BOOK REVIEW:
A Beggar at the Gate
Thalassa Ali
is a relative newcomer to writing novels. "Beggar
at the Gate" is the second book from her Paradise
Trilogy which she has been writing on Victorian
India. "A Singular Hostage" was the first part of
this effort (which I have not had a chance to read
yet) and the last book of the trio is expected to
be out next year. "Beggar at the Gate" focuses on
Lahore just after the death of Maharajah Ranjit
Singh.
It will be of as much interest to Pakistanis as
well as others interested in that part of the world.
Thalassa herself is of English-American extraction
and has lived in Pakistan for a number of years.
Her late husband was a Pakistani and she knows our
culture well. The flavors present in her work may
already seem familiar to many of us. But most of
all, in spite of the liberal nature of this work
compared to our usually conservative mainstream,
the sympathetic and positive image of Sufi Islam
here is indeed noteworthy.
Surah Nur (Light) from the Holy Quran is the bed
rock of this story from which "An olive, neither
of the East nor of the West," describes very well
the central character of Mariana Givens, an English
girl caught between two cultures. Her presence in
the midst of international and local intrigues and
the emotional upheavals which ties her to a little
boy, and his father and other members of the family
of Shaikh Waliullah Khan Karakoyia makes for some
interesting reading. Starting on a journey from
Calcutta where she is ostracized by her own English
community for having gone native and marrying one
of the locals in Lahore, a marriage we learn that
is yet to be consummated, and while protecting and
taking care of the gifted child Saboor, Mariana
is at once a target and the creator of much controversy.
The author prepares the scenario quite well here
as the reader feels Mariana's predicament while
reading: "Ghulam Ali stared down at his knife, remembering
what Dittoo had told him: that the English people
seemed to abhor the young memsahib's marriage to
Hassan Ali Khan, and as a consequence she had been
suffering at their hands."
And it is in Lahore that Mariana faces many tests.
There is the test of marriage consummation that
she must overcome. She has to decide whether to
leave Hassan or to stay with him. The civil war
is on in Lahore's streets as Prince Sher Singh fights
the forces of the Rani to claim Ranjit Singh's vacated
throne. And in the background there is much British
intrigue. Lahore is burning as its social degradation
includes loot, plunder and mass killing. And in
the midst of all this remains the sanctuary of Qamar
Haveli inside which Mariana wants to reach to save
herself from outside elements. But she finds only
its locked doors and much violence in the streets
outside.
It is here that Thalassa Ali's Beggar character
emerges. "At last filthy and terrified, she crawled
into the haveli's front door. Making herself as
small as possible inside the folds of her chador,
she reached out a dirty hand, palm up. "Alms," she
croaked, "Alms for Allah." To find more in "Beggar
at the Gate" one has to look at the Beggar character
in three dimensions. First and foremost is in the
obvious physical dimension where Mariana is seeking
the sanctuary of Qamar Haveli to save her life from
the chaos outside.
The second dimension is where she is trying to gain
entry (in a symbolic manner) and find refuge from
the prejudice and bigotry of her own people due
to her marriage to the native Hassan. And last but
not least is her uncertain love for Hassan and obvious
attachment to little Saboor that also leading her
to the gates of this building where his family resides
and her eventual choices are made. And whichever
is the author's true intent and without giving away
the ending, the journey that Mariana embarks upon
here is magical, mystical and almost sensual. -
Ras H. Siddiqui (Thalassa Ali is having a book launch
event for "A Beggar at the Gate" on January 23,
2005 at the Pakistan Mission to the UN, 8 East 65th
Street between Madison and 5th Aves New York, New
York, 10021)
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