an e magazine from ASSAM & NAGALAND      

A tortured unyielding woman - Dhruva Saikia

Jinnat - a novel based on a Guwahati woman’s real life by Tuna Gautam

insight, cool, calm and collected narration of a ruthless husband and his panicky wife’s conjugal clash culminating in an intact commentary on the Islamic divorce deadlock. Religious and social custodians depart mute, parents and well-wishers of the tortured woman look blank, yet Raushan, the central character in the novel spearheads a robust legal battle drawing solace from responsible company of a man whom she at long last bids farewell. The court declares the talaq against Raushan as invalid and the ex-husband offers Rs 5 lakhs to the beleaguered woman as she recognizes futility of a decree when it comes to a thriving married life. 

The writer is spontaneous in recognizing the prevailing woman discrimination in socio-religious corridors; there are too many of such instances in the country. No Muslim woman can enter a mosque, and a Hindu namghar in Barpeta shuns womenfolk. Feminism is how we know the worldwide rebellion to secure man-woman parity. May be feminism implies disgust for men, nevertheless Tuna Gautam refuses to be carried away by a feminist’s customary judgment in her open presentation of a few compassionate  male characters in the novel.

The narration begins with a gloomy reverberation of the Islamic prayer ‘Azan.’ The separated wife and dear mother navigates the timeless prayer vibrations. She comes

across another angry Hindu girl up in arms against female discrimination. The writer towards the end of the novel mentions that the young rebel gets married; Raushan’s sister is off to Saudi Arabia as she too finds a suitable bridegroom, her sincere male companion Maqbool is set to get married.     

Maqbool and Amin are the two male compatriots in Raushan’s journey. Yet they are not an Anwar for the woman. Raushan had developed a fascination for Maqbool, Amin had come forward to propose her. But perhaps the urge within Raushan was never that strong for the tender girl to respond decisively, and she always needed a parental approval to choose her life companion. Maqbool and Amin, in the post divorce phase of Raushan’s life reappear in the scene and they are two men novelist Tuna Gautam depicts most sensitively. Feminism is not male opposition, nor does just a legal decree- Tuna Gautam asserts in her debut novel. The writer is unambiguous that feminists are essentially humanists and a human being is raised in a family. Let us learn to live in a family.

Readers in the last page of the novel get the real name and address of the brave woman- Jinnat Fatima Rashid, a school teacher in Maligaon Central School, Guwahati. The tortured unyielding woman continues her legal battle at a Munsiff courts even after a landmark Supreme Court judgment in her favour.     

NOTE: Author Tuna Gautam is the Assistant editor of the Assamese women’s monthly Nandini published from Guwahati. Jinnat is published by Banalata, Pan Bazar, Guwahati-781001, Assam, India. Price-Rs 60.