History’s dark chapter

Geetu Vaid

In a world filled with storytellers, it is surprising that so many stories remain untold putting a veil over hideous truths. It is this uncharted territory and the unreported tale of the grim phase of the history of the prison colony of Andamans that Uzma traverses with her fifth novel The Miraculous True History of Nomi Ali. It is a story that Uzma claims to have carried for over 26 years in her mind. An innocuous quote about the so-called “paradise” gave her a glimpse of its dark underbelly and the fact that the Japanese had taken pains to destroy all records of their occupation of the islands during World War II, triggered her interest. “I’d gone to the library for another book (that I didn’t find). I came away with the one I had to write,” she records in her blog. 

Set in the years of the World War II in the Andamans, Uzma spins her narrative around 15-year-old Nomi Ali, offspring of a “banished” convict, Haider Ali. Her world, comprising her parents and brother Zee, is sucked in the vortex of gore of war with the killing of her brother by the Japanese soldiers. Her memories of Zee and the time they spent together are her refuge as she witnesses the disintegration of humanity around her. 

Uzma’s narrative moves back and forth to different years and characters much like the relentless barrage of waves hitting the islands. Each of her characters, be it the daring survivor Aye, a broken Haider Ali, the drug-damaged father of Aye, vulnerable Shakuntala or the mysterious prisoner 218D, is crafted meticulously.

Nomi reminds one of Anne Frank and the similarities between the two teenagers caught in the cauldron of a brutal war only go on to ratify the truth that devastation of war doesn’t discriminate. They may be on different continents and under different oppressors but their agony and pain is disturbingly similar. 

Language remains the strongest character in Uzma’s narrative — reflecting extreme pain of loss and helplessness at one time and the cold-blooded brutality of the killings at another. Her words play with light and darkness to transport the reader to the gloomy days and blood-stained alleys, so much so that one can actually smell the stench of blood and gore.

The story moves through the bone-chilling accounts of executions of “spies”, use of local women as sex slaves, merciless treatment of those “employed” to build an air strip and the dreaded air strikes. Nomi, battling her parents’ indifference after her brothers’ death and Aye, the survivor battling his own demons, remain key protagonists. As the author virtually paints with her prose, the hell-hole starfish-shaped prison almost becomes a metaphor for the sufferings and pain each one of the islanders carries. In the dark world that Uzma creates friendship, loyalty, empathy, love and hope shine like the fireflies blinking feebly at times but these are the only things having the power to tear through the darkness. This is the hope that she hands out to readers in the end.

She has done thorough research to weave together the events. References to the INA and Subhas Chandra Bose’s visit to the islands, the Britishers’ apathy for the islanders and even the Partition of India keep the realistic touch pulsating all the time. Though the stories are based on true life incidents and characters, it is a work of fiction — fiction that will move you immensely. 

A consummate storyteller, Uzma keeps the readers engrossed till the end. Even as you grapple with the questions: where is humanity in such times and what is the definition of ethics and morals when survival is the moot point — it is one story that you should not miss.