He is known for his luminous prose and searing insights and M G Vassanji?s (The In-Between World of Vikram Lall) new novel, The Assassin?s Song, isn?t short on either. It?s his first work set mostly in India (the protagonist does make a life in the US but heads home to reclaim his roots).
A little boy ? no ordinary soul, being heir to Pirbaag, shrine of a 13th century Sufi saint in Gujarat ? senses the ?cold chill? that descends upon the street prior to a communal riot. As shops begin to down shutters one by one, he rushes to his father, ?Bapuji, something?s happening ? the whole village is closing,? and asks the inevitable question: ?Why do Hindus and Muslims hate each other?? His father, quiet and poised, replies: ?They don?t hate each other. They?re only sometimes afraid of each other? and there are those among them who exploit that fear.? The boy doesn?t ask his father the other question that needles him: ?Are we Hindus or Muslims?? For, he knows what the reply will be: ?We are neither and both.?
And yet, the burden of tradition will weigh heavy on Karsan Dargawalla as he grows up in Gujarat of the 60s. The more he begins to comprehend the responsibilities of the keeper of the shrine after his father, the more is Karsan drawn away from it. Temptation lurks in the form of cricket or even Raja Singh, a ?turbaned ferryman, this lorry driver who gave me rides in his smelly truck called the Kaleidoscope and brought me the world in print and talk?. He is haunted by the story of Abraham preparing to sacrifice his son Isaac, so when he is asked to make a wish, he refuses, saying ?Isaac didn?t matter. He couldn?t wish for anything.?
He ultimately severs ties with his family, opting for a life in the US. After marriage ? and a tragedy ? he returns to his roots. But it?s post 2002 and the Pir shrine has fallen to communal violence, and thereby hangs a tale. We go back and forth to the story of the 13th century Sufi who set up home in Gujarat, thus giving the novel its magnificent sweep. Throughout, we are forced to ask difficult questions ? are we ever in control of our selves or the situations that we find ourselves in? Why do we react the way we do to happenings around us? What is the conflict between religions? How can siblings have clashing ideologies?
Existential questions apart, Vassanji, like in his other novels, superbly chronicles childhood events, always a harbinger of things to come. Like in …Vikram Lall, where the Mau Mau Emergency in Kenya is recalled, this novel comes alive in Karsan?s narration of what it is like growing up in Gujarat of the 60s in Pirbaag. When he grows up and is swept away by things beyond his control, we mourn, like we do in everyday life. It?s also a novel about the loneliness of being, the tug between individuality and social responsibility, and in the end, the futility of it all. This is another gem from a ?rootless? writer. Vassanji, a Gujarati, was born in Kenya, raised in Tanzania, and now lives in Canada.