Things That Bang

While reading Harold's remarkable - Opium Eaters, which happens to be the final novel to the three part saga (One Way To Pakistan, Oath of Vengeance and Opium Eaters) I was quite taken in by his in depth knowledge of Muslim Culture.

And as mentioned in the Preface of his second novel he is well acquainted with the people of Afghanistan and Pakistan. His love for the culture, food and understanding of the social customs and Islam itself makes the book a fantastic read. The storyline is fast paced and the characters are complex.

In many ways his books reflect the complex Islamic world where things cannot be simply seen as Black and White. Despite showing the suffering of women in the Islamic patriarchal fold in its bleakest form Harold also showed their fighting spirit where within the existing system they tried to live the best lives possible and even fight to save their honor.

The men folk living their lives according to the Islamic way (religion, after all, is a way of life for most) either used women as nothing more than slaves for their pleasure or some even tried to treat them as foretold by the Prophet.

What was surprising was the element of official and non official marriages through which a single man could have multiple wives and even 'sex slaves' which were ideally to be considered as female servants and to be treated fairly but whether that happened would depend upon the master of the house's discretion.

While in the first book Harold acquainted us with the interaction between the expat American community and Pakistanis and the ensuing conflicts in their lives, in the second and third novels the plot line became broader and more politically complex.

In fact the in the third novel- The Opium Eaters Harold showed how Opium funds the Taliban war against America and their imposition of democracy on Afghanistan. And the frustrations of the Americans who are unable to destroy the Opium smuggling from the root source-the tribals areas of Afghanistan to the ports of Pakistan.

Despite introducing new plot lines Harold did not lose track of his old characters and drop them like most authors do. Each character played its part, suffered, some died and some rose like the phoenix despite their circumstances.

Harold has a fluid style of writing and his books make a marvelous read since they show us a world we generally get to read about but rarely are a part of.

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