Dawn of Dreams
A novel based on the dangerous polarisations that marked India pre and post-independence, Abdus Samad's Dawn of Dreams is one unusual book. I wish I could read it in the original, but much as i wish, i don't know Urdu. You see in this book the slow but inevitable downfall of the staunch Gandhian local Congress politician Anwar Ahmed as his son Afaq gradually steps into his shoes, but very very differently. You see instances of corruption, illegitimacy, hypocrisy, queerness, madness and painstaking honesty, vying with each other to rule the hearts and minds of the characters.
"... I'm not a coward, and I don't want to be known as one. I want to be a fighter, I don't want to yield tamely when surrounded by enemies. Mine will be a battle of wits. I need to outsmart my adversaries." Afaq, a mere mortal looked as formidable as a mountain as he spoke.
In those truly turbulent times, mere mortals could become intimidating and rulers could become meeker than your stereotype of veiled andarmahal residents. All of which point to that single direction of dawn, of hope, which did bring us our todays, not too beautiful but dear to us nevertheless.
