Child's Paradise Disappears
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In the novel Basti, an Urdu word that refers to a human settlement, the reader sees the world through the eyes of child, as a paradise of brightly colored birds, playful animals, and luscious greenery. Unfortunately, this paradise disappears and the child finds himself in a world of “violence, uncertainty, regret, and longing.”
Passage from “Basti” by Intizar Husain
“One time I became Abdul Hasan of the Thousand and One Nights, I wandered in streets and lanes, and was amazed. But gradually my eyes opened, and a strange scene was before them. I was stupefied. Whenever I looked at a head, I found it gone. The man healthy and well, the head gone. I was inwardly astonished:is this a dream, or the waking world? I rubbed my eyes and looked; still the same scene. Oh God, where have these people’s heads gone? For a long time I remained silent. Finally the hem of self-restraint slipped from my grasp. I inquired of a passerby, an old man who had a reliable face, ‘Oh sir, don’t men have heads in your city?’ This aged man looked me over from head to foot with wonder, and said,’Oh young man!It seems that you’re a stranger in this city, that you ask such a question. So if you don’t know, be silent, and if you do know, even then be silent, for the walls have ears.”