Trees for the Absentees

“We are all visitors on this earth. We all arrive carrying our flame with us. There are those who use that flame to light up the darkness, and there are those who use it to set fire to trees and people."

In a land riddled with missiles and bullets, where checkpoints mushroom restricting people's free movement,  where living in constant strife and under complete occupation drains your life, how does one thrive? Will sheer acceptance of ones' fate work or does one create a parallel universe, one alongside the reality, an imagined space in one's head, a place of dreams that no one can lay siege to? Maybe yes ! 

Trees for the Absentees is a coming of age tale set in Palestine, of a teenage girl Philistia who lives with her mother Najma, two little sisters (Sawsan and Nahil) and a brother (Saeed). Her father has been in Ashkelon prison for the last five years and the family is hoping he will be set free someday soon. Philistia's grandmother, Zahia is a respected woman in their village for she is the one who bathes the new born babies in their village after she pulls them out from the darkness of the womb into this world. But Philistia who accompanies her grandmother only quizzes - When day by day they found themselves in a hostile, unknown world, a disappointing one. When they discovered that the transition from darkness to light was not what it was made out to be. Did they thank Grandma? Had she saved them when she brought them into life, or had she deceived them?  Grandma Zahia also washes the dead before they are cremated. It is Grandma who reveals the secrets of the dead and the living, of the naked bodies lying in front of them to Philistia, all of which she absorbs well with rapt attention. 

After her grandmother's demise, Philistia dons her role in their village, studies at the University in Nablus in West Bank and also works there part time in a hammam where she scrubs naked bodies of women with black pitt and Nabulsi soap. 

Philistia has few friends - some real and some imagined ones, she converses with them in real and in her dreams, flitting between the two spheres. Her friend Bayrakdar with whom she shares a lot in common is the one with whom she has the most insightful and important conversations, a tender affection as they share thoughts is a treat to the reader.  

My dad loved Palestine so much that he called me Philistia, after the first people who lived in this land.

“So, can a name claim back an occupied country?”

Also moving are the letters that Philistia writes to her father. It is painful when she says - "There are Palestinian prisons and Israeli prisons, but what’s the difference? The prisoners are all Palestinians.”

Written by Ahlam Bsharat and translated from the Arabic by Ruth Ahmedzai Kemp and Sue Copeland, published by Neem Tree Press, Trees for the Absentees may not be an account with historical facts but it is a humane one that deals with the impact war and forceful occupation has on young minds. 

Fantasy intertwines with reality in this novella that gives us a sense of the plight people in Palestine face ; to have this sense is the first step in understanding injustice meted out, for injustice anywhere, they say, is a threat to justice everywhere.

Padmavati the Harlot and Other Stories

For anyone interested in the Indian (translated or otherwise) literature scape, Kamala Das (Madhavi Kutty, her pen name/ Kamala Surayya after she converted to Islam) is no new name. Her unabashed take on women's lives, their desires and sexuality and her own life story published as My Story have always kindled ample interest in readers. 

Padmavati the Harlot and Other Stories by Kamala Das is a collection of 19 stories, most of them very short - about a page or two long, some about 4-5 pages long with the only exception of A Doll for the Child Prostitute, the longest one, being little over 30 pages long. 

Moongphali, the first story that portrays the survival instincts a man exhibits during the 1984 anti-Sikh riots is different from the rest in that it is the only story set against the backdrop of an important event in recent Indian political history. 

There are stories that depict little life episodes, written like random musings - That Woman, The Young Man with the Pitted Face, December, The Sign of the Lion. 

The Sea Lounge and Equity Shares are instances where women protagonists call the shots, have a firm sense of identity and clearly overpower the male counterparts in the stories. 

Padmavati the Harlot and A Little Kitten are where the women decide to whom they offer their bodies providing a bold take on feminine desire and sexuality. 

There clearly exists another subset of stories in this collection, those that revolve around human relationships - beautiful and moving. A bereaved father in The Coroner, a busy son who has forgotten his mother thoroughly though she, whose memory is steadily deteriorating by the day, remembers much more than her son in The Tattered Blanket are poignant tales. Darjeeling, Grandfather, Walls, Leukemia touch chords of humanity in the most delicate fashion in very short space. 

Same-sex relationship is explored well in Iqbal. Sanatan Choudhuri's Wife lingers on suspicion a man harbors for his wife. The former story is just as much crisp and impressive as the latter is confounding.

And here are the most potent stories from the collection in my opinion, my favorites too - The Princess of Avanti and A Doll for the Child Prostitute that lay bare the scum that fills up the society. These two stories churn our inners showing how a woman, irrespective of her age, is always an object of desire, a commodity and there is never an inch of safe space for her in this society. The tonality in these reminded me of Gracy's stories from the collection Baby Doll.

Some of Kamala Das's women are bold, some too naïve. The old ones are as frail as a child, withered away due to ageing and the children are mature, wise like a woman in her prime for they are exposed to the societal ills from a tender age. 

With astute observations and sharp narratives without mincing words even once, Kamala Das holds her readers in rapt attention showing them what our society looks like and does. The foreword by the author's daughter is a sweet. little ode to this fiery writer. 

A Doll for the Child Prostitute published in the year 1977 by India Paperbacks, New Delhi has a set of 11 stories, all of which are bundled up here in this collection published by Aleph Book Company. Look no further, Padmavati the Harlot and other Stories serves as a good and wholesome starting place to explore the authors' writings.

