Saturday, December 29, 2007

BOOKS: A superb debut novel ...

Neelam Maharaj lives in Melbourne. She has just had Surviving Heroes, her debut novel, published by Bystander Press. I’ve reviewed it in The Australian today.

Unfortunately, word count restrictions didn’t allow me to do justice to this extremely moving and powerful story of how the last days of British colonialism, the Second World War and then the Partition all touched the lives of one Indian family.

When we think of WWII and the fight against fascism, we remember the ANZAC’s, the Americans, the French Resistance, etc. We rarely think of those young men from Europe’s colonial possessions who fought and died.

Perhaps the most surprising conclusion the characters in Maharaj’s novel reach is that the horrors of Partition were worse, much worse, than the atrocities committed by the Japanese in Singapore. I've heard Partition stories many times from South Asian uncles and aunts. But Maharaj's characters give us a glimpse of the true horrors of Partition and how innocent people could so easily become caught in the growing vortext of sectarian violence.

(One can only imagine how these characters would respond to religious extremism that threatens to conquer both India (in the form of the Hindu far-Right) and Pakistan (in the form of Muslim militancy).)


Do yourself a favour. Go out and buy this novel. It will give you a better understanding of South Asian culture, history and political sentiment than reading 100 articles or columns by so-called experts and pundits.

Words © 2007 Irfan Yusuf

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REFLECTION: On democrats and queue-jumpers

“When you appointed your humble sister to lead this nation, you not only chose the first woman to govern your nation. You also shone a bright light on Islam by being the first modern Muslim nation to elect a woman as its Prime Minister.”
Excerpt from the last speech of former Pakistan Prime Minister, Benazir Bhutto.


"I lied about my past, but of course I did tell the Liberal Party"
Ayaan Hirsi Ali on Dutch TV.
To think some people are now comparing this stateswoman and leader to a migration fraud and neo-Conservative opportunist like Ayaan Hirsi Ali.

Words © 2007 Irfan Yusuf

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