My review of "Once upon a time" - a Kashmiri novel by Bansi Nirdosh

Bansi Nirdosh

Once upon a time
A novel in Kashmiri
Translated by: Qaisar Bashir
New Delhi: Authors Press, 2017
ISBN: 978-93-87281-06-6
Pp 131 | Rs 295

A simple Kashmiri tale set in the pre-Independence era

Akh Daur by Kashmiri author Bansi Nirdosh, posthumously translated by Qaisar Bashir as Once upon a time, portrays the travails of an innocent village girl Nageena and the cultural, religious and social conditions that existed during the early 19th century. The author was a popular novelist, playwright and short story writer from Srinagar, whose literary career began as an editor of Naya Zamana and thereafter as sub-editor of a daily, Khidmat, upon his return to Srinagar. Bansi Nirdosh has also scripted several articles for Akashvani radio programme surrounding social issues, over a hundred drama skits for radio and published short stories and two novels in Kashmiri language. Some of his writings have been translated into English and Hindi, as well.

Once upon a time is the story of a poor peasant girl Nageena, from Bandipora, whose father Deen Mohammad is debilitated with a disease. She pictures her father getting better with treatment and coaxes him to go to the Mission Hospital at Srinagar. Nageena is entrusted under the care of the kind landlord Ghan Bhat and the villagers. The author brings out the camaraderie and solidarity that prevailed amongst the fraternity of Hindus and Muslims albeit adhering to their own cultural norms, highlighting an era gone by.

Nageena longs to visit her father but is not allowed to cross the boundaries of the village by the protective landlord who visits Deen Mohammad and brings the news back to them all. Ghan Bhat is also worried that the little girl might not be able to overcome the grief if her father passes away whilst she is there, hence the embargo. It is interesting to read about this unique relationship between the landlord and a peasant as imagined by the author.

However Nageena’s overpowering urge to meet her father, gives her the courage to escape. Crossing the river Wular by boat, followed by a rather tedious journey, she reaches the hospital at nightfall. She is stopped at the gate despite her naïve pleadings. Not knowing where to go, she takes refuge in a nearby shrine. A passer-by sees her and offers rice and water. The next day when she gets to meet her father, she is shattered and speechless. It was contrary to her imagination. It feels as if he has been shackled and is suffering from severe bouts of cough. The doctor assures that her father will return soon and she must not stay behind. She is saddened when her father asks her to return home and let him know she has reached safely.

The next day she happens to meet the man who gave her rice and water and is happy to return the empty bowl, trusting him to be a well-wisher. But he turns out to be a pimp, Sideeq Joo. Nageena ends up in a brothel believing this to be a home away from home, as she sees the grandeur, comfort, good food and the warmth of Tout’a. By the time she gets to know the truth she realises that there is no escape once girls end up here. A different chapter unfolds in the life of the protagonist and the author engages the reader in a simple story with an unexpected end.

The author has been eloquent about the picturesque Kashmir. I quote –

“If you peered out through the hospital window you could see the golf course and the polo ground; far away from it, the city, mosque minarets and glittering temple spires; and from your right, the Dal Lake and the Parbat loomed into view. And if you desired to take a deeper look, it only seemed a lip to tea distance from the mountains of Gulmarg and their tops capped with snow. On beholding this scenic landscape, you would feel your eyes comforted as if recovering a lost sight and rejoiced that being born in Kashmir were like to be born in a paradise. Where else would such a beauty be?”

Alongside such resplendent beauty, the author also portrays the misery of the destitute and class differences – haves and the have-nots. I quote –

“Looking out through the hospital shutters, you would feel the same pleasure, same fear and love, which a man travelling in an aeroplane feels: rivers and streams looking like thin strings, houses as match boxes and the wide open planes, fields and lanes seem to be only a picture carefully painted by an artist, who adorned and embellished it with trees, mountains, roads and pulchritude. This comeliness, however, is on the canvas, not in real life. Not in the stone made houses built on the river embankments, in boats and canoes sailing on in the river, in the life of boatmen living in house-boats, or in the life of anglers, who catch fish, fetch wood and ferry people across.”

This book marks Qaisar Bashir’s debut as a translator. The foreword by Sahitya Akademi award winning author, critic and linguist, Prof Shafi Shauq is explicit about the capability and brilliance of Qaisar Bashir, for effectively capturing the multi-dimensional contents of Akh Daur in this novella to reach a wider audience. The charm of this book lies in its simplicity. Readers will get a glimpse of the erstwhile Kashmir befitting the title “Once upon a time.”

{Published in Muse India - Jan/Feb, 2018}

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