Freedom Is a Gentle Breeze

THE shift in this wind is a gentle one in a genteel world. Though the change at the time of independence can hardly be described as gentle i...

THE shift in this wind is a gentle one in a genteel world. Though the change at the time of independence can hardly be described as gentle in the rest of India, its ripple effect felt in Hyderabad was a diluted one. It is of these times and world that Aminuddin Khan writes. Though there are intense political moments even in Hyderabad, it is spared the rough and the harsh that almost always follow such moments.

Zafar grows up in a Hyderabad of confusing years leading to 1947. Gandhi8217;s Quit India call was greeted with differing views both in his home and outside. It had 8216;8216;strange repercussions in Hyderabad. My mother was uncertain. My father maintained that if independence came suddenly, the consequences would be disastrous. Rosie Zafar8217;s Anglo-Indian nanny was thoroughly against the idea and called Mr Gandhi a nuisance and a troublemaker.8217;8217;

Outside Zafar8217;s house, 8216;8216;opinions were equally divided8217;8217;. Schoolboys were caned for wearing Gandhi caps, the creation of Pakistan entered public conversation and a Muslim state of Hyderabad became a heatedly debated possibility.

This is just the rich historical background against which play intense personal stories. Having established the public context, Aminuddin moves on to the private.

Though the book speaks in many voices, it primarily charts the love and life of the good-looking Zafar, starting with his affair with a married Parsi doctor and then his marriage to Zeba. Zafar8217;s domestic scene post-marriage may be blissful but his unending recognition of it as such and his stream of praise for his wife is a bit tedious. Or perhaps it8217;s just that dangerous liaisons are more readable than the happy humdrum of daily domesticity.

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Zafar grows up in a Hyderabad groping its way to 1947. Mahatma Gandhi8217;s Quit India call is greeted with differing views both in his home and outside

All through A Shift in the Wind is a gentle, slow change. Physically it8217;s manifest in the old city houses. Zeba8217;s family home, a late 18th century palace has been 8216;8216;knocked down in parts, altered, added to, and refurbished over the years8217;8217;. In Zafar8217;s first love, Dr Sabira Merchant, it shows itself in a disturbing mental disintegration. Socially it is reflected in Begum Mahfuz Yar Jung8217;s reasons for choosing Zafar as a son-in-law: 8216;8216;If she Zeba married you, you would treat her like an equal and bring out the best in her.8217;8217;

The shift may be small but it8217;s a shift all the same.