out. “I have a question.”
“Yes?” replies Mr. Duncan.
Maya runs to the front of the classroom. “It’s kind of private.”
Maya heads out of the classroom. Mr. Duncan follows.
“What is this all about?”
“I am having trouble understanding a few of the sections that I was supposed to study for this exam. I have a few questions. I need a bit more time to study. Could you please postpone the exam for another day?”
Mr. Duncan explains to Maya that she has had plenty of time to study and that if she was having trouble understanding some of the concepts, she should have come to him earlier for one-on-one tutoring. “Besides, you are doing so well on your assignments. You have absolutely nothing to worry about. And it would be impossible for me to cancel the entire exam and disappoint the rest of your classmates who are so eagerly waiting to take it. The exam is today.”
“Then can I skip the exam and take it later?”
“No,” replies Mr. Duncan, as he walks towards the classroom and Maya follows.
“Can I at least take the exam orally?”
“It’s too late for your excuses, young lady. I’m sorry but you have to take the exam now,” orders Mr. Duncan.
Maya enters the classroom, walks to her desk and sulks in her chair. Adnan notices this.
Adnan and Maya became instant best friends the day Maya arrived from Pakistan. Because they were next door neighbours, Adnan helped her out, showed her around the neighbourhood, and introduced her to all his closest friends. Although Maya loves her new home and her new friends, she misses her family and friends and all she left at home in Pakistan.
Adnan knew Mr. Duncan was strict and followed all the rules.
“Students, you may begin your exams. And no cheating,” announces Mr. Duncan.
Adnan looks at Maya.
During the exam, Maya had some troubles, but she forgot why she was so worried. She managed to figure out a pattern in the multiple choice section: AABAABD. She was on a roll, she thought. She felt confident. But she still wanted to check her answers against Adnan’s. So she peaked at Adnan’s paper. He noticed.
“Stop looking at my paper,” Adnan whispers. “We’ll get into so much trouble.”
“No Adnan, I am doing the exam on my own. I just need the answer to question number five.”
“I can’t tell you now, especially after your little talk with Mr. D. I’ll get caught for cheating too,” whispers Adnan.
“Please?” Maya bats her eyes.
“No. If we get caught then both of us get in trouble and I don’t need that on my permanent record.”
“Fine, forget it.”
Adnan felt bad for being so mean and tried to check Maya’s answers for her.
“By the way dumby, you got number seven wrong,” whispers Adnan.
“No, it’s not wrong,” says Maya.
“Yeah it is.”
“Fine, what’s the real answer?” asks Maya.
“I can’t help you because that would make me a cheater, and I don’t need that on my head,” whispers Adnan.
“How can that question be wrong? It is right. I know it. Where do bees live? Everyone knows they live in honey grahams.”
“No dumby. Honey grahams is the name of the cereal we eat at Moe’s house. Bees live in bee hives,” whispers Adnan.
“Oh,” whispers Maya as she changes her answer.
“Maya is a cheater. Maya is a cheater,” whispers Adnan.
“Shut up,” whispers Maya.
Maya remembers visiting the bee hives in Pakistan. They are fascinating creatures that collaborate for the survival of the colony. Kind of like school, except, here we collaborate to survive in the colony. She remembers that in the bee world, the queen releases pheromones to keep everyone in line and make the worker bees and drones do as she says. It’s almost as if the queen controls the bees by hypnotism. Maya wished she could control and hypnotize Mr. Duncan into giving her an A on her test.
As the exam continued, Adnan hadn’t been interrupted by Maya much, so he cleared his throat to get her attention. Maya pretended not to notice. Adnan cleared his throat again. She still didn’t notice. He cleared it yet again, only this time Mr. Duncan looked up.
“Please keep it down,” announces Mr. Duncan.
“You should go get some water,” whispers Maya.
“No, I’m okay,” replies Adnan.
“Are you sure about that?”
“Yeah, by the way, what is your answer to question number two?”
“Umm, excuse me? I’m sorry. I do not cheat,” whispers Maya.
“But I just gave you an answer. You cheated off my paper,” whispers Adnan. “That already means that you’re a cheater.”
