When it comes to writing about Partition, it’s always been a tricky genre to get right. That is also partially the reason so many authors are willing to take a crack at it. The latest addition to the list is former Rajya Sabha member, author and editor Shahid Siddiqui with his first work of fiction, The Golden Pigeon.
The Golden Pigeon is the story of twins who are separated early in their lives due to Partition, finding themselves on different sides of the border. Though the plot comes off as a little too cliched, as you read on, you’ll find that there’s a lot more to the book.
The stories of Shiraz in Delhi’s Ballimaran and of Aijaz in Lahore are told with a good amount of mysticism: Mughal emperor Babur makes several appearances as a philosophical guide at times of turmoil for the boys.
But it’s the ghosts of Delhi’s beautiful past that give the book its poetic connotations, its royal backdrop and, most importantly, its magic (both figuratively and literally). Siddiqui shows the Walled City at its most beautiful and ugly at the same time.
But by trying to cram in too many historical references, the book ends up being a memoir of a city’s past more than making you connect with the characters.
