Ishq, Amad o Mann (Sumaira Hameed)- Novel Review by Shoby

Ishq, Amad o Mann (Sumaira Hameed)- Novel Review by Shoby

Let us join a gathering held somewhere in Konya (the ancient city of Central Antolia in Turkey), where every girl of town is present with the hope of getting that one special handkerchief from Baba Salah that can sprinkle the magic on her luck so that a prince rides to her on his white royal horse and picks her up to continue the journey of life happily ever-after. 

As the case of this real world, every one is not fortunate enough in the event to get the desired handkerchief. Some gets books, some gets pen and only one Yashfeen happens to be that luckiest one who achieves the superlative of all. But story never ends here. Cinderellas do not realise their worth unless the prince come and tells them what they really are... She hands it over to Laila. In the meantime, Yousaf is just about to enter Konya (undesirably) courtesy his father's strict order of marrying the richest businessman's daughter... 

First encounter of Yousaf with Yashfeen was a class act. Typically how a boy-meets-girl with an unintentional sit-com little fight but see how magical words can make the whole thing completely new & interesting for you... 

Tum ghorey per sawaar ho ker aik larki se mukhaatib ho... Kiya tum mein itna bhi ikhlaq nahi ke aik aurat ko kabhi bulandi se nahi pukaartey... 

And he was just thinking, whom have I seen at dawn of this not-so-beautiful morning... (his own self in the reflection may be... Ha ha ha And if this was not enough, she continues to say, 

Aik musaafir aik aurat se rasta poochna munasib samajhta hai... Woh yeh tak nahi janta ke auraten rastey nahi bataya kerti... Yeh kaam mardon ke hotey hain warna inhain khud bhatka hua mana jata hai... (Stunner... What a scene Sumaira... Bravo)... Well, it was already written somewhere in the books... Cupid the stupid has thrown the arrow...

Mujeeb Durani was a typical mean & greedy businessman and the proposed wedding of Yousaf & Laila was nothing but a mere business transaction. Same was quite visible from the meetings of Yousf with Mujeeb & his son and Yousaf was so disheartened that he wanted to wipe out any chance to materialise the wedding, so he asks for a meeting with Laila before he can decide and Laila meets him along with Yashfeen, which creates sort of a misunderstanding. He thinks Yashfeen is Mujeeb's daughter, so he presents himself ready for the marriage... Who knew destiny had some other things planned for this trio.

Mujeeb gets to know about Yousaf's liking for Yashfeen and then he plays a wicked game that alters the future in one way or another for everyone of them. Rest should be read in the novel.

The story this time primarily revolves around three different persons living with three different perspectives under three altogether different conditions, having only one thing in common, extreme emotions of love & hate. Yousaf, Yashfeen and Laila, these three characters have been written while considering sensibilities & sensitivities of human beings. I believe, by far, this novel is one of the strongest writings by Sumaira, if we talk about character sketches.

It has been a forte of Sumaira Hameed that most of her stories are established in regions not popularly known in our community. Hence she is the one who is our regular guide when it comes to knowing something unique in terms of demography. Here we got to visit Konya. Sumiara is so acute in detailing of the characters, the places and the customs & traditions associated with them that all the words she write become images and you can see the ancient Konya with all of its demographic traits. At times, you feel astonished of her out of the box research. Thumbs up for her excellent research on the subject matter.

Just like Ibn ul Qalam, Wali & RAB ul Bashar, this time too there were tons of lessons to be learnt in the story.

Agar sari dunya ke chiragh bujh jaey to kiya kerna ho ga mohtaram khatoon???

Din ka intezar.

Agar raat bohat lambi ho haey to?

Aag ka intezam.

Aag kahin bhi muyasar na ho to kiya roshan kerna ho ga???

Sabar ka chiragh...

See how beautifully she gives an excellent lesson without being preachy... Neend ghaflat ki nishaani hai... Or yeh ghaflat tumhain aziz bhi hai... Yeh kitab parha karo...

Sumaira is undoubtedly one of those very few writers who can make you fell in love with certain outstanding scenes. See how serene she pictures the ongoing of those devastated love stricken couple Woh raat us ne saraey se mulhiq us kamrey, mein guzari jahan Yousaf so raha tha... Simply marvellous. 

I am not fabricating but this again it was hard (almost impossible) to choose the best dialogue this time. Ishq, Amad o Mann was a galaxy of bright dialogues, that went smoothly beautiful with the premise of the story. Impeccable

Waqt beet ker maazi ho jata hai... Dard theher ker wesa hi taza rehta hai...

I have already said it in one of my earlier reviews and I am saying it again. Sumaira Hameed's writings are not at all an easy read. She has the unique tendency of making an exclusive Shangri-La by the mere usage of words and she effortlessly pushes you to travel along with her characters within the established fictional locations and you cant help but to dive and dive deep into the oceans of the words.

Ishq, Amad o mann is the story of love, hate & obviously Karma. It depicts that at the the end of the day, there is only one ALLAH who completes the justice and no matter how deeper & longer the darkness prevails, light does sprinkle.