“You gave me the answer. I didn’t ask for it,” explains Maya.
“What? You asked for my help.”
“But I didn’t ask for the answer.”
“Can you at least drop me a hint or a clue for question number two,” Adnan bats his eyes.
“No, not even a hint.”
“Alright Maya, you leave me no choice. I’m going to tell Mr. Duncan that you tried to cheat off me,” threatens Adnan.
“You wouldn’t dare.”
“Don’t believe me,” Adnan jumps out of his seat. “Umm… Mr. Duncan?”
“Yes, young man,” replies Mr. Duncan.
“No. No, don’t do it Adnan,” Maya nervously whispers.
“Umm, nothing,” Adnan scratches his head. “My seat is hard and I need to stretch.
Adnan stretches.
“Sit down, Adnan,” orders Mr. Duncan.
“Alright sir,” Adnan as he smirks at Maya.
“Sit down paagal (crazy),” cries Maya. “I can’t believe you just did that. I’m so embarrassed. Don’t ever talk to me again. I’m going to fail for sure now!”
“I was just trying to be funny,” whispers Adnan.
“Tomorrow Mr. Duncan will announce my grade to everyone in the class and I will become the laughing stock of the entire school. I’ll have to go to remedial class for the rest of my life,” Maya was upset for the rest of the exam. She cried quietly to herself.
Adnan looked up from his paper and noticed Maya crying. He felt terrible. Adnan continued to write his exam until the bell rang. Mr. Duncan asked everyone to submit their exams. But Adnan stopped Maya before she could submit hers.
“I’m going to switch our exams, Maya. Look. I already put your name on my sheet. That way you’ll get the passing mark and I’ll take the fail,” explains Adnan.
Maya looks at him in anger. “No.”
“Maya, please,” Adnan switches the papers and puts his name on Maya’s. “Hand yours in first.”
Maya handed in her paper and Adnan followed. They walked out of the classroom to their lockers.
“Thank you so much,” says Maya. “I know cheating is wrong, but as soon as I catch up with the curriculum, I’ll be able to manage on my own.”
“Don’t worry about it. I know you’ll get better at English. You just need a little help along the way.”
THE NEXT DAY…
Mr. Duncan comes in the classroom holding a stack of marked papers. He puts the stack down and closes the classroom door with his foot. He proceeds to announce everyone’s grades out loud to the entire class. First up was Maya. Mr. Duncan praised Maya for receiving an 86% and lauded her for doing extremely well in his class. After all the other students had their turn, it was time for Mr. Duncan to announce Adnan’s grade. He embarrassed Adnan by broadcasting his mark of 35% and proceeded to interview him in front of the class regarding the pattern he made in the multiple choice section.
“What happened, Adnan? Did you even study?”
“No, I must have not. I didn’t even know we were having an exam yesterday. I came totally unprepared.”
“That’s not like you,” replies Mr. Duncan.
Adnan was normally an amazing student, so this failing mark came as a surprise. Mr. Duncan asked if he wanted to go home, study, and retake the exam the next day, which shocked Maya since she had made the same request the day of the exam and was rejected.
Adnan was quite happy with this request from Mr. Duncan and he tried to rub it in to Maya as the day went on. (Maya had yet to learn the concept of teacher’s pet). In the end, Adnan was happy that he made Maya’s day and “helped” her pass her exam.
THE SECRET ADMIRER:
By Naz Sohni Uppal
Sumayyah has a dilemma. Someone is sending her love notes. Each day there is a new note posted to her locker. Although she loves the attention, she doesn’t know who is sending them. It appears that they are from a secret admirer.
Sumayyah is trying to figure out who the notes are from by: sneaking out of classes to spy on anyone close to her locker; staying after school hoping to catch anyone suspicious; and eavesdropping on her friends during her breaks. But she still does not know who it is.
She has thought a lot about who her secret admirer could be. Could it be Jawad? No, he’s never even talked to Sumayyah. Could it be Brad? No, she thinks he likes Melanie. How about Taj? Well, Taj is gorgeous, but Sumayyah doubts it’s him. He’s way too involved in his studies to have time for a girlfriend. Uh oh. The love notes couldn’t be from Basil, the boy Sumayyah does not like?
