Spy tales are always
riveting. The thrill of the chase, the action, intrigue and the speed of
the narrative make them unputdownable, barring stray occasions when they
are sloppy and poorly crafted.
The novel "Calling Sehmat" by Harinder S. Sikka is a thrilling saga of a
spy who gave all of herself in the service of the nation.
It is the story of a Kashmiri woman who married a Pakistani army officer
to provide Indian intelligence with information during the
India-Pakistan war of 1971. Sehmat devised unique ways to get closer to
the military brass in Pakistan. She saved the lives of scores of Indian
soldiers by warning them about enemy positions, troop movement and the
strike blueprints being drawn across the border.
The story is about the spirit of Kashmir, a land of humble, tough and
war-scarred survivors who can lay down their lives for the nation they
belong to - India.
Sehmat is no modern-day Mata Hari - but a woman of exceptional courage
and patriotic fervour, who chose her country above the dictates of her
heart and traditions. She is reminiscent of Noor Inayat Khan, the feisty
Allied Indian agent in the French Resistance during the World War II,
who was shot dead by the Gestapo for defending England and France at the
war.
The 231-page novel published by New Delhi-based Konark Publishers is
rich in detail and emotions, though at times the crisp prose gives away
to loosely structured sentences, putting a brake on the pace.
It is a typical specimen of Indo-Anglican writing that at times
unconsciously reflects the language in which the author plots his
storyline. It could be Punjabi, Bengali, Gujarati, Tamil or Marathi.
But the novel makes for its linguistic flaws with the author's knowledge
of the armed forces, the way of life along the borders and the mores of
the ranks. The novel begins with the death of the heroine, Sehmat Khan.
The beautiful woman dies in her sleep at her "imposing white" bungalow
in Maler Kotla, a fiefdom somewhere between Ludhiana and Jammu.
Sehmat's mother Tej Khan, the only other permanent resident of the
bungalow, picks up the telephone to break the news of her daughter's
death to her grandson Samar Khan, a captain in the Indian army. The
young man takes off for Maler Kotla, a princely state that was carved
out in 1454 AD when the then governor of Lahore and Sarhind, Sheikh
Sadruddin Sadr-i-Jahan married the daughter of Bahbul Khan Lodhi and was
given a cluster of villages in dowry.
Here the author weaves history into his story - which gives it a complex
layer that probes the historical evolution of the conflict between the
two nations, putting it in the perspective of the local demography,
cross-cultural influences and the cracks that developed over the
centuries.
The author portrays Sehmat as a symbol of secularism - who makes room
for Allah, Jesus, Krishna and the Wahe Guru in her sanctorum. Through
her, he drives a simple message - religion does not matter. Only faith
and service count.
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