Pages 121-131

Shame - Pgs. 121-131
By: Noelia Valero
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Brief Summary of Events:

The Hyders’ return from Q. to the capital Karachi, which had grown exponentially compared to the time before their departure. Chief Minister Aladdin Gichki’s mysterious disappearance is still prevalent in conversation and floating around rumors, which involve the knowledge of Gichki’s hatred for Maulana Dawood and Hyder’s intimate friendship with Maulana Dawood. The narrator also tells how in a meeting with President Field-Marshal Mohammad A., Raza Hyder ends up named minister of education, information, and tourism while someone else hopped on a train westward to assume his previous position as governor of Q. Three years after Raza Hyder’s return to Q., he was “sacked” from his job as minister and returned to military duty as brigadier to perform a futureless job. The narrator then shifts focus to earlier times, specifically on Raza and Bilquis’ daughter, Sufiya. Sufiya embodies the essence of sharam, as she brings shame to her family because of her mental disability caused by a fatal fever and because she was born a girl. The narrator describes her condition as a hot body temperature disorder, which is a result of her constant blushing at whatever or whomever. Isky Harappa leaves Pinkie and plans on breaking his old habits and changing his life. The narrator establishes Omar is now in his mid-forties and though a successful doctor, he is still tormented by his nightmares despite his perseverance to escape his past. Then story shifts to Omar returning to Nishapur to mourn the death of his murdered brother, Babar, whom he has never met but whose notebooks he has acquired.

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Terms and References:

• Maulana → According to the Oxford Dictionary, the term “maulana” refers to “a Muslim man revered for his religious learning or piety.” In these specific pages of Shame, the term is used as “the Maulana” and “Maulana Dawood”, indicating the higher status that comes with holding that position (122). A renowned maulana, for instance, is Maulana Tariq Jameel, a Sunni Islamic scholar in Pakistan for Muslims who speak Urdu or Hindi (“Tariq Jameel”). He has won the respect of Muslims around the world because of his sermons and humble lifestyle.

• Brigadier →  According to the Oxford Dictionary, the term “brigadier” refers to “a rank of officer in the British army, above colonel and below major general.” In Shame, the narrator tells of Old Razor Guts’ promotion as brigadier in page 121. By Old Razor Guts, he refers to Raza Hyder, who became a brigadier after being “sacked” from his position as minister of education, information, and tourism. As Iskander Harappa says to Omar in conversation, Hyder got the nickname because he “kept hanging innocent people by the balls” (Rushdie, 121).

• Nishapur → This is the location Omar arrives at to mourn the death of his brother, Babar. The Metropolitan Museum of Art has excavations found in the area of Nishapur. Marika Sardar explains the existence and demise of Nishapur, “a city in northeastern Iran that was founded around the third century A.D…and was ruined by invasions and earthquakes in the thirteenth century” (Sardar). Interestingly, Nishapur was the home of many religious scholars and it was also an economic center, especially since it was located on the Silk Road trade route. The first is especially interesting since Omar is not only a brilliant mind but very much gifted in his learning ability.

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Works Cited:

OED Online. December 2012. Oxford University Press. Web. 15 March 2013.

Rushdie, Salman. Shame. New York: Vintage International, 1983. Print.

Sardar, Marika. "The Metropolitan Museum's Excavations at Nishapur". In Heilbrunn          Timeline     of Art History. New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 2000–.         http://www.metmuseum.org/toah/hd/nish/hd_nish.htm

“Tariq Jameel”. Wikipedia. Web. 15 March 2013.