Ali Akbar’s Kamari Wala

Amongst the novelists of 21st century, Ali Akbar is an important novelist of our times. He started his literary career as a poet. Apart from poetry, he also produced short stories and novels. His first novel, “Naolahki Kothi” was published in January 2020 and attracted the attention of critics and readers. After a decade, his 2nd novel “Kamari Wala” emerged on the current literary stage of Urdu Literature. The novel unfolded the social, political and religious currents of the society from early 80’s to till date. The terrorism, sectarianism, feudalism, pornography, yellow journalism and national security are the main themes of this novel. The plot of the novel is simple; all events are well connected with each other. While reading this debut novel, the reader feels as if he were sitting in a train and watching a film. The novelist has a very strong grip over portraying the village life. He unfolded every aspect of rural life -culture, values and norms. The novel travels from rural to urban life systematically though the main character -Zamin Ali. Zamin’s childhood and adulthood’s action and observations make the readers able to know the reality and purity of simple life. The surroundings are the main points which are relate not only to scenic description of happy and easy village life, but also convey the agony, pain and sorrow. Natiq tries to link the individual’s fate with the mega causes, and I think he got success by using this technique in general. Adeela’s son and his friend motivated by religious clergy is the first example in this respect. In this part of the novel, the religious exploitation has been surfaced in the novel which gave birth to extremism, sectarianism and intolerance in the society. Zamin’s father,

Hakim Fitras Ali and thousands innocent people are killed in this sectarian killing. The second main concern of the story is feudalism. This mindset damaged the image of family relations, social norms, ethics at the cost of capturing maximum land and property. The ladies are still deprived of their due rights in property. The feudal lords enjoy unprecedented power and ironically they have due share in the corridors of powers. This mindset even rules the politics in the country. Natiq highlighted this menace in his novel. Dr Farha and her family hunted by this mindset and the consequences of the cruelty end up in tragic way where her family vanished away within 3 decades. The language of the novel is very simple that is why the readability of the novel is very high. When the narrator of the story, Mr. Zamin moves to Lahore and Islamabad, he unearths the urban lifestyle and its issues which are totally different from rural areas. Specially, in Islamabad, the capital, the reader comes to know how targeted objectives are achieved through various tools i.e. yellow journalism/ literature, pornography, social welfare and showbiz etc. This part of the plot is significant in a sense that Natiq boldly expresses the facts both in abstract thoughts and in opus dialogues. Characterisation is not very much impressive because everywhere the narrator seems dominant, and all other characters are dependent upon Mr. Zamin. Somehow, we can also say that action and events supersede actor and character. For example, Islamabad’s characters except Miss Sheeza look dummies. A reader cannot deny the craftsmanship of the novelist with which he not only paints a living picture of a society but keeps the story move on in suspicious way where one cannot guess what will happen in the next scene. “Kamari Wala” may be listed in conventional Urdu novels with regard to its treatment, but the issues raised in this novel are central concern of our country. What are the causes and effects of those changes? How we, as a nation, can get honourable place among the international community is a million-dollar question which has been raised intellectually in this novel. Writer, through fiction, leads his reader to the heart of situation and helps to understand what is actually taking place behind the scene. Ali Akbar, in this novel, analyses the natural beauty. He repeatedly glorifies the trees and greenery. The deforestation is another theme of the novel discussed.