By Colleen Beck

Uzma Aslam Khan brings together a collection of heart-felt stories which tell of life, death, love and despair, inevitably leaving you with a feeling of connection and admiration.

Trespassing, the second novel by author Uzma Aslam Khan, opens with a peaceful scene of a young boy and a turtle by the sea, that soon turns into one of brutality as the boy struggles to prevent intruding thugs from stealing the turtle's eggs. The image is powerful, and the scene ends in defeat and death as the boy, covered with yolk and vomit, painfully looks up and sees the turtle meandering back to her home without any eggs left behind. Instantly, one of the main themes of the novel is introduced: the cycle of life.

In the 400 pages that follow, we are introduced to and come to cherish main characters Dia, Salamaat and Daanish. Each one has a story, intertwined with one another in several ambiguous ways, which brings them together in the year 1992. Daanish is a college student in America, who travels back home to Karachi, Pakistan, when he receives word of his father's death. Upon returning, he becomes entangled with the customs of his culture as his mother, Anu, tries to find him a bride. She selects Nissrine, a beautiful girl from a well-respected family who has suddenly become eager for marriage despite the urgings of her friend, Dia, to wait. Nissrine values the opinion of her friend and asks Dia to accompany her to a “bride viewing” (a meeting in which the groom visits the girl before the arranged marriage takes place in order to make his decision) arranged by Daanish and his mother.

At the meeting, it is not Nissrine but Dia who captures Daanish's attention. Dia is an independent girl, brought up by her liberal and successful mother, Riffat. She openly shares her opinion on anything that she cares about, and at this meeting, Dia and Daanish share a conversation about silk worms. Riffat owns a silk farm, and this undoubtedly has fostered Dia's interest in silk worms and the mysteries that surround these tiny insects and their cocoons. Daanish captures her excitement and mirrors it, having had a father who nurtured his own interest in little creatures of the sea. Both Dia and Daanish's common interest in the magical origins of living things forms a basis for an eager and loving relationship. Yet this relationship must be developed in secret as it goes against the traditional Pakistani courtship rules.

Nevertheless, the relationship continues to grow, and with it, so too does the mystery of why they are forbidden to see each other. The driver, Salamaat, who accompanies Dia and Daanish on their dates, and who is entrusted to keep the relationship secret, is none other than the young boy who attempted to save the turtle's eggs at the beginning of the book. After being beaten, Salamaat was sent away from his village, and came to Karachi where he found work in a bus-building shop. Here too, Salamaat experiences defeat. He becomes involved with a gang of soldiers who are later responsible for the theft of Dia's childhood innocence. Salamaat, however, comes to fill an important void in Dia's life.

Trespassing is a wonderful story of love and mystery, wrapped in exploration and wonder. Uzma Aslam Kahn uses her own personal experiences in her expression of the characters and their emotions, writing from what she knows of life in Karachi. She portrays a vivid picture of modern Pakistan - corrupt governments imposing countless restrictions and imposing fear in their people. But her story also tells of a will to overcome when restrictions no longer are deemed important and emotions become the driving force. It is what brings people together. It is what brings these characters together. We may not know how these characters are connected, what will happen in the future, or what they will do, but we know that we can relate to the humanity that they represent.

Trespassing is not just a story - it explores life. When we think of ourselves, we generally think of that which surrounds us: our beliefs, our culture, our family and friends. Life becomes a continuously developing puzzle, and our experiences make up the pieces. We know what composes the pieces around us, but we have yet to discover the beautiful, full picture. Like Dia's silkworms, we live in a cocoon. We can choose to be protected, choose to follow the routine, or we can choose to try something new, and let our choices unravel into something beautiful, like a loving relationship.

This is essentially a beautiful idea. Our ability to choose to create something beautiful will sometimes encounter obstacles, yet Kahn seems to encourage facing these obstacles and crossing boundaries to do what we feel is right for ourselves. It is when we allow our emotions to “trespass” beyond these boundaries that we grow and learn. We may be apprehensive of the idea that our universe could expand, but doesn't that make room for more stars?   
 

Published: Friday, February 6, 2004