July 23, 2006

THE cover picture of Nausheen Pasha-Zaidi’s debut novel may not be as compelling as her story. Beware — it will betray you, but one must persevere to find the diamond in the rough.

In The Colour of Mehndi Pasha-Zaidi unveils love, marriage, ambition, motherhood, sacrifice, betrayal, tradition, mental illness and the effects of Pakistani family politics. It is an outstanding novel by a Pakistani woman living abroad. Pasha-Zaidi hits this one right out of the ballpark. Forget the other players-Nausheen is here.

The plotline is seemingly ordinary, yet beautifully developed. It is mainly about one character; Nazli Akram, a Pakistani woman living in the suburbs of Arizona with her husband and two gorgeous sons. Life should be perfect, but it is not. Nazli cannot seem to accept that this is what she truly wants — being a housewife for the rest of her life to be the warden for her husband and kids while flushing her own ambitions down the drain.

Though she loves her husband, she cannot bear his constant degradation towards her efforts and his family’s bad will. Hence, she allows herself to be whisked away by depression and become a more severely injured victim of obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD) — a mental illness she has ignorantly faced all her life. Her failed marriage, the resultant despair and illness causes her to slowly disintegrate within until she finds out that her husband is cheating on her, resulting in her imminent suicide. Years later her story is reconstructed when her youngest son, Zeeshan, in a quest for his own identity, discovers his mother’s audiotapes revealing the life she kept guarded all that time.

While dealing with the devastating effects of OCD (a taboo topic which has been willingly approached with great finesse) this is at its core the story of a woman, not unlike many South Asian women today. It patiently heals and soothes the soul.

Though superbly written, one cannot help but criticise the publishers. Writing in parts does give a certain elegance to the book, yet, it is not necessary to start each part again at chapter one — something which, along with the cover causes one to wince. Furthermore an epilogue containing more words from the son would have given a complete and satisfying ending. Yet, Pasha-Zaidi’s writing contains an essence that one may not have felt for a long time. She has an extensively developed plot, her characters actually have character and the writing is top notch.

Pasha-Zaidi was born in Karachi and raised in New York. She began writing The Colour of Mehndi in 2001, utilising her own personal experiences as a guide which is perhaps what helped this novel develop into such a realistic and remarkable story. She has graduate degrees in language education and educational psychology and works as an online instructor. She lives in Chandler, Arizona with her husband and two children.

Making a commendable effort for a first novel, Nausheen Pasha-Zaidi has certainly set herself in the upper echelon of notable authors of fiction. Be on the lookout for her upcoming novel, Red Dupatta, scheduled for completion in fall 2006.