Description
Raja-Gidh-(Urdu:-راجه-گدھ)-by-Bano-Qudsia-is-one-of-the-most-widely-read-and-acclaimed-Urdu-novels.-Gidh-is-the-Urdu-word-for-a-vulture-and-Raja-is-a-Hindi-synonym-for-king.-The-name-anticipates-the-kingdom-of-vultures.-In-fact,-parallel-to-the-main-plot-of-the-novel,-an-allegorical-story-of-such-a-kingdom-is-narrated.-The-metaphor-of-the-vulture-as-an-animal-feeding-mostly-on-the-carcasses-of-dead-animals-is-employed-to-portray-the-trespassing-of-ethical-limits-imposed-by-the-society-or-by-the-religion.Bano-Qudsia-has-written-this-novel-drawing-on-the-religious-concept-of-Haraam-and-Halaal.-Many-readers-tend-to-interpret-Raja-Gidh-as-a-sermon,-in-which-Bano-Qudsia-puts-forth-her-theory-of-hereditary-transmission-of-Haraam-genes.-Naturally-the-plot-is-woven-to-support-the-thesis.-In-the-opinion-of-many-readers-and-critics-she-manages-to-convince-them-that-the-pursuance-of-Haraam,-be-it-financial,-moral-or-emotional,-results-in-the-deterioration-of-a-person’s-normality-in-some-sense.-She-seems-to-suggest-that-the-abnormality-is-transferred-genetically-to-the-next-generation.Apart-from-the-above-implication-the-novel-has-many-social,-emotional-and-psychological-aspects.-The-nostalgic-narration-of-the-historical-Government-College-Lahore-and-of-the-Lawrence-Garden-Lahore-lights-upon-the-days-of-seventies-and-eighties.Bano-Qudsia-is-among-those-Urdu-writers-who-would-think-ten-times-before-writing-a-sentence.-But-she-does-not-sacrifice-the-flow-of-the-narrative-anywhere-in-this-novel.-Her-characters-are-not-black-and-white-ones-as-some-of-the-critics-would-like-to-suggest.-Every-sensitive-reader-who-has-attended-a-college-or-a-university-in-a-Pakistani-setting-is-bound-to-find-some-similarities-between-themselves-and-one-of-the-characters.Plot:-Seemin-Shah,-hailing-from-an-upper-middle-class-family,-falls-in-love-with-her-handsome-class-fellow-Aftab-in-the-MA-Sociology-class-at-Government-College-Lahore.-Seemin-is-a-modern-and-attractive-urban-girl-and-attracts-most-of-her-male-class-fellows,-including-the-narrator-(abdul)Qayyum-and-the-young-liberal-professor-Suhail.-Aftab-belongs-to-a-Kashmiri-business-family.-Though-he-also-loves-her,-he-can-not-rise-above-his-family-values-and-succumbs-to-his-parent’s-pressure-to-marry-someone-against-his-wishes-and-leave-for-London-to-look-after-his-family-business.-Now-the-long-story-of-separation-begins.
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