Fiction is stranger than reality. It is a mirror to contemporary society, a vehicle to express the sufferings of humanity on a larger scale in a specific time period. However, if a novel connects the issues of contemporary life -- collective sorrows and social issues -- by artistically interweaving them into personal sorrows of the character, then a masterpiece like Kamari Wala is produced. This Urdu novel by Ali Akbar Natiq is a mirror to our contemporary national realities.
The creative vigour, honesty, pain, observation and characterization in Natiq’s prose are remarkable. His latest work elevates the status of Urdu novel, and places it at par with contemporary literature of excellence. Before Kamari Wala, Natiq published an Urdu novel, Naulakhi Kothi, and two collections of Urdu short stories, Qaim Deen and Shah Pur Ka Tanga. These works of fiction establish him as a towering figure of contemporary fiction.
A novelist is not a historian but Natiq’s social and historic sensibility combined with his creative sensibility is far superior to any historian’s. The political, social and economic issues of the country -- from decade of 1970s to present -- are reflected in the novel artistically. Natiq does not directly narrate political or social crises but captures them through his characters.
“The plot of the novel is very powerful and artistically revolves around the life of the protagonist or the main character of the novel, Zamin Ali, who is a simple and innocent young man, living in a village of Punjab. This young lad is gifted with literary taste and love for nature. He falls in love with the daughter of a nurse who is 13 years older than him. The girl lives in a dispensary situated opposite to Zamin's house in the village. The life of rural Punjab is depicted with full vigour and factual details. The beauty of nature in the rural Punjab is captured in such an attractive way that the reader is lost in the beautiful scenic descriptions.
“Natiq transports the reader amidst the actual settings of village with all its happenings and the reader willfully absorbs in a strange world where life moves slowly but meaningfully. While depicting the tender feelings of love produced in the heart of 10 years old, Natiq describes the life of village with all its issues, pains and challenges. The feudal system, Bradri, the power and activities of religious figures in the village and their social and economic life is brought effectively alive before readers through absorbing narrative skills.
“The girl elopes with the son of Doctor Farah, who has recently shifted to the village dispensary. Zamin is heartbroken. The parallel plot of the life of Dr Farah is so skillfully connected with the main plot that it becomes its integral part. The greed for the land and subsequent savagery that it produces is also delineated realistically.
“The rest of the novel is about the search of Zeenat, but this search combines everything in it. Zamin Ali migrates to a city to study in the college, his encounter with the communist party in the college, the politics in the college, comparison between the rural and city life; everything is minutely delineated through Zamin. Zamin harbors a secret desire to locate Zeenat, his childhood love and during this search he goes to the big city of Karachi, and then finally settles in Islamabad. Natiq describes Zamin’s life in Islamabad first as a federal government employee and simultaneously as editor of magazines in Melody, Islamabad, with all its contemporary charms and ugliness meticulously. The bureaucratic life, diplomatic life, showbiz and life of common people in Islamabad, the role of different agencies; everything breathes on the pages, and shocks us out of complacency. Here Zamin falls in love with a model Shiza who at the end reveal to him the secret of his life."
The novel includes a series of interesting encounters and incidents in the village and city life. He easily shifts scene from village to city and to village again. He combines psychology with rural wisdom and urban mindset in an inspiring manner.
This piece of fiction by Natiq is mesmerizing. He narrates disturbing issues of mind and heart through incidents -- ugliness of the feudal system, depiction of rural and urban life, sectarianism, politics, social ills like prostitution, pornography, hollowness of contemporary politics and our fading conscience and values are so powerfully portrayed that they become part of our collective intelligence.
However, Natiq has just briefly touched the system of justice and police. I hope that in his coming novel he will unveil the ills of the judicial system, which are the cause of the sufferings in urban as well as rural Punjab.
The creative vigour, honesty, pain, observation and characterization in Natiq’s prose are remarkable. His latest work elevates the status of Urdu novel, and places it at par with contemporary literature of excellence. Before Kamari Wala, Natiq published an Urdu novel, Naulakhi Kothi, and two collections of Urdu short stories, Qaim Deen and Shah Pur Ka Tanga. These works of fiction establish him as a towering figure of contemporary fiction.
A novelist is not a historian but Natiq’s social and historic sensibility combined with his creative sensibility is far superior to any historian’s. The political, social and economic issues of the country -- from decade of 1970s to present -- are reflected in the novel artistically. Natiq does not directly narrate political or social crises but captures them through his characters.
Kamari Wala by Ali Akbar Natiq
Fiction
Pages: 638
Year of Publication: 2020
Price: Rs.1200
Publisher: Jhelum Book Corner
Iqbal Library Road, Jehlum
“The plot of the novel is very powerful and artistically revolves around the life of the protagonist or the main character of the novel, Zamin Ali, who is a simple and innocent young man, living in a village of Punjab. This young lad is gifted with literary taste and love for nature. He falls in love with the daughter of a nurse who is 13 years older than him. The girl lives in a dispensary situated opposite to Zamin's house in the village. The life of rural Punjab is depicted with full vigour and factual details. The beauty of nature in the rural Punjab is captured in such an attractive way that the reader is lost in the beautiful scenic descriptions.
“Natiq transports the reader amidst the actual settings of village with all its happenings and the reader willfully absorbs in a strange world where life moves slowly but meaningfully. While depicting the tender feelings of love produced in the heart of 10 years old, Natiq describes the life of village with all its issues, pains and challenges. The feudal system, Bradri, the power and activities of religious figures in the village and their social and economic life is brought effectively alive before readers through absorbing narrative skills.
“The girl elopes with the son of Doctor Farah, who has recently shifted to the village dispensary. Zamin is heartbroken. The parallel plot of the life of Dr Farah is so skillfully connected with the main plot that it becomes its integral part. The greed for the land and subsequent savagery that it produces is also delineated realistically.
A novelist is not a historian but Natiq’s social and historic sensibility combined with his creative sensibility is far superior to any historian’s. The political, social and economic issues of the country -- from decade of 1970s to present -- are reflected in the novel artistically. Natiq does not directly narrate political or social crises but captures them through his characters.
“The rest of the novel is about the search of Zeenat, but this search combines everything in it. Zamin Ali migrates to a city to study in the college, his encounter with the communist party in the college, the politics in the college, comparison between the rural and city life; everything is minutely delineated through Zamin. Zamin harbors a secret desire to locate Zeenat, his childhood love and during this search he goes to the big city of Karachi, and then finally settles in Islamabad. Natiq describes Zamin’s life in Islamabad first as a federal government employee and simultaneously as editor of magazines in Melody, Islamabad, with all its contemporary charms and ugliness meticulously. The bureaucratic life, diplomatic life, showbiz and life of common people in Islamabad, the role of different agencies; everything breathes on the pages, and shocks us out of complacency. Here Zamin falls in love with a model Shiza who at the end reveal to him the secret of his life."
The novel includes a series of interesting encounters and incidents in the village and city life. He easily shifts scene from village to city and to village again. He combines psychology with rural wisdom and urban mindset in an inspiring manner.
This piece of fiction by Natiq is mesmerizing. He narrates disturbing issues of mind and heart through incidents -- ugliness of the feudal system, depiction of rural and urban life, sectarianism, politics, social ills like prostitution, pornography, hollowness of contemporary politics and our fading conscience and values are so powerfully portrayed that they become part of our collective intelligence.
However, Natiq has just briefly touched the system of justice and police. I hope that in his coming novel he will unveil the ills of the judicial system, which are the cause of the sufferings in urban as well as rural Punjab.