http://www.businessworld.in/bw/2011_05_23_Perspectives_Of_Change.html
THE WANDERING FALCON 20 May 2011
Perspectives Of Change
Though a fictional narrative about the lives of tribals living in Baluchistan, the book unfolds as a socio-anthropological account of the rapidly changing landscape during the 1950s
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The Wandering Falcon is about Tor Baz, son of a sardar's daughter and a camel herder who had eloped to live together. His name means "black falcon" who drifts between the tribes to be found in the area between Pakistan and Afghanistan; a territory that is today familiar as Baluchistan and the province of Waziristan. Tor Baz is ruthless as he has learnt to survive under harsh circumstances. He may be perceived as cold-blooded and ruthless, but like the bird of prey knows how to be focused and get his victim. Living by the laws of the jungle, he may live with a subedar, a religious mendicant, or sell girls to make quick money or learn how to become a spy - a profession that the tribals have made in to an art. Some families had been in the information trade for generations. Nor were most of the informers owned by one master. They retailed information to whosoever was willing to buy it. They would even sell the same information to more than one person. The more clients as informer had, the better respected he was by his peers.
The novel is set in the 1950s, at a time when the British Empire was disintegrating "and the once fluid international borders of high Asia became even more rigid, both Afghanistan and Pakistan challenged the nomads." The tribes have to learn to adjust to the new rules like the need for travel documents, none of which they can begin to comprehend. For them the harsh and difficult terrain is what they are familiar with and have been for generations. When the conditions become tough especially for their animals that need pastures for grazing, they move to a different place. But with the newly-defined geo-political boundaries, the soldiers appointed by the nations forbid the nomads to cross without legitimate documentation. This results in particularly violent clashes like that of the Baluch massacre where no one was spared-men, women, children, the old and cattle. Or the horrific manner-they are hanged- in which the state metes out justice to the tribals when they are invited to the headquarters of the authorities to discuss the conflicts. As Jangu, the Baluch elder says, "we have killed and so have they."
Jamil Ahmad was a civil servant in the Pakistan administrative services. He retired as the secretary of Baluchistan and also served as a minister in the embassy of Kabul, at the crucial juncture of the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan. Ahmad started off writing poetry, but was persuaded by his wife to concentrate on prose. He began writing The Wandering Falcon over thirty years ago. The quality of the prose is outstanding. It is written in deceptively simple English and the sentence constructions are equally so. It is easy to read and has a wonderful lyrical tone to it, when read out aloud. Yet, like poetry, it compresses and conveys a lot more. If only prose could be scanned, this would be a text worth dissecting. It is as if the author brings the combination of the discipline of a poet and his experience as a bureaucrat for Tor Baz's tale.
Being an officer of the government meant that Jamil Ahmad had plenty of opportunities to meet, interact and deal with the tribes of Baluchistan. For instance, he probably witnessed or at least had to send a report about the Baluch massacre to his superior officers, but till now, it was one of the best kept secrets of the region. No journalist ever reported the brutal incident. He was probably able to observe the socio-cultural traditions that were being affected by the new administration. Like a seasoned bureaucrat, Jamil Ahmad has written a story that is anecdotal, but arranged chronologically in a tightly-knit narrative. It conveys the cultural peculiarities of the region like the burial of the dead with the two mounds; the importance of honour killing, the respect for the elders, the communal way of life of the nomads and in spite of the vicious hostility that exists between tribes, there are moments when they will come together to help each other out like a close family.
The novel is more than a beautifully written piece of fiction; it is a socio-anthropological account of a tribal landscape that is changing rapidly. The author seems to have borrowed heavily the art of storytelling from a community that relies heavily on an oral tradition. The tribals are illiterate, or were soon after independence from the British. So they use the technique of sharing information by narrating stories as is done by many of the characters in the book. It is also apparent in the structure of the chapters of The Wandering Falcon, though it is executed brilliantly in the written word, without repeating any story.
It is difficult to classify The Wandering Falcon as a novel or as a collection of short stories as some of the characters like Tor Baz do keep reappearing. It is as if he is meant to be the <<sutradhar>> of these vignettes about Baluchistan. This is a book worth more than its weight in gold. And the scrumptious cover design makes it even more valuable.
Jaya Bhattacharji Rose is a consultant editor
The novel is set in the 1950s, at a time when the British Empire was disintegrating "and the once fluid international borders of high Asia became even more rigid, both Afghanistan and Pakistan challenged the nomads." The tribes have to learn to adjust to the new rules like the need for travel documents, none of which they can begin to comprehend. For them the harsh and difficult terrain is what they are familiar with and have been for generations. When the conditions become tough especially for their animals that need pastures for grazing, they move to a different place. But with the newly-defined geo-political boundaries, the soldiers appointed by the nations forbid the nomads to cross without legitimate documentation. This results in particularly violent clashes like that of the Baluch massacre where no one was spared-men, women, children, the old and cattle. Or the horrific manner-they are hanged- in which the state metes out justice to the tribals when they are invited to the headquarters of the authorities to discuss the conflicts. As Jangu, the Baluch elder says, "we have killed and so have they."
Jamil Ahmad was a civil servant in the Pakistan administrative services. He retired as the secretary of Baluchistan and also served as a minister in the embassy of Kabul, at the crucial juncture of the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan. Ahmad started off writing poetry, but was persuaded by his wife to concentrate on prose. He began writing The Wandering Falcon over thirty years ago. The quality of the prose is outstanding. It is written in deceptively simple English and the sentence constructions are equally so. It is easy to read and has a wonderful lyrical tone to it, when read out aloud. Yet, like poetry, it compresses and conveys a lot more. If only prose could be scanned, this would be a text worth dissecting. It is as if the author brings the combination of the discipline of a poet and his experience as a bureaucrat for Tor Baz's tale.
Being an officer of the government meant that Jamil Ahmad had plenty of opportunities to meet, interact and deal with the tribes of Baluchistan. For instance, he probably witnessed or at least had to send a report about the Baluch massacre to his superior officers, but till now, it was one of the best kept secrets of the region. No journalist ever reported the brutal incident. He was probably able to observe the socio-cultural traditions that were being affected by the new administration. Like a seasoned bureaucrat, Jamil Ahmad has written a story that is anecdotal, but arranged chronologically in a tightly-knit narrative. It conveys the cultural peculiarities of the region like the burial of the dead with the two mounds; the importance of honour killing, the respect for the elders, the communal way of life of the nomads and in spite of the vicious hostility that exists between tribes, there are moments when they will come together to help each other out like a close family.
The novel is more than a beautifully written piece of fiction; it is a socio-anthropological account of a tribal landscape that is changing rapidly. The author seems to have borrowed heavily the art of storytelling from a community that relies heavily on an oral tradition. The tribals are illiterate, or were soon after independence from the British. So they use the technique of sharing information by narrating stories as is done by many of the characters in the book. It is also apparent in the structure of the chapters of The Wandering Falcon, though it is executed brilliantly in the written word, without repeating any story.
It is difficult to classify The Wandering Falcon as a novel or as a collection of short stories as some of the characters like Tor Baz do keep reappearing. It is as if he is meant to be the <<sutradhar>> of these vignettes about Baluchistan. This is a book worth more than its weight in gold. And the scrumptious cover design makes it even more valuable.
Jaya Bhattacharji Rose is a consultant editor
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