The Shiraz features quite strongly throughout the
narrative, in the life that is portrayed after coming to Pakistan. We were
discussing in class, why the ‘novel’ is named Basti, and if there is indeed
some haven (even if temporary, or in memory or history) for the exilic figure.
Thinking from this perspective, I thus have tried to trace what function the
Shiraz has for most of the narrative, and thus touching briefly on the debate
on whether it does provide a haven for the exilic figure or fails to do so.
The first obvious example from the text to support
the notion of the Shiraz as a haven, comes at the end of the fourth chapter,
where Zakir contemplating on the migration to Pakistan, and reflecting on his
own experience, as well as that of others that he saw. He thus thinks, “I had started out in this city as a wanderer, and had made
the Shiraz my camp”. He also describes itinerant, homeless migrants who
discover the Shiraz and feel a sense of belonging there. Another friend’s
experience is told as follows: “Another friend had lived comfortably and
securely here in his own ancestral home since long before Partition. But in
this new atmosphere of houselessness and homelessness, his heart was alienated
from his ancestral home and he chose to be homeless, he came and camped in the
Shiraz”. This arguably then, touches upon the characteristic lacking in an
exiled state, like home and belonging, which the Shiraz seems to provide.
Moreover, it seems to be a place which brings
together people of opposing, conflicting positions, on a platform, that though
they argue and disagree, it is important that they can, in such a place voice
their opinions without being shot. Thus, it seems to be the kind of forum that
Pakistan has failed to provide, because as it mentions in the text, “Pakistan
mai tou kuch bolne ka faida hi nai hai”. Thus a ‘revolutionary’ like Salamat,
an almost ascetic figure like Afzal, and a person who is ‘neither here nor
there’ like Zakir can sit together and have tea. Also, unlike the function that
the ‘forests of memory’ or words serve, the Shiraz exists in real time and
space which is significant, since it points to the fact that the existence of
such a place is possible.
Yet, it is important to notice, that if it is
inclusive in this sense, it is also exclusive, in the fact that it is only the
younger generation which is found here, and the opinions of the ‘man with the
white hair’ for example are not particularly welcomed.
Coming now to the opposing arguments, though the
Shiraz first supports a board in it that reads ‘No political discussions
allowed’, which in a way places it outside the conflicts of the current time
and space, yet it does not exist in a vacuum. Though Abdul draws the curtain
and closes the door initially to shut out a procession at the start, yet the
current situation does affect the Shiraz, it becomes empty, and the ‘
'atmosphere
becomes stifling’ for even Zakir.
However, even if it is a haven from the outside, the
end part of the narrative then seems to negate the eventual possibility of such
a haven existing for the exilic figure, perhaps pointing to the fact that a
basti cannot exist, since the idea of ‘nationhood’ supersedes, yet the latter
idea is also shown to be devoid of meaning and reality, in the current context
at the very least.
“The Shiraz was closed, but not merely in the ordinary way: all the
glass panes in its doors had been smashed. Its door and walls were covered with
soot. The signboard that had hung in front of it had been burned, and lay on
the ground right before the door. There were so many bricks scattered around
that they could be seen inside as well as outside.”
Hence the destruction of the Shiraz, and
the distinction between outside and inside being erased, are both significant.
Also of importance is the fact that then, since even the Shiraz ceases to
provide meaning, the narrative ends in the characters sitting outside it’s ruins and vesting their hopes in
another sign, that will either not come, or share the same fate as that of the
Shiraz.
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