Author: Farah Ghuznavi
Publisher: Daily Star Books
Pages: 126
Bangladeshi author Farah Ghuznavi's debut book, 'Fragments of Riversong'- is a collection of short stories that reflect on the trials and tribulations of the people living in a post-war Bangladesh.
What triggered Farah to come out with this anthology is the absolute necessity to bring to readers a fresh yet original perspective on the modern day Bangladesh. "I wrote Fragments of Riversong in the hope of providing readers with a more authentic and nuanced picture of (her) my country as it is today. I wanted to go beyond the typical stereotypes of poverty and disaster, which are only part of the picture, to understanding better the beauty, chaos and contradictions that make up modern Bangladesh. So, Fragments of Riversong features a variety of characters and situations: from a street child who unexpectedly finds his life intersecting with those of a nouveau riche housewife and a middle-class teenager, to a young man who returns to his village in order to deal with a bereavement, to a successful architect who reluctantly becomes the temporary guardian of her two young nieces, and a number of others", explains the author.
Past in present: Where's home
The author poignantly brings out the unfailing faith of her characters who are helplessly trying to piece together the fragments of an irretrievable past. In 'The Homecoming', for instance, it is only when the protagonist stares at the "shattered mosaic" his father had once supervised the laying of for days; that the bitter truth of the war hits him hard. The first story in the collection, 'Getting There', revolves around a similar theme of making sense of a 'home'. Laila and Shaheen are complete antithesis to each other. If one is subservient, docile and obedient, the other is a rebel with a freewheeling attitude who refuses to be led by rules. Laila despises to be compared to her 'miss goody two-shoes' sister and thinks Shaheen incapable of being an independent thinker. However, things change when Shaheen meets with an accident and Laila; an architect from Dhaka, makes a return from Chittagong to the Bangladeshi capital with her two nieces. As an aunt, Laila develops a meaningful, yet an unexpected friendship with one of her nieces. During this journey, Laila gets to know her sister in a way she had never known before. Anecdotes that her niece shares about Shaheen leave Laila confused and also, a tad guilty.
Challenging weakness, emerging strong
One of the noticeable strengths in Farah's stories is her characters' power of resilience. They might appear to be vulnerable at first, resigning to their fates without contest but by the time you finish reading the story, the protagonist becomes a role model, an inspirational figure. 'Escaping the Mirror' is one such story of a woman who lashes out at her parents years later. She condemns her parents' dismissive attitude toward a young girl's repeated cries against the slow, subtle, over-the-years sexual harassment at the hands of the family chauffeur. The tragic collapse of the Rana Plaza factory forms the backdrop of 'Big Mother'- a story in which a woman gathers herself to start afresh in the United States after her husband gets killed in the deadliest garment-factory accident.
Expressing anger
For Farah, writing fiction is more of a political act, a tool that helps her voice the 'unspeakable', that which is deliberately hidden and brushed under the carpet. In one of her earlier interviews, the author explains how outrage and anger forced her to write against the varied forms of injustice, exploitation and violence rampant in society. A news report on the death of a certain child domestic worker at the hands of her employer unsettled the author's mind to an extent that she wrote her first short story from the perspective of the child worker, the victim who is otherwise, more often than not silenced in a world of muscle power and tyranny.
A new beginning
'The Assessment', 'Waiting for the Storm' and 'The Mosquito Net Confessions' are among the other 12 short stories in the volume that question the normative, defy prejudices and hail the alternative voice which is progressive, non-judgmental and liberated. This book is about respecting and celebrating all choices we have a right to make in life.
(Originally published on April 18, 2014)
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