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Akhri Adhyaya Acquired immune deficiency syndrome or acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS) is a disease of the human immune system caused by the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV). There are between 2.4 million and 5 million people suffering from HIV AIDS in India. The variation in estimates is due to the absence of foolproof system of conducting the census of those infected with this virus. Apart from the physiological suffering the afflicted have to deal with social stigma too.
He has come up with this novel with a title that, in translation, literally means "The last chapter". It is a saga of the havoc wrought on a family by AIDS, interwoven with the message of communal amity and true friendship. Arjun Das and Anurag Manchanda are fast friends. The latter has a son named Gautam. Arjun’s daughter Shraddha’s classmate Mariam Khan is a Kashmiri. Mariam is scared of her stepmother, who has links with terrorists and is hostile to her. Mariam is adopted by Shraddha’s father. Shraddha’s two other class fellows Jaswinder and Tyagi are not only close friends of the two girls but are also treated as part of Arjun’s family. Manchanda is infected by HIV thruogh a blood transfusion after an accident. As, initially, he is not aware of the infection he gives it to his wife who also dies. Before dying, he asks Arjun Das to look after his son Gautam. But Gautam, too, dies of AIDS as he too has been infected unwittingly. On his death-bed he requests Shraddha to divide his ashes into two parts — one part to be immersed in Hardwar as per the Hindu rituals and the other part to be dispersed in Mattan in Kashmir. Shraddha performs Gautam’s last rites as no one in the latter’s family is alive. Then the four friends — Jaswinder, Tyagi, Mariam and Shraddha as well as Arjun Das carry out Gautam’s last wish. The trip to Hardwar is incident free. It is the narrative pertaining to Mattan that introduces the reader to Zakir’s eye for Kashmir’s natural beauty and knowledge of the region’s ancient history. When the five go to Mattan they learn from locals that the ruins there were once magnificent buildings. Mattan was originally known as Martand. Kashmir’s famous river Jhelum’s original name was Vatista; the river, in fact, is a witness to various historical events. Similarly, Zakir describes the Valley’s natural beauty in detail. However, the wiping out of an entire family by the HIV AIDS has a cathartic effect on Shraddha and Mariam who, on returning to Chandigarh, decide to join the State Aids Society as volunteers. After college they counsel as well as look after AIDS patients at PGI.
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These
facts should have inspired a thousand novels on the topic by now.
Unfortunately, the subject has failed to bestir our litterateurs, with
Dr Kashmiri Lal Zakir being an exception.