The Heart Divided - Mumtaz Shah Nawaz

This book's story is as fascinating as the book itself. It was written in 1947 by 35 year old Mumtaz Shah Nawaz (1912-48), a freedom fighter, socialist, poet and women's advocate in Delhi and Lahore. She was a staunch Congress supporter until the creation of Pakistan and she lost faith in the egalitarian spirit she advocated and shifted to Pakistan. She died in a plane crash as she flew to New York to speak at the UN on Kashmir. Mumtaz spent most of her formative years and her youth in undivided India, fought for freedom and believed that India should remain undivided. The book was first published in 1957 by Mumtaz Publications Lahore and first published in India in 2004 by Penguin. 

Seemingly autobiographical, the book is centred around the family of Jamaluddin and his two daughters, the feisty Zohra, the demure Sughra, and their English educated brother Habib. The family's progressive views slowly get subdued in societal pressures. Zohra who is a firebrand student listens to her heart and believes in a unified India and is a Congress supporter while Sughra who gets married early and suffers the loss of a child, supports Pakistan and the Muslim League. Zohra believes Hindus and Muslims can coexist while her sister feels they cannot. Habib's love for a Hindu girl goes unrequited while other characters such as a friend of the girls who gets married to an older man which turns abusive and finally divorces him, other girls who do not believe in purdah, Zohra falling in love with a man from humble beginnings - it has all the elements of society's challenges which they overcome with happy endings. The girls are aware, have agency and get into social work, teaching an such and finally find love in their lives. By the end of the book they all finally find some peace. Habib marries the divorcee.

It is a world of ideals, of youth, of people who stood by principles and fought oppression. It is also of love and everyone finds it in different ways. Perhaps Sughra's finding love in her loving husband Mansur by the end is also an acceptance of beauty in diversity - Mansur loves her enough to let her find her happiness. I loved her style of writing, the detail in which she describes the society and culture of those times, the historical happenings of the freedom struggle and the diverse views around it. Well rounded real characters who are easy to connect to and believe in. Mumtaz Shah Nawaz is an extraordinary woman indeed who left us too soon. 

And what I loved most was that in the inside cover of the book, bought in 2004 (the same year as its publication in India) as a gift to their mother, two young kids and their pet (going by their handwriting and names) show extremely astute judgment in buying the perfect gift for their mother with the words - we know your favorite hobby is reading so we bought this book for you to read every night. Gosh, its going to take a long time! As a gift to a young mother in our society, with so much to offer, the book would have sparked some thought, some questions, some searching for answers, some inspiration and some clarity.  

Mumtaz would have loved what the kids did with her effort. And I am certain the recipient of the book would have Mumtaz's feisty spirit by the way the kids have turned out - free, thoughtful, loving individuals.