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June 23, 2002
REVIEWS: Not trivial matters
Safia Siddiqui is a short story writer who is quite well known amongst the Urdu language readers in the West. Having lived in England for a long time, she shares the English cultural milieu with a large number of South Asian expatriates. She has emerged as a keen observer of their social behaviour, mindset, lifestyle, prejudices and preferences.
The first story in this collection, which is also the title story, “Chhoti si baat” describes the gloom of an elderly mother who belongs to the first generation of emigrants, despised, discriminated and rejected by the whites for the colour of her skin. She works hard to overcome the prejudices of the locals and finds a place for herself in society, thanks to her sincerity and goodwill. But her son who becomes a successful professional due to the protection and dedication of his hard working mother cannot acknowledge her scarifices. He repeatedly insists, “Mummy, the fact remains, that we came to an empty house and you were not there for us.” This remark, though a seemingly minor comment was a source of agony to the mother.
The other story ‘Manzil’ is also based on the tortuous life of a hard working mother, Kitty Brown, who had lost her devoted husband in a road accident. She is happily employed by a kind lady who invites some guests to dinner. One of the guests is none other than Kitty’s daughter, who happens to be the classmate of the daughter of the hostess. Kitty’s dilemma is to decide whether to quietly skip the dinner or attend it despite her lowly status as a maid. This emotional crisis has been skillfully depicted in the story.
Yet another story, “Second hand”, captures the conflict in the values of the immigrants who had assimilated with the British and those who still held on to their norms. Rakhshi, a young girl, refuses to marry the boy she loves simply because he has had sex with other girls and proudly owns to it. He thinks there’s nothing wrong in this, as those girls were white. But Rakhshi has her own reason. Why should she marry a second hand husband?
In the story “Contract”, Jameela Begum, a self sacrificing maltreated housewife picks up courage when her newly married daughter gets divorced from her unworthy husband. In a fit of calculated anger she speaks out her mind and gives her husband the shock of his life when she too renounces her marriage contract. In a free society, the oppressed too can muster courage and learn from their children. “Home help” is the story of a typical middle class housewife who employs an au pair for housework. With a young and pretty woman in the house, she keeps a vigil on her young son only to discover one day that her husband had been enticed by the au pair and he departs leaving the family to fend on its own.
The stories are simple and brevity is Siddiqui’s forte. An enlightened person as she is, her approach to life and the characters around it is rational and humane.
Chhoti si baat
By Safia Siddiqui
Tashkeel Publishers, 2-J, 8/6 Nazimabad, Karachi-74600
Tel: 021-629190. Also available with Mrs S. Siddiqui, 10 Twyford Abbey Road, London NW10 7HG
112pp. Rs60
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