The collision of the private and the public.

Humsafar brings to light the social inequality in our Pakistani society in terms of Khirad’s life before and after marriage. When we first see Khirad, she is washing clothes in a mohalla in Hyderabad. This mohalla is a close knit community where we see females running the household with the home serving the dual purpose of a workplace. The private life of the inhabitants of this community is shown to be limited with Batool khala being the only frequent visitor.

However, the sphere of the private life also extends as the play progresses. Once Khirad’s mother is ill and her brother’s family enters the picture, the private sphere increases to include them too. Though, they are part of her family, they are a foreign influence in Khirad’s life who has never really known them and then finds herself married to Ashar.

Yet, even after marriage, Khirad’s entire existence is seen to be within the four walls of the house, she only ventures out with Ashar. Her only real public interaction with the world is seen in the garden, depicted as a place of reflection in the house, a private place, which is intruded upon by Sara’s appearances in the garden, first to chastise her then to initiate a friendship.  So, here is another instance of the public intruding in the private and since, Sara’s interference is viewed negatively, this seems to be suggesting an aversion to the intermingling of the private and public life.

In contrast to Khirad, Sara’s first appearance is at Café Ciao where she is spending time with her “bachpan ka dost”, Ashar. The lives of the two females who will vie for Ashar’s affections are extremely different. Sara lives the elitist lifestyle while, Khirad is the “ghareloo” girl who is considered backward because, of her lack of exposure to the world.  A lot of emphasis is placed on initially showing Khirad to be a quiet, timid girl who cannot speak for herself. She poses no strong opposition to her marriage with Ashar and her refusal to display her opinion on even the most trivial questions exasperates Ashar. In contrast, we see Sara taking the reins in their relationship, being extremely forward and ready to fight for what she wants. So, Sara’s independence and her exposure to the public sphere had made her more confident to deal with the events in her private life.

In a nutshell, the private sphere and public sphere do intersect but, the thing that remains to be considered is how welcome the intrusion of public life is on the private and what happens when they collide.