Symbolism at its best & most lingering and in just 5 pages: Purdah by Yashpal

I read “Purdah” when I was in school, some 14 years back. Literally translated Purdah means a “curtain”. In this story this Curtain signifies a lot more than just a piece of fabric hung at the doorway…

 

Purdah was penned by acclaimed Indian author, Yashpal. A recipient of Sahitya Academy Award, the highest honour in India in the Literature field, Yashpal wrote numerous novels (most famous ones being Jhoota Sach – translated False Truth & “Meri Teri Uski Baat” for which he was felicitated with the honour) & short stories.

Amongst his many short stories, I have been fortunate to read Purdah that left a deep impression on me even then & continues to haunt me even today.

 

Now let me take you to the world of Purdah, because you will be able to understand the complexity of its lead character only when you can understand his situation in life.

 

Purdah is possibly set in a lower middle class, small town family of 1970s-80s India. It is a Muslim family headed by their patriarch Chaudhuri Peer Baksh. Chaudhuri Peer Baksh boasts of an impressive family pedigree, with his forefathers having been associated with Nawabi royalty at one time, or so he claims. Coming from such an impressive background Chaudhuri Peer Baksh, has always been given a baggage of family lineage by his elders…that basically includes what his family was, what their position in society was, how was the family etiquette & how it is his mantle to maintain it, like his elders have done before him. Only problem is that the family is now in a state of penury & owns more or less nothing. Maintaining high moralities in an age of penury is an expensive proposition…but what can you do if you are a patriarch of a family where you have been handed over this baggage to maintain, irrespective of the economic conditions.

 

Chaudhuri Peer Baksh is a man from a lower income group today. His family consists of 7 women – mother, wife & 5 daughters. He is the lone breadwinner in the family, and cannot allow women of his family to work or go out at all, since it is against his family’s age old reputation. A lone breadwinner in a small government job with 7 mouths to feed including himself can only reduce himself to further penury…but it had to be maintained!! Everything about Peer Baksh, even the “Chaudhuri” prefix before his name is just a carry forward effect of his family lineage that actually does not hold true today at all given his economic condition…but the fake appearances have to go on.

 

Unable to maintain their old heritage mansion, Peer Baksh has to move his family to smaller quarters in a cheap locality, but since the appearances have to go on, he uses a jute curtain or “Purdah” to guard his front door as that was the norm of nobler families since older days. Peer Baksh’s state of mind with his family baggage becomes more apparent, when one stormy night his jute curtain becomes tattered & not fit to use anymore & he uses a very fancy handed down quilt as a curtain in its place, & when questioned by his neighbours as to why he is using such a good quilt as a curtain, he replies pompously that this was generally a norm in his “haveli” (mansion).

 

This is the thing to be noted about this story. Peer Baksh had hardly enough money to feed his family & himself 2 square meals in a day, he hardly earned to clothe his family well, but appearances of nobility had to go on.

 

The description of how Peer Baksh & his family survive on a small cup of soup a day to live on is so heart wrenching & yet Peer Baksh’s insistence on maintaining his family pedigree gets extremely daunting, and yet you understand his predicament & feel pity for him. Don’t we see such people around us all the time, who might not have as much, but cannot stop putting appearances, because that is probably their way to escape the fear of their reality.

 

Peer Baksh cannot allow the women in his family to even step out…their working was out of question. Thus feeding so many mouths depletes his economic status further. On top of that birth after birth of daughters makes it even more difficult a situation for him. He cannot afford more children, but abortion was completely out of question as that was against the fabric of his family. He cannot let them work, as that was taboo in Chaudhuri family too. Thus he has seven mouths to feed with one humble income. With his mother & wife perpetually unwell, & with their medicine bills soaring, it puts Peer Baksh in the most unpleasant situation.

 

Thus Peer Baksh is forced to take a loan. A loan to meet the very basic requirements of his family…and this is where his troubles start.

 

Having taken the loan from a strict “Pathaan” who was a moneylender, Peer Baksh vows to return it within deadline. Deadlines come & go twice & the Pathaan says nothing to Peer Baksh out of his respect for his family name thinking that he will eventually pay one day.

 

When that day does not come, the angry Pathaan comes knocking on Peer Baksh’s door asking for his money…and here the unthinkable happens.

 

The symbolism of “Purdah” comes out especially in this climax scene which is very crucial to the whole story & gives the story a shocking yet fitting end.

 

In this story the Purdah is not just tapestry, it signifies a veil over reality; a beautiful curtain meant to hide the ugliness of Peer Baksh’s economic condition; a curtain meant to hide his current state of affairs under the garb of long lost pedigree; it is in fact a curtain in Peer Baksh’s own mind rather than on his door to hide his reality from the World & keep up a false appearance which is actually his escapism from his situation.

 

“Purdah” just works through 2 main characters & for most part relies solely on Peer Baksh as a character, but it is the realistic & ironical portrayal by the author, Yashpal that tugs at your heart with so much pain. The 5 page short story is rife with symbolism. But the biggest strength of the story is its realistic & next door character portrayal that actually lingers so long in your mind. I read this story good 14-15 years back, and have not re-read it since & while writing this post I vividly remember each important detail of the prose, such was the haunting effect of “Purdah” & its characterisation. Story is the actually the real protagonist here, the lead character’s mental strength is the antagonist & the protagonist both.

 

Unfortunately, despite hunting a lot I could not get a pdf link of “Purdah”, hence unable to share the link of the story with you online, but Yashpal’s complete set of short stories is available online to buy.

 

Another suggestion I would like to give is that if possible read the story in its original language, i.e., Hindi. The beauty of the story is in its Hindi language; however I am sure English translations will be easily available too.

 

A story to be read for sure!!