Haasil Ghaat

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Hasil Ghaat (Urdu:حاصل گھاٹ) is a novel by Bano Qudsia. Though there is some contrversy as to whether this book be classified as a novel or not, there is no doubt in the richness of the book. Sometimes the book appears to be a collection of scattered mystic thoughts. Unlike her earlier novel Raja Gidh the book does not have a coherent plot or storyline.

If we accept it to be a novel, it is mainly the incoherent collection of thoughts of an old Pakistani man Humayun Farid who is visiting his emigrant daughter Arjmand in USA. Most of the thoughts occur to him as he is sitting in the balcony of her daughter’s home. Humayun Farid hails from a family who migrated from the Indian part of Punjab to Lahore at the time of the Partition of India. He was a self made businessman before his retirement.

The technique of the novel consists of narrating the thoughts of this character. An advantage of this technique is that, the writer absolves herself of the responsibility. Humayun keeps on comparing the Pakistani and American cultural differences. The novelist concretizes these comparisons by arranging accidental meetings of the main character with Pakistani and American characters in super markets and in other public places.

It seems that the thoughts themselves are not important here. Ranging from commonplace clichés and generalizations to some really thought provoking ideas and finally to intentionally provocative suggestions and exaggerations, the composition of thoughts reminds of the allegory running parallel to the story in her previous novel Raja Gidh. The confused thoughts suggesting somehow the superiority of the eastern values over the western ones are punctuated with nostalgic anecdotes from the past life of the main character.

If you happen to be an admirer of Bano Qudsia’s style, you may like this novel as much as Raja Gidh. In this case you may find a feeble plot.

Spoiler warning: Plot and/or ending details follow.

A spoiler should not be appended here, as the reader deserves to be rewarded for venturing to read 336 pages of thoughts and ideas he may not conform to.