FICTION
Story of a gentle rebel
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`Zeenuth Futehally's novel is calm, soothing and flows easily.'
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ZOHRA was first published in 1951. This is a new edition prepared by Zeenuth Futehally's daughter, who tells us that she has only removed repetitions and corrected obvious grammatical and spelling mistakes.
One is immediately tempted to speculate on the author's mind-set when she would have written this novel. The setting is the erstwhile princely state of Hyderabad, which had then just been incorporated into the Indian Union. The circumstances in which that integration took place were turbulent and violent. It was also shortly after Partition and it is very likely that at least some members of the author's family would have opted for Pakistan. What was in the minds of those Muslims who chose to stay back in India after Partition? Were they constantly being called upon to explain their choice and openly profess their support for India? Did they, through their political actions and their writings, stress the commonalities, the ties that bound Hindus and Muslims together?
Debate on non-violence
In this novel, there is a debate between Hamid, the brother-in-law of Zohra, and Bashir, her husband, about violent and non-violent methods of struggle. Hamid maintains: "Non-violence is not only best suited to our conditions but it is also the most civilised way. It is without doubt the highest form of courage, to suffer and not to hit back... Only the land of the Buddha could have produced the Mahatma... "
Bashir, on the other hand, avers: "We fight in the open battlefield... This method is certainly not suited to the Muslim genius." The debate continues with Hamid questioning terms like "Hindu genius" and "Muslim genius", when "the majority of us are from the same stock."
Notice that this entire exchange is between the men in Zohra's life. She is a mute witness and though she is more in agreement with Hamid than with her husband, she offers no observations of her own. This tells us a lot about the novel. The central character is portrayed as sensitive, thirsting for knowledge and passionately fond of Persian poetry. She values her school education greatly and persists with it despite the opposition of the women around her. Unnie, her maid, complains to Zohra's mother: "Owi, Begum Sahiba, how can you allow Chhoti bibi to go on with her studies?... Look how thin she has become." And the Begum Sahiba, in turn, berates her husband: "How often must I repeat that learned girls never settle down happily to domestic life."
Zohra realises that she can only indulge her desires up to a limit — the lines are firmly drawn and no transgressions are permitted. She is to be married to a man that her parents have chosen for her, even though she is not yet mentally prepared for such a change in her life. But then, as she tells Hamid: "A Hyderabadi girl would no more think of questioning her parents' right to arrange her marriage than she would of questioning God's right to dispense truth and death."
Bashir, her husband, is the antithesis of all that she cherishes — he is clinical, practical and highly ambitious. Yet she values his devotion to her and when the children arrive, she feels that her life is complete. But then along comes Hamid, the younger brother who is passionate, idealistic, influenced by Gandhian methods and avant garde in his lifestyle. Zohra and Hamid are drawn towards each other and the intensity of their passion is portrayed with a great deal of sensitivity. It is not just a spiritual union — the physical desire is also spelt out, though never given in to. For the rest, the end is predictable but the initiative is always in the hands of Hamid. Zohra is to submit to the choices made by him. She is a gentle rebel whose life must end in tragedy.
The Hyderabadi way of life
Zeenuth Futehally writes that she was keen to record the Hyderabadi way of life, which was fast disappearing. The Nawabs in the novel are urged by their wives to marry again in the absence of male heirs. We have detailed descriptions of Zohra's wedding ceremony and her attire: "The bridal dress had to be fashioned in such a way that no scissors would be used on the fabric, scissors being considered a symbol of strife." Safia, the sister of the bridegroom, "took two strings of tiny black beads from the round silver tray held up to her... and fastened them round the bride's neck. This was a Hindu custom adopted by the Muslims and was believed to ward off the evil eye."
Though mildly feminist, this novel does not have the anger and defiance that fired the imaginations of other Muslim women writers of this period such as Ismat Chugtai, Rasheed Jahan and Atia Hosain, though some of the concerns are common.
Common concerns
In Atia Hosain's Sunlight on a Broken Column too we have Laila, the protagonist, being told by Hakiman Bua, the maid: "Your books will eat you. They will dim the light of your lovely eyes, my moon princess, and then who will marry you, owl-eyed, peering through glasses?" She is drawn towards the non-co-operators whom the police charge with heavy wooden lathis: "From that day we had stopped singing the alien National Anthem at school concerts, and we used to leave the cinema when its first chords were struck."
Zohra has Nalini, her Hindu friend from school, who would initially not eat at her home but later overcomes her religious inhibitions under Gandhian influence. Laila has Sita, with whom she sits on her balcony and watches the processions of the satyagrahis. But Laila's life is fraught with insecurities and she is given to strong likes and dislikes in a way that Zohra is not. Zeenuth Futehally's novel is calm, soothing and flows easily. The trials and tribulations are rather gentle and though the story takes a negative turn towards the end, we are left with a feeling that life will go on in the homes of Nawab Safdar Yar Jung and Nawab Shaukat Jung Bahadur with the same grace and serenity as before, despite the absence of Zohra.
This is an extremely readable novel and it still retains its freshness 50 years after its creation. The fact that Zohra would undoubtedly have been one of the first novels in "Indian English" to be written by a woman, and a Muslim woman of the Hyderabadi aristocracy at that, gives it additional value.
VISALAKSHI MENON
Zohra, Zeenuth Futehally, edited by Rumanna Futehally Denby, Oxford University Press, Rs. 350.
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