DELHI :

Speakers talked poignantly at the launch of Shahid Siddiqui’s novel about the indivisible history of India and Pakistan

Shahid Siddiqui. Photo: R.V. Moorthy

The love-hate relationship between the people of India and Pakistan has been masterfully woven around the lives and aspirations of two brothers, Shiraz and Aijaz, by the politician and journalist turned author, Shahid Siddiqui. The launch of Siddiqui’s first work of English fiction, “The Golden Pigeon”(Harper Collins), saw a packed house at the India International Centre this Wednesday.

pix: harpercollins.co.in

The book was released by veteran journalist Kuldip Nayar who spoke passionately about the need to believe in Gandhi’s ideas of secularism and pluralism in this time of increasing hatred and ‘love jihad’. Barkha Dutt, group editor NDTV, moderated an interesting dialogue between the author, Nayar and noted film director Mahesh Bhatt.

Nayar recounted his experience of covering the post Partition riots — the disillusionment, horror of countless people rendered orphans and homeless, killed and maimed, families torn apart — and felt that Siddiqui’s book brought out the trauma and fear of Partition in a very sensitive manner. “The book reminds me of my younger days in Ballimaran — the old world charm, the magic of an era forgotten, the memories of riots. Reading the book brought tears to my eyes,” he said.

Barkha commented that the book is a story at many different levels, of schizophrenia about Pakistan’s devious designs to stir trouble in India, of dysfunctional love, manufactured stories about love jihad and passion.

Siddiqui said the book was rooted in his experiences of growing up in Shahjahanabad, the struggles of people in post Partition India, the invisible line drawn between the two countries, of aspirations, anger and fear of a people divided by a political decision. “My book is full of magical realism and begins from where the famous movie Garm Hava ends. It is a bird’s-eye view of the social upheaval and political turmoil in the subcontinent and post Partition angst. But this is not a political book at all,” said Siddiqui emphatically.

Bhatt felt that the book has what he likes to call ‘the perfume of sorrow’ and said he could easily identify with the central characters in the novel. “This book caught me by my jugular. It’s my life in print — a fiction of facts,” said Bhatt while discussing at length the dichotomy of growing up as the love child of a Muslim woman and a Hindu man. He recounted how his mother braved the odds to raise him as a Hindu while she hid her own identity as a Muslim under the garb of a mangalsutra and bindi. He also said the character of the beautiful Hina Kauser in the book was a portrayal of his mother’s steely determination to survive the odds. “The compass of our nation and that of Pakistan points towards hope. A time will come when the boundaries in our hearts and minds will fade away. The change has already begun,” said Bhatt.

source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> Features> Metroplus / by Anasuya Basu / image edited : Harper Collins / November 21st, 2014