Weeping Wounds and Silent Desires

by Khan, Zafar H

• ISBN13: 9781467889162
• ISBN10: 1467889164
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2012-04-10
• Publisher: Textstream

Summary

A great deal has been written on Love, Friendship, Culture and Tradition and in numerous ways has been portrayed in the form of film and drama. Weeping wounds and Silent desires contains all those sentiments and much more. A very gripping and powerful theme, it has all the ingredients of life, Destiny, the unknown. It gives the reader a clear insight of South Asians living in Britain in the 21't Century, where technology has progressed but it has also taken its toll on society on the whole. The people of South Asia left everything behind when they migrated in search of a better future.They left everything except their honour, pride, dignity and cultural beliefs. These they held very dearly and against all odds have tried in every way to inject their children with these values. Juggling with multiple cultures, the children born in Britain have shown great strength but also weaknesses when dealing with the uphill struggle of both cultures. No matter where they settled they had to follow certain traditions and morals; it was something very deeply rooted within them.

Excerpts

The story of every Asian living in Britain who holds on to these values as Nargis did. Nargis arrived in Britain in the early seventies, after completing her secondary education. Like every young girl Nargis also had a fairytale of her own, which consisted of a palace full of dreams and a prince charming to fulfil them. But unfortunately for Nargis this was only a fairytale, each page turning without hindrance until the completion of her Graduation. The reward for her success was a surprise awaiting her in the form of Captain Umar, her childhood fiancé of whom she had no knowledge. She had a choice, being part of two cultures; one, which forbade her to disobey and the other which gave her every right to do the opposite.
Nargis was someone who valued her parent's respect and honour and knew full well the humiliation she would cause her family if she ever refused. Tied down by her culture's morals and beliefs, Nargis selflessly managed her Weeping wounds and Silent desires; then suffered in quieten she respected her parent's decisions over her own happiness. She bowed her head with the strictest of obedience, buried her pain and smothered her dreams with the same pillow that created them. And she concealed all this in the deepest depths of her heart, hidden away from everyone, even herself. Forgetting her past, Nargis accepted her new role and tried to fulfil every avenue that is required of an Asian wife, but alas! Kismet has a mind of its own.
On the celebrations of their daughter's first birthday, Captain Umar, a private pilot, received a phone call, which urgently required him to fly his boss to an upcoming meeting. Nargis and her daughter Pinkie accompanied Umar to the airport and while Nargis was standing at the barrier waving to her husband, he turned around and smiled, waving back. Unbeknownst to Nargis, that was to be the last image Nargis would see of her husband alive.
Tragically, Umar was killed in an air disaster; on the same flight that followed Pinkie's birthday celebrations. After her husband's untimely death Nargis felt the need for nothing except to bring up her daughter with the utmost devotion. A few years later Nargis lost her father. She was left distraught from this experience as like any other woman; she was always Daddy's little girl. What added insults to injury, according to Nargis; how could a man with such a big heart die of a heart attack? This was not the end of her trials and tribulations as her mother's death soon followed unexpectedly. The coroners could find no solid reason for the death but Nargis knew that her mother doted on her father, and since he had left her soul followed suit. Many years passed and many more obstacles were put in front of Nargis. Had it not been for Pinkie, a symbol of her love for Umar; and Nargis' only solace in the tempestuous life that she lived, she would not have made it a day let alone sixteen years.
Pinkie, now a confident and boisterous seventeen year old had formed not only a strong mother-daughter relationship but something that went far beyond those bounds.
Pinkie developed prosperously into an intelligent young woman. Despite the absence of a male presence within the household, she bridged the gap between childhood and adolescence seamlessly. Or so it seemed.