ALI JAFFER ZAIDIS BOOK: BAHAR JUNGLE ANDAR AAG First of all I have to assert that I am no learned analyst or commentator who writes high flying academic reviews of films or books. All I ever do is write my feelings about what I read. And that is all I am able to do with Alis book. It is too thick to be read at one go so I am going to read it in bits and share my feelings as I go along. After reading the first 100 pages or so I am quite astounded by how similar his childhood was to mine. I was also born and raised in my “nanihaal” ie Naani’s house. Her house was always full of guests both relatives and friends, some temporary some permanent. She also had many opinions and shared them openly. She was a learned woman and came from Sir Syed Ahmad Khan’s family. She had a very strong hand in shaping my personality as a child. I was also sent to a Convent School, Cathedral High School and I was also exposed to Christianity in the same way as he was. I obviously come from an even more liberal family than him as my family members never went to my school to prevent me from attending the Christian assembly. Instead an Ustaani Ji was arranged to come home after School to teach me the Quraan, The amazing thing was that we were Sunni and my Ustaani was Shia and it was not an issue for my family anymore than the fact that I was simultaneously learning about Christianity. The progressive families of those times did not made religion an issue and wanted their children to get a decent education. All these conflicting intellectual exposures gave I believe, both Ali and me the ability to think deeply and critically. It seems like there was very clear understanding in the progressive families of that time that religion was a person’s personal connection with God and a good education was the key to their successful future. This was hardly surprising in terms of my family as Sir Syed was a leading light and there were girls in our family who unusually for those times were completing their PhDs and so on. Three things are quite striking about the first few pages of Ali’s Book: 1. The amount of empirical historical research. Whenever he talks about any contemporary person, he gives enormous detail about their heritage going back to pre-partition times. This way he tells his reader about the recent history as well as ancient history. Ironically he explains familial links of our current corrupt leaders with ancestors who helped the British oppress the local people in the past. The same people quickly jumped into the bandwagon of the Muslim League once they realised that Pakistan is inevitable for their own selfish reasons rather than any desire or love for a motherland of their own. 2. Shocking facts about what went on behind the scenes I have to say I am absolutely shocked to find out that the lower middle class landowners in borrowing money used to pawn not only various assets but also their WOMEN to the money lenders. Leaving aside the political perspective and looking at it from a Feminist’s viewpoint this is the extent to which women were nothing more than property and chattels for the men. I don’t know if I even want to think about the women who were pawned and what happened to the women if the borrower was unable to return the money. It is just too painful. 3. Thankfully the Urdu is not as difficult as I had expected. It’s quite readable without much difficulty. I guess I was apprehensive because Prof Amin Mughal has scared me too much from the Urdu he uses even in his casual conversation. Ali’s Urdu is far less scary. I have already learnt so much from reading the first few pages of this book. Will keep sharing as I read further.
Posted on: Sun, 09 Nov 2014 19:48:58 +0000
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