A Pleasant
Secret’s Detailed Review
by Dr. Sahab Uddin, Associate Professor cum Head, Dept.
of English, Haji Anfar Ali College, Doboka, Hojai, Assam
Conflict of Concepts
Iram Fatima Ashi, besides being an erudite scholar
and poetess, ranks as one of the wonderful novelists for flourishing
presentation of her novels. With You Forever, her debut novel, has also been
referred at the end of her second creation A Pleasant Secret. The very title of
the novel fascinates me so much that I completed reading comparatively in
lesser time than the time I actually take in reading novels. It is, indeed, a
page-turning novel with a different outlook and perspective.
After reading the novel, different opinions transpire
in my mind and I could not resist myself but to articulate a few words about
the novel. The novel reminds me one of the famous verses of the Bible—“Stolen
waters are sweet, and bread eaten in secret is pleasant” meaning that forbidden
delights are sweet and pleasant, as fruits of risk and danger. Wells and
fountains of waters earlier in hot countries were very valuable, and were the
property of particular persons; about which there were sometimes great strife
and contention; and they were sometimes sealed and kept from the use of others
and waters got by stealth from such wells and fountains were sweeter than their
own. The proverb alludes that all prohibited unlawful lusts and pleasures are
desirable to men, and sweet is the enjoyment of them; and the pleasure promised
by them is what makes them so desirable, and the more so because it is
forbidden.
In the novel A Pleasant Secret, the bond between the
protagonist, Sumit Agarwal and Khusbu Khanna remained secret to Seema, Sumit’s
wife until the end of the novel even after getting a scope for sharing the
secret while Seema offered for surrogacy. Sumit could easily name Khusbu Khanna
for surrogacy and that could serve two ends at single effort. Perhaps, the
novelist didn’t opt for unison, but wanted to portray both the relationships
identically through single character—the husband-wife relationship on the one
hand and the lover-beloved relationship on the other to make obvious the
protagonist of her novel devoted and successful in balancing both the
situations.
In addition to above, what stresses my mind more is
that, the novel not only portrays the conflict between tradition and modernity
through the stories of Seema and Khusbu respectively, but also exposes the two
different sides of the same womanly coin. Seema is well educated and working
girl while Khusbu a CEO, UGX Garments. Both are highly qualified and claim to
be the representatives of upper class women with a feminine sensibility. In the
present day elite Indian society, where career is more important than the
rituals and relationship, people live a very artificial life without even
realizing the meaning of living—may be either because of self-respect or of
coercion. Seema’s inclination in living alone, disinclination in joining the family
gathering of any of Sumit’s relatives or friends and Sumit’s leading of
lonesome life cutting off by his own parents and friends, Seema’s stubborn
nature that has made her childless—all these are not new in an elitist society.
On the other hand, Khusbu’s selfless love for Sumit, her remaining alone
without being married, her bursting into tears and taking care of Danish’s
mother while Captain Danish Siddique lost his life in the operation to flush
out terrorists holed up near residential quarters inside Arawali Army Camp in
Jammu—all these show that rituals and relationship are equally important as
living life of one’s own will is important. Thus, the novel reveals two
different natures of elitist women. One always cared about her future and
career and took her husband and having the child aside whereas another woman
made her customs and relationships the first and foremost priority and took her
business deals aside when she is with her love or husband. It also has revealed
the true tie of companionship beyond any border of business, religion and
caste. Such bonds last evermore.
The novelist too agreed that all marriages are not
made in Heaven and a few socially chosen partners turn their conjugal life into
a living hell. This has well been portrayed by the Seema-Sumit relationship.
This shows that the novelist wishes to give a stand against fake social norms
that sometime chain people beyond their vision. On the other hand, if we sketch
the character of Sumit, round whom the whole story revolves, we find that he is
a practical conventional person who values social norms and ethics of life.
Sumit is a true human who even agreed to adopt a child for parenting,
considering that Seema’s dream of becoming mother will be fulfilled and their
loneliness will turn into happiness.
A close review of character sketches reveals that the
conceptual conflict continues till the end of the novel. Seema is not ready to
adopt a baby, unlike Sumit. She prefers divorce. Sumit
fails to honour Seema’s wish; but can’t control him
while seema talks about divorce. He lost his courage even to admit that his
present has made his past more mesmerized. Sumit suffers from such inner
conflicts of mind—conflict between the past and the present. What moral lesson,
according to me, the novel imparts is that if two successful people marry—that
generally takes place in our traditional society—their self-esteem may collide
in a fight and both of them loses the battle at the end. Sumit had to surrender
himself to the present making a balance between the two quarrelling
situations—social norms on the one hand and the ethics of love on the other.
Many a people in our present day world suffer like
Sumit in the society. Their stories remain unheard and thus inaccessible. Laws
and other regulating authorities look askance to them while their journey stand
on a point where the road is bifurcated in two and the traveler fails to choose
the right road for him. The novelist, Iram Fatima Ashi has made a very honest
and bold attempt to bring out before the readers the hidden truth that male
beings have their own compassionate hearts and they too, bleed.
If you’re a book lover who can’t help but get lost in
a story, then you must read this love story ‘A PLEASANT SECRET’, RECOMMENDING THIS
ROMANTIC NOVEL TO DISCOVER EMOTIONAL JOURNEY.
