Shaheen Ashraf-Ahmed

The Purana Qila Stories

The Dust Beneath Her Feet

A Change in the Weather

by Shaheen Ashraf-Ahmed

Some stories rest in the margins.

Some are always just past the rim of our glasses, and we turn pages, squinting, trying to improve our view.

The Purana Qila Stories: The Dust Beneath Her Feet and A Change in the Weather, by Shaheen Ashraf-Ahmed are pearl-like, almost glowing from their own light, suggesting, but not telling all they’ve seen.

Purana Qila is the oldest known structure in Delhi, and it was also the locus of Muslim refugees trying to leave India and move into the newly formed state of Pakistan during the Partition. The stories themselves are refugees. In some instances, the fleeing is physical and divisive; in others, the flight is ideological or emotional. Ashraf-Ahmed asks us not only from what do we run, but towards what, and with whom?

Each story laps the ankles of one man and the people associated with him. They are fluid in time and geography and point of view, moving shamelessly like memory. Ashraf-Ahmed pushes at the notions of honor and loyalty, shifting points of view and time. Roti-like, they wrap around the binding decisions of common men, containing bites of lives. The dish, however, remains largely outside of one’s hands.

‘If the eggs spoil in their shells, it is because of something we did.’ Safiyah tells her daughters, as she tries to navigate the whims of her husband, his employer, and the increasing danger of being an unprotected individual in 1947. The Dust Beneath Her Feet is an observation of those who may only react to the decisions of others. The action, the movement, in the story is all committed by second-tier characters. Thus, the novella itself describes the margins of activity, the consequences of being in someone else’s shade.

The prose is tight and delicate, each phrase carefully tuned. It is musical in tempo and cadence. It is powerful in its restraint and discretion.

A Change in the Weather brings our hero into closer view. Only a point of reference in The Dust Beneath Her Feet, in A Change in the Weather, Imran is presented to us for evaluation, after he has out lived his potential. The narrative presents us with his choices during the decades since The Dust Beneath Her Feet , and we are left to determine if he chose properly or poorly.

Both stories are available through amazon. They are extraordinary, and worthwhile. Shaheen Ashraf-Ahmed’s blog is http://coinsinthewell.wordpress.com.

This review first appeared on irevuo.com, Friday Reads.… (mehr)

The Dust Beneath Her Feet is the second short story in the Purana Qila series, an interconnected set of stories about families living in one neighborhood in India. Safiyah faces a very difficult choice in Partition-era India. Should she and her children go search for their father in the soon to be Pakistan or remain in the village. It is a difficult decisions because if she leaves she faces possible traveling into areas with political riots and escalating to mass murder as she searches for her missing husband. This story ends with her leaving on the train which left me wondering. What happened next?… (mehr)

Initially, [A Deconstructed Heart] appeared to be a mid-life crisis book - shades of Harold Fry. But, his wife leaves him, and he moves into a tent in the back yard. His niece moves in to help take care of him and falls for one of his students who is also helping out.

Suddenly, the young man bids the niece an abrupt adieu and disappears. The uncle recovers his wits and sets out to help his niece and, by extension, himself. Uncle gets a lady-friend, the niece gets over the feckless boy, family comes together.

Then BAM! The last sentence suddenly turns noir.

It starts out as a(nother) mid-life crisis tale, then it seems to become a romance, then a nice culturally-influenced drama, then "WHAT?" The ending seemed very out of sync with the development of the story. Ashraf-Ahmed is a talented writer, characters are well-developed, story-line is solid, descriptives are well done. But the ending turned me off the book. This is not one that I will re-read.… (mehr)

A Deconstructed Heart

In her multifaceted novel Shaheen Ashraf-Ahmed weaves past and present events. Her cast of characters is large but their various personalities and actions are unified by their relationship to Mizra, who, when his wife leaves him, abandons their house and moves to the adjacent field.

Mizra is fortunate his neighbors are caring people and that a group of students from his college rally to provide aid and comfort. (Not an easy task!)

There's a splendid cat (named Moriarty), a ghostly visitor, and a "backstory" that gives some clues, helping us to understand unexpected influences of cultural differences.

All in all this is a rich reading experience.… (mehr)