By Damhuri Muhammad
Mehreen Ahmed's Incandescence is a postcolonial novel built from the ruins of the fall of an aristocratic family after the 1971 Bangladeshi independence revolution. Ahmed called it "The Fallen Zamindar" which was centralized in an extended noble family (House of Chowdhury), and reminded me of an extended family which was also the center of the storytelling in Geetanjali Shree's Tomb of Sand. Its cultural dignity in Asian communitarian society hasn't only been eroded by European colonialism, but, as narrated by Incandescence, has also been destabilized by the well-educated middle class, which was actually born and raised by the Zamindars. So, modernity which is destroying old-fashioned norms doesn't come from outside, but rather from within the postcolonial culture itself. Individualism has slowly grown since the generations of Nazmun Banu's, Ashik, Sheri, Lutfun and branched out like a parasite in the Chowdhury family, until the latest descendant, Mila Chowdhury.
Raiza Chowdhury, the charismatic woman of the House of Chowdhury, the main guardian of traditional norms, had to fight against western individualism which has penetrated into the minds of her own descendants. She and her husband seem to be facing the threat of their own shadows. They certainly still have legal authority over the sustainability of the aristocratic family, and control over property and all forms of luxury in the House of Chowdhury. That's why, they didn't hesitate to expel Ashik Chowdhury and revoke his inheritance rights, because it was claimed that the youngest son's unforgivable mistake had dented the Chowdhury family's pride. However, they couldn't overthrow the critical thoughts of their children and grandchildren.
Ashik Chowdhury got caught dating a neighbor's wife. All members of Chowdhury's extended family—particularly Mr and Mrs Chowdhury—were in an uproar after he married the unapproved woman in front of a mosque Imam.Though Ashik's social status has fell to the lowest level, he doesn't regret his individual choices which were contrary to the communal wisdom held firmly by his extended family. In fact, he became increasingly stubborn in holding to the risky principle, after getting silent support from his close siblings (Sheri and Lutfun). As the youngest son of the Chowdhury family, he isn't shy about selling pots, pans, sarees, and bed covers, which he laid out on the open pavement, to provide for his family's basic needs. He completely removed all financial dependence on his rich parents, and chose to live in a rented house in a slum area. The story about the difficulties of daily life of residents around Ashik's rented house shows how contrasting the gap between rich and poor was in the early days of Bangladesh's independence.
The next resistance of old-fashioned communal culture was played by Mila, the youngest descendant of the noble Chowdhury family. She is different from his uncle (Ashik) who was kicked out of the house. Mila doesn't mind arranged marriages. However, after marrying Irfaan, and living in the Chiwdury family's luxurious house as a young mistress, she never forgot her true lover, Rahim Alia Bangladeshi revolutionary fighter, who had actually married another woman. Mila felt that her arranged marriage was just the Chowdhury family's way of maintaining the family's dignity, and they didn't respect her individual choices. Mila's grief was an opportunity for Mehreen Ahmed to reveal the past suffering of Nazmun Banu (Mila's mother). In the Chowdury House, she is no more than a daughter-in-law, precisely the first wife of Raiza Chowdury's other son. Ekram (Mila's father) remarried another woman and was considered as normal habit by his parent. Luckily, Nazmun was the first wife, she deserved to live in the Chowdury House, and enjoyed all the luxuries of a rich wife, even though she suffered because her husband was polygamous. So, Nazmun Banu's grief was acted by Mila, her beloved daughter.
This 408-page consists of 25 titled chapters, and if read separately, felt like a separate short story. Ahmed composed it with the space and time of the present, and the past, both of which are continually connected. Ahmed's writing skill makes detailed descriptions of background scenes seem the light of twilight falling on the surface of the river, which coincides with the Azan that echoes around our settlement.
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