A Story of New Beginnings

The Story of a Widow is a lovely book by Musharraf Ali Farooqi about a middle-aged woman in Karachi adjusting to widowhood. The story begins as Mona Ahmad reflects on her marriage and wonders what, if anything, she should do next with her life. Mona’s world includes her helpful neighbor Mrs. Baig, the mysterious new tenant next door, household servants, the entire extended family–daughters, sons-in-law, uncles, aunts, cousins, friends of friends, and, of course, her late husband, Akbar Ahmad. No, there isn’t a ghost in this story, just a portrait of Mona’s late husband which still hangs in her house. Everyone in her life has an opinion about how Mona-the-widow should live her life, but the more they press, shun, or badger, the more Mona comes into her own.

For more than thirty years, until his death, Mona’s days followed a predictable routine dictated by her husband’s needs, from putting his shaving water out in the morning to serving his dinner in the evening. During the day, Mona took care of her two daughters, Tanya and Amber, who are raising families of their own. A few months after her husband’s death, Mona discovers the joy of doing nothing. Farooqi accurately conveys that feeling of freedom, if you’ve ever found yourself suddenly free from obligations or responsibilities (or just indulged in some ‘me-time’),

“One of the first changes Mona felt was the sudden end to the daily duties she performed for Akbar Ahmad. After many months of feeling unsettled, she began to enjoy her leisure. If she read a book, often she would become so engrossed in it that she forgot about her lunch. When Habib was away, she felt too lazy to prepare meals for herself. On those occasions, only if her daughters or sister dropped by did she make lunch or dinner. Some days she drank pot after pot of jasmine tea the whole afternoon, or ate only fruit. Such lack of structure would have been unthinkable in Akbar Ahmad’s lifetime.”

A year later, Mona seems content in her new life, but the arrival of Mrs. Baig’s new tenant, Salamat Ali, changes everything. Mona is unsettled by Salamat’s overtures, but after a rocky start and an old-fashioned courtship, consisting mainly of letters between the neighbors, Mona accepts Salamat’s proposal of marriage. Family and friends are both horrified and concerrned but Mona can’t muster any guilt for wanting all that she didn’t have with her first husband. She listens to what people have to say, raging silently at times, speaking out, at others, in defense of her decision and her fiance. Salamat and Mona marry but when certain facts come to light about her new husband’s past, Mona is prepared to take charge of her life, gracefully manouvering around the “I told you sos” and those who once again feel she is incapable of managing her own affairs.

While the main storyline focuses on Mona and Salamat, Farooqi also allows readers into the lives of the other characters. Imagine being plopped into a large extended family a few days before a wedding or attending a family reunion. In no time at all, you’re caught up in the dramas of siblings, couples and in-laws.

Farooqi’s prose is elegantly simple. There are no long, awkward sentences or over-the-top descriptions of the weather or a piece of clothing, yet I could easily picture Mona, her garden and the places she visits with Salamat. By the end of the book, I think I could even see that portrait of the late, but helpless, Akbar Ahmad, watching from his place on the wall as his wife moves on with her life.

So often, books by or about South Asian women can be depressing, dark stories about unhappy women. The Story of a Widow is a refreshing change. Farooqi just tells us this widow’s story, with the emphasis on ‘story’ and less on ‘widow.’ I’ll probably get in trouble for this but I couldn’t help thinking, maybe it’s because a South Asian woman didn’t tell this widow’s story.