Kitne Pakistan by Kamleshwar

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Kitne Pakistan (in Himdi) Book Review by:B N Goyal

KAMLESHWAR writes in the preface that so many readers asked him if it was a book of history, geography, politics or anything else. The readers raised the question as to how this book fits in the definition of a novel. Author replied “this is a novel and it should be read as novel only”. In the book one feels directly cross-questioning the brutal Hitler or quizzing the maker of bombs of Hiroshima and Nagasaki and what not. The limitations or boundaries, time or period, geography or location, revolutions or civilizations, kings or kingdoms, empires and emperors, dictators and aggressors etc. have no meaning for him. They all are standing in the witness box of time regardless of their status at that time. All are on the same footing.
The octogenarian honored fiction writer Vishnu Prabhakar said,
“it ( the book) has broken the traditional structure of novel shown a new path to writer’s expression after opening a new uncanny gate of new possibilities. …It is a new experiment.”It has achieved a significant place in the history of Hindi fiction and it was awarded the much coveted Sahitya Akademi Award.

The author, like the people who lived through the trauma of Partition states that, “This novel was born out of a constant tumult within my mind”. History is replete with all kinds stories of brutality that human race experienced, the violence that is still prevailing in the world, the non-satiating desire of the ruling classes to crush the ruled ones, the continuous torture being faced by a section, race, group, ethnicity of the world, upon the other. In this novel there is no hero or villain. The main hero of the novel is Time. There is romance and love, there are emotions and feelings, there is one Vidya and one Salma and also one Pari Begum and the like. The reminiscences of Nadim about the old masjid in Chandni Chowk or old Vaidya in that area add local flavour to the events.

It will always be a debatable point as to who was responsible for the partition of the country. People generally accuse M A Jinnah or Allama Iqbal but according to the author the seeds of partition were sown in 1757. Jinnah did not create history on the contrary history created him. (P-104). He simply wanted to be immortal in the history (P-154). In fact, there was a time in 1945-46 when Jinnah regretted over his demand of Pakistan but he could not go back on his words. He was a sick body, afflicted with pleurisy, bronchitis, and other ailments. He was very ll while he was traveling from Simla to Delhi and was attended by his doctor – Dr. Munak Patel. In the book author questions Lord Mountbatten if he did not know this fact. He said NO but he knew this. Kamleshwar passes the remarks that it was something unbelievable. How the Viceroy of the country did not know this. The partition was hastened by people like Mountbatten only. The British colonizers had no love for the sub-continent.

The novel has been beset in the form of a long-drawn courtroom hearing, with the narrator, a nameless writer, the adeeb playing the role of the chief prosecutor, judge and witness, all rolled into one. Each historical moment (Time) is questioned and looked into in detail to arrive at the alternate views other than the official or the generally known one. Perhaps the purpose is to establish the fact that the hero of conventional history was wrong. The novel begins with Gilgamesh, the narration proliferates, spanning several centuries of known history with Time and Space as the main character. It has other characters – animate and inanimate like rivers, books, time or events to give witness – sharing space along with real and imaginary historic characters. The interesting part of the novel is that all the current real places, persons and names have appeared in it as if they are the part of the events. Names like Dr. Chandra Kant Bhardwaj of RSS (a very much known person in my neighbourhood) or Ashok Singhal of VHP or Hindustani Tehzeeb or village Gangoli or Gali Sadullah Khan appear in their true forms. All the famous, current or past names of Indian socio- political system find place in the book in some or the other reference. The conspicuous exception of much talked about person Bal Thackeray or any name from Bollywood is intriguing. These are not omissions as such. Some so called big shots shake off their mask of being great characters.

The author traced the origin of Lord Mountbatten. He is tongue-tied when asked to explain why Lord Ismay, “who had worked closely with Churchill during the War” came along with the Viceroy as his assistant to preside upon the Partition of the land or he had his brief to partition the country. Aurangzeb and other Mogul kings too felt that they tried their best to keep the country as one but these new masters did everything to break the country. Kamleshwar has broken the myth that Chengiz Khan was a Muslim. He was a Mongol idol worshipper. There are references of Sumerian, Egyptian, Caucasian and other world cultures. Open the book at random and you are sure to confront one shocking revelation or the other. One incident involves Aurangazeb’s sacking of the pandit of Kashi Vishwanath Temple. Kamleshwar borrows the authority of Pattabhi Sitaramaiah, President of Indian National Congress (1938) to assert that Aurangazeb did what he did to retrieve the wife of one of the Hindu Rajahs in his entourage who had visited the temple and whom some of the priests there had abducted and raped! Lots of such incidents revealed in the book. It is a fiction without a fictional character. (June 12, 2008) Published by Shoovang.com

Original Author: Kamleshwar Summary rating: 3 stars (9 Ratings)
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