JOIN USShazaf Fatima Haider’s debut novel How It Happened promises to be a delightful and humorous book, but obviously not a light one. The first-time author is at her very best in portraying a contemporary Pakistani society, where the continuous tug of war between tradition and modernity is at play.
Haider’s book is, in fact, a scathing indictment at many time-honoured traditions of the society — marriages and how they are conducted, women’s position in the society, dowry, sectarianism and many more.
The plot revolves around a conservative Shia Bandian family and the tumult that the members go through when the younger generation decide to have their say in marriages, which so far had been administered only by the overzealous matriarch of the house.
Narrated by the youngest member of the household, Saleha, the readers are captivated with the stories of how the marriages of Haroon, the obedient elder son, and Zeba, the rebellious daughter, were conducted. Haider’s choice of tantalising titles of the different chapters of her book leaves the readers curious till the end. Throughout the book, chapters titled as ‘How a Phone Call Created Complications’, ‘How We Were Shaken Up by a Whirlwind Intervention’, ‘How Dadi Extracted a Proposal Just in Time’ and so on serve the purpose of building up the readers’ interest, while dividing the novel into fascinating chunks.
Haider’s competence as a story-teller is at its best in her creation of instantly lovable characters. No reader can ever forget the ‘grande dame’ of the household, Dadi, and her nostalgic recollections of the ancestors of Bhakuraj. Dadi’s countless tales of Bhakuraj, the family’s ancestral village, to her grandchildren serve as continuous reminders to them on ways of life and ways to get married according to tradition. A staunch believer of old ways, Dadi expects complete obedience from her grandchildren in matters related to marriage so that no one in her family falls prey to “mordren” times and spoils the name of the Bandian clan. Humorously portrayed as the queen of drama (wiping tears and fainting in order to have the last say) Dadi is the most memorable character in the book, with whom readers would sympathise as well as roll in laughter at her antics.
Haider is able to create many other characters who have a lasting impression on our minds — Dadi’s cousin and the only living member of the Bandian clan of her generation, her arch-rival, Qurrat Dadi with her philosophy “of a greater romance in arranged marriages than in the irrational immortality of love marriages”. The most hilarious and lively scenes in the book are the catfights between Dadi and her arch-rival as “pinching sentences are delivered” between the two betel-leaf chewers. Haider’s maiden venture will always be remembered for the lively character sketches. If the author shows her deftness at creating the characters of the traditional, old generation, it is not that she compromises with the younger lot. Be it Fati Phupps — the only person who can show reason to Dadi or the rebellious Zeba — “her generation’s heroine and the previous generation’s nightmare” or the countless suitors of Zeba, each character is drawn with intensity and contributes to the main theme of the novel.
As the story progresses, the author’s main intention to portray a world of changing realities becomes clear; the constant tug-of-war between the old and the new comes to the forefront. Most of these traditional ideas in the present-day times are confused ones, of the utmost desire to keep up the orthodox ways and yet to show a liberal-mindedness: a suitable girl “should not cover her head or wear a ‘burqa’ like a fundo. Neither should be so liberal that we are forced to stare at her cleavage all day long.” Haider’s depiction of the changed world is mainly through her women characters, Fati Phupps, who refuses to leave a life of blessed spinsterhood, writes for a magazine and lives an independent life; Saima represents a woman’s ability to work in a man’s world and Zeba, who reads Pride and Prejudice, talks of orgasms, discusses politics and dates a Sunni man.
The world of opposites is further carried forward by Haider’s ability to juxtapose the serious and the humorous. Amidst many funny situations, hilarious character sketches and a language which is simple and yet humorous (“pantheticologist”, “mordren”, “dating-shating”, “coffee-shoffee”), the author’s scathing criticism of child marriage, dowry, sectarianism and other important issues are highlighted.
How It Happened would definitely prove a book worth reading — it is definitely not a treatise on arranged versus love marriage or an exposition on the differences between the beliefs and customs of two generations — rather it is a book where the author presents certain serious issues in a humorous vein without taking any sides.