The Question of Identity: GulBahar Beghum

Kaisay aaye ho?

Haq-e-shara kay saath aaye hoon, bhaag kay nahin aaye.

Ye tum mujhe haq-e-shara, kyun sunnati rehti ho, kya vehm ho gya hai tumhain?

Zururat parti hai na tou kehna parta hai.

Izzat daitay hain wo bhi shartoon par, ghabratay ho, dhabha hoon main? gandi nali ki badbo hoon? Kya hoon main?

Aap nay jo daira meray gird khainja tha na, main us say kabhi nahin nikli.

Aap nay Gulbahar Beghum ko itna chota kyun samjha hai.

   For GulBahar the struggle for identity is a constant one. Not only do we see her identity continuously oscillating between “Shah Jee Ki Beghum”, Gulbahar and Khanum’s “Gullu Rani” rather through the figure (and language) of GulBahar we see the shift from a subaltern figure, one who was a part of khanum’s circle to Lal Hussain Shah’s wife and then her reversion to the bourgeoisie status. In the dialogue above as well as GulBahar’s later conversations with Lal Hussain Shah what is really interesting is, the constant allusion to the nikkah wherein GulBahar says “Haq-e-shara kay saath aaye hoon, bhaag kay nahin aaye.” And when he tells her that she should have called instead of coming she says “Mera nikah phone par nahin hua tha”. From the reference to haq-e-shara in the same conversation she complains of Lal Shah’s attitude, with the focus on “dhabha hoon main? gandi nail ki badbo hoon main? Kya hoon main?”  Now what this conversation tells the audience is the inability of nikkah and haq-e-shara to provide GulBahar with the holistic sense of respect and izzat that comes with the “Shijra-e-nasab”. Consequently the sense of identity that GulBahar derives from the connection to Shah Jee is inadequate which is why she constantly yearns for izzat “Jo bohat mehengi hoti hai” and refers to her past, that of a courtesan “Is say behtar tou wo Shah Jee thay jo tamashbeen ban kar aaya kartay thay”; and “maine apna sab kuch aap par waar diya”, the implication being that an identity of the courtesan had been forgone for the “naam ki izzat” which came with the marriage.

    However even then GulBahar is never really allowed to forgo the ascribed identity of a courtesan as she is not Lal Hussain Shah’s “social partner”. As a result GulBahar is disillusioned, when she refers to her body as “Khali pinjira hai jis main roh mar choki hai,”  but then she envisions the status of a mother to Lal Shah’s son would provide her with a new identity, an idea which Khanum mocks saying “Lo dekho ye ab tak maa bani bethi hai”. Thus GulBahar is a character who tries to evade a past identity yet realizes that any such effort is futile and so she wills that “Main apni haqiqat kay saath rehnay ki koshish karon gi”. GulBahar’s identity then is fluid; it transcends class associations and throughout the drama undergoes a continual deconstruction and a subsequent reconstruction.