An ode from a daughter to loving memory of her father, the author’s journey to grasp the essence of topics like nationalism and patriotism.
“Some books influence your mind, some touch your soul while some become a part of you.”
This piece is about one such book that effortlessly manages to do all three. The book we are speaking of is “Small acts of freedom” by Gurmehar Kaur.
Throughout the book, you feel a strong sense of connection with the characters by the virtue of memory of someone you might have lost too. This bond, the feeling that you’re not alone is beautiful. Some people guise her piece as a work which consists of her political ideologies and opinions because of its activism undertones and owing to the fact that author is a student activist herself. However, as I see it, it’s an ode from a daughter to loving memory of her father and ancestors, the author’s journey to grasp the essence of topics like nationalism and patriotism. It’s a saga of steel-willed women who refused to be suppressed by the patriarchy. Emotionally narrated and beautifully written, it has a very special place in my heart as it becomes hard for one to hold back your tears while reading it.
The books focuses on the challenges encountered by the families of army men, their lives filled with a fear that news of a travesty can knock their doors anytime. It also brings out to us the struggles faced by women in her family and how women have always fought, proved and evolved as a stronger person by overcoming all the challenges and difficulties that this society as well as their own families in the name of patriarchy imposed on them. It speaks of how life was never easy for women, neither then (1947s) nor now. How things really changed after her father was martyred in the Kargil War and how she as almost a two and a half year old perceives it, makes it even more extraordinary.
One of my favorite excerpts from the book is of her father’s return. It narrates that how when her father was brought home in a wooden box wrapped in Tiranga along with several other military men everybody in the room began crying, her mom screaming and she, the 2 year old Gulgul of her dad standing at one corner of the room wondering why isn’t anyone letting her papa sleep in peace? Too young and naïve to comprehend the meaning of death at that time. It’s a heart wrenching moment that makes one wonder how army mean leave their young children, newlywed spouses, old parents at home to beckon to the call of motherland. One wonders how they gather so much courage and the will to do so.
This memoir also manages to convincingly shatter the façade that has persisted for so long in our minds strengthened by the opportunist media outlets that Pakistan is our rival when in reality it’s the bitterness and manipulation by political leaders resulting into wars that we really need to fight and conquer. The book is a thoughtfully written account that sparks a mental debate about the essence of nationalism, patriotism and martyring of soldiers.
The piece becomes all the more relevant owing to the recent unrest and tiff at the Galwan Valley and helps empathize with the families of the martyred.
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