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Pani Mar Raha Hai / پانی مر رہا ہے
A Novel on magical realism
188 pages, Hardcover
Published January 1, 2018
15 people are currently reading
175 people want to read
About the author
Amna Mufti
4 books34 followersAmna Mufti is a Pakistani screenwriter, columnist and author. She has written more than five novels and more than twenty television series. Her accolades include a Lux Style Award and a PEN Award.
She spent her childhood in a remote village near the Sutlej River. Since her childhood, she wanted to become a scientist, being inspired by Marie Curie and did not incline towards writing. She used to write poems in her school and college days and composed her first verse at the age of six. She sent her ghazals to Ahmed Nadeem Qasmi, who rejected them and motivated her to write novels instead of poems.
Mufti is a professor at Punjab University, Lahore. In 2023, she shifted to the UAE on receiving the Golden Visa.
She spent her childhood in a remote village near the Sutlej River. Since her childhood, she wanted to become a scientist, being inspired by Marie Curie and did not incline towards writing. She used to write poems in her school and college days and composed her first verse at the age of six. She sent her ghazals to Ahmed Nadeem Qasmi, who rejected them and motivated her to write novels instead of poems.
Mufti is a professor at Punjab University, Lahore. In 2023, she shifted to the UAE on receiving the Golden Visa.
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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
January 24, 2020
The first thing that struck me and stayed with me about this quite remarkable novel was the author's minute knowledge of and sensitive observations about the landscape, flora, fauna, seasons and particular experience of the Punjab countryside. At the very outset when she mentioned the spring fragrance of lilac colored Dharaik tree flowers I knew that here was someone who had intimately experienced, internalized and loved the place. As I read on there was more evidence of the same - in particular in her descriptions of the rough, broken, hilly, and wild patches of land that often separate fertile arable land, especially close to dry beds of rivers in riverine country like central Punjab.
Bhoorion wali zameen بھوریوں والی زمین by the bed of the Beas river is integral to her story as that is the target of avarice of some of the main characters in the novel who want to annex and cultivate it - except as it turns out, it provides dwelling and shelter to many creatures real and super-natural that face the threat of being displaced by human colonization. The wild patches of land also symbolize the furthest recesses of nature and the natural balance which humankind would be well-advised to leave alone as far as its expansionist tendencies are concerned. Further trespass into this terrain means, as we are reminded again and again, an upheaval, a breakdown of the balance, and essentially the End Days - that manifests themselves in various bizarre, unnatural and ultimately cataclysmic events.
This is an ambitious work of magic realism - a style which is very hard in my view to tame and people often make a hash of it. However, on the whole, I feel that Amna Mufti has done a good job of it and I can also see that how this choice of style lends itself to narrating the very unusual story she sets out to narrate. Inherently, Pani Mar Raha Hai is an apocalyptic story which builds towards such an end, as it forcefully laments the excesses of humankind against the natural order of things - in particular the damming and changing the natural courses of rivers - and portends decimation and extinction for the human race. Such as end, the novelist tells us is something that all the persecuted species are very keen on and actually endeavoring to bring about.
Pani Mar Raha Hai makes particular mention of the Indus Basin Treaty and bemoans how such human interventions displace all non-human life and literally cause the water to die and ultimately usher in destruction of ecological balance, climate and environment. There is a particularly poignant description of the building of Mangla Dam, the flooding of the valley and the temple of Mangla Devi, and the displacement of local way of life. Frequently, while hearkening back to less trammeled and more natural times she refers to the original sources of riverine waters and the Hindu mythology that surrounds them. The novel critiques anthropocentrism and humanocentrism as responsible for the torment and extinction of all other species. The plot follows multiple characters in rural as well as urban settings who discover various signs that all not well - unusual rise in the rate of birth of abnormal children; birth of mermaids and mermans and such human-beasts; all kinds of bizarre and unsettling sights and phenomena (in particular colorful and fantastical/out of place animals in old houses that have been overtaken by the journal, patches of the wild and tree plantations etc).
The plot can at times get somewhat tedious and the diatribe against the changing of river courses etc., a bit repetitive. However, the novel's great strengths are its acute imagination, sense of atmosphere, choice of preoccupation and fluidity of language. It is refreshing to see the modern Urdu novel and Pakistani literature grappling with contemporary challenges such as climate and environment. In my own novel Snuffing Out the Moon one of the overarching themes is climate change through the ages; as indeed also the contemporary crises of water shortage and the frightening prospect of Water Wars in a future where power centers and the political landscape may look very different from today. But I can't think of a lot of Pakistani literature that has endeavored to engage with these themes. Pani Mar Raha Hai is therefore special for taking these themes head on while offering sensitively observed insights into flora, fauna and natural phenomenon in a language that is rich in local idiom, lore and mythology. I found it both an enjoyable and thought-provoking read.
Bhoorion wali zameen بھوریوں والی زمین by the bed of the Beas river is integral to her story as that is the target of avarice of some of the main characters in the novel who want to annex and cultivate it - except as it turns out, it provides dwelling and shelter to many creatures real and super-natural that face the threat of being displaced by human colonization. The wild patches of land also symbolize the furthest recesses of nature and the natural balance which humankind would be well-advised to leave alone as far as its expansionist tendencies are concerned. Further trespass into this terrain means, as we are reminded again and again, an upheaval, a breakdown of the balance, and essentially the End Days - that manifests themselves in various bizarre, unnatural and ultimately cataclysmic events.
