In the land of the lovers
By Sakoon Singh
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
My Rating 4/5
It evoked a feeling in her—of silence and freedom, of riding a bicycle on a dirt track cutting through fields in the absence of her parents, Nanaki, a fiercely sensitive young woman, is brought up by her grandparents in a quaint Chandigarh neighbourhood. She grows up to be an artist and a Professor in an art college. As Nanaki goes through the motions of an idyllic childhood and a difficult teenage love, her experiences play out against a haunting backdrop of Partition and her beeji’s turbulent personal history. Nanaki is brought face to face with the dark underbelly of contemporary Punjab when she takes up the cause of a consummate embroidery artist against a corrupt system while also being privy to the heart-breaking stories of two women in her immediate vicinity. Through it all, it is her Sufi bearings that sustain her. Meanwhile, over many motorcycle jaunts to the tiny hill-town of ka SA ul I, Nanaki finds love in himmat, an architect with his own share of personal tragedy and a scarred childhood. Meditative, rooted in location yet filtered through nostalgia, in the land of the lovers is a masterfully woven fable with interlocking tales that explore struggle, loss, longing and love with brilliant insight and luminous prose.
Review
An extremely powerful story of a young girl Nanaki , who is named after Nanak's sister, brought up in Chandigarh. Story From her late childhood days through the haunting memories of partition of India , to her difficult teenage love life to all her struggles in between.
Her early difficult and complicated life prepared Nanaki to face every difficultly her life offered , to stand against the corrupt system and injustices. Theme , which has implications far beyond Nanaki's struggles and the partition, is skillfully handled. The incidents of the story are wholly absorbing.
Author has amazingly portrayed topics like patriarchy , drug abuse , Nepotism , female infanticide , along with the elements of romance and the essence of Punjab. The glimpse of Punjabi culture and tradition from Turbans and Phulkari dupattas - all climax naturally in the scenes of violence and riot, followed by retreat which is both literal and figurative. Parts of this experience may have been told before , but never with such freshness , intensity and power.
This is Sakoon's debut novel , but she has complete control of her story and her style. It managed to surpass my expectations from deeply studied characters and world building to smooth narration , AND be nothing at all like I expected.
It's a first novel that reads like the work of an author who has published many books over many years.
Look out...
Highly Recommended!
About the Author
SAKOON SINGH read English Literature at the Jawaharlal Nehru University and Panjab University. A recipient of the Fulbright Fellowship, she currently teaches Literature and Cultural Studies in Chandigarh. She has published her academic writings extensively, including contribution to Cultural Studies in India by Routledge. She has served on the editorial team of prestigious journals, Dialog and E3W Review of Books. She has written pieces, articles and op-eds on literature, art, culture and aesthetics for The Tribune, Hindustan Times, DNA and The Quint. She has recently been selected as Associate Fellow at IIAS, Shimla. When she is not indulging the written word, she is walking the wilds or listening to Jazz. She lives in Chandigarh with her husband and son.
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