Shelves are cluttered with complicated books on simple issues. But one hardly comes across a simple piece of writing on an issue second to none in complexity. Omair Ahmad?s Jimmy The Terrorist is one such novella. It is as compelling and political as it is personal and intimate. It talks of the habitat of alienation that circumscribes minorities in many parts of the country, especially the Muslim community. A retrospective narrative by a long-time resident of the fictional town of Mozzamabad in Uttar Pradesh in the 1990s, the setting for this story, it presents a gripping mesh of issues, problems, ambitions, politics and egos, and life in general. A much needed micro look at certain aspects of our social life, which often gets trivialised and stereotyped in a macro view.
This is the story of Rafiq Ahmed, an ambitious small town man from Mozzamabad, seduced by the wealth and refinement of Shabbir Manzil, abode of the clan of the wealthy and elite Muslims, and a gathering point of intellectuals and those of high tastes. He marries Shaista, related to the Shabbir household and fathers a son named Jamaal. Although he becomes a part of the life at Shabbir Manzil, he remains an outsider largely, even to his own wife and child. And when things get better in his family life, Shaista dies in childbirth, with much of the blame coming on Rafiq?s head. Distraught and with a young son to take care of, Rafiq becomes a mullah, which, of course, is also because of other things happening around the country, like the Babri Masjid being razed in Ayodhya and the rioting that followed. Jamaal grows up with these changes and the life and times he experiences make him Jimmy, the terrorist.
The narrative develops in a logical and a matter-of-fact manner, and yet surprises with the intricate observations that it is filled with about human, social and political behaviour. The manner in which the third person narrative is employed to tell the story is quite commendable.
Ahmed pushes a mirror in our faces, of how things as simple as black and white, and, right and wrong, are perceived by us under the light of divisive political ideologies, complicating and escalating problems which might not have any political or religious connect really. It is a fresh voice that describes problems that are common, which to a certain extent transcend beyond communities and the multiplicity of faith, problems and issues that are just human and nothing more. Indeed, an ordinary story with an ordinary and simple message, but alas, simple and ordinary are often the victims of neglect. It then takes quite an effort to simplify an environment of commotion and tell that ordinary story and that?s what Omair Ahmad has done with this novella, and has been successful to a large extent.