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August 22, 2004
ARTICLES: In quest of happiness
Javed Ali describes reading as “a necessity in understanding the concept of how civilizations and human conscience grew. After all, how can you improve your quality of life by not taking an interest in music, art and literature?” he asks.
For Javed, reading is a journey taking the mind through the many dimensions of philosophy and human nature. Along this intellectual excursion he finds many answers to questions about the very fundamental issues that lie deep within every society.
Pierre et Jean by Guy De Maupassant is a work that has appealed to Javed as he feels that Maupassant has successfully cleared the confusion created by the question of human destiny. “Maupassant has been very clear on this issue and has told us that man cannot defeat nature,” says Javed. “If one is to develop value systems inconsistent with the divine rules of creation and indulge in superficiality and falsehood, then he is bound to pay for his actions sooner or later. It also can cost a person his peace, happiness and sublimity. Bertrand Russell has also discussed this question in his work, Quest for Happiness,” he adds.
Pierre et Jean is a story set in the port of Le Havre, and focuses on the relationship between two brothers who find out that the younger brother, Jean, has inherited a large fortune from a certain Monsieur Marechal of Paris. As the narrative develops, Madame Rosemilly, the boys’ mother, confesses that Jean is actually Marechal’s son. As there were pre-existing feelings of resentment between the brothers whose personalities were quite different from each other, Pierre feels heightened jealousy and bitterness towards this new discovery. Tensions rise inside the family until no one can stand the excessive strain of antagonistic feelings the brothers have for each other any more.
“Maupassant’s style is indirect and subtle,” observes Javed, “He is a great storyteller, a master of characterization and a deep observer of life. His craftsmanship is superb. Maupassant leaves the reader to draw the morals of this story for himself, as different people will relate to different characters in the story. For some, Pierre is the innocent victim and for others it is Jean who deserves sympathy. This is the beauty in Maupassant’s style,” he concludes.
Abul Fazl Siddiqui’s book Sitaron ki Chal is a collection of short stories that Javed Ali is particularly fond of. “The author’s psychological dissection of characters is marvellous,” states Javed. “Abul Fazl Siddiqui has combined time spent in UP forests and rural experiences with the art of storytelling. In the forests the author closely observed animal behaviour giving him insight into a social animal’s behaviour. His penetration into human nature is astonishing as he exposes human attitudes when confronted in situations of fear, rage, loss exploitation, comfort and conflict. This collection of stories is in fact a masterpiece,” he adds. “I particularly liked reading about a story that centred on the love story of an elephant named ‘Khuni’, in fact after progressing through the plot one actually forgets that we are reading about the emotions of an animal!” he exclaims.
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