Dilara
Hashim’s Amlokir Mou
Dilara
Hashem (b 1936) is one of the major woman fiction
writers of Bangladesh. Since the mid sixties she has
been producing regularly to enrich Bangla literature.
Her debut novel Ghar Mon Janala (Houses, Hearts
and Windows, 1965) brought her much acquaintance in the
fiction reading public of the country. The other
significant novels of Dilara Hashim are Ekoda Ebong
Ananto (Once and Ever, 1975), Stabdhatar Kane
Kane (Whisper to Silence, 1977), Kaktalio (Coincidence, 1985) etc. Most of the novels of her have
a formidable size with stories of large canvass. Her Amlokir Mou (The Sweet from the Bitterest) is a very
worthy production of her for many different aspects.
Amlokir Mou, published in 1978, is a story of
Sara alias Sayera, a young woman with uncommon
qualities. Better we should call it a novel of Sara’s
psychological and familial milieu. The story is set in
between the years of Sheikh Mujib regime and eventually
that socio-political context has also delineation in the
novel. Moreover, it is a milestone in the feministic
literature of our country. Amlokir Mou is
possibly the first courageous endeavour where the human
identity of a woman has surpassed her womanhood.
The story opens in a time after the assassination of
Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, the then president of Bangladesh, though a huge
part of it is narrated in flashbacks which took place in
Pakistan era or in post-liberation years. Written in
omnipresent narratology, the story heralds Sara, the
protagonist who is a British PhD holder and a teacher of
psychology of Dhaka University, from the beginning to the end of the voluminous book.
The tales of Sara’s father’s large family engulf a large
part of the novel. Stories of Sara are most bosom and
childhood friend Hasib, Sara’s new love sculptor Feroz
and her divorced husband Mostak and their son Dara also
take place alongside.
Sara is an emblem of liberty – liberty of women, which
does not care for any special prejudice and bondage for
women folk only. She smokes and takes liquor - practices
that were inconceivable during the seventies even in the
city scenario of Bangladesh. She has adopted
these habits as her protest against the dominating male
community, of which Mostak is a representative – whom
she has even given up. Though Sara mixes with her
friends at liberty she maintains her principle regarding
sexual behaviour – she did not deviate from it even in
her England days. She is controlled by rationality not by fashion of
modernism.
Dilara Hashim has manifested an elongated and
descriptive story to create Sara. She has started with
the adolescent Sara, in 1960s, and tried to expose the
specific mental bent of her. The person who mostly
contributed to form this bent in Sara was her aunt
Sajeda. Her father’s begetting so many children despite
his impassionate attitude towards her mother posed as
another reason for her such mental behaviour. All these
surroundings gave her the courage to describe the cry
for hunger of an insane girl in the bushy evening; or to
tell Hasib that she can die for Hasib but can’t marry
him; or to decide to marry Feroz even knowing about his
forthcoming death. Moreover Sara is a good lover as well
as a good mother.
The episode of Feroz plays a vital role in exposing Sara
as a good lover. Feroz himself is also a worthy
character who can deserve Sara’s love. From his boyhood
he is a sculptor and the story of his personal life is
also very eventful. Hailing from a village of Manikgonj, Feroz turned an atheist during the epidemic of pox when his two
siblings died even after his night-and daylong prayer to
Allah. In his adolescence he began to love pottery and
make human images with clay. But his orthodox father did
not tolerate this irreligious work of his son and one
day discovering the idols he beat Feroz ferociously.
Thus Feroz began a new journey of his life. He went to Pakistan,
worked as a trafficker, attended an art college and
later on returned to his village in 1971. But his mother
made him swear to leave the country for which he
eventually went to London. In London though Feroz found
Sara two or three times but they become introduced and
later befriended with Sara in Dhaka when she teaches at Dhaka University.
The other episode that has been dealt with much
attention is of Hasib’s. Though Hasib loves Sara but we
learn that Sara does not like to marry her beyond her
friendly consideration. In between these incidents one
day Hasib goes to his village home at Jessore with his
father, where he meets his cousin Laiju, a mofussil
college teacher. During their stay Laiju instigates an
aggressive physical attachment with Hasib and thus he
discards himself from the way of Sara. Later on, in the
end, he marries another woman and leaves for Australia.
Though the main story line of Amlokir Mou centres
round Sara, it abounds many other episodes. Stories of
Kalam – Sara’s eldest uncle, Nafisa – Sara’s eldest
sister, Motin – Sara’s eldest brother have contributed
much to give completeness to the society, sketched in
the novel. The short episode of Sara with Sheikh Mujibur
Rahman is also very enchanting. When Sara had failed to
manage a job even with her London PhD she met
Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujib who she had been introduced
during his return from Pakistani jail to Bangladesh at London. Her only fault for not being able to get a
job was her attachment with the leftist friend Amol.
Though later on she gets the job in the University, she
has to go across many other hazards.
In understanding the family life of Bangladesh scenario, Amlokir Mou is a good read. Dilara Hashim has
examined the whole society in her skillful, detailed and
meticulous way. Her knowledge about the social changes
and political advancement has helped her to give a true
colour to the big canvass. Her portrayal of Sara is
undoubtedly a hall mark in Bangladeshi literature. A
character like Sara was not only uncommon in our
literature but it was beyond our imagination also.
Astonishingly Dilara Hashim has performed it in her own
accustomed way. Sara is no alien to us – we must agree
that she is a part of this soil and she is the
representation of women’s liberation of Bangali society.
In a well-fabricated story Sara is a marvellous
character and thus Amlokir Mou has become a
popular novel to be read and reread again and again
