Amidst the glittering crowd of South Asian literature, Nadeem Aslam's Maps For Lost Lovers achieves a stature of its own. Aslam, in his novel, constructs characters whose lives revolve around a multitude of symbols. These symbols not only help decipher all of his characters, but also add depth and substance to their personalities. The three-dimensional nature of these characters reveals their complexity. Interestingly, these abstract symbols and signs can be linked to the ancient tradition of folklore and mythology. Suraya, one of Nadeem Aslam's characters, has an elusive, intangible and mysterious nature. She tempts Shamas and Charag with her beauty; and it is precisely this attribute of his character that can be directly linked to the mythology itself. So, the main premise of this answer is to proclaim Suraya as the mermaid in Nadeem Aslam's text. Like the deviated mermaids, who are seductive creatures in Greek mythology, Suraya meanders through the lives of the men of Dasht-e-Tanhaii. Suraya's first encounter with Charag is that of a naked woman dripping water, like a mermaid. This is one of the many beautiful symbols in this novel. There are two essential aspects of this encounter, which must be considered in juxtaposition with Greek mythology. First, mermaids lived on an island and were beautiful creatures with wings, which had the bodily shape of a woman. Their sole purpose was to attract passing sailors with their captivating songs. Their captivating songs mainly enchanted drunken sailors, and they crashed into the cliffs that lay around the island's body of water, leading them to destruction. Likewise, Suraya, like a mermaid, met Charag and Shamas, in the guise of a temptress, around the middle of the flowing paper...water, in many ways, is the home of a mermaid and by returning to the dark waters, Suraya wishes to dislodge his dark act. The question remains: how successful is Suraya? Mermaids don't always win in the end. Suraya may resemble the sirens who call Odysseus to the rocks to destroy him, but it is Odysseus who, tied to a mast by a rope, ends up escaping from the kingdom of the Sirens. Suraya, like a special constellation of stars, disappears into the brilliance of reality. Its scintillating existence sparkles momentarily, but then disappears into the recesses of truth and reality. Suraya's song remains, somewhere engraved in the soiled and tattered parchment of the cards, remembering all those lovers who love with passion and get lost somewhere in its intoxication. Works Cited1. Aslam, Nadeem. Cards for lost lovers. New York: Vintage Books, 2006. Print.