Book: “A Lone Long Walk”
Author: Tahir Mehmood.
Genre: Short-Stories (Fiction)
Publisher: Ferozsons (Pvt.) Ltd.
Publication Year: March-2020
Pages: 116 Price: Rs. 395
ISBN:978-9690026347
Reviewed by: Asma Ishaq.
Tahir Mehmood’s book A Lone Long Walkis a treat to all those readers who search
the themes to read aboutLife, Love, Nature and Call of Duty. It is a collection
of short stories written over a span of six years – from 2014 to 2010. Any avid
readerwill enjoy reading it till the last pagein one-go.
Tahir choosesmajority of his plotlines that are built around soldiery, the call
of duty, nature, mystery and union and separation. As such, the 23 tales (and
five poems) are essentially a product of his 30 years of service in the
military. The 116-pages-book published by Pakistan’s leading Ferozsons fully
serves for the pleasurable-leisure-reading. Other than a product of his long
service years in the military, these stories are also result of his strong
reading of the human-traits and interactions with fellow humans. He himself
maintains reading habit religiously and there is an impact of the observant
reading too. The title of his book will appeal to readers who believe in the
adage, “life is nothing but a journey to walk all alone.”
Most of the stories are written in the third-person account and, in almost all
of them-the author manages well to catch hold of the reader’s attention with
engaging plots. Here, he uses the Gripping Narration-a famous genre of
Literaturewell. Tahirhas madesome generous use ofLiterary Devicesi.e.
personification, metaphor and imagery to enhance his Imaginative Skill and two
stories can be mentioned in particular, ‘A Cloud Above the Land’ and ‘A Town
Beyond Sorrow.’ These two stories stand out as excellent examples of the
powerful use of Imagination. In the first, the nomadic and vagabond Cloud
professes his love for the immobile Land, and the author uses their conversation
to depict the complexities of love in a long-term relationship. The Cloud is
free with his love and bold in his assurances whereas the Land is more cautious
and circumspect, symbolising a lover who seeks the comfort of stable
companionship.
In the second story ‘A Town Beyond Sorrow’, a puppeteer and his marionette takes
readers through the process of human evolution. After first giving her ‘life’ as
a simple finger puppet, over time the puppeteer modifies and improves upon her,
adding a head and limbs that are controlled by strings. Gradually he transforms
the basic little doll into a more elaborate creation that, one day it becomes
able to think, voices her curiosity and demands answers. The story is a parable
for the human existence, evolving as it has from simply surviving to questioning
the meaning of life itself.
One story ‘Love Across High Mountains’ is appropriate to be called‘an ode to the
mountains.’ In this tale of a wandering-traveller, thewriter has shared an
admiration of the high raised mountains as well for the love.Here, this
traveller is found amazed by the awe-inspiring mountains in particular and life
of inhabitants living there. For him, observing the mountains in solitude is
enjoying a bliss to one’s heart and soul. His admiration of the mountains define
them as metaphor of courage, survival-spirit and glory. Reading this story, one
can’t avoid to be felt
among the impressive ambience of those gigantic-mountains of the Northern Areas
of Pakistan. At one point-healso praises people living among those mountains
when he writes,
“The people living amidst the high peaks know the actual meaning of life,
loyalty, courage, survival and glory.”
The colour of love is also spread in thistale. The traveller falls in love with
a tourist-girl and then he shares some beautiful lines on love,
“Love is more of giving than asking. Love only survives in trust and truth. Love
is unconditional surrender to the goodness of human hearts and souls. Love
breeds a deep rooted veneration that overcomes all evil germinating from human
ego and vanity. Love is not an endowment on demand, it sprouts instinctively
without spoken words in a language that needs no ornamentation. It often sows
the seeds of all happiness in all the seasons of the year.”
The pleasure of love as well the pain of separation both is also well narrated
in ‘The Remains.’ A short story of anaspiring young soldier and a vivacious
young girl- bothgot separated after some moments of love. In the later days, the
writer has shown a powerful impact of the love when the young girl is found
observing the same ritual of gazing the stars in lone nights with the thought
that her soldier would be gazing them at the same moment. This-the both lovers
consider their moment of union transcending any physical distance between the
two.
The majority of the stories in the collection — as explained by the author in
the ‘Preface’ himself features soldiers as key characters. However, almost all
are very much reminiscent of the Elizabethan Tragedywhich mandates that the hero
must die or meet an otherwise dreadful end. Tahir invariably requires the hero
to sacrifice either his life or his love, oftentimes both, and this the hero
does with a stoic salute to the call of duty, whether in ‘From Piccadilly to
Gatwick’ or ‘The Remains’ or in ‘He Chose to Die.’
Nature is an embedded theme running through majority of the stories. One reads
these stories and would easily believe that author is a devotee to the Nature
who finds it transmitting a solace to the human soul.Reading these stories, one
envisions the green lush trees, blue-clear-sky, deep night, bright morning and
the magnificent mountains.
Fiction is the most appealing form of Creative Writing. It becomes more
attractive when the narration is compelling plus constructive.A Lone Long Walkis
steeped in reflections on life and, although the writer’s style is eloquent, it
is fairly esoteric as well. It might not be incorrect to say that Tahir’s
philosophical interpretation of life is similar to that of Khalil Gibran; he
appears to touch upon all the realms of human existence, including romance,
courage and morals, while at the same time bringing into discussion all the
dilemmas and miseries we face, such as poverty, injustice and violence. Tahir
shares a good range of wisdom and knowledge on life and love in the greater
perspective. One will learn about life, love, call of duty and Nature from this
thin book in one-siting-read.
(Asma is a teacher)