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January 19, 2003
CHILDREN’S BOOKS: Story of a pearl
For years Afghanistan has writhed in the aftermath of the war with Russia. The pain and pilferage spewed from the war left the country reeling for so long, but there still seems no respite. In this misery have emerged bittersweet stories that leave one aghast. What more suffering awaits the poor people of Afghanistan? The present is harshly filled with violence and tyranny. The children’s wait for their fathers to return seems to be eternal until they learn of their loved ones’ death.
The beautiful pearl by Fahmida Riaz is a story set in the simple life in the mountains of Afghanistan. Little Dur Jamala sits on a cliff, gazing at the far off mountains, impatiently waiting for her father, who has left and joined the troops ‘behind those blue hills to fight a war’, to return and bring her a ‘string of pink pearls’ that he had promised when departing. As the days go by, the miseries of war and violence silently imprint upon her innocence and sensibilities, slowly and gradually making the war and the plunder an integral part of her existence.
She roams the peach orchards with her little brother and reminisces her father’s stories that he used to tell her. Now, her brother, Alam Gul is struck off from the mosque he used to study in as their father is no more there to support them. Her mother, Bibi Jan, draws her children closer to her heart in the absence of Pir Badshah, as she now has taken over the responsibility of running the household and looking after their needs.
In this miserable life, the hope that keeps them going is that Pir Badshah will return one day and life would go back to what it use to be a long time ago. This return to normality, however, has a price, which Dur Jamala and her family and millions of Afghans like them have to pay.
Fahmida Riaz has accomplished much on the literary front and this story for children adds another feather to her cap. In a gentle and simple narrative, she has deftly woven the harsh realities faced by the people of Afghanistan into a readable tale of how Dur Jamala encounters the hardships at an age when children hardly fathom the meaning of violence. One of Dur Jamala’s uncles was murdered in a pointless brawl and her eldest uncle set out to kill the murderer who disappeared into the mountains. Pir Badshah ordains sanity by not carrying on with the madness of taking turns on avenging his brothers’ murderers, which also puts across a message of forgiveness and empathy.
The soft, water-colour illustrations commendably made by Shireen Syed, lend ethos and sensitivity to the story.
The beautiful pearl: a tale from Afghanistan
By Fahmida Riaz
Oxford University Press, 5 Bangalore Town, Sharae Faisal, Karachi-75350. Tel: 021-4529025.
Email: ouppak@theoffice.net
ISBN 0-19-579803-1
24pp.
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