Mocking the National--Zohra's post

The excerpt starts with dissent for the angraiz and the Indian diamond in the taj. Locking ideas of loot and colonial flight together with the crown and what all was exclusively Hindustani, Sajjad Zaheer establishes political disengagement at that time and the futility he believes the political system entails. He mocks the idea of ‘the national’ itself, one that comprises of a people satisfied with azadi, izzat and roohani sukoon. The critique of imperialism is not central to this text but he manages to drive the point home. And quite literally so. ‘Urr gayi sonay ki chirya ya reh gayi dum haath main. Ab chahtey hain key dum hi haath sey nikal jaye’.

 ‘Neend Nahi Ati’ attempts to derail the dominant social, political and religious practices with sarcasm, dry humor and a narrative that is quite like a monologue. The musings of the character of a sleepless Akber, in the taarekhi candidly represent the frustrated class in our country. What the bourgeoisie feel is reformative and necessary: Patriotism. Akber possesses none and finds the government shaitani. The great social definitive izzat, that even today is a misused excuse in society for respect, is not what rests his hunger pangs. Likewise, where they call for patience and specifically supplication that’ll give him roohani sukoon, he rejects the disclosure as vain too. Notice what the system has to offer each time and how he rejects or vents against it because his domestic issues are his only concern. Religion, faith and belief which usually are depicted as the last straw for the poor, are ridiculed for not being the remedy to his immediate needs. The story closes with Akber bashing ideas of azadi saying he likes neither death nor freedom but wants food. One of the lines, I feel Zaheer put really smartly, to rip apart what azadi is to the poor is ‘Azadi ki aaj kal achi hawâ chali hai. Pait main aantien qul ho Allah parh rahi hain aur aap hain key azadi key chakar main hain.’

I feel what’s most remarkable is the way the text moves from the larger frame of the state, clergy and people back into an individual’s household and we zoom in and out to critique and appreciate Akber as a secular figure. The Akber in ‘Neend Nahi Ati’ wouldn’t be hard to find today, given the deplorable state of the country and where his thoughts could perhaps be the speech of the poor.