Infused with neo-magical realism, this novel explores the social history of India

This book was unusual for me in a few ways, and that’s one of the reasons why I struggled more than usual with reviewing it. AP Firdaus Remember, Mr. SharmaThe magical realism novel seems to be aimed at the pre-adolescent age group, exploring some dark themes in India’s political and social history.

It follows the adventures of a 12-year-old boy we know as Adi – improbably short for Adi Shankara – Sharma, who encounters not only intergenerational trauma and family strife, but also an ongoing trial punctuated by the seventh standard, a speech . time traveling bureaucrat vulture. The vultures seem to have been chosen not for their winning personalities but to do an ingenious little investigation into the human race and the messes we leave behind for others to clean up. Also included is a brief summary of the Indian vulture crisis, particularly current in this case, because Remember, Mr. Sharma, It takes place in 1997, the 50th anniversary of India’s independence.

This becomes very apparent due to the parallel Firdaus draws between independence and its nationwide consequences from the British Empire, and independence and its negative effects for Adi and his mother, resulting from his evil father; This character is a deleted character. as it is beyond redemption quite early on. One could argue that this is a function of the sole narrator being a 12-year-old boy, but the fact remains that Adi – despite who he was raised by and what he was exposed to – is utterly and incredibly unproblematic in almost every respect. Every possible means shows me that he is most likely the mouthpiece of Firdaus’s own political views, which I hope you realize is very respectable. In fact, every sympathetic character has a turn on the soapbox. Soapbox is very accommodating.

This seemed to me like a missed opportunity in a very masterfully crafted novel. I don’t believe Firdaus is actually incapable of telling a more nuanced story, because he succeeds in other aspects of the book; It’s not necessarily bad at creating believable, interesting characters, either. Where does the impulse towards didacticism come from in so much contemporary political fiction? I’m not sure if this is a symptom of the author’s lack of faith in himself to convey or in the reader’s ability to understand.

On the other hand, I may be using an unfair measure in this case – this book is probably aimed at a younger audience, and perhaps it was believed (mistakenly in my view) that the reader in question would need more hand-holding.

A child in an adult world

Adi is a sensitive, friendly character, and as an adult myself, the experience of interacting with the world through his eyes was very interesting. He’s not obnoxious or wimpy, none of the kid characters are like that – in fact, what I liked most about being in his head was that he really created so much. perceptionbut it’s not like the 12-year-old is somehow affected beyond his years. Although his own adulthood drives much of the way the adults in Adi’s life speak and act, Firdausi has not forgotten what it is like to be a child; Occasionally the reader sees or understands their implications his HEAD. (As I said before, it was precisely this apparent ability that drove my disappointment in the few flaws I felt.)

The world Firdaus puts us in is extremely believable; He has an eye and ear for India, which is rarer than you might think among Indian writers writing in English. Adi is 14 years older than me, but the India he lives in feels authentic and recognizable, and his portrayal doesn’t fall into the trap of nostalgia. Also distinctive and recognizable is the vulture that we know only as AJS-cum-DDJ of the DHA, established under the Historical Adjustment (Hindsight) Act, or HAHA (“This is no laughing matter, Mr. Sharma.” ). Ladies and gentlemen, cards are on the table, this vulture is in great fun. He is moody and authoritarian and worships bureaucracy, bringing to mind the officer at the RTO who delays your driving license by three to six weeks. This is literally a caricature, but by design; Just because the novel is about the atrocities committed during Partition does not mean that it feels the need to take itself seriously. All time.

Trauma and persecution

However, he doesn’t hold back about the actual gore – Firdaus is careful never to be so graphic that it tires the reader (the best example of this, in my opinion, is the murder of a baby girl in the second half that made me pause for breath) and doesn’t rely solely on the element of surprise or shock value. As the title tells us, for the most part Remember, Mr. Sharma Does it try to explore the idea of ​​intergenerational trauma and also intergenerational oppression? Many of the characters, apart from Adi, are products of their time, their families, and the personal tragedies within them, and the book brutally reminds us that this cannot be without consequences. Additionally, it becomes your responsibility to deal with these consequences, whether they are your fault or not.

Adi’s missions and the past events he witnessed are all fairly linear and directed towards a specific goal; This means we are missing some material (a more detailed look at the relationship) that could have contributed to that theme. For example, this was a complicated, tragic incident between Tamanna Sharma and her mother that was only hinted at but clearly one of the many things she couldn’t move on from. Adi is spared a similar fate because the vulture, like many therapists, gives him self-actualization tasks to complete and, like a lesser number of therapists, rewards them with tangible results through acts of magic – but his family is so complicated that it takes a long time. – they were waiting for a promotion to turn their predicted bitter end into a bittersweet ending. There is no completely happy ending, but Firdevs has no regrets about it. (An illustrative quote from somewhere in Act III: “You say you’ve made Ma happy. Then why do you look like your buffalo has gone into the water?…of course, Mr. Sharma, you can’t expect to keep him happy for seven lifetimes.” Even your great gods do that “Making someone happy even for a moment is a great success.”)

This A plot and the various B plots are all coming-of-age stories; Actually this book, now that I think about it, is something like what Imtiaz Ali wrote Train to Pakistan. If I hadn’t spent over a hundred words complaining about the overly explicit political messages in there, I might have something to say about how relevant that makes it.

Remember, Mr. SharmaAP Firdaus, Sceptre.