Every place of this land is beautiful; every mountain is darling,
Sky is the abode of this land; its blue is immersed in the waters of Dal!
An enjoyable, insightful debut novel by Shakoor Rather that gives a feeling of an accomplished author who has many books and novels to his credit; fluent and lucid, his style is fresh and original. The Life in The Clock Tower Valley is the story of Kashmir and its people, an alluring, serene and, tranquil place in the past, now drawn and drained as the uncertainty, militancy and conflict continue to loom high and consume it and its people. The novel is a condensed account of limped life lived in the trouble-torn vale of Kashmir; a mixed journey of joy and sorrow, dealing with the heartbreaks due to and associated with acute economic depression, damaged academic infrastructure, chaotic political rundowns; all trying hard to break the will of resilient people who continue to live despite the terrible threat to their lives and existence.
The novel follows an interwoven storyline of a university student, Samar, who is smitten by the charm of his batch-mate, Rabiya; both fall in love madly. Deep down in their being they try to find solace in each other’s company to overcome the uncomfortable moments resulting from frozen terror spread over the valley making it cold, dark and, mysterious. The enchanting romance flourishes in and around the campus, their secret rendezvous in matadors and, in city’s historical sites, but is troubled and thwarted by the fierce Sher-Bakra rivalry in their families, embedded deep in the fractured history of their land. The novel is an interesting story of love, longing, yearning, and, the loss. Shakoor, tactfully and magnificently, with his immense skill to narrate the passionate love story, delves into the grievous nature of love, making his reader beam through the tragedy of separation.
“Their final semester exams were over, both had been apprehensive about discussing life after their law degrees. The two had never seriously thought about a time when they would have to face a situation where meeting each other would become a luxury….. Rabiya’s father was well aware of her liking for Samar, but his political views were dearer to him than his daughter’s wishes.”
The novel with scenes of distress and tenderness, the incidents that are wholly absorbing and gripping show the author’s sensitive emotional identification and his mental involvement with his land of miseries and misfortunes; Shakoor is transcendentally awe-inspiring, the reader cannot but continue with him on his journey of sentimental surges on a wandering mode. He finely combines agony with ecstasy to produce a double effect, establishing link and association with events in history, surprises his reader with his capability to connect fantasies with realism while navigating with ease, from past glorious times to present uncertain ages. He writes:
“The caption read: It’s not Venice or Milan; it’s Kashmir of Yore.’ …..Nalah Maar was a canal that often found mention in the legends Samar’s grandfather told him when he was a little boy growing up in Shahr-e-Khas. It used to run through old Srinagar and connected a lagoon to the famous Dal Lake…..when snow melted at the start of spring, a stream of water would come down from the mountain and drain out through the canal…….The canal was filled up in 1970’s long before Samar was born, to pave the way for a road through the old city. It had proved to be an ecological disaster for Srinagar, as it choked and affected the entire water system of the city. ….. How would the Great King react if he saw the Maar today… or maybe he already knows about the loss and is weeping in his grave!”
Shakoor is lost in his city of imagination; the aquamarine waters with flowery banks and trout, a paradise for boatmen and their tourists turned into the cesspool rubble, mossy stones and construction debris. With a heavy heart he feels the pain of the historical blunders committed by aesthetically-challenged successive rulers of Kashmir.
Keeping an eye on the pulse of his people, he is highly skillful in creating a sensitive emotional effect with which he relates the ordinary life events with extraordinary tragedies engulfing his people; his symbolic characterization is superb in transferring pain into agony and helplessness.
…… “Mubarak’s cow was pregnant. The time of delivery was around the corner. It could be any moment now. Mubarak feared that in case of some complications, he may not be able to convince the vet to visit amidst curfew.”
The author is highly responsive to his culture; his traditions, folkways, artifacts and, rituals, describes and links them well, without making his reader lose the grip on the main story. His journey through Srinagar city often reminds the reader of Orhan Pamuk and his journey through the city of Istanbul; the metal shops, sangtarash dens, bakery’s shops; giving the rank one to Kandurwaans, he writes:
“Perhaps everything from Srinagar to Los Angeles, Omar to Obama, Guantanamo bay to Gaza was being discussed there….. These meetings on roads and shops, including at Nader’s Bakery are the ‘thought schools of Kashmir,’ not quite like those elsewhere around the globe.”
All the characters carried in the novel are living and breathing and, strong enough to leave an intense impact on the reader, be it of Samar, Rabiya, Sheikh Mubarak, Sana, Pintoji, Saleem Apa or Rosaline.
“Rosaline knew she wouldn’t be able to extract more out of him. She cursed the travel books she had read to get all possible information on Kashmir. They all talked about the beautiful hills, Dal Lake and shikara rides but not one had mentioned this ever-present barrage of army men.”
Life in The Clock Tower Valley is a slim book like Paulo Coelho’s publishing phenomenon “The Alchemist” yet powerful enough to rank close the author to some of our fine fiction writers like Basharat Peer, Mirza Waheed, Siddhartha Gigoo and others.