Ranjit Powar looks at camouflage of mustard in times gone by

Balpreet

So, how do we know some things — just like that? Maybe we download them off the cosmic timelines with our higher selves and lo, we just know. Some come from our memory across births. Some more from bits and pieces that seeped into us riding on grandparents’ tales.

So when ‘Dusk over the Mustard Fields’ opens its arms, the embrace is easy. The Punjab detailed out in havelis, the runny-nose urchins, the scratchy dogs and the wandering faqirs resting under the deori… belongs to before-the-Partition, yet feels curiously familiar to us born decades later.

This first fiction title by The Browser begins on recognisable notes, and as Nimmo, the protagonist, appears along with her Sikh family and Muslim neighbours, the charm of the ‘times gone by’ begins to tug. But just when the everyday joys and rooftop romances draw us back into black and white nostalgia, the hypocrisy, the fears, the dark camouflages of the times cast shadows. From Nimmo finding a flutter in her young heart with Akhtar next door; to showing hints of fiery courage in the face of a mob in Ludhiana; to excitedly getting married to Lt Hukum Singh; and then, facing rejection, insult and pain for being ‘not fair enough’, or not being able to bear a child… we see the murky shades of human selfishness, indifference and injustice surface.

Nimmo shrinks from a pleasant young girl to a discarded, depressed woman, sidelined by a second wife; besides surviving a brother-in-law’s lust and its pregnant repercussions. Ironically, stealing strength from this situation, she gets her groove back, before being cast off for transgressions she didn’t even choose.

In Nimmo, we don’t just witness the back-story of how an innocent mind can turn bitter and wily, we also marvel at the graph’s smoothness. Then there are misdemeanours we wish didn’t exist.

Powar blends history and politics into delicious details of her characters and their lives. And how the times didn’t just divide Punjab, but also the beliefs and choices of its people. Recommended, yes. It’s more than a slice of history.