Thoughts on basti

Basti  in my opinion is an existentialist novel. The novel, through Zakir, takes the reader through various events in history:  the 1857 War of Independence,  1947 Creation of Pakistan, the 1965 War between India and Pakistan and lastly the 1971 War. Zakir, the protagonist is a victim thrown passively in the torrents of the tumultuous history of Pakistan. The question of basti in this context becomes relevant. Why is then a novel about continuous Muslim struggle and conflict entitled Basti?

Basti literally means settlement or community. Unlike Dharti, it is not rooted in a particular place and is transient and temporal in nature. The question of Basti becomes relevant because the novel points at a larger narrative of Muslim homelessness and itinerant.

Throughout the novel Bast takes a peculiar form of existence which is forever changing. First, basti is the idyllic Utopia Zakir left behind in Rupnagar which is remembered in memory only. Then once in Lahore, after partition Zakir attempts to reach the same semblance of stability and purity he left behind in Rounagar. But this too is tainted by the events of the 1971 war. Amidst the 1971 war, in Lahore,  Zakir in his diary writes,

“I can do nothing else for this city, but I can pray, and I do pray. In my mind is a prayer for Rupnagar and its people as well, for I can no longer imagine Rupnagar apart from this city. Rupnagar and this city have merged together inside me, and become one town”.

This sense displacement and homelessness is not unique to Zakir but is reminiscent of the South Asian Muslim history. This passage is deeply ironic and critical because it recognizes that Muslims are in some ways still wandering because they have been uprooted from their dharti, lineage, history and family connection and most importantly separated from the part of the earth that once belonged to them as a consequence of partition in 1947 and the 1971 war. Basti then for Zakir and South Asians affected by the events of 1947 and 1971 is that which has been lost but is forever retained in our hearts. And therefore this loss becomes a part of our existence and in some ways our identity even. 

Amidst the larger narrative the novel also has a sub-narrative, the unrequited love story of Sabirah and Zakir. This is noteworthy because this subtlety in language in some ways confirms the larger narrative of the novel.  Zakir means, ‘he who remembers’ and Sabirah means, ‘patient or enduring’. The novel Basti is therefore a story of both remembrance and patience of the tragic past.