|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
The Story of a Widow Musharraf Ali Farooqi has a story to tell, characters to explore and a plot to take forward, and he does it with both ease and style, carrying his eager reader with him. Apparently, a simple story, The Story of a Widow, is in fact, a tale of the coming of age of a 50-year-old widow, Mona. It is her journey towards shaking off her shackles of habit and convictions in a conservative society as well as breaking out of the restrictions put upon her by herself and her conditioning. With this as the central theme, the story is about imperfect people and imperfect choices and "looks at what is involved in taking charge of one’s life and what happens when we assume control and make a bad decision."
The surprise here is that the widow’s remarriage is not the conclusion of the story, but only the beginning. It’s a voyage of exploration of a new relationship for Mona, and discovery of new passion, excitement of love and disappointments—big and small—in the duration of her second marriage. Mona’s remarriage also leads to a redefining of her basic relationships with her daughters, sisters, friends and relatives. Many of these fundamental relationships are challenged because of the cultural belief that widowhood has prohibitions attached to it. The book, Farooqi tells us "is about human resilience and life’s power to transform us when it seems least likely." The Story of a Widow is located in Karachi, Pakistan. After 30 years of marriage to the stern and staid Akbar Ahmed, Mona is left to deal with life on her own. As time passes, however, Mona discovers that she is a financially comfortable and independent woman who for three decades has lived her life in accordance to the diktat of her tyrannical husband, in a loveless marriage. All is well, however, and Mona behaves with sufficient propriety until Salamat Ali, a widower, moves in to the upstairs flat in her neighbour’s house. Salamat Ali is a rather declass and loud and different from the gentlemen Mona is familiar with, but that does not stop him from sending Mona a proposal of marriage. Perhaps Mona would have refused but the combined horror of her family to the proposal makes her cock a snook at the family and she accepts Salamat Ali as her husband. This is perhaps the first rebellious thing that Mona has ever done in her life. In the beginning, the marriage is full of excitement and romance for Mona, although the picture of her late husband that dominates the living room wall does cast a discouraging pall on her spirits. The demure Mona rediscovers her womanhood and manifests it in pride in her body, joy in wearing bright clothes and awakening passion for her husband. However, the unadulterated joy does not last forever. Mona discovers that her husband not only drinks (and is not above dancing with a glass full of whiskey balanced upon his head in a public function) but is also a gambler, had lied about his business and was exploiting her for money. The plot now moves forward as Mona first finds herself in denial about the true nature of the man she had married, then accepts it and then starts resenting it. She has to, however, travel her own path before she comes to a conclusion about what she now wants to do with her marriage and life. The story is about Mona’s realisation about the truth about her first marriage, the value of her relationships with her daughters, sister and friend that veers from love and devotion to antipathy and irritation. This is where Farooqi really scores; in his wonderful insight into the psyche of a woman. The best thing about Widow is that there is no pity for the widow protagonist. It’s an interesting read about varied women characters and one scoundrel who upsets the apple cart of graceful living. The character of the silently disapproving Akbar Ahmad, hanging on the wall is nicely sketched too. The story has a good pace, not dragging at any time. The reviewer frankly admits that when she read the title of the book, she expected a tear jerking melodrama! It was to her great relief that she realised that the book she was reading was excellent indeed.
|
||
|
|
||
The
book is a thoroughly enjoyable read. In fact, the reviewer would even
go so far as to say that it’s a fine example of how pleasurable
chick lit can be, only it is written not by a woman but by Musharraf
Ali Farooqi. The fact that the author has such a fine perception of
the female mind makes it all the more remarkable.