Publish with Us

Follow Penguin

Follow Penguinsters

Follow Penguin Swadesh

A White Trail

A White Trail

A Journey Into the Heart of Pakistan's Religious Minorities

Haroon Khalid
Select Preferred Format
Buying Options
Paperback / Hardback

A travelogue and an ethnographic study that builds upon hundreds of oral testimonies, A White Trail tells the stories of the complex lived-realities of religious minorities in Pakistan-stories of their triumphs, insecurities, aspirations, marginalization and resilience. The book tells the tale of a group of young Hindu boys who came together to revive their festivals after decades of hidden celebrations. It narrates the story of the Sikh community in Nankana and how it began carving out an identity in a Muslim-dominated city. And it explores how the Christian community expresses its religious identity in a local, South-Asian flavour.

A White Trail is a journey through the different festivals of the five religious minorities of Pakistan, narrating the lives of the different communities in their own words. It reveals what it means to celebrate religious festivals under the shadow of rising intolerance, structural persecution and increased cases of religious violence.

Imprint: Vintage Books

Published: May/2023

ISBN: 9780143460770

Length : 256 Pages

MRP : ₹399.00

A White Trail

A Journey Into the Heart of Pakistan's Religious Minorities

Haroon Khalid

A travelogue and an ethnographic study that builds upon hundreds of oral testimonies, A White Trail tells the stories of the complex lived-realities of religious minorities in Pakistan-stories of their triumphs, insecurities, aspirations, marginalization and resilience. The book tells the tale of a group of young Hindu boys who came together to revive their festivals after decades of hidden celebrations. It narrates the story of the Sikh community in Nankana and how it began carving out an identity in a Muslim-dominated city. And it explores how the Christian community expresses its religious identity in a local, South-Asian flavour.

A White Trail is a journey through the different festivals of the five religious minorities of Pakistan, narrating the lives of the different communities in their own words. It reveals what it means to celebrate religious festivals under the shadow of rising intolerance, structural persecution and increased cases of religious violence.

Buying Options
Paperback / Hardback

Haroon Khalid

Haroon Khalid has an academic background in anthropology. He got his undergraduate degree from Lahore University of Management Sciences (LUMS) in social sciences with a focus on anthropology and history, and his graduate degree in anthropology from the University of Toronto. He has been a freelance journalist since 2008 and has written over 350 articles for numerous publications, including Al Jazeera, CBC, MacLean's, Scroll. in, Wire.in, TRT World, Himal, Dawn, News and Express Tribune. He has travelled extensively around Pakistan and has written about minority rights, folk traditions, the politicization of history and heritage, nationalism and identity, and several other topics.


Haroon is the author of four books-A White Trail (2013), In Search of Shiva (2015), Walking with Nanak (2016) and Imagining Lahore (2018). He has also written two short non-fiction books: Beyond the Other (2016) and The Enigma of Pakistani Identity (2017). In his work, Haroon explores fluid identities, traditions and religious practices that challenge the notion of exclusivist identities, which defines communities in South Asia today. His writings have been translated into many languages, including Punjabi, Urdu, Hindi, Bengali, Gujarati and Italian. He is based in Toronto, Canada.

More By The Author

From Waris to Heer

From Waris to Heer

Haroon Khalid
Walking With Nanak

Walking With Nanak

Haroon Khalid
Imagining Lahore

Imagining Lahore

Haroon Khalid

A Photo-Journey of Lahore

Imagining Lahore by Haroon Khalid is an anecdotal travelogue that talks about the city of Lahore and its origin. From its emergence under Mahmud Ghaznavi to recasting it as the capital of Maharaja Ranjit Singh’s Khalsa empire, Lahore has influenced the subcontinent’s political, social and social atmosphere time and again. The city continues to cast […]

error: Content is protected !!