WE ARE CRUEL TO PEOPLE WHO ARE DIFFERENT FROM US: MANSAB

Pakistani author Faiqa Mansab’s latest book This House of Clay and Water is set in Lahore and explores the themes such as gender bias, escapism, and the need for acceptance and love. Nida belongs to the affluent class but feels like an outcast; Sasha uses her sexuality to subvert the power dynamics and Bhanggi, a eunuch, longs for love and acceptance — through these characters Mansab questions the flaws in our patriarchal society. Excerpts:

What inspired you to write this book?

It all began with Nida — it was her story I was pursuing. When I’m writing, it always, always, begins with a single character whose story or inner dialogue interests me and I have to follow “the call” as Joseph Campbell says. I wanted to write about the kind of love that shatters you, and changes you and this was the story that came about.

In the book everyone seems to be longing for love and acceptance. Are they so difficult to realise?

Yes, acceptance is even more difficult than love. At least, there are some forms of love that can be faked but you can’t fake acceptance —nothing hurts more than rejection.

Why you choose to write about those who are marginalised?

Frankly, everything affects me. Unfairness, discrimination, unkindness — such things bother me. We are cruel to people who are different from us, who are not in positions of power or are, we feel, weaker than us. These things bother me very much. As a woman, of course I’ve experienced these things.

Why does everyone (Bhanggi, Sasha, Nida) embrace religion?

It was a way of unmasking the hypocrisy of the characters’ need to love. All of them only seek out God when they are absolutely alone. So I just wanted to underline that human need is always selfish.

Did you fear that such a bold subject can provoke the ire of fatwa-givers?

I don’t think about the outside world at all when I’m writing. And every bearded fellow has a fatwa up his sleeve. My faith is far stronger than any fatwa, man or prejudice.

It was a way of unmasking the hypocrisy of the characters’ need to love. All of them only seek out God when they are absolutely alone. FAIQA MANSAB, AUTHOR

The book is published by Penguin Random House