A Tantalus Cup

Publishler: Fourth Estate

Pages: 200

Price: Rs 450

Tabish Khairs slim novel,titled How to Fight Islamist Terror from the Missionary Position,is very much like its title. It is wry,tongue-in-cheek,and a complicated commentary on everything from sex to religious fanaticism.

The book is set in Denmark and begins with the unnamed Pakistani narrator failing to produce sperm required by a fertility clinic,leading inevitably to his divorce. The divorce sets in train a chain of events through which the narrator along with Ravi,a fellow doctoral student,end up renting two rooms in an apartment owned by Karim Bhai.

The rest of the book is an account of how these unlikely actors cohabit this small space for a short length of time,until mutual suspicions lead to a falling-out. In a sense,the unfilled cup of the opening sequence is the seminal failure that sets the stage,and partly explains,all the ones that follow.

The narrator,Ravi and Karim Bhai are as different as can be. The narrator is fussy,middle class by his own account,not a good enough student to do science,but just good enough to receive a scholarship to study English literature abroad. He is Mr Blah. Even his Pakistani background adds nothing of interest. He harbours no mullah,and no militant liberal,in his past. There may be something of interest in there,but it is never truly allowed out.

Ravi,on the other hand,is Mr Star. He shines even when he is depressed. He is rich and good-looking. He is also intelligent,self-reflective,well-read and truly compassionate about others. He is even marked by a tragedy in his past: his beautiful mother and gifted father share a cold marriage with a great bit of infidelity thrown in. Ravi is the type of person who gave up playing the piano because he was told he had perfect pitch; perfection is not enough for him .

Karim Bhai is supposed to be the third leg of this stool,and although the differences are obvious he is not even middle class,and offers rides in an unlicensed taxi he remains curiously hidden throughout the book. This is partly because most of the book is devoted to witty banter between the narrator and Ravi. Karim Bhai is often the cause,or target,of their chatter,but he does not participate fully. He does not understand irony and for the narrator and Ravi,an ironic pose is de rigueur. It is their equivalent of the clutch purses of Delhi socialites they wouldnt be seen dead without them. In fact they are,to all intents and purposes,dead without that vital crutch.

This is the principal weakness of the book. It is almost entirely based on witticisms the intellectual equivalent of standup comedy. The point is not what is said,but how it is said,with any seriousness treated with suspicion or contempt. This makes it difficult for the book to deal with any idea well. For example,about two-thirds of the way through the book,the narrator devotes a few pages to fascism with an Islamic face.

It is a detailed argument which is rendered pointless by a complete

lack of explanation of what he understands fascism to be. Similarly,the importance that the narrator ascribes to his divorce is difficult to accept since he almost never refers to his ex-wife and the only woman he quotes far too often is a former girlfriend who had done an MFA in creative writing.

The seriousness of the subjects raised is undercut by the basic un-seriousness of the book. The issue around which the book supposedly pivots enormous suspicion of all things Muslim in European countries is never put in the context of global politics or societal changes. There are only references to the Danish idea of order,and the Nazis. Maybe the ideal reader is supposed to have already come pre-loaded with all such information and would be satisfied with the witty repartee,but without any context,the remarks are merely banal.

Nevertheless the novel manages to work to some degree because the narrator and Ravi fall in love with two Danish women,each very different from the other,and this is treated with some sincerity. Khair writes truly well on this subject,with a gentle knowledge of deep hurt and the acceptance of less-than-full love.

He also has a fine talent for description and use of language. Despite the superficiality of the ideas or the predictability of the outcome,the reader is drawn in by the pleasure and distress that the love affairs bring with them.

If there is something which stays with you after the book is finished,it is the complex ideas of fulfilment and its dangers that Khair touches upon. Just for that,it is worth a read.