Raja Gidh: Bano Qudsia
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Raja Gidh by Bano Qudsia is the
story of a guy named Qayoom who is pursuing his degree in sociology at
government college, Lahore. The first day at college and interaction with his
classmates becomes a determinant of the path of his later life, especially a
girl named Saimi Shah. Saimi is an average featured, modern girl who lives in
her own world and doesn't care about what people think. She is the type of girl
who leaves everyone fascinated with her recklessness. Qayoom falls in love with
her the moment he saw her. But this isn't your normal love story where Saimi
also falls in love with Qayoom.
Here the twist is Saimi falls in love with another class fellow named Aftab who is the most handsome and rich guy in the class (no it's not a spoiler because there's more to the story). So Saimi and Aftab become the highlight of their college right after they come into a relationship. They spent most of their time together and become the talk of college. But Saimi and Aftab had something else planned in their fate which makes them go in separate ways whilst Saimi leaves her studies amidst the trauma of her breakup. While Aftab carries on his life with someone else, Saimi and Qayoom become close and start spending time with each other. In this scenario, although Qayoom starts to imagine that might be Saimi has fallen in love with him now, Saimi only thinks of Qayoom as a distraction that would help him move on from Aftab.
Now, what do you think would happen with the relationship of Saimi and Qayoom?
Qayoom's life has much more to offer than Saimi. It is full of turns and changes that take place within him and his life. How the turns and changes in Qayoom's life make him think of himself as a creature like vultures (راجہ گدھ) who can only survive through haram and dead.
Let me tell you one thing that Saimi isn't the only woman to come in Qayoom's life. Amidst the chaos of being stable and unstable from the love of Saimi, Qayoom meets his professor from college named Sohail who seems like an escape to him, and Qayoom starts doing whatever he says. In this phase of life, Abida comes into Qayoom's life who is just another life-changer who shapes Qayoom's life and he finds escape in her company. Abida was a married woman of about 30's who's going to be a lively and fun character after the tirades and problems of Saimi.
But here the question was that for how long a married woman would stay in someone's life?
In the third half of the story,
comes Amtul who is a woman of the age of Qayoom's mother but still there was
something in her that attracts him and gives a ray of hope to fill the void in
his heart. But how can this society let him find solace in a woman double his
age?
In the last part, Qayoom finally
gets married and becomes settled in his brother’s house. But with whom? And is it
your mainstream happily married ever after? Or is there something else?
In Raja Gidh, Bano Qudsia has brilliantly narrated the concept of halal and haram through the description of vultures. She has related the nature of vultures to humans who commit haram acts. She has depicted that the way vultures lose their mind once they start eating dead is the same condition of people. When we humans commit haram our genes start to mutate and the result is that either we become insane or this mutation affects our next generations. But the thing is that haram things never rule us out, they do show their effects somehow in this world and hereafter too. That is why Allah has forbidden us to not commit those things
Tbh! It was a struggle reading this book at the start coz the story moves at a really slow pace. But once you're done with the first chapter then you're good to go and the story also becomes quite interesting.
To develop a bit more interest in you to give this masterpiece a read, sharing some of my favorites quotes from Raja Gidh:
"موت کی آگہی کے باوجود ہر احمق جیئے جاتا ہے۔"
جو حق مانگتے ہیں ان کو حق دینا بھی پڑتا ہے۔ لیکن آج تک کوئی جاندار کسی کا حق ادا کرنے میں کامیاب نہیں ہو سکا----- حق صرف اوپر والا ادا کر سکتا ہے۔
جب محبت ملے گی تو پھر سب حق خوشی سے ادا ہوں گے، محبت کے بغیر ہر حق ایسے ملے گا جیسے مرنے کے بعد کفن ملتا ہے۔
جتنا کسی کا ساتھ پرانا ہو، اتنا ہی اسکی بےوفائی کے لئے تیار رہنا چاہیے
جستجو میں اگر امید کا عنصر شامل نہ ہو تو انسان کسی مثبت نتیجے پر نہیں پہنچ سکتا۔
واقعات ایک دوسرے کے نقشِ قدم پر ابھرتے ہیں، جو اپنی ذات کو تکلیف دیں وہ بُرے لگتے ہیں۔ حالانکہ کبھی کبھی وہ بُرے نہیں ہوتے۔ اور کچھ واقعات راحت پہنچاتے ہیں اس لئے اچھے لگتے ہیں۔ دراصل انسان اپنی ذات کو مرکز مان کر اچھے اور بُرے گا گراف بناتا ہے۔
Have you read Peer-e-Kamil by Umera Ahmed? If no, read a spoiler-free review here