IDGAH

I would want to very subjective and careful about everything I will write
around because I haven’t done researches around the area and have not read
a few either. So, this can be just completely about the story, Idgah. I, in no
way, will mean to generalise it and look at it with the perspective of
globalisation.

Hamid.

How personality approaches the situations matters a lot. To be able to cope up

and find peace and happiness in whatever one has, puts healthy ground for the
rest of experiences to build upon. After having all the circumstances in a bad
setting, Hamid was able to find ray to live with. With no father and mother and
little amenities, he was able to pull up that smile. Something to appreciate
here.

But basically what I would want to address here is, how exceptionally did he
pull up the good character with heroic abilities that he played in the story.
Surely, he acted like a four year old kid on a journey to explore things. But he
did that as well with a flair. A child’s ability to fight back and question
everything he/she comes across is very prominent in a lot of ways. Ability to
accept and work with the things and circumstances and understand about
things comes a lot afterwards in life when one goes through experiences like
Losing someone close, death of known people etc. ; where besides accepting,
there’s nothing else to be done and certainly, there’s no point of fighting back.
But exceptionally, Hamid as a kid didn’t act the certain way and showed
opposite behaviour with guts to hold on to things and experiences and
circumstances. The same way, he has been different from other kids in the
story and has acted with something that children usually miss, ‘Maturity’.

He has thought almost all the time with logical and radical thinking. Instances
like, ‘I will not stand any nonsense from anyone. And one day my father will
return. And also my mother. Then I will ask these chaps, 'Do you want any
toys? How many?' I will give each one a basket full of toys and teach them how
to treat friends.’ Where one can see radical thinking being on to work and also
the kindness he still has while being in the state of jealousy and innocence of
accepting that dad and mom will come back. That’s a heavy task for a child at
the age of 4, usually children fall out of behaviour and do things out of the
senses but he had it tight.

Also, children develop understanding of love, typically it being mom or dad or

siblings but that love doesn’t become fully selfless love and give for the others.
They still go through stages to develop that sense of pure love where one can
think above oneself for the one, one loves. Granny Ameena was the only
person he had in such situations and he loved. But the skill and tendency of
such selfless love that he showed was tremendously unexpected. While
ignoring his hunger and wishes to have a lot of joyful things, he stood with the
tenderness of having something useful for someone who deserves it, for
someone he loves. Can’t be argued, he chose the best.

While other kids acted no different than the usual kids, they were no bad, they
were just that way because they still had a lot of learn and Hamid was just a
few stages ahead of them. No doubt, I might have acted the same way they
did. This human behaviour of teasing the innocent one and taking advantage
where it can be get from, is found easily in humans but beings like Hamid are
also present somewhere who do it supposedly the right way. Also there is no
wrong and right, It’s just the perspective we look at it from but there are some
bars set to what is ethically right and wrong which sometimes can be trusted
upon. So, in condition I wouldn’t pick out any bads or wrongs from the other
kids they just had a long way to go.

Also, Granny being an understanding granny after being put in so much

pressure and saddening situations is another cherry on the cake. No doubt,
Hamid showed exceptional behaviour here but neither did granny show
something different. After losing her Son and Daughter in law, and also her
husband she had the entire burden upon her. Using the right coping
mechanisms was necessary and I think she had done it. She could have sent
Hamid to earn instead and add to the miseries in his life but instead, she
understood the pain and loved him unconditionally. Cases of such
understanding aren’t seen normally and such cases should be kept in fiction. It
sometimes is necessary to revive our emotions and right feelings about the
world and humanity and these things do help. Just like giving the right book to
read to a child instead of a wrong one, world needs right examples to take
inspirations from.

It is also significant to see, how fascinatingly festivals can bring a different kind
of joy in children(children are usually the ones who are really excited about
every other festival at least in a country like India, where culture itself has a lot
of events and festivals) and how these events stand as an important part in
their lives. Children also see themselves transforming through one event to
another and one year to the next. How these festivals are passed matters a lot
in their lives and can bring in a lot of change. Neither Hamid nor granny
Ameena will forget this incident that happened on Idgah and how can we
neglect that the story is named after the festival itself, ‘Idgah’ which makes a
lot of sense in itself. Festivals become memorable in children’s lives.

I could break this analysis in to a lot many smaller pieces with a lot many
different angles to look from, which is the beauty of it. But I tried to bring in
whatever felt important to me. And I do agree there is still a lot of explore in
the text itself and factors related to it. But I would like to end my views about it
here.

Dharan Bharti

SKG182E0174