Sumayyah arrives at her locker, looks to the right and looks to the left. No suspicious activity. She opens her locker and notices another note, the latest in the series. She grabs it and analyzes it for clues: a familiar signature, familiar handwriting, finger prints. It reads, “Dear Sumayyah, you may not be the most beautiful girl in the world. But I think you’re beautiful, From Your Secret Admirer.”
At first Sumayyah thinks “What kind of crazy note is this? First my admirer insults me by saying I’m not the most beautiful girl in the world and then my admirer tries to throw a compliment in as well.”
She rips a piece off and puts it in her pocket. She’ll test it for finger prints later.
“Is this some sort of sick joke?” Sumayyah asks herself. “This could be from any of the boys. Most of the boys at school would insult and compliment me all in the same note. I wonder who this could be?”
Sumayyah heads to her next class: math. She is a brilliant student. She receives all straight A’s. But she dreads math class because Basil, her nemesis, was there.
Sumayyah sits down in her desk beside Ayesha, her best friend. “I got another note in my locker,” whispers Sumayyah.
“Do you know who they’re coming from yet?” asks Ayesha.
“N…,” just then, Basil enters class.
Basil was not only Sumayyah’s nemesis, he was also the most annoying boy at school. He teased all the girls, all the time. Once, he put gum in Cindy’s hair. That poor girl had to get a pixie cut and wear her hair short for the rest of the school year. But that wasn’t as bad as what he did to Janine. Janine loved to wear high heels and she always wore her heels except for in gym class. One day during gym, Basil sneaked into the girl’s locker room and snapped the heels off to one side. Naturally, when Janine was putting her high heels on, she didn’t notice. And after her first few steps, she fell down and broke her leg. Janine never fully recovered from the incident. Sumayyah was always afraid of what Basil would do to her because she was friends with both Cindy and Janine. Luckily, she has never been a target of Basil’s tricks.
Basil sees Sumayyah and Ayesha talking together and sits down at the desk behind Ayesha. Basil loved to bother Sumayyah by staring at her. Sumayyah hated his stares. They were so creepy.
“Hey Ayesha, what are you girls talking about?” asks Basil.
“Nothing!” yells Sumayyah.
Basil gives Sumayyah a dirty look.
“Go away!” says Sumayyah.
“Nope,” replies Basil.
“You know Basil, you’re the most annoying person I’ve ever met. How would you like it if I stared at you all creepy like that?” asked Sumayyah.
“I’d like it,” replies Basil.
“Eww, get away from me before I call the teacher on you,” shouts Sumayyah.
Basil gets up and gestures as if he were to move to another desk in the classroom. But he doesn’t. He just sits back down.
“What are you doing?” asked Sumayyah.
“Stretching,” replies Basil as he stares at Sumayyah.
Sumayyah gets up and moves to another desk two rows away from Basil and Ayesha. Ayesha smacks Basil on the arm, “Why do you have to always bother my friend?”
Basil does not respond. But a girl in the class, Sara, who is now sitting beside Sumayyah, whispers to her, “He… likes… you.”
Sumayyah whispers back, “I hope not.”
Sumayyah cannot stop thinking about her secret admirer. What if it was Basil? She really hoped it wasn’t. Going out with him would be the worst! When he’d bring her roses, would they be full of thorns? When he’d sing Bollywood love songs to her, would he sing off key? When he asks her to dance, would he step on her toes? When he took her to the movies, would he buy her the kid’s meal?
“Did Basil send the notes?”
These thoughts raced in her head. So much that she didn’t even notice the teacher asking her to answer the math problem on the board.
“Sumayyah!” called the teacher. “Sumayyah, what are you daydreaming about? Wake up! And answer the question. What is the square root of ninety-nine?”
