In Gemini Wahhaj’s novel The Children of this Madness, the protagonist is Nasir Uddin, an “everyman” whose life is portrayed in the novel from the point of view of his daughter Beena, through his own words, and, in some chapters, through a third-person narrative. All the other characters in the novel unfold the life of the central focus of the book, Nasir Uddin.
From the village to the world
Nasir Uddin, “Ketu” to his parents, uncles and aunts, and childhood friends, was born and raised in an agrarian village called Dari Binni in the Jessore district of Bangladesh. Alongside Uddin, Dari Binni is also a main character in Wahhaj’s storyline. This is where the protagonist grows up, and the novel ends in the same village.
The rural Bengal portrayed through the description of the village can only be compared to the rural Bengal I have seen (as a person born and brought up in a small Bangladesh town) through the pens of the three Bandyopadhyays: Bibhutibhushan, Tarashankar and Manik. While reading Wahhaj’s description of the village in English, I wonder at her successful portrayal of a Bangladeshi village in a foreign tongue. Wahhaj’s observant eyes and her command of the language are immensely helpful here, and her narrative technique is captivating.
Ketu (or Nasir Uddin), the little boy whom we meet in the second chapter, is born in a big joint family living in Dari Binni. The young Ketu’s life is intertwined with his village. At this phase of his life, Ketu’s dreams and aspirations seem to be to enjoy the unfettered life in the village. However, his mother has other plans for him. She sends him away from the family to get educated. The journey that begins from his village takes him to Jhenaidah first, later to Rajshahi, Dhaka, Chittagong, Sylhet, and, eventually to Ottawa in Canada and Mosul in Iraq.
On this journey, Nasir Uddin loses his dearest sister and his loving mother, and later, his son in Iraq. But he gains a lot too: a successful career as a university teacher, a father to his children, and a patriarchal figure amongst his siblings and extended family. However, nothing comes easily for him. Every step of the way, Nasir Uddin struggles: he makes every effort to save his family while stranded in Dhaka during the War of Independence, his flight from Iraq during the US invasion of the country, and, finally, when he is back to his country, he fights against the authorities of the engineering university who can only be compared to the sharks of Hemingway, trying to defeat the old man Santiago.
The story of the road
At times of his strife, he reminds me of Hemingway’s protagonist, who never gives up. Nasir Uddin’s journey takes him through many winding paths. The story of his life is indeed a story of the road, another Pather Panchali, a saga of the road. The very last scene of the novel is quite cinematic and symbolic: The sun is about to set in the village Dari Binni, Nasir Uddin is returning to take a rest at his sister’s house after a grand reunion and feasting with relatives and his village clan. A small village boy, somewhat the same age as the boy Nasir Uddin whom we first met in chapter two, follows Uddin’s car, manoeuvring a rubber tyre with a stick and running on the road behind him. The running boy with a tyre on the road becomes a symbol of ever-moving life.
Great writers create characters through their storytelling whom we love, they become part of our lives. Apu, Madhobilata, Amit Roy, Ivan Illych and Santiago are some such characters for me. Gemini Wahhaj’s Nasir Uddin has made it to this list. He may think that he became an “outsider” since he left his village for education, but he always treads back home, he never forgets his roots, his origin.
He could have settled down in Canada with some lucrative job offers like many of his students whom we meet in Houston, he could have given up on his teaching career at the engineering university due to the antagonism of the university authority, but he does not. In old age, he could have settled down with his only surviving child Beena in Houston, but, no, he defies all those allurements, as he knows that he has a place to return to, to his village home Dari Binni.
With Two Women (2021), a collection of stories, Gemini Wahhaj has already demonstrated her literary prowess, The Children of this Madness bolsters this reputation. The central character of the novel is someone who can only be loved.
Masum Khan is an English lecturer at Newham College, London.
The Children of This Madness, Gemini Wahhaj, 7.13 Books.
