O! Fistful Of Dust

Sipping an over sweetened cup of coffee, I once again wonder whether religious differences can be a cause of marital rift in our society. Rather, atheism! Can it be a good enough reason to place a marriage on the rocks? Perhaps, in our society, it may not be a major issue. I have not seen married couples bickering over religious beliefs. I have seen many inter-religion marriages sustain the ravages of times. I have seen many couples having rigid religious differences yet they have pulled along. The woman of the house, especially, quietly tolerating the loud and crass denunciation of existence of God by the patriarch while she has diligently gone about her daily religious rituals.

We Hindus are, by nature, all encompassing in so far as different religions are concerned. We give space to divergent religious ethos. We embrace the various practices of other religions. Not only that, given the vastness of the sub-continent, amongst ourselves we have wide ritualistic differences pertaining to different geographical and demographical areas – East, West, North and South. We may not even be aware of many religious practices followed by other communities, tribes, lingual groups, castes and creeds. They are so varied! But what we have always been taught is to respect the beliefs of others even if they are diverse and different from ours. All said and done, there are incidents too of intolerance and irreverence perpetrated by certain sections of society motivated by hidden agenda, political conflicts, personal/communal sense of injustice/honour and marginalization. There are advantages and disadvantages of being part of a pluralist society.

However, atheism in itself is not being against God. An atheist may have a different concept of God. He/she may believe in some other form of power which governs the universe. An atheist can also be a person of values. He/she can be a person of good character. Being an atheist does not essentially mean a person of vices and atheism itself is not a punishable act. In Hinduism itself there is a sect which does not believe in idol worship. They believe in a formless benefactor orchestrating our lives for our own good and towards a greater good. This sect is known as Brahmo Samaj (in the East) and Arya Samaj(in the West). What I am driving at is religious pluralism is how one’s society accepts and attunes its members to it.

This long discourse is a preface to again a Pakistani drama I am watching now – Ai Musht-e-khaak which literally means “O! Fistful Of Dust”. No brownie points for guessing that the epitaph is for us flawed humans. The drama is drawing towards its end and one may say shall be quite predictable in its closure. But uniquely, its not.

A Pakistani boy, Mustjabuddin Ahmed aka Bobby (Feroze Khan) is taken by his father and brought up in the West (US of A) from childhood. His mother remains in Pakistan. Later the father leaves him or dies is not quite clear. But the boy settles down away from his country, gets educated, imbibes Western culture (particularly the negatives) grows up to handle the family business which is seemingly large and is being considered the most eligible catch for any young girl since he is well to do and good looking. He returns to Pakistan and to his mother for a short visit and supposedly falls in love with a beautiful, homely and down to earth girl, Dua (Sana Javed) whose whole being is deeply entrenched in Islam. In fact, she is doing her Masters in Islamic Studies under the mentorship of an Imam who has renounced all material pleasures, wealth and luxuries (he is also a wealthy man in his own right) in his quest for spiritual elevation. Dua has a twin brother, Dayaan (Assad Siddiqui) and their whole family is religious and God fearing.

Dua at first rejects Mustjab’s proposal because she feels that they are poles apart which is a fact. He is arrogant, egoistic, so called “liberal minded” and self-centered. He takes it as a challenge to woo Dua as she is the only girl who has had the gumption to refuse him. His mother, who is also Dua’s mother’s cousin and friend, wants her son to marry Dua because she feels that Dua is the only girl who can bring her wayward son on the right path. Mustjab charms Dua into marrying him but gradually Dua learns that her marriage is based on a pack of lies. Mustjab, who is so sure of himself, meticulously plans every move in life and has a go-getter attitude, is a non-believer and does not follow the daily rituals of obeisance to God. In addition, he misbehaves and mocks all those, including the reverent Imam Sahib, who believe in God and religious rituals of prayers and thanksgiving.

In comes Mustjab’s ex-girl friend to spoil the remnants of marital bliss which is already diminishing each passing day. So a day comes when Dua asks for divorce and separates from Mustjab. Mustjab is not broken hearted but furious. He decides to bring her back in his life by hook or by crook. On the other hand, Dua, though separated from Mustjab, cannot get over him. This I fail to understand. Is it attraction of the opposites? How can anyone be so besotted with an over possessive, toxic lover? Anyhow, many twists and turns later, it is to bring back Dua from the clutches of death that Mustjab finally bows down to God for forgiveness and atonement. But God’s engineerings are unbeknownst to humans and Mustjab has to pay a very heavy price for his undoings.

Here I am reminded of another Tele Serial Shehr-e-Zaat with a similar story line where a rich and beautiful girl compels a handsome boy to marry her. However, she fails to get the kind of attention she desires from her husband after marriage. By and by she comes to know that her husband is having an affair with one of his factory workers who is poor, ugly and scheming. She is heartbroken and her self- confidence crumbles as throughout her life she is used to getting what she has wanted. Her grandmother who has always spoken to her about the power of prayer and kindly deeds draws her towards religion. The rich girl goes to the mosque for the first time to pray. As per ritual she has to do wazoo i.e. a process of purification wherein the devotee has to wash his/her face, hands and feet before sitting down to pray. But the act of purification or the way wazoo is to be performed is something which is learnt from childhood. The rich girl has never learnt to do wazoo. A little girl, watching her performing wazoo, tells her that she is doing it all wrong and teaches her the right way to do it. Embarrassed and frustrated the rich girl comes back home and accuses her mother for not teaching her the right way to do wazoo and pray. “Why did you not teach me how to pray ? Why did you not tell me how to perform wazoo? Do you know how lonely you have made me?” She cries. I found this statement extremely powerful. I have seen many take to wrong means to cope in times of adversity. But it is only a strong spiritual leaning which actually helps you to survive prolonged periods of sufferings. Without this spiritual backing one is completely on his/her own – weak and failing.

More than lack of faith, Mustjab appears to be lacking in values and ethics. He is anchorless. Blinded by his own stubborn will he does not realize how insensitive and callous he is to the feelings of others or the ones he professes to love more than himself. This anchorless waywardness is borne out of his lack of grace and humility. He forgets he is just a weakling of a human being and not God.

Ai Musht-e-khaak is a highly recommendable drama not because it is preachy or didactic but because it deals with a very strong subject. The differences between Mustjab and Dua can be narrowed down to religious issue or signify a larger connotation – that of cultural barrier. Both come from diametrically diverse familial backgrounds and upbringing and adhere to polar opposite ideologies. I have seen many marriages falling apart because of cultural differences. Unfortunately, it is very difficult for our society to appreciate the irreparable and irreconcilable damages that these differences do to a relationship. How difficult it is to stay put if man and woman do not understand and respect each other’s thoughts and feelings and beliefs, It is easy to understand a marriage breaking apart due to domestic violence or dowry issues because these have tangible and perceivable impacts. But the divisiveness borne out of mental incompatibility cannot be shown, seen or quantified.

I will sign off with my pet lament. Why for God’s sake such meaningful serials are not made for Indian Television? Do we have dearth of issues? No. We don’t. But we either circumvent these or overdo so much that they become unpalatable and difficult to watch through.
Alas…