Echoes of the Dust is a hauntingly lyrical literary novel that traces the life of Professor Aftab Ali, from the sunbaked alleys of rural Punjab in the 1980s to the fractured, digital sprawl of modern Lahore.

Born into a world of oral memory, folklore, and inherited ritual, Aftab is raised under the looming shadow of General Zia's Islamization. As he comes of age, his journey unfolds through a quietly rebellious youth, years of educational conformity, and ultimately, into his role as a professor—each stage mirroring Pakistan's own conflicted path between tradition and transformation.

Spanning five parts, the novel becomes a meditation on identity, memory, education, and the emotional cost of modernization. Aftab's life reflects a nation struggling to hold onto its soul in the face of political dogma, cultural erasure, and digital isolation.

At its heart, Echoes of the Dust asks:
– How does one remain whole when the past is rewritten or forgotten?
– What is lost when tradition becomes a museum artifact?
– And in a world of screens, can we still connect without performance?

Written in lyrical prose with moments of stark realism, this novel will resonate with readers of South Asian literary fiction, coming-of-age narratives, and philosophical explorations of cultural identity. Echoes of the Dust is not just the story of one man, but of a nation scattered by time, ambition, and ideology—attempting, piece by piece, to gather meaning from what the wind has carried away.