Pigeons of the Domes: Stories on Communalism
Edited with an Introduction by Rakhshanda Jalil,
Niyogi Books,
New Delhi – 110 020,
Year 2015, 284pp,
Indian INR299/£9.99/$15, Hard.
Reviewed by ASIF ANWAR ALIG
Prejudices to the embers of communal disharmony have been plaguing the Indian societies. Riots don’t recognise a particular community to liquidate but disintegrate human values to desperately force them to face the doom, irrespective of their religious beliefs. India has been witnessing such discriminations every now and then. Riots and communal violence has literally become an epitaph to the malicious gains in India’s political milieu. Often politicians sacrifice communal harmony to rule the country.
Edited by eminent writer, critic and literary historian Rakhshanda Jalil, the anthology titled Pigeons of the Domes: Stories on Communalism has finest of the short stories from vernacular languages translated into English, portraying communal disharmony. It also brings floodgates of memories or realities which project the ‘other side’ of vibrant Indian diversity.
Short stories by eminent as well as novice storytellers in a language they write portray one common theme – communalism and irrationality arousing mass sentiments. Aren’t they flaring violence to tarnish human societies? So, fiction projection is so much a reality as if it defines the history and geography of Indian subcontinent.
The editor of this anthology shortlisted finest stories which are real depictions of what happened and whose residues still overhaul Indian societies in the form of nightmares. Whether it is the fictional description of the night of 22-23 May 1987 in riot erupted Meerut’s Hashimpura neighbourhood or the rest horrors, this book takes the readers in previous decades to glimpse human agonies. The stories on communalism show reality of India’s hatemongered communities. They repeatedly raise the fundamental question: whom to blame for such human agonies?
Originally in Urdu, Punjabi and Hindi languages, the stories in this anthology present a seminal work for the readers to read, reflect and also introspect on human plights. Such stories depict sectarian violence in India’s socio-political contexts. They revolve around the deliberate steps taken to increase usual communal polarisations. Zest of the stories and the editor’s assessment expose the seeds of hatred which were already strewing in the 1980s through the Ram Janmabhoomi agitation.
At the same juncture, the outcome of government aggressions to riots post the assassination of former Prime Minister, Indira Gandhi that caused bloodshed of hundreds of thousands of Sikhs in and around Delhi to the killings of minority Muslims in various locations remain the projected themes.
Besides raising questions on why riots occur, this anthology exposes the vibes of communalism to the biasness that plagued human societies through hatemongering. Devoured auguring of common masses diminishes righteousness so do they drink the opium of communally smirking ideals. It thus damages the credibility of all communities. The stories in this anthology explain much about ghettos causing uneasiness while a middle-class Muslim buys home in a Hindu dominated society or other absurdities from unnecessary suspicions on the masses belonging to counterpart communities even though all want peace and sustainability.
India’s diversified societies are at the crossroads due to communally charged environments. Is it due to the majoritarian might or the minority fear psychosis? While hysteria of minority communities undervalues human ethics, the indomitable sycophancy by some further harms social prosperity.
This anthology includes the stories from eminent storytellers like Jeelani Bano, Ajeet Cour, Gulzar, Shaukat Hasan, Joginder Paul, et al. Each of them has the question why one massacre on a petty issue easily amalgamates into another in India. It continues until and unless the sense of disparity fusions to bring further losses through human sufferings.
Highlighting the plights of majority Hindus to minority communities including Muslims and Sikhs et al, the short stories are the works of fiction yet their themes and plots are so much real that they literally bring a replica of the rising intolerance towards people’s identities against each other.
Editor Rakshanda Jalil raises questions to understand communalism that without it secularism can’t be judged in its true sense. She considers both ‘conjoined twins’; thus stories of this anthology chronicle that reality. Why Indian social fabric has been enshrined with violence and irresistibility so much so that even in the absence of them or while there is mere a slight sign of intolerance, new fear psychosis begins to panic the societies – both Hindus and Muslims.
It is the primary reason that bloodthirstiness takes over between the communities on the petty issues. Such scenes arise because of situational ironies plus mindlessness of religious passions to further damage human societies.
This anthology is an anatomy of rising intolerance and communal riots that have been causing death of humanity in the Indian subcontinent and the world. Each story in this anthology rationally argues why irrational hatred brings the social synergy in its lowest ebb.
[Asif Anwar Alig ([email protected]) is co-Founder cum Editor-in-Chief at www.seocontentindia.in. He served as a television producer at ETV Urdu; editorial coordinator at Management Development Institute, Gurgaon; Media Specialist at Prince Mohammad Bin Fahd University, Al-Khobar and assistant professor in the Saudi Ministry of Education. He has co-authored a book entitled An Introduction to E-Learning recently.]