Daily Times

Islamabad: The plot of Nimra Ahmed’s novel Namal revolves around a murder and the relationship between a boy and his family. It also revolves around money and evil. Namal’s plot has all this and much more substance beautifully weaved and exceptionally narrated into a single story.

Umera Ahmed set the trend of integrating religion into stories in the modern history of Urdu popular fiction. I do not know anything about Nimra Ahmed, but if she is inspired by Umera Ahmed, she is definitely going to surpass her mentor in the near future. The way she seamlessly puts Islamic teachings in her stories makes me fall in love with her writing every time. Umera’s stories are more towards the spiritual side, divine love and most of all, how people repent for their sins. Nimra brings all this to everyday life and common settings.

Namal’s story is a complex matrix and summarising it will not do justice to it. But to get the gist, here it goes.

Faris Ghazi is convicted for the murder of his step-brother and wife and attempted murder of his relative Zumar Yousaf. His nephew Saadi Yousaf is convinced of his innocence and ultimately gets him out of jail. On the other hand, Saadi Yousaf’s aunt Zumar Yousaf who also happens to be a district attorney, loses her kidneys in the assault and is convinced that Faris Ghazi is guilty, mostly because of a fake telephone call in Ghazi’s voice to Zumar prior to the attack. The actual guilty one is Hashim Kardar who, apart from being an accomplished lawyer, owns an inherited oil cartel. Hashim Kardar has murdered Faris’s brother Waris in order to hide his corruption cases and in order to cover his tracks created the scenario in which Zumar was shot and Faris’s wife is murdered.

Saadi’s younger sister Haneen is super genius and makes a friend in the United States. This friend Alicia who is later revealed to be the half-sister of Hashim has introduced us to the motto of this novel ‘ants forever.’

A basic theme of this novel is the conspiracies woven and the misunderstandings they create. Cunning lawyer Hashim and his devil of a mother Jawahirat manipulate reality in such a way that people like Zumar also believe this alternate reality and misunderstandings spawn.

The pace of the story is going fine. Although we keep revisiting the past, but every time Nimra tells a back story, we get to know some untold happenings that add to the depth of the plot. The way Haneen’s sin, Zartashia Ghazi’s murder and Naushervan’s fake abduction are written, they add more to the ‘present’ as we know it.

Be it the scheming and queen-like Jawahirat Kardar, the genius/evil genius Haneen, the sweet and caring Saadi, the brute but honest Faris, the sharp but stubborn Zumar, the cunning Hashim or the envious Naushervan, every character is carefully etched and has depth in it. I have given maximum rating because every major character is portrayed not in complete black or white, but in shades of grey; also because equal exposure is given to the characters.

There’s always a blast in every episode that keeps you in suspense and makes you look forward to the next issue of Khawateen Digest eagerly. I was totally not expecting the act of cheating by Haneen and was definitely taken off-guard by the brutal murder of Aurangzeb Kardar. The revelation that Saadi burnt his phupho’s jahez (dowry) was shocking too. These twists are the reason that you crave for more.

Namal is an intense story involving brutal murders and devious deceptions, but it’s not totally devoid of comic relief. We’ve been getting a lighter side in the form of quarrels between Haneen and Sam for example.

As I’m covering 10 episodes, I have chosen three scenes from the previous episodes that have moved me the most. First was the scene when Naushervan fakes his own abduction and Haneen exposes the secret in front of everyone. I confess I didn’t suspect Naushervan to be stooping this low to get money. The whole scheme was kind of funny and written beautifully.

The second scene is basically in two parts: one is the letter from Alicia to Haneen and second is Haneen’s confession in front of her brother. The way Saadi comforts her in the 10th episode is also a mark of his good nature. I used to wonder why Haneen was allowed to watch dramas and movies day and night, the answer was that the writer had its consequence in mind and wanted to relate it to addiction. I also liked the way Haneen opted to quit her dream of becoming an engineer to offer kafara.

The writer has teased that Saadi might be killed in the next episode. If this is true, Haneen might have to take responsibility of exposing Hashim’s hand in the murder, as Saadi gave her the data she has to crack. But since Haneen has a crush on Hashim, it’s not going to happen anytime soon. As for Zumar and Faris’s nikah, it will get more interesting to see Zumar try and blame Faris for her murder. I think this will be the point where Zumar will finally be convinced of her husband’s innocence. It looks like Jawahirat’s secret is about to be revealed and very minute details will play a crucial role in exposing her husband’s murder. But let’s see what Nimra has in store for us.

I’ll not recommend this novel for light reading but if you can take ‘episodic suspense’, it’s a good read, although I have some reservation on the too-perfect-to-be-true scenarios for criminals and the brutality involved. The novel is probably getting the highest following currently. I think there’ll not be any issues in making a drama serial out of it, because it would not involve expensive locations and a lot of fantasy.

The writer is a student and can be reached at heeminariaz95@gmail.com