“Um, honestly Mrs. Peel, I don’t know,” replied Sumayyah and just then she was saved by the school bell. Sumayyah was relieved and exited the classroom as quickly as she could to avoid embarrassment. But before Sumayyah could leave math class, Sunny tapped her arm. Sunny and Sumayyah, although not the best of friends, had been friends since they attended grade two at William Elementary together. Sunny had been watching Sumayyah act strange all day long and he knew something was up with her. Sunny was also a very nosey individual. He loved to keep tabs on what everyone was doing and what was going on in everyone’s life. So naturally he was interested in figuring out what was preoccupying Sumayyah.
“So, uh, what’s up between you and Basil?” asked Sunny.
“Nothing,” said Sumayyah.
“Uh huh… well something is going on between the two of you and if you don’t tell me, you know I’ll find out,” said Sunny.
“So go ahead and find out,” dared Sumayyah.
“You think I didn’t notice. You’ve been staring at Basil all morning,” said Sunny.
“What’s it to you?” asked Sumayyah.
“Nothing, just curious,” said Sunny.
“Alright,” said Sumayyah.
As Sunny walked away, Sumayyah couldn’t help but think, “Could Sunny be my secret admirer? Nah. He’s more of the protective brother type.”
Sumayyah walked to her locker where Basil was standing and waiting for her. Sumayyah tried to ignore Basil, but he was determined to talk to Sumayyah.
“So, uh – what’s up between you and Sunny?” asked Basil.
“Nothing,” said Sumayyah.
“Well then, why do you keep talking to him?” asked Basil.
“Well. He’s more of a protective brother type. But he’s sweet… Do you think he likes me?” asks Sumayyah.
“No!” replies Basil.
“Basil, go away,” said Sumayyah.
This had turned out to be quite the embarrassing day so. But the day was not over. Off to her next class, English. Sumayyah got there early, and chose to sit in the back of the class this time. She saved the seat next to her for her friend, Ayesha.
“I think he’s into you,” said Ayesha.
“That’s ridiculous,” said Sumayyah.
“Everyone knows that when a boy teases you a lot, it’s because he likes you. And Basil has been teasing you a lot. Plus, today, he was taking an interest in what we were talking about. I think he’s your secret admirer,” explained Ayesha.
“But Basil? He’s a jerk – to every girl in school. Why would he single me out and decide to like me?” asked Sumayyah.
“Well, he is a jerk. That’s for sure. But he’s never really done anything jerky to you, especially not like what he did to Cindy or Janine,” replies Ayesha. “And it’s not like he’s singling you out. He likes you.”
“Well I don’t like him, so end of discussion,” insisted Sumayyah.
“Okay. We’ll talk more about this with the rest of the gang at lunch,” said Ayesha.
In class, the teacher talked about the school dance to be held in two days. As the teacher discusses her plans with her students, Sumayyah looks at each boy’s reaction to the discussion. Would her secret admirer squirm, or smile, or act cool during the discussion? She didn’t know, but she was hunting for clues.
Sumayyah didn’t notice any abnormal behaviours from any of the boys in class. She leaned over to Ayesha and whispered, “Everyone is acting so normal.”
“That’s because your secret admirer is not in our English class. See! It is Basil,” said Ayesha.
“No it’s not. It can’t be him. I don’t want Basil to be my secret admirer,” said Sumayyah.
“Well then, who else could it be?” asked Ayesha.
“Someone romantic, I hope,” said Sumayyah. “Hey, I thought we were going to discuss this at lunch.”
“Okay. Okay,” said Ayesha.
“Class, about the dance, so are we all in agreement that the theme will be hearts? We will need everyone in our class to make heart decorations. We will also need a few volunteers to make heart cookies and strawberry flavoured punch with heart shaped ice cubes. Do we have any volunteers?” asked the teacher.
Sumayyah raises her hand, but Ayesha interrupts, “Umm, Sumayyah, I know you don’t want to discuss this until lunch, but I think it’s Basil.”
“It’s not Basil,” whispered Sumayyah.
“Yes Sumayyah?” asks the teacher.
“I’ll bake some cookies,” said Sumayyah.
“But, but I think it is Basil,” whispers Ayesha.
“Look Ayesha. Basil. Did. Not. Write. The. Note.” announced Sumayyah without even realizing that she was speaking quite loudly to the entire class!
“Sumayyah,” shouted the teacher.
“Sorry,” said Sumayyah.
