‘Mein ne tumhe bohat chaha hai’: The integration of the orphan in ‘Dhoop Kinarey’

‘Ahmer: Aap mujh se pyaar kartey hain k nahee kartey?

Professor (foster father): Bohat pyaar karta hoon. Hua yoon k ek nanha muna sa bacha is ghar mein aya aur is ghar pe aur mujh pe poora kabza kr liya. Aur phir kahani k jin ki tarhan meree jaan is kozay mein band hai.’

Based upon the aforementioned conversation between Ahmer and his foster father who is a professor, it  can be argued that ‘Dhoop Kinarey’ approaches the orphan figure very endearingly and with great sensitivity. What the audience confronts  is not the marginalization of the orphan, Ahmer . Instead, the national narrative that emerges from the drama is that of assimilation and accommodation.  There is a clear attempt to  domesticate and integrate Ahmer into the national framework, not as ‘yateem figure’ but as the professor’s son. To this effect, in a flashback Ahmer recalls the professor saying ; ‘Tum meray paas raho gay meray betay ki tarhan. Is liye k mein bilkul akaela hoon. Is liye k mera koi hai nahee, aur is liye k tum mujhe bohat acche lagtey ho. Bilkul apney betay jaisa. Mein tumhey baba sa lagta hoon na?’   We only know the  emotional reasons that propel the professor to adopt Ahmer. Ahmer’s own situation in life is never described for instance ‘where does he come from, who did he belong to?  Most importantly, the word orphan or ‘yateem’ is never used for him. The question that arises is ‘whether it is important to know where you belong from or not?  What is really needed for an orphan to identify himself? In my opinion , Dhoop Kinarey is  progressive and future oriented when it come to the identity of orphans. The fact  drama never uses the word yateem for Ahmer  because doing so would be to categorize him  into a class of it’s own with  a set of preconceived ideas about orphans. It can be said that for Haseena Moin the concept of an ‘orphan’ is socially constructed  Secondly, questions of belonging are problematic, prone to differences and inequalities. For a nation like Pakistan this concept  is even more complex and risky because the nation itself is a product of an act of partition. Thus, every individual’s history has some kind of rootless-ness and ambiguity that can never be erased. And it need not be triggered because it may yield unpleasant emotional and psychological consequences and may lead into the discussions of ethnicity, sectarianism, castes. These issues are not in the agenda of Dhoop Kinarey which has a somewhat egalitarian worldview. One may choose to say that the drama is playing safe  but I think it suggests that what is important is to look at every individual even the orphan like Ahmer as a citizen of the nation and representative of a community having equal rights and the potential to contribute to overall welfare and development .

 It is through relationship with the community that one should seek to identify oneself. There is a reason why Ahmer is portrayed as a doctor because it is a noble profession, and acquires him a respectable identity in the community. Similarly, there is a reason why Mian Jee tells Ahmer that it doesn’t matter whom he belongs to; ‘ Na unhon ne kabhee bataya, na kisee ne kabhee poocha.'. Because what matters is the present and how one must create an identity for oneself in the world through one’s own potential. In all these quotes  what I noticedspecifically was the  importance  given to ‘taluq’  (affiliation) over rishta(relationship). The fact that the professor develops a liking to Ahmer is more than enough to call him a son. Dhoop Kinarey advocates that what matters is whether there is a connection  present and not whether there is a blood relationship. It reminds me of this urdu saying whereby if there is no emotional association then ‘apney bhee paraaye ho jaate hain’ . Thus taluq precedes rishta in  Dhoop Kinarey, proved in a line uttered by the professor ‘tum aur mein aieenay k do rukh hain’, indicating the mental compatibility and mutual understanding that accounts for the presence of taluq.The point is that happiness can be achieved irrespective of who you are  and irrespective of the constraints of law that govern orphans. So even if Ahmer does not inherit the house, he acquires something more valuable than property which is the  the emotional connection with the professor that Zoya  doesn’t have. On account of this it can be said that Dhoop Kinarey integrates the orphan into society through  a taluq  The orphan then is not someone who is on the periphery of society but is in the centre, exercising his skill towards creating a better world.