‘Shades and Shadows’: A book review
Arshid Hussain
It is quite a rewarding exercise to continue reading novel “Shades and Shadows”, for every time one picks it up, it yields a rich harvest of new meaning. Every time we are forced to change our interpretation in the light of our latest reading and so on. Our vision continues to be enlarged.
In this book Mushtaque B. Barq seems to have packed his entire experience, knowledge and craft. It is a masterpiece which talks about spirituality, social and political issues. Mushtaque B Barq is a poet, a short story writer, columnist and translator. He has translated works of famous Kashmiri Sufi poet Wahab Khar besides his writings on Sufism like ‘The Wings of Love’.
His recent novel ‘Shades and Shadows’ has been written in the roman genre that focuses on spiritual growth of protagonist from youth to adulthood, in which character change is important. The language in the novel is lyrical and touches us spiritually. The imagery in the novel has been used in such a way that it transports us to some unknown world and gives us a sense of spiritual feeling.
The story of the novel ‘Shades and Shadows’ begins at Gillsar popularly known as Khushalsar Lake. The beauty of water body mesmerized the narrator to the extent that he feels calm and rejoice when he walks by the river side.
On the banks of Gillsar, the narrator met his mentor and friend Dr. Najeeb. It was Dr. Najeeb who guided the hero of the novel how to get freedom from the clutches of grief, agony and material greed. The narrator continuously learns from his mentor and spiritual guide Dr. Najeeb.
One day Dr. Najeeb dies due to brain stroke, but his soul continuously guids the narrator to help him to explore all the dimensions of spiritual journey. After the demise of Dr. Najeeb, Gillsar started to lose its charm because people around the area drain all sewage into the river.
‘Shades and Shadows’ is metaphorically rich novel, almost every character and incident has symbolic significance. The whole novel revolves around the ‘Gillsar’ and the author has a firm belief that knowledge can’t only be attained from books and in the four walls of class room, but it can be gained from nature too.
The author was enjoying the company of his mentor and guide Dr. Najeeb who shares his spiritual experiences with the protagonist in a metaphoric way. Dr. Najeeb himself symbolically represents the medium who brings spiritual awareness in the character of protagonist.
Even the death of Dr. Najeeb has been portrayed in a symbolic way and the author has realized that physical death is nothing, but journey to another world. Our fleshy body is simply carrier off our soul and is just like garment which gets old and decay with the passage of time while as soul is eternal which existed when nothing was created.
This can be reflected from Dr. Najeeb’s quote on his wardrobe that ‘ death is but changing of our robes to wait’ .Although Dr. Najeeb parts away from the narrator physically but he guides the protagonist spiritually even after his death. The decaying of Gillsar River metaphorically represents spiritual barrenness of modern man. Modern man is hardly concerned about his spiritual growth. It is observed in the novel that people directed all the sewage and waste into the Gillsar and with the result water body started to shrink and lost its charm which was once a beautiful essence.
In the chapter oration of love, Dr. Najeeb believes love is the creator, creation and creativity. He was the perfect mystic who wanted to transfer his spiritual philosophy in the hero of the novel.
In the chapter, “Solitude Bliss”, the narrator believes that loneliness leaves us to seek approval of ecstasy. It was Dr. Najeeb who imbibed spiritual awareness in the hero of the novel and we as readers get a glimpse that the hero of the novel too has become spiritually awakened when he says, “Solitude helps one to peep into the profundity of one’s heart to search for the composures”.
Solitude provides an opportunity to the hero to know the meaning of nothingness within his own self. At the end the author says Gillsar is no more river now. It has turned into a place where people dump their waste which symbolically represents spiritual barrenness of modern man.
The narrator is not hopeless about the fall of spiritual values of modern man. He says beneath my veins Gillsar is still fresh and the experiences which I have learned from the river will be passed on to future generations and this way Gillsar will be alive.
(The author can be reached at [email protected])
KV Network
