Drawing pleasure out of pain
The Heart Seeks Pleasure First
by Karuna Ezara Parikh.
Publisher
Pages 306
Rs
Love, longing, grit and grief flavour this fable penned by Karuna Ezara Parikh. Breaking monotony in the rhythm is fine poetry that strikes a balance between evocation and exposition, and conjuring up a gamut of emotions of communal divide.
Like two star-crossed lovers, Daya and Aaftab meet at a Cardiff park in 2001. Unbeknownst to the consequences of forbidden love, Daya, an Indian, and Aaftab, a Pakistani, embrace the challenges of their transgressive relationship.
When Daya was born, her parents decided not to impose any single religion on her. They celebrated both Diwali and Christmas. They had above their front door a carved wooden Jesus, and next to the entrance a Ganesha idol.
What caught the fancy of visitors was a huge stretch of textile hanging on a wall, on which painted in exquisite calligraphy were a few lines by Faiz:
Kahan hai manzil-e-rah-e-tamanna hum bhi dekhenge,
Ye shab hum par bhi guzregi ye farda hum bhi dekhenge:
Thahr, ai dil, jamal-e-rhu-zeba, hum bhi dekhenge.
Daya never understood she was one of the children who had been taught the simplicity of sameness without any complications of difference. And, because she had never identified with any one religion, she had no sense of the other.
But Aaftab’s family’s believed in monotheism, the idea of one God. His father once caught him reading a book about Hindu Gods. Almost puzzled, he asked: “What could there possibly be to respect about a religion that cannot agree on one God?”
Fifteen years later, after meeting Daya, Aaftab knew the answer. that it had goddesses.
After discovering her calling — ballet — Daya moves to Wales. For her landlady, India is contained in 4 metres of peacock-toned silk that her husband brought her. The India of her imagination is intact in this rippling length of the cloth.
In her first month at university, Daya takes up a job at the library, often visited by Aaftab, a lawyer. On learning that at her dance academy those who fail to weather their way to blossoming beneath the death stare of the Russian professor wither each season, Daya knows it’s not going to be a cakewalk.
She practises in parks at night and spends days in the library. Aaftab introduces her to Wasim, a devout Muslim who believes in the ‘jihad’ of peace.
Madly in love, Daya and Aaftab, after struggling emotionally for a long time, finally succumb to their conflicting desires. Love ain’t no sin, but crossing the cultural divide is.
News of twin-tower attacks beams around the world. Suddenly, everything falls apart. Daya, who lands her dream ballet role, flies back home after the performance to be with her father, who is on his deathbed. Aaftab too leaves the city in the dead of night to avoid being harmed by his own people.
There is something fascinating about this tragic romance — a maelstrom of melancholy blended with a sense of relatability.
