NOT ASKING FOR THE MOON
Siddhartha Gigoo’s new novel is about a messy love affair magnified by India and Pakistan’s legendary love-hate relationship
Thus I begin, not at the beginning, but at the end when I met her for the first time”. The blurb on Siddhartha Gigoo’s novel Mehr: A Love Story brought to mind the unforgettable opening line from Graham Greene’s classic The End of the Affair - “A story has no beginning or end: arbitrarily one chooses that moment of experience from which to look back or from which to look ahead”.
However, unlike Greene’s book, Mehr isn’t a tale of adultery but about an equally messy love affair. Actually, a messier personal-political affair magnified by India and Pakistan’s legendary love-hate relationship. Mehr, a Shia woman from Pakistan, has fallen in love with Firdaus, a youngster from Kashmir. Their love is intense – as intense as it can get over email exchanges – both yearning to meet the other, both willing to take the risks to be with the other. Mehr un Nisa is a mucholder woman, who holds a British and a Pakistani passport, has lived in London and runs a foundation that invests in developmental projects across South Asia. Born on the day Pakistan surrendered to India and East Pakistan became Bangladesh in 1971 – Mehr believes she causes “partitions”. India has dashed her attempts to visit Firdaus by denying her a visa. Her father was an illustrious general in the Pakistani army and this could have been one of the reasons for her requests being declined. Mehr writes to Firdaus telling him to stop being a mirage. He, in turn, writes about his travels to Mehr, some real, some imagined. Their affair catches the eye of Indian intelligence officials with one particular officer obsessively tracking Mehr as he believes she holds the key to Firdaus and a sinister plot.
Award-winning author and filmmaker Gigoo’s book is not an easy read. It isn’t the usual cross border story about passionate love running high on patriotism with the dynamics of religion thrown in. Gigoo’s characters are intelligently and beautifully crafted. They are lonely and alienated, dealing with love and loss.
Firdaus loves Mehr deeply but sees himself as a flawed ruby, who is not worthy of her, and wonders how will he ever appear in front of her?
The intelligence officer tracking the two lovers, is somewhat delusional, and seeks special permission from his senior to keep Miss Mishima, his cat, with him in the no-man’s land along the India-Pakistan border. More than Mehr’s, it is the portrayal of this character that brings to fore Gigoo’s brilliance, and his ability to spin tales. This character is also, unfortunately, the reason why the book will be easily misunderstood, or not understood at all. The twists of fate and plots, the trickiness and the mysteriousness of those who are appointed to guard our borders, the questions of identity and belonging – Gigoo addresses the entire spectrum of issues, and not just love, as the subtitle may have you believe.
Gigoo’s writing is beautiful: “The trouble with falling in love is that, unlike death, love kills you every moment, robbing you, at first, of reason, and then, slowly, consuming you bit by bit until you lose the sense of time, of the true nature of things, and of all other precious relationships.” The love letters, especially, make for an engrossing read: “Your belated spring has stolen my summer of longing. When will this parting end?...” Mehr which means a full moon in Urdu - captures the complexities of human nature and makes for a perfect movie script. Given Gigoo’s filmmaking skills that isn’t quite asking for the moon.