Orhan Pamuk, the famous Turkish recipient of the Nobel Prize in Literature, in his autobiographical memoir, Istanbul: Memories and the City, underscores “Hüzün” as the defining character of the city and his life. The memoir takes the reader on a journey from his childhood to his adult years and of the city, engulfed in Hüzün for a glorious past, sense of loss and cultural alterations. Hüzün is a Turkish word of Arabic origin (used also in the Qu’uran), denoting deep melancholy.
Activist and policymaker Syeda Hameed’s A Drop in the Ocean: The Story of My Life, though an account of an illustrious life – lush and rich – deeply resonates, page after page, with the idea of Hüzün. Hüzün for the ganga-jaminya tahjeeb, for the ethos and life of syncretic times, but above all for the “idea of India” as embodied in the preamble of the Indian constitution.
The personal is political
This book is also a powerful reminder of “personal being political”. In fact, it shatters the myth that personal and political can be segregated in any way, as her autobiography traverses through the experiences of a young child facing ostracism for being a Muslim; her encounter with the racism of being asked to “take the money and go back” while coins and leftover sandwiches and muffins were flung at her when her car broke down outside a high school in the heartland of conservative western Canada; deep personal anguish for her janmbhumi – Kashmir, as it faces decades of turmoil and immeasurable human suffering; and her unbridled optimism and faith in the fraternity amongst common people of Pakistan and India.
Syeda Hameed has lived an abundant life with multiple layers, where one sphere seamlessly merges into another. She is nostalgic about her inheritance of knowledge and faith and deeply proud of her lineage. The book takes the reader through the experience of growing up in an elite Muslim family, her deep connection to her faith, and her passion for literature and poetry. Fascinating in her account, is the nonexistence of any tensions between the elite background or religiosity, on the one hand, and modernity and a progressive worldview anchored in ideas of justice, freedom and equality, on the other. In fact, it is a beautiful testament to life in a young nation, where modernity and tradition unapologetically coexisted in sublime harmony as a new Nehruvian India was being built.
While Hüzün is the underlying theme of the autobiography, it is not bereft of fun moments. She recollects how as a young student at Miranda House she was sent to Mukherji Memorial Debate at St Stephen’s College and her formidable opponents were champion debaters, Montek Singh Ahluwalia and NK Singh but she returned with the Trophy for her college. Another gem is from her encounters in the University Special, route no. 9, which she would board at Teen Murti. On the bus, she started noticing a tall fellow and soon started wanted reasons to sit next to him. Her friends did not agree with her assessment of his looks, but she had a crush on him. A few years later, her uncle, Khawaja Ahmed Abbas launched this tall fellow, named Amitabh Bachchan, in his film Saat Hindustani.
A career in policymaking
A Drop in the Ocean is also a chronicle of policymaking in Syeda Hameed’s career. However, she writes about governance and policymaking as an outsider. Through the chapters, it is clear that the cold bureaucratic corridors of the erstwhile Yojana Bhawan did not speak to her deeply humane and people-centred approach to policy making. The evolution of her empathetic human-centred policymaking journey has been captured well in her endeavours of listening to the most marginalised voices leading to policy action for Muslim women, evolving the National Rural Health Mission (NRHM), creating the first Feminist Economist Group within the Planning Commission and the development of National Voluntary Sector Policy. Having worked closely with her during her Planning Commission days, my only quibble with her is that in her humility she does not highlight the historic role she played in truly opening up the ivory towers of the Planning Commission to common people and people’s groups.
Throughout her autobiography, Syeda Hameed, shares heart-wrenching stories of human suffering and injustice encountered by her at various stages of her life. Gradually, it becomes clear that these stories are central to understanding her life and raison d’être. While she has lived a good life and the autobiography is filled with beautiful poetry, her pain from human suffering, indignity and injustice is starkly evident. Her quest for working towards a just, tolerant, and ethical society is the running thread of the book. This optimistic quest and her contribution to nation-building are today confronted by the new reality of post-2014 India – the most overwhelming of all Hüzüns.
Amitabh Behar works with civil society organisations on issues of equality, development and justice.
A Drop in The Ocean: The Story of My Life, Syeda Saiyidain Hameed, Speaking Tiger Books.