This is an ambitious work of magic realism - a style which is very hard in my view to tame and people often make a hash of it. However, on the whole, I feel that Amna Mufti has done a good job of it and I can also see that how this choice of style lends itself to narrating the very unusual story she sets out to narrate. Inherently, Pani Mar Raha Hai is an apocalyptic story which builds towards such an end, as it forcefully laments the excesses of humankind against the natural order of things - in particular the damming and changing the natural courses of rivers - and portends decimation and extinction for the human race. Such as end, the novelist tells us is something that all the persecuted species are very keen on and actually endeavoring to bring about.
Pani Mar Raha Hai makes particular mention of the Indus Basin Treaty and bemoans how such human interventions displace all non-human life and literally cause the water to die and ultimately usher in destruction of ecological balance, climate and environment. There is a particularly poignant description of the building of Mangla Dam, the flooding of the valley and the temple of Mangla Devi, and the displacement of local way of life. Frequently, while hearkening back to less trammeled and more natural times she refers to the original sources of riverine waters and the Hindu mythology that surrounds them. The novel critiques anthropocentrism and humanocentrism as responsible for the torment and extinction of all other species. The plot follows multiple characters in rural as well as urban settings who discover various signs that all not well - unusual rise in the rate of birth of abnormal children; birth of mermaids and mermans and such human-beasts; all kinds of bizarre and unsettling sights and phenomena (in particular colorful and fantastical/out of place animals in old houses that have been overtaken by the journal, patches of the wild and tree plantations etc).
The plot can at times get somewhat tedious and the diatribe against the changing of river courses etc., a bit repetitive. However, the novel's great strengths are its acute imagination, sense of atmosphere, choice of preoccupation and fluidity of language. It is refreshing to see the modern Urdu novel and Pakistani literature grappling with contemporary challenges such as climate and environment. In my own novel Snuffing Out the Moon one of the overarching themes is climate change through the ages; as indeed also the contemporary crises of water shortage and the frightening prospect of Water Wars in a future where power centers and the political landscape may look very different from today. But I can't think of a lot of Pakistani literature that has endeavored to engage with these themes. Pani Mar Raha Hai is therefore special for taking these themes head on while offering sensitively observed insights into flora, fauna and natural phenomenon in a language that is rich in local idiom, lore and mythology. I found it both an enjoyable and thought-provoking read.
June 5, 2024
مصنفہ نے ناول کی ابتدا میں بہت مضبوط طلسماتی کردار بنے اور پھر خود ہی یہ فیصلہ نہ کرپائیں کہ کیوں ان میں وہ خصوصیات موجود ہیں جو ان کو منفرد بناتی ہیں۔ زندگی کی بے معنویت اور سب کچھ از خود ہوجانے سے لے کر خدا کے وجود کے اعتراف سے انکار تک ساری کتاب تذبذب کا شکار نظر آئی۔ پانی مر رہا ہے یا نہیں اس کا بھی فیصلہ کتاب نہیں کر سکی۔
زندگی لا یعنی ہے یا نہیں، خدا کا وجود ہے یا نہیں، پانی مر رہا ہے یا نہیں اس کا فیصلہ تو نہ ناول کر سکا نہ اس کا کوئی کردار ہی اس بات پر دلالت کر سکا، ہاں میں اس نتیجے پر پہنچا ہوں کہ یہ ناول لایعنی ہے۔
زندگی لا یعنی ہے یا نہیں، خدا کا وجود ہے یا نہیں، پانی مر رہا ہے یا نہیں اس کا فیصلہ تو نہ ناول کر سکا نہ اس کا کوئی کردار ہی اس بات پر دلالت کر سکا، ہاں میں اس نتیجے پر پہنچا ہوں کہ یہ ناول لایعنی ہے۔
December 19, 2023
میں نے کبھی اتنا حیران کن اردو ناول نہیں پڑھا۔ آمنی مفتی نے حقیقی اور خیالی دنیا کے بیچ کی سطح کو بلکل ہی مٹا دیا۔ Hyper-realism کے ساتھ ساتھ اس کتاب میں ایک اہم معاشرتی پیغام بھی ہے۔ ُُُ
شروع میں مجھے یہ ایک عام کہانی لگی جس میں کالا جادو یہ کوئ آزاب ایک خاندان کی زندگی اجاڑ رہا ہے۔ لیکن دراصل ایک قدرتی نظام اپنا کارواں چلا رہاُہوتا ہے۔ انسان کی لالچ اور خودگرزی کا نظریہ ہے جس کی بدولت پانی مر رہا ہوتا ہے لیکن مرتے مرتے بھی اپنا بدلہ چکا کر رہتا ہے۔
شروع میں مجھے یہ ایک عام کہانی لگی جس میں کالا جادو یہ کوئ آزاب ایک خاندان کی زندگی اجاڑ رہا ہے۔ لیکن دراصل ایک قدرتی نظام اپنا کارواں چلا رہاُہوتا ہے۔ انسان کی لالچ اور خودگرزی کا نظریہ ہے جس کی بدولت پانی مر رہا ہوتا ہے لیکن مرتے مرتے بھی اپنا بدلہ چکا کر رہتا ہے۔
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