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| Sunday, May 2, 2004 |
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| Sunday, May 2, 2004 |
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The Heart Divided
Written in 1948, The Heart Divided is the only novel by Mumtaz Shah Nawaz, a prominent freedom fighter, poet, and advocate of the rights of workers and women in Delhi and Lahore. A fictional account of her gradual disillusionment with the unity process, the novel mirrors her conversion from a Congress supporter to one who supports the idea of a separate Muslim state. She tries to explain how the reason behind Partition cannot be found by dissecting the triangle of the Congress, the League and the British; it was the hearts of the people that had been divided, a process that started as early as 1930. The story revolves around Zohra and Sughra, two sisters with differing political views. Zohra is a Congress supporter, a dreamer, who longs for unity between the Hindus and Muslims that never comes about. Sughra, on the other hand, is a staunch supporter of the Muslim League and the interests of her community are supreme to her. In the meticulously etched lives of the sisters, we observe the emerging modernity in the Sheikh family, its community and politics. Using a series of love stories, the author has woven the social fabric of elite Lahore into the unfolding political saga of that time. Mumtaz Shah Nawaz addresses the various social problems of her times. A vociferous spokesperson against purdah, she has created a similar character in Zohra. The discarding of the purdah marks a new dawn in Zohra’s personal and political life. She is a more confident and freer person. She is able to not only take on men and defeat them in debates, but can even defy society to take up a job away from home. The author also questions the prevalent notions about marriage. She views the institution of marriage from four different angles. Habib, the girls’ brother, and Mohini, Zohra’s Hindu friend, fall in love but find that marriage is almost impossible. Sughra has an arranged marriage that is a miserable failure. Though she discovers love later in life, it is never fulfilled as that would involve divorce and girls from respected families like hers do not have that option. Another friend, Najma, is forcibly wed to an old widower and her subsequent divorce is considered such a stigma that she is considered unfit company for all "decent" girls. Zohra herself falls in love with a man considered lower class by her family. The decision of right or wrong is left to the reader. Even though most characters do not break society’s rules, yet the fact that they think of intellectual compatibility as a major factor in marriage is in itself a major breakthrough. Individual choices may differ but the desire for change is common. The various characters are so lovingly portrayed that the reader cannot help being drawn into their lives and feeling their pain. The novel is, however, much more than mere fiction. It is an interesting chronicle of the social and political upheavals of pre-Independence India. The depiction may be fictionalised but the pain and the turmoil are real. The bloodshed that Vijay, Mohini’s brother, foresees towards the end of the novel is now part of history. Zohra at one point thinks of poet Iqbal saying, "Change alone hath stability". As our world changes anew, with various confidence-building measures and peace talks taking place, let us hope we can put behind us the "sea of tears and blood" that Vijay envisaged and create a world in which peace reigns. |
INDIA in the 1930s was a land marked by struggle. A
land hurting as much from the Hindu-Muslim divide as from the British
rule. It was a time of strategies made and discarded, a time of accords
that were tried and failed and a desperate desire for unity that
remained elusive. In the centre of it all was Punjab, proud and strong,
but torn apart by the tussle between the Congress and the Muslim League.
Here we find the Sheikh family, in the vicissitudes of whose fortune was
reflected the change that was taking place all over the country.