‘Diana Juxtaposed and Other Unrealities’ by Salandin Imam
Julia Hamilton Russell
In this richly eclectic collection of stories, the reader is led into a maze that runs through time and space, from Dhaka in the future to nineteenth century Paris to seventeenth century Japan. We are led following the scent of nostalgia, history, enigma, intrigue, all the scheming, plotting, game playing, and desires that make up the human condition as they enact their small part on the stage of the world.
It is not only the helplessness and loneliness of Princess Diana, forced by a need for survival to “lap” her “sleepy eyes” in an affected manner at men of power, that is juxtaposed against the cold, ruthlessness of the English establishment, sure of their “rightness”, the book is full of juxtapositions. Beginnings and alternative endings, birth and death, superficial dialogue masking deep longings, cynicism and innocence, lust and romance, all the marked contrasts that are thrown up as humans brush against each other.
Each story can be enjoyed on its own. There is the delicacy of “Eating Fruit”, where a girl’s first stirrings of attraction for a boy “adorable as a sheaf of corn” are subtly described, the language gauche and simple but the feelings elemental. The girl stands before the mirror, “her dark eyes
easy, the grind of her mind keen.” The wonder and confusion of awakening sexuality are contained in the girl holding ‘back herself from breaking the bubble of anticipation.’ And memories are like a fragrance in the air.
“Tabarak’s Turn” explores the theme of raw ambition of a young boy who at twelve had “already seen so much, grown capable of worldly calculation.” Tabarak sets out on a course of advancement, courting his boss and his boss’s daughter, taking little notice and having little respect for his “mild wife and children.” But he forgets that blood is thicker than water and
working “like a dog for twenty years” will not result in being named his boss’s successor when he has a son, even a son who is “a joke”. With all his ambition and hard work, he remains, “an upstart.” It is only when he shows true affection for his children, holding them as no father has held him and experiencing their delight in the attention that he finds a release from the fight and tension of the game of striving for worldly success. His tears fall ‘freeing him, door by door, cage
by cage’
The last two stories of the collection, “Change Times” and “the Final Spurning”, with its alternative ending, are set in seventeenth century Japan and explain the strict code of honor and duty followed by the Samurai. Samurai Dan goes through his morning exercises, reminding himself that “the mark of the successful man was to keep all thoughts suspended.” He has to confront “the demons of the wavering mind, trying to achieve that state of fixed inner void in which all pain, all self-regard is left far behind.” Yet in doing his duty, he is unable to keep himself free of human emotions. Given a situation of life or death he can follow the unthinking, age old, practiced code of the Samurai or he can lay down his sword and choose not to leave his woman and baby son destitute.
No human, however disciplined, can escape unscathed from the messiness, confusion, and wonderment of life, and from the need for deep emotional connection with one another. This is a theme that runs through the collection of stories. Life is a game; skillfully played, it brings success on whatever stage you enact it—politics, the office, as a warrior, a shop-girl. All have their codes, their costumes, their masks. But the truly brave and the true winners are those who finally remove their masks and acknowledge that deep human contact, love for another, for a child, is the only way to free yourself from the game.
I pick up threads of words and follow them not knowing where they are going to lead and I find myself re-reading phrases to taste them as I would a dish I haven’t had before.
Salahdin Imam is a man well educated and travelled, observing diplomatic life as a child, being educated in England and America, and working as an international banker. He would have had the opportunity to observe and take part on many of life’s stages. From his stories it is clear that he has enjoyed taking part in life, he has played the games, but he retains an ability, despite the dangers and sadness that result in not being able to lay the game aside, to love deeply and profoundly.
Julia Hamilton Russel was educated at the Sorbonne and Oxford and has written several books of historical fiction for children on the Mughal and Ottoman Empires. Sh e was a literary reviewer for the Economist. She lives in Cambridge and is working on her third novel.