The journey so far…

What began as a personal journey,to answer several questions that Aatish Taseer was trying to deal with in his head and heart became a bigger picture,one that transcended several borders. Part memoir,part reportage and travelogue,Stranger To History: A Son’s Journey Through Islamic Lands,is an investigation of the question: What does it mean to be a young Muslim in the 21st century? “And it’s a journey that changed me immensely,’’ Aatish was here at the Capital Book Depot for the release of his debut novel and also read excerpts from it. Raised by his Sikh mother in Delhi,a journalist,for Aatish his Pakistani father was only a figment of his imagination,until he crossed the border when he was 21,to meet him. And this relationship made Aatish,who has worked as a reporter with Time Magazine to ask larger questions and gain a better understanding of Islam and Pakistan. “What I knew about Islam was an empty space,’’ the author writes how caught between feeling provoked and needing to act,he thought of making an Islamic journey,one that takes him through Turkey,Syria,Saudi Arabia and Iran,before ending in Pakistan,where his estranged father lives…

Weaving fact and fiction,personal and political perspectives,issues of religious identity,faith and belief,the constant struggle between tradition and modernity,Taseer strives to answer larger questions why being a Muslim means that your allegiances went out to other Muslims before the citizens of your country,Why did Muslims see modernity as a threat? What made Islam a trump identity…Published by Picador India,the book is a narrative that will move you.