The story of a nation
Muneera Parbeen revels in a charming narration of life in seventies Bangladesh
Philip Hensher speaks as a young boy growing up in Bangladesh. He assumes the voice of a young Muslim boy fiercely observant of his surroundings at the onset of the birth of a new nation. And he does a magnificent job of it. Scenes from Early Life out barely a year after the author's last one, The King of the Badgers, set in provincial Britain could not be more different from the latter. Whereas the last book was a brow-raising depiction of shenanigans set in west England, his latest in contrast is a pleasurable, charming portrait of family life in a land many seas away from the shores of England. The writer attempts literary ventriloquism with his latest work and steps into the shoes of Zaved Mahmood's early years with an ease like he has lived it himself. Philip weaves Zaved's memories into an intricate family story. Nana, boro-mama, choto-mama, an endless number of aunts and neighbours stream in and out of the pages as Zaved nicknamed Saadi - spends his early years in Dhanmondi, the elite Dhaka neighbourhood housing important people of the time, including the first president of the country Sheikh Mujibur Rahman. Among others, poet Sufiya Kamal a neighbour - also puts in a regular appearance. The characters come alive as Philip (in the voice of Saadi) details the daily life of a youngster growing up in Dhaka. He spends a large part of this time at his grandfather's house where each character is a bit more colourful than the other. Pickles are made, large family dinners are set, sibling feuds ensue, family tragedies are saved on the comic amidst a force of friends and neighbours who make repeated appearances in this life. Saadi's nana (maternal grandfather) is an important and learned man of the city. He appears to be larger than life but makes an adorable granddad, especially to Saadi whom he calls 'Churchill' in honour of crying a lot as a baby like Winston Churchill (reportedly) did. He deals with a large family and wayward children and keeps this large brood in check with his sunny nature and common sense. The story opens with the post independence years when there is a gentle sway of new life in the air. Saadi and the other youngsters he plays with almost seem symbolic of this new nation with darkness lurking in the background in the shape of whispers and shadows. The children indulge in American TV series like Alex Hailey's Roots turning the life of Kunta Kinte into a game for lazy afternoons. The neighbour's son Assad whom everyone shuns as he comes from those who betrayed the locals to Pakistanis during the war - accepts the humiliating role of a slave only to be included in this exciting game. It is these humane anecdotes and details which make the story so endearingly familiar. There is Saadi's own chick Piklu who answers to his calls but is killed for the meal drawn up to honour an old grandmother visiting the household; there is Choto-mama whose artist friends are always coming over and there is the old gardener Atish whom Saadi has tried to befriend all characters that come alive in Hensher's pen and take us back to nostalgic years of our own childhood. The novel would have been way too charming and sugary if these alone had been the story told. After the initial vignettes of almost comic and melodramatic personal stories, the novel takes on a more serious tone. Philip Hensher skillfully integrates the family's own internal affairs with many ongoing feuds, tensions and happenings with the ongoing political happenings of a country coming into its being. As the reader gets familiar with Saadi's household and city, the author takes us back to the year of the Independence War in 1971 when Saadi was barely a toddler and Bangladesh yet to be freed from oppression. Saadi is fed incessantly to keep him quiet so that the soldiers outside his nana's house in Dhanmondi are not alerted to their presence. All of nana's children and their spouses find their way into the house for shelter and the old man keeps watch on everyone. There are the friends and housemates Altaf and Amit two characters readers are unlikely to ever forget. Altaf, a Muslim, had to flee India to come to the then East Pakistan for his safety and Amit, a Hindu, had to flee to India just to stay alive. Their journeys depict the violent oppression prevalent at the time, one of the main factors that ultimately led to the emergence of a free Bangladesh. The story of a young boy in Bangladesh and his world of complex relationships, social norms and happenings set against a liberal Muslim cultural backdrop should have been seemingly alien to Philip Hensher or anyone growing up in another hemisphere of the world. But Hensher is a magic storyteller here and his narration as Saadi's voice comes through very sound and clear. The writer does not attempt to document the war as a historian the book is a partially fictionalised version of Saadi's early years but his finished book will prove an important documentation of ordinary life in Dhaka at the time. The story captures the mood and aura of the dangerous time it was for the country and all its inhabitants as Saadi grows up from a tiny toddler hiding inside the bolted doors of his grandfather's house during the war to a young boy playing games with friends in the friendly and yet hazy streets of a newly freed nation not yet freed from the greater conspiracies lurking within. Those conspiracies do unfold, the new president is killed, Saadi's own family spreads its wings and the politics of the country moves in and out of dark periods with time. But within the pages of this book remains locked a detailed story of Bangladesh in its baby years, just like Saadi's own early years. Hensher is almost lyrical in his first person narrative. He moulds multiple stories into a linear line of events that depict the scenes around the birth of Bangladesh. He pours great gentleness and affection into telling the story in the eyes of a child, making it quite evident that he is not telling just anyone's story. There are a few tiny hiccups here and there - a prominent one being a typo where the word Bangladesh is separated into Bangla Desh that strikes out rather sorely but nothing so significant to spoil the charm of the book. Scenes from Early Life by one of the best British novelists of his time could well prove to be the surprise book of the year, leaving a mark stronger on the literary scene than the easy tone in which this ordinary story of an extraordinary time for Bangladesh has been told. There are few novels in the literary world set around the liberation of Bangladesh in the English language. Philip Hensher's charming book is all set to be a significant gem in this genre.
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