Salik breathes in a small artistic place, in the valley of Kashmir. Due to some troublesome circumstances, a twist in his life makes him wander out of Kashmir. This novel is for all those who are seeking some purpose in their lives. It is also a tale about experiences we confront in our lifetime, including parting, despondency, longing, and a continual exploration for a site that seems like home. The tale of a boy named Salik, who ends up leaving his family and his beloved Fatimah, embarks on a voyage of exploration and encapsulates several enigmas. Fatimah and his life is also a representation of the deep affection they share. It’s also a memoir of how they progress through the travail of separation.
The author Zubair Arif Shah was born in Madinah, Saudi Arabia. He was nurtured in Kashmir and currently resides in Turkey, Istanbul. He is an alumnus of the prestigious university Jamia Millia Islamia. He loves to constantly explore and is impacted profoundly by the philosophies and notions of Sufism. In an interview, he shared his beliefs, love for writing and words for the readers.
How and when did the book ‘In Search of Lost Home’ happen?
Zubair Arif Shah (ZS): In Search of Lost Home was a result of my inner thoughts that wanted to fly off the cages of my mind. In other words, my will to write down those thoughts. I think story is one of the most beautiful mediums; people have always narrated and woven thoughts and experiences within them. So, that’s how I decided on choosing to write a novel. It happened in the year 2017 in New Delhi, when I was pursuing my last year of bachelors.
What was the reason behind revolving the story around this plot?
ZS: The plot is based in Kashmir, its plot stems from there. As a Kashmiri, and writing my first novel, it felt impossible not to mention Kashmir, and not reflect some of the pains that we experience and go through there. The book dwells into the realm of love, pain, separation and hope; the emotions us human beings go through. It is depicted in the story of Salik and Fatimah both of whom reflect the intensity of such a human experience.
“There is nothing to writing. All you do is sit with a typewriter and bleed.”- E. Hemingway
We find emotions fully embedded in this story, how important is it for a writer to have emotions while writing any piece?
ZS: For a writer, emotions are like the source of life of their writing. Emotions are what make someone hold the pen, and start writing verses of poetry or prose. A writer holds a pen to write in the moments when he experiences intense emotions. A lover might be in a state of drowning in the sea of love; that’s what gave us Shams and Rumi. A person might be in a state of pain, and he seeks his pain to be scattered on paper. A person might be living moments of joy or sorrow, and he just wants to capture them in words and make them forever. Or someone might have found a new meaning to life which led them to write. All of these emotions water the blossoms of writers; the blossoms grow into being poetry or prose.
How has your journey been in Jamia? Does this book have any connections with this place?
ZS: I wrote more than half of this book in the vicinity of Jamia. So yes, there is a connection. Jamia made me love poetry and prose in different ways. It was here that I grew closer to literature and writing. The quiet and beautiful surroundings of Jamia, with a specific aura that it embodies, will always stay close to my heart. For example, I heard the verses of Faiz Ahmad Faiz being sung, the sculpture of a poet like Ghalib overlooking me, and then I found out more about them and discovered a beautiful world of poetry and literature. Also, in the library of Jamia, I have spent time reading some beautiful literature. I also found friends there who I would always hold close to my heart, and I have learned a lot from all of them.
What kind of research work and how long did this novel take?
ZS: There was no research in the truest sense for the book. They were all my learnings and experiences that reached a point where they wanted to spring out of the soil and they came out in the form of a story. I wrote the book in two installments. I spend about 20 days in 2017 when I wrote more than half the book. I used to spend long hours in the night, thinking and writing, and then left it incomplete. I took it up again after two years in 2019, when I finished writing the rest of it and thought of publishing it, which was not my intention initially .
Were there any personal thoughts while writing about the character of Salik? And even in choosing Istanbul as his final destination?
ZS: I chose Istanbul as a final destination because I had spent more than a year in Istanbul when I wrote about it. I thought I could reflect upon the life and experiences of Istanbul in a much better way intermingling it with the story of Salik. This was one of the important reasons why I chose Istanbul as a place other than Kashmir that I would go into the details of. As far as the character of Salik is concerned, I don’t know how to answer the question. Yes, of course, if I am writing about a character, I will have personal thoughts about it. Some of the experiences that Salik goes through are based on real stories. For example, the way he is tortured and asked to make a fake confession, the way he is caught up, the way there is a decision of hanging him in a clandestine manner, are based on real situations.
What are your views on people like Salik labelled with allegations of being a terrorist, despite having no such background?
ZS: There is a lot of injustice that people in Kashmir have constantly been through. They are immensely painful. There are forces at work at the State level that want to destroy the Kashmiri will completely and the sense of ‘Kashmiri-ness.’ It is trying its best to shift the narrative to cloud the very basic right any human would naturally seek. They have reached all levels of extremes to do that, up to the level of even killing human beings who are absolutely innocent or asking for something that is as basic as any natural right.
Any words for the readers?
ZS: What readers take from my words is a personal experience for them. Everybody has their own lens to look through. I just want to convey essentially that there are always reasons in life to keep moving on. No matter how hard things go, if we look around, we will find love and hope lurking around the corners. We have to look closely into our lives to see them. Pain and separations are also human experiences as much as any other, we perhaps need to live in acceptance of them, not denial. As in the experience of the Fatimah in the book, time was never a healer for her, but she rather learned to cover the wounds, and just live on.
“This novel will surely make you fall in love with love.”