Nematkhana

Khalid Jawed’s novel, Nematkhana, is a gripping and insightful memoir of the protagonist Zaheeruddin Babar, also known as Guddu Mian, exploring the complexities of human nature and the hidden meanings behind events. Through Mian’s journey from childhood to old age, Jawed takes the reader on a journey into the past where memory is engaged with the details of day-to-day life along with a journey into the inside, the self.

The story begins with Mian’s spirit visiting his ancestral home after his death, and the narrative is a collection of flashbacks from his childhood to old age. Mian’s life is full of unfortunate events, including the deaths of his parents when he is a small child. As a young boy, he develops an interest in two women of the extended family, both much older than him, both of whom get married to other men, leaving him unhappy. Mian murders the husband of one of these women, since he was abusive, and also kills the man who had a pre-marital relationship with the other. He is an unsuccessful lawyer who has married a woman who was gang-raped in his presence in a college canteen. He is bitter about his wife and his two sons who tend to espouse extremist religious ideology. He finally dies of a heart attack after a quarrel with his sons.

Jawed is a fine craftsman when it comes to depicting the setting and atmosphere. He creates paintings and makes films with words, making the readers feel the emotions and sensations of the characters. Food, illness, and death define the lives of the characters we meet, and the traditional Indian kitchen (bawarchi khana), where food is cooked and served, is the most dangerous place in the world. From this comes the name of the novel Naimat Khana or the traditional cabinet for storing cooked food. The protagonist says: “The man lives in his intestines”. Jawed skilfully brings up this reality that our appetite — and sometimes our passion — for food and illnesses does consume a large part of our lives and he creates an interesting fiction based on this.

Jawed invents similes, metaphors, and symbols to impart meaning to what he observes and experiences, and builds an atmosphere, mostly sad and eerie, to describe his inner feelings. He seems to be influenced by the religious concept of the original sin of Adam in which he tastes the fruit that was forbidden by God and from there on begins his punishment. He seems to be arguing that sin and punishment are an inalienable part of human existence.

One of the most interesting parts of the novel is about the recreation of the past and catching up with one’s history. One characteristic of Jawed’s style is that he keeps dropping hints about his objectives and illustrating his writing technique between the storyline. In addition to the portrayal of inner feelings, almost one-tenth of the 440-page novel comprises philosophical notes and a few lengthy social commentaries. A tiny part of them are integral to the storyline but most can easily be edited out without affecting the structure and flow of the novel.

Nematkhana is a powerful and insightful novel that explores the complexities of human nature, the connection with history, and the inalienable part of sin and punishment in human existence. Jawed’s narrative, combined with his artistic devices and skillful use of language, makes the novel a compelling read for anyone interested in exploring the intricacies of human nature and the complexity of our existence.