Everything in the bustling metropolitan city of Karachi juxtaposes that in the small ‘mohalas’ of Hyderabad in Humsafar. The household in Hyderabad is home to an educated, decent, conservative girl in her early 20’s-Khirad, who lives with her loving mother and aids her in making ends meet. Together they use their private sphere to generate an income they can use in their public sphere by providing tuition to students. Even though Khirad and her mother are a part of the lower middle class they have no qualms of moving up the social ladder as she confesses to her friend that ‘Meine kabhi bhi apni haseeyat se unche khwab naheen dekhe’ and are content with their simple life with no laborers, few luxuries, no support from a patriarch and not much financial promise. Their ability to love without possessing is perhaps what sets them most apart from the women in the other city, for Khirad’s mother never questions her brother (Baseerat’s) love for her, even though he never comes to meet them. She also defends him and eagerly calls him every month to update him on their life, even though he doesn't try contacting them as often. Similar is Khirad’s love for Asher which in the start stems from her struggle to match up to his ‘standard’ and look good when they are going to parties. Its not just by her outlook that she wants to impress him but she actually wants to develop such a personality that compliments his, as evident by this dialogue ‘mein uske saanche mein dhalna chahti hoon’.Because he is an extremely eligible bachelor where as she is from a depressed economic background she deems it a ‘zilat’ to be married to him because her ‘ego and fakhar’ are stabbed every minute as the harsh differences between their backgrounds become more and more prominent.
On the other hand, the ladies of the giant city are all about embellished houses with pool side views, comfortable cars, careers, busy offices thereby forming the elite of the society. Their private sphere revolve around comfort and leisure whereas in their public sphere they are perhaps the leaders of organizations. As Sara is working in Asher’s firm with him and helps him make several decisions around the office, whereas her aunt runs a NGO for earthquake victims. Since these women have the money to spend , they fervently appear at parties contrary to the introvert-Khirad, who before getting married to Asher barely attended public gatherings and preferred staying at home. Not trying to generalize but both the leading ladies from this city want to get their way in love, may that be Farida’s endeavors to break of her son’s happy marriage or Sara’s insistence on maintaining closeness with him despite knowing that he doesn't love her.
Its not only the material things which show the difference between the women of the two social classes but its also their ability to express emotion, their struggle to fight for the men they love,their insecurities, their ability to surrender, compromise ,acquire which really sets these women apart.Since all the facets of these women's lives are depicted, I can't help but think how these women differ in the way they pursued their desires and lust but sexuality is a such taboo in Humsafar that conjectures are all we have for now!
Different shades of feminism.
ReplyDeleteKhirad is from a lower middle class background - with values that she inherited from her father, self-respect, ego, honesty and non-parvenu - who is is thrust into the world of the super-rich. She initially uses her values as shields against the aristocracy but she doesn't realize that they are no match for their Machiavellian ways. The women in her new environment are evil, scheming, back-stabbing, social-climbers.
Too bad that Khirad's background did not fortify her with the street smarts to recognize their hidden motives and agendas. She slowly succumbs to the glitter of her new environment, the sweet-talk of her new rich husband and the sugary facade of her mother-in-law, Farida.
Farida at first opposes Khirad's eligibility to ascend into her household but finds herself butting heads with her husband who threatens her with an immediate divorce if she continues challenging him on his choice of Khirad. Farida goes on to plan B - a female ploy used throughout the ages by aristocratic women (and palace queens) in chauvinist settings - the art of scheming behind the scenes to get their sons ascended to the throne and to marry them into an equally suitable pedigree. That involves sacrificing Khirad for a more appropriate Sarah, who becomes party to Farida's palace intrigue. A sad byproduct of this machination is to usually produce a malleable prince who is blind to his mother's maneuvering who is left with little manhood to fight for his bride. The result is a Shakespearean tragedy.