ABSTRACT
First published in Urdu in 1975 as Amad-o-raft, this novella was translated into English in 1981. Paul subtitled this work as a “Satire on West-Oriented Indians and India Experts.” It debates and argues varied issues by raising questions that Paul engaged with repeatedly – of birth, descent, parentage, land, nationality, languages, cultures, history and geography, birth and death, even afterlife. Indeed, it first sets up the myth of India that is popular in people’s perception, particularly those Indians who have turned away from their land and look towards the West. It also looks hard at those Western minds that consider themselves experts of a land that they have little or no connect with. Gradually, this myth is unravelled and India redefined as a fluid kaleidoscope of realities, of hopes and dreams, indeed of desire. One cannot put one’s finger on what exactly this idea of India means and yet it is palpable and real, something that those who are of its soil – actually and metaphorically – can feel in their bones and draw succour from. In the extract included in this volume, Paul gives voice to the dilemmas between truth and untruth, between historical consciousness and contemporary living, and of the need for a balanced movement forward from an ancient legacy.