Quartet (Chaturanga) by Rabindranath Tagore

‘If there is God, then my intellect is his gift; That intellect tells me, there is no God; So, God tells me, there is no God'

A fierce statement that Jagmohan, an hard core atheist and a polar opposite of his brother Hari Mohan, makes in this book. Caught in the tussle between the believer and the non believer is Hari Mohan's own son Sachis who takes a liking to his uncle Jagmohan, breathes his principles and turns a staunch atheist until the outbreak of plague consumes Jagmohan's life.

‘That there is no obligation is my greatest obligation.’ Since we do not believe in anything, we must believe in ourselves all the more.’ - Jagmohan's motto to ensure greater good for a larger number of people challenging insurmountable societal norms causes immense misery to him and his likes.

Sachis loses direction after Jagmohan's death and like a homeless bird flitting from one tree to another, unsure and aimless, he seeks refuge under Swami Leelananda, surrendering himself unconditionally at his feet.

Sribilas, Sachis' loyal friend, is a witness to Sachis's dramatic transformation and out of love and loyalty for his friend also his meek follower. Then enters Damini, a young widow, who catalyzes the transformation of these men. But Tagore does not render Damini as a coveted object of desire, one causing friends to turn foes. Both Sribilas and Sachis definitely want Damini's attention but in different ways which is revealed by the line below - 

Perhaps Sachis did not realise that while he envied me for the easy informality of my relationship with Damini, I envied him for the mystery between his and Damini’s relationship. (Says Sribilas, the novella itself is constructed from Sribilas's diary entries)

Damini, like a smoldering volcano capable of erupting without warning, is unsure of the path she herself should adopt in life - be a believer, serve Swamiji and sing kirtans in praise of the Lord or be a non believer and adopt philanthropism working outside the bars of caste, creed and religion.  

The author minces no words when he takes a dig at the supremacy asserted by upper caste Hindus, the way they treat Muslims and chamars as untouchables. His fight for just treatment of women is evident from the lines below  - In Hindu shastra, the sacrifice of a female animal is prohibited, but in the case of humans, this was practiced with a lot of glee.

From one defying everything written in the tenets of religion to accepting everything without any question, Sachis oscillates between these two extremes unable to find a sense of purpose and Tagore in this work shows us that adherence to both pathways is actually of no avail.

Quartet (Chaturanga) is set in the 19th century Bengal, a novella in four parts with four central characters that delves deep into philosophical questions, the conflict between conforming and not conforming with one's religion and scriptures, the conflict between natural longings of a man and renunciation of material desires. 

The renowned poet, playwright, novelist, essayist, painter, the supreme symbol of Indian renaissance that Rabindranath Tagore is, this little work in about 100 pages shows him largely as a 'reformer'. 

Chaturanga (Quartet) was first published in a book-form in 1916. Its first English translation was published in The Modern Review in four consecutive issues (Feb-May, 1922). Unlike other works of Tagore, this was never presented on stage or dramatized; only a radio play was aired on All India Radio a couple of times.

The translator, Nirmal Kanti Bhattacharjee, expresses he had difficulties maintaining the non-sentimental and tongue in cheek style of writing the author adopted in here but the above said qualities are definitely palpable in the translation which makes his translation effort praiseworthy. 

A Musical Offering

Eyelids heavy with sleep are lulled to close by fatigue at the day's end but anxiety and fear wriggle recklessly inside the head forcing them to move apart. Wide awake and paying attention, I begin reading A Musical Offering by Luis Sagasti, translated from Spanish by Fionn Petch.

Right at the start, I encounter an insomniac Count Keyserling who demands he be put to sleep by musical compositions. Johann Sebastian Bach's variations come to the rescue. His thirty variations are performed every night by the famous German harpsichordist - Johann Gottlieb Goldberg. 

A Musical Offering in about 110 pages consists of seven chapters - like essays or fragmented stories meticulously interwoven by music. Maybe the number 7 signifies the musical notes 'do re mi fa so la ti' or 'sa re ga ma pa da ni'. This mini extravaganza by Luis Sagasti shows how music heals - during wars, when death is imminent like in concentration camps. 

Facts and fiction freely intertwine in accounts here as the author details whale songs that can be heard over a distance of 5000 km, signals emitted by stars, songs sent into space from the Earth in 1977 along with the Voyager probe, a giant organ that an entire village at the foot of the Alps built together (sometime in 1737) that created an avalanche 'literally' when played burying the very village that created it. 

The magical prowess of music is rendered beautifully through instances like 1) Goldberg variations played for the Count every night equated to Scheherazade's 'a story a night formula' from the Arabian nights 2) a famous scene from the movie Shawshank Redemption when Andy plays music from the jail administration office - a sweet and short of taste of freedom he offers his jail mates that earns him two weeks in the hole 3) a song in exchange for a piece of bread kind of deal between two inmates at Auschwitz camp. 

Historical events like the Spanish Civil War and the Siege of Leningrad knotted with musical endeavors from the time give the reader a handful to research. 

"Music promises the pleasure of the future: anticipating a melody that flutters a few steps ahead is the dessert we savour even as we raise another steaming forkful to our lips."

"Every mother carries a Noah’s Ark in her womb (after all, there are forty weeks of gestation and forty days of flood). We’ve all been the animals in the Ark before descending to the earth."

With beautiful lines like above and stunning musical revelations (many that aren't easy to comprehend) A Musical Offering works quite like the melody of a Tanpura, not explicit to its listener at the start but unravels slowly; the instrument's constant hum actually lends a framework on which everything in the concert rests upon. 

And as I finish reading A Musical Offering, there is a sense of calm, like the Russian Count I too slip into a good night sleep - Spokoynoy Nochi !