“Again the same long journey through the thicket of memories. When I was
in Rupnagar -- the remote, mythic era of my life.”
In this work, the novel seamlessly alternates
between the past and the present, providing a seemingly coherent continuity in
the life of the protagonist as it is placed within the heritage of a larger
Muslim movement and history. Conventionally defined, the function of history is
to identify events which can spark some sort of learning for the present, so
that one doesn't repeat past mistakes. The protagonist, himself, being a
history teacher, should be aware of this. However, as reminiscence emerges in
this work, we can note that the past is painted as more ideal than real,
effectively mythologising the past. The argument presented herein points to the
function of historical recollection being a way to identify key psychological
traits of Zakir, so as to justify his passiveness and conduct to present
events.
Zakir’s childhood village, Rupnagar, is recollected
through his adult gaze and is portrayed in his memory as something very
integrated and idyllic. This becomes clear in the earlier chapters where he
constantly valorizes the space of the village, for instance, when he speaks of
the lanterns and the bazaar at night.
Clearly, for him, there is a certain harmony in the atavistic setting of
Rupnagar: ‘… jab dunya naee naee thi, jab
aasmaan taaza tha aur zameen abhi mayli nahi hui thi’. In the face of
demonstrations and upheavals in the present, the protagonist elects to sink
into his memories and keep musing in the possibility of the lost idyllic.
However, his silence and inaction doesn't point to an apathy to the present,
rather it points to a specific positioning in history, relative to the crucible
of Karbala. For Shias, the idea of interiorization of suffering is very
pervasive and this explanation would help us understand his seemingly immoral
stance on current events. Instead of directly reacting to present events, he
chooses to survive in this morally corrupt universe by drawing on his own
memories and inner resources: ‘The more
turmoil increases outside, the more I sink into myself. Memories of so many
times come to me … My memories are my forest. So where does the forest begin?
No, where do I begin?” This last quote strengthens the point that reminiscence
on the past is more of a route to self-reflection than reflection on current
events and happenings.
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