Sumayyah stayed quiet for the rest of the class. She did not want to draw any more attention to herself.
It was finally lunch and Ayesha and the gang were excitedly waiting in the lunchroom for Sumayyah. Sumayyah just knew by the look on Ayesha’s face that she was ready to discuss and reluctantly sat down at the table.
“Okay, so catch me up on everything. You think that your secret admirer is either Sunny or Basil,” began Ayesha.
“Yeah, but it’s not Basil,” replied Sumayyah.
“It could be,” said Ayesha.
“Then I’ll have to prove that Basil is not sending me these love notes,” said Sumayyah.
“Did you get anymore notes?” asked Ayesha.
“Yes I did,” Sumayyah showed the girls a folded piece of paper. “This note was stuck on my locker door before lunch.”
“Have you read it?” asked Maya.
“What does it say?” asked Ayesha.
Sumayyah unfolds the letter and reads it out loud, “You don’t smell like coconuts in Hawaii or like sweet mandarins on the summer trees, but I think you smell nice, From Your Secret Admirer.”
“I have to say Sumayyah, these are the most ridiculous love notes I have ever read,” laughed Maya. “Do you think he’s insulting you and then complimenting you on purpose?”
“You know, it does sound like Basil wrote this,” said Ayesha.
“But Sunny is a bit ridiculous too. He definitely would insult you and then make a compliment all in one note,” said Maya.
“See that’s exactly what I was thinking. It must be Sunny. Plus, Basil is so immature. If Basil liked me, he would have slipped up by now. He would have told people that he liked me. He would have told the whole school by now. So, I think he’s out.” explained Sumayyah.
“You really don’t want it to be Basil, do you?” asked Ayesha.
“No,” said Sumayyah.
“Let’s just say that it’s not Basil and think happy thoughts. Who can we ask to find out if Sunny is writing these notes?” asked Ayesha.
“Well, Sunny is really good friends with Mike. If Sunny truly liked a girl, Mike would know,” said Maya.
“I really hope this is not a practical joke,” said Sumayyah.
“Let’s go ask Mike if Sunny likes anyone,” said Ayesha.
The girls really wanted to solve this mystery.
“What are you going to do when you find out who your secret admirer is?” asked Ayesha.
“Or even better, what is he going to do?” asked Maya.
“Wait a minute. What if it’s not either of them? Both Sunny and Basil will make fun of me for the rest of my life if they found out I thought they liked me,” said Sumayyah.
“But if it is one of them, your admirer may want to kiss you or ask you out. Or even better, he may ask you to the school dance,” said Maya.
“Umm, I don’t think I want a serious relationship with anyone. I’m too young. I just want to know who it is. I’ve been so caught up in finding out who it is, I never thought I would have to start a relationship with the guy,” explained Sumayyah.
“Well, what did you think having a boyfriend was?” asked Maya.
“I don’t know. I didn’t even want a boyfriend. I just wanted to know who my secret admirer was,” explained Sumayyah.
Maya looked at Sumayyah, who looked at Ayesha, who looked back at Sumayyah. The girls busted out laughing.
“I’m going to talk to Mike about Sunny,” smiled Sumayyah.
In social studies, Sumayyah noticed Sunny writing a note. He folded the note and tried to pass it to Basil. Sumayyah was curious, “Does this mean Sunny liked Sumayyah and was writing a note to Basil to tell him to back off and leave Sumayyah alone.”
“My hero,” thought Sumayyah.
But Mr. Campbell noticed Basil unfolding the note and grabbed it from his hands. Basil tried to pretend that the note wasn’t his, but Mr. Campbell took it anyway. He threw the note in the garbage and continued with the social studies lesson.
Sumayyah decided to wait until all the students left the classroom before she grabbed the note and read it. But little did she know two other people were plotting to get the note as well, Sunny and Basil. The first one to get to the trash can was Sunny. He noticed there were still a few students in class, among them were both Basil and Sumayyah. Sumayyah walked over to him and asked, “And what do you think you’re doing? Isn’t that the note that was passed around in class?”
“Yeah,” replied Sunny. “Why do you care?”
