A Golden Age

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Rather than lose her children again, Rehana supports them and their cause, finding herself on the opposite side of a conflict to her disapproving family who live in West Pakistan. Also, though Shona is at the back side of Rehana’s house, it is not situated at the end of a blind lane. This book must have put it on people's radar, and maybe inspired them to get to know about our nation a little better.

It is an old-fashioned yarn of family love triumphing over adversity, then being further tried by the murky oppressions of rebellion and war, with a good twist to the ending.

A Golden Age is laced with transliterations of Bangla and Urdu words, which will be understood by those familiar with the sub-continent, but may puzzle readers who are not. The first chapter begins with that day in 1959 when the court gives custody to her brother and sister-in-law, who live in Lahore,(West Pakistan) over 1000 miles and an expensive flight away from Dhaka (East Pakistan). Maya: Rehana's daughter, university student, moves to Kolkata to be a journalist for the freedom fighters. There is no glossary because Ms Anam follows in the footsteps of Salman Rushdie, who led the way, according to what my wife learnt from a conversation with the author Shashi Deshpande, in dispensing with such things.

Liberation war will always be a red mark in the history of Bangladesh and as a proud Bangladeshi It always warms my heart seeing people all around the world reading and knowing about us, and "A Golden Age" opens a window for them to take a peek at our Glorious history, history of suffer, anguish, history of social, economic and political repression, history of bravery of our war heros and a golden triumphant, a country of our own! West enjoyed political and economic supremacy; East was a poor relation, neglected even during the cyclones and floods that plagued its delta planes.During this operation, about a million East Pakistanis fled to neighbouring India and anything between 30,000 and 3,000,000 East Pakistanis were massacred. She grew up listening to the stories of her grandmother harboring freedom fighters and hiding guns and weapons in the family garden. The Dhaka university students had been involved in the protests from the very beginning, so it was no surprise Sohail had got caught up, Maya too.

On the other hand, I just finished another book concerning how war wreaks havoc in people’s lives, Scribbling The Cat, and that I loved.

War is people doing terrible things to each other, something that the author refuses to bow to, as it would sully her perfectly formed, not really believable characters.

This led to the 1971 Bangladesh genocide that caused millions of refugees to flee to India and the deaths of 58,000 to 3,000,000 civilians. She had married a man she had not expected to love; loved a man she had not expected to lose; lived a life of moderation, a life of few surprises. The denouement left me slightly annoyed, but despite that, it was a beautifully written story in prose that flowed like music on paper. The territories were situated on either side of India as the book phrases "a pair of horns" on either side of India. Our protagonist, Rehana, is an unintentional hero, pushed by circumstance to be extraordinarily courageous when all she wants is a life of wholeness and peace.

She heard the trucks before they turned on to the road; she felt them slowing in front of the bungalow, lining up along the neighbourhood gates. Throughout the story, Rehana does sympathise with the emotion of independent Bangladesh, but she did end up being a big part of the movement. This is a debut novel set against the Bangladesh War of Independence; it’s not a historical novel, but the story is told through the medium of one family and those in their immediate circle.