When