Sunday, April 17, 2011

The Reluctant Fundamentalist - Mohsin Hamid

Read the highly acclaimed book by Pakistani writer 'The Reluctant Fundamentalist' (Penguin, 209 P). It is an easy read, written in a conversational tone as the narrator, Changez, talks to a new acquaintance on a balmy evening in Lahore, of how he lived his life in the United States as a Princeton graduate and one who secured a coveted consulting job before 9/11 happened. Changez has everything going for him until the event and then he starts feeling, in small ways, the alienation, as he is torn between his love for his motherland and what is happening there. Very subtly told, it is probably the story of every thinking, educated young man from Pakistan who has to deal with his culture and the current politics where he has no say. Mohsin's setting and structure is very interesting as he simply, almost with no emotion narrates the story in a kind of a colonial English that one hears only in our parts, as he and his western friend eat, drink tea and move about in Lahore on a regular night in probably the time of a meal and possibly a walk after that - which is disturbing enough for the westerner.

The story of Changez is very similar to that of Mohsin Hamid himself who has studied in Princeton and he might have honestly put his finer feelings down when dealing with the dilemma of having to live in the land of opportunity but always under suspicion after 9/11. His relationship with Erica, a classmate, and one with enough baggage from her own past, adds to his growing confusion because though she likes him,  she loves her dead boyfriend. I loved the part where Changez offers to be Chris (Erica's dead boyfriend) in bed so she could feel comfortable. Changez is that then - intelligent, sensitive to a fault, well read, polite and attractive. But he is too well read, sensitive to not be affected by what is happening around him as he reads of Pakistan, the American war in Afghanistan, India's constant threat (it was funny to read it from the view of a Pakistani, to see India as the aggressor, the perpetrator as opposed to being the victim as all Indians believe - it did pull down the bravado one associates with Pakistanis a bit for me). In his search for his identity and probably his desire to do something for his nation, Changez grows a beard in the elite consulting office he works in. He has few sympathisers of course, and they let him keep it.

His life spirals downward. Erica goes to a mental institution, he cannot focus on a new, plum assignment, resigns and returns to Pakistan. To a life of uncertainty, fearful of war as he waits for India to attack with what he feels American collusion. And just as most Indians believe, he also expresses his dissatisfaction that America is probably playing India against Pakistan when it could easily tell India that it is Pakistan's ally. Somehow we in the subcontinent will never change, will never take responsibility for ourselves, Indian or Pakistani, and always expect the world, read America, to solve our problems. Changez does represent every educated young man in this part of the world - Indian and Pakistani.

It is a delightfully, easy, funny and honest read. The tone he adopted for this book is brilliant - saying it like it is without delving into dramatics, just enough for the reader to feel the alienation. I think I can understand what Mohsin Hamid must have felt as he lived the life of Changez himself - USA, post 9/11. It is a feeling of how unfair life an get - and though nothing as serious as being locked up without reason (as shown in movies) happens to Changez, the soft, subtle changes in attitude itself are enough to make one feel alienated. Which is my land - America or Pakistan? What am I doing here when my country is in such turmoil? This book must have taken so much out of his system. For sheer honesty and writing it so simply and interestingly, Mohsin Hamid scores. I loved one line his boss Jim tells Changez when he is leaving his team - 'In war soldiers do not necessarily fight for the flag. They fight for their friends, for their team mates.'

I read his 'Mothsmoke' as well. Mohsin Hamid is a good writer whose honest and sensitive writings can convey the confusion and dilemma faced by the average Asian more than any other writer I have read. And that in itself is a wonderful thing because to write about such a thing, one is lost for words mostly. It needs the boy with a fresh perspective to tell the Emperor he has no clothes but Mohsin does better - he straddles both worlds - that of the boy and the Minister who has to tell the Emperor that perhaps the boy is right. Well done Mohsin!

3 comments:

Vinod Ekbote said...

Hari,

That was a very good review.

Vinod Ekbote said...

Hari,
That was a very good review.

Harimohan said...

Thanks Vinod.