The Blind Lady`s
Descendants
Anees Salim`s book, “The Blind Lady`s Descendants” won the
Raymond Crossword award in 2014 in fiction category. One of the three judges
said this one wasn`t included even in the long list of ninety books that they
were initially provided. It`s because of Anjum Hasan, one of the three judges,
that Salim`s book got listed at the last moment and finally made it to the top
spot.
When I began to read the book in my kindle after discovering
the above mentioned incident, I was curious to know what was it that made Anjum
Hasan to include it. A few paragraph down, I knew why.
Written like an autobiographical style, it`s the story of
Amar, a young Muslim boy who turned atheist when he turned thirteen. The reason
why he became an atheist is one the funniest anecdote of the story which spans
about two decades. The writer never mentions the geographical location of the
little town, but from the descriptions it seems to be somewhere in coastal
provinces of Kerala or Karnataka. A derelict bungalow with lots of trees around
in the front yard, a century old railway tunnel made by British, four siblings,
their grumpy father who had stopped talking to his wife for some sixteen years
set the mood of a funny, dark as well as gripping tale that will not let you
keep it closed until finished.
Having grown up in similar small town, a railway township of
eastern India, I found a queer similarity of Amar`s story with my own; and
maybe this was the reason why I loved it so much.
The blind lady in question is Amar`s maternal grandmother,
who ultimately gets killed by her own daughter Asma, the mother of the four
children. Hamsa, the father of the four children, is one archetypal male,
perpetually disgruntled for being a loser he was all along his life, who
secretly married another woman at Malabar where he allegedly went to buy
spices. We know in the end those were his routine visits to his second wife in guise
of work.
Sophiya, the third child dies in a boat mishap and Akmal,
the second one disappears following his transition from a religious boy to
radical terrorist. Jasira, the eldest, gets married to a local professor while
Amar, who is the alter ego of Javi, his maternal uncle who killed himself at a
young age remains till the end to tell us the story.
Nothing extraordinary happens, but all the small incidents
that a common man experiences are there in the book in vivid colours. I liked
the way he writes and before this one finished, I got another Anees Salim book
downloaded. But that`s for another occasion.
Debashis Deb
