Imtiaz Dharker

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Imtiaz Dharker was born in 1954 to a Muslim family in Lahore, Pakistan. She grew up in Glasgow, where she studied Literature and Philosophy. She now lives in Bombay, India, where she works as a poet, artist and film-maker. Bloodaxe have published two collections of her poetry, both illustrated with Dharker's own drawings.

'The reason I'm in India is because I married an Indian. And it has become home now. Though sometimes I feel as if writers don't have homes, that I belong in the cracks between countries, and I actually maybe prefer it that way. For me, my identity has nothing to do with nationality, or religion, or gender. It has to do with beliefs and states of mind.'

'Blessing' is from Dharker's first book, published in 1989.

'The scene of 'Blessing' is the largest slum in Asia — Dharavi, on the outskirts of Bombay. Bombay is the city of dreams. They've come from all over India and they're living in conditions which to anyone else would look squalid but to them it really is the hope of a better life. And because it is not an official living area there is a shortage of water. So when a pipe bursts, it's like a gift...