“Just being nosey,” replied Sumayyah.
Basil who was watching all this, walked right up to them and snatched the note from Sunny’s grip. Sumayyah, shocked by Basil’s actions asked, “Why’d you take that?”
“Why’d I take what?” asked Basil.
“The note that Sunny wrote,” said Sumayyah.
“Sunny wrote that note to me, so I guess it’s mine. Also, it’s none of your business,” replied Basil.
“You know what Basil, you can be such a…,” shouted Sumayyah.
“Such a what?” asked Basil.
“Such a jerk,” Sumayyah ran out of the classroom, crying.
Sunny felt terrible, “You jerk! Why’d you do that?”
“I was just defending you,” replied Basil.
Sunny ran after Sumayyah. Basil, caught in the crossfire, decided to stay away from both Sunny and Sumayyah for the rest of the day.
It was finally the last class of the day. Sumayyah was upset with Sunny. Sunny was upset with Basil. And Basil was upset with everyone. Things were really weird in class after that. Sumayyah felt uncomfortable with Sunny, Basil, and Ayesha. And even worse, every time she looked up from her notes, someone was looking at her.
The end of school bell rang.
“Hey Sumayyah,” said Sunny.
“Hey,” replied Sumayyah.
“So, what do you think?” asked Sunny.
“About what?” asked Sumayyah.
“Well, I thought one of your best friends would have told you by now. You see, I had it all worked out. I told Naz last night. You know, because she rides to school with Maya. And then, Ayesha and Maya had gym together. So that’s when I told Maya to tell Ayesha. And then you and Ayesha had lunch together. So, I assumed that you would know by now. But I guess Ayesha didn't tell you,” Sunny explained.
“What are you talking about?” asked Sumayyah
“Ayesha gave me this note before class. It was supposed to end up with you, not me. Go ahead and read it but not in front of me,” said Sunny.
Sumayyah grabbed Sunny’s arm, “Not so fast chicken.”
Sumayyah read the note, “Dear Sumayyah, I just heard from Ayesha who heard from Maya who heard from Naz that Sunny was going to ask you to the school dance, From Your Secret Admirer.”
“Is this true?” she asked.
“Yeah,” replied Sunny.
“Are you my secret admirer too?” she asked.
“Yeah, I went to a lot of trouble. And I got into some trouble too. Basil was my accomplice. He helped me write the notes,” said Sunny.
“So, will you go to the school dance with me?”
Sumayyah smiled, “I don’t know. I think I’m going to have to think about this one.”
Sunny frowns, he wasn’t expecting that answer.
“Just kidding,” said Sumayyah.
“So?” asked Sunny.
“If you really want my answer, go to Naz, because I’ll tell Ayesha, who’ll then tell Maya, who can tell Naz. And since you’re such great friends with Naz, she’ll tell you,” smiled Sumayyah.
“Oh brother, just tell me,” said Sunny.
“Yes, I’ll go to the dance with you,” replied Sumayyah.
“Yes,” smiled Sunny.
Sumayyah and Sunny walked to their lockers and noticed another note posted outside Sumayyah’s locker. She read the note out loud, “Dear Sumayyah, I don’t like you. From Basil.”
Sumayyah looked up and noticed Basil and Sunny smiling back at her. Basil was holding one beautiful long-stemmed red rose with absolutely no thorns on it.
“I think we can work on our friendship Basil,” said Sumayyah.
“That’s good enough for me,” replied Basil.
IMPORTANT STUFF
Welcome to Sumayyah's World!
I am the founder and author of world of fiction for teens about the sometimes funny events in growing up South Asian Canadian from a 14 year old’s perspective. The series is called Sumayyah’s World. Currently I write and share these stories in classrooms in elementary and junior high schools. My stories have already reached thousands of Canadian students. I have created about 18 short stories in the series and now I want to develop my stories into a video series or a made for television series.
The two stories I shared above are a part of a series of stories I have written where the main characters are all South Asian and Muslim Canadians. My stories follow the world of South Asian teens as they navigate through school. My writing is innocent; optimistic; full of excitement; simple; expresses life from a young person’s point of view; and has likeable and identifiable main characters who are young people.
This first story follows Maya, a recent immigrant to Edmonton who just started school here. Maya is having trouble keeping up with her studies and asks her teacher Mr. Duncan for an extension on her midterm exam. He says no. Her neighbour and one of her best friends in the group, Adnan helps her through an exam that she was not ready for. What ensues is a hilarious conversation between two teens as they try to take their exam.
In story two, someone is sending Sumayyah love notes and she is trying to figure out who they are from. She suspects they are from Basil or Sunny. And so begins the hunt to solve the mystery - who is her admirer?
A little back ground on main character Maya: Maya was born and raised in Pakistan. Her mother left the family when she was two years old, so she was raised by her dad and grandparents. When she turned 12, her uncle and aunt adopted her and brought her to Canada for a better education and a better life. She packed her bags and left everything she knew behind.
A little background on main character Sumayyah: Her parents are both immigrants and she is the first person in her family to be born and raised in Canada. Her parents want her exposed to Canadian culture, but they also want her to keep some of her Pakistani roots. As a result, she struggles to balance being Pakistani and being Canadian at the same time. For example, dating is different in Pakistani culture than it is in Canadian culture.
The other characters in the longer series of stories are: Ayesha, Naz, Moe, Shammy, Adnan, and Rocky.
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Sumayyah's World is a fictional series of 18 stories about what it is really like growing up Pakistani Canadian in Edmonton. Each story follows the same group of friends as they navigate life through school and home, all while being Pakistani Canadian and all that that means.
The rest of the series is also equally comedic as the teens tackle topics like: trying to fit in with the cool group, getting cast into the school play, fearing failing the entire grade, swapping families with another family, going on a first date ever, dealing with an insane teacher, wanting to be class president, playing pranks on your friends, and babysitting your siblings when you don't want to.
I am writing about the Pakistani-Canadian experience through the eyes and experiences of a 13 year old, with her closest friends by her side, who are also growing up Pakistani-Canadian, as they go through life and figuring things out.
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What does it look like when we get to tell our own stories? It looks like this. It means a Pakistani-Canadian Muslim teen named Sumayyah. It means parents called Ammi and Abu. It means whispering Bismillah during a driver's test. It means listening to the chatter of Aunties. It means biryani on the dinner table. It means teachers mispronouncing your name. It means listening to both hip hop and Bollywood music. It means reading these stories and then saying, "Hey! These are teens! They look and act like me!" And that’s what representation is.
It’s about the parts of our life that we haven’t seen before on television but they play out in our homes all the time. It’s about understanding the generational gap, and understanding the cultural gap. It’s about how young people absorb different parts of life as they grow up; while older people absorb the environment they encounter right now.
I am writing authentic stories, and using comedy to say “WE ARE HERE!”
This series of stories is so important because cultural communities need to have stories that relate to them – especially in the direction of children’s stories. Why? When we don’t see ourselves in stories, it makes us feel like we don’t belong. We ALL belong. And we need to see immigrant stories out there; stories that represent us not stereotypes of us. We need to see content that allows us to say, “Hey, I’m part of Canada and that looks like me.” Or “Hey, that’s my family too!” We need stories that make us feel like we belong. There is definitely a thirst and hunger for this type of storytelling. So I am here, to tell these stories.
Key themes you will find in the series include: Friendship; Family Relationships; and Feeling Like You Belong.
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I grew up seeing storytelling as a chance to give a voice to those who might not have it and to keep the public informed about what's happening on in our communities. I am passionate about telling a compelling story. After almost two decades in journalism, it still amazes me how people open up their lives and share their personal experiences. So I want to tell more stories.
I have 18 short stories written so far and they are funny, charming, and heartfelt.
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Naz Sohni Uppal has experience in co-hosting and producing television, since 2012 and hosting and producing radio since 2006. She has had a flourishing media career in Canada working for OMNI TV, CityTV, and 101.7 FM radio. Naz has won Edmonton's Top 40 Under 40 Award, a few Canadian Ethnic Media Awards, CTV's Heritage Hero Award, A seat plaque in Triffo Theatre, and her junior high just named a Television and Radio Award after her.