Sharma and Fatima grew out of the need in the story to create a possible alternative for Shabanu - a role model, in a sense. In the real-life Cholistan settlement of Yazmin, I met a girl named Maryam and her grandmother who gave me the idea for these female characters. These two women live outside of traditional roles in their community, which is unusual. The story of Maryam and her grandmother, who were tolerated but not liked by their relatives, is told in more detail in HAVELI. Most women in Cholistan did not see themselves as abused. In fact most of them seemed happy and well-adjusted with good and respectful relationships with their husbands -- and said as much. Those who were mistreated didn't have the boldness to create alternatives the way Sharma did. She was considered by some to be a reckless maverick, and by others more like a witch. I met many men in Cholistan who were loving, kind fathers and husbands. I wasn't trying to make any points about the universal mistreatment of women in Pakistani culture. I try to remember to point out that life in cities in Pakistan is much more like life in the United States -- people walk around talking on cell phones, have air conditioning in their houses, are interested in fashion, music, videos. In cities women have jobs and careers. All this is by way of saying that Pakistani culture is very diverse and the Cholistan nomads are not by any means typical.