Man suffers due to three things; a disloyal wife, an over demanding brother, and education gained without any experience. Likewise, any land also suffers from three ailments; the upstart and undeserving achieving rank, intellectuals becoming materialist, and cruel despot kings.
Batin ka gham, siraf sharab hi mita sakti hei. Only wine can assuage the pain of the unknown.
The novel is filled with symbology and analogies, some are brilliant and some were confusing. But I loved the common man view of great events like the Partition and 1971 Partition of Bangladesh and Pakistan. This story has raised an important question about the effects of Partition in a Punjab and Bengal, as really these were the only two very large provinces to be divided in 1947. Years following the bloody partition have had very similar effects on their characters. Their have been wars of succession in Pakistani Bengal and Indian Punjab, effectively reliving the Partition again. This madness has to stop, at some stage as cultures of the severed provinces are exactly the same.
Anyway, I think that this novel should be part of the text books in Pakistan at least, so that the next generation can reflect back with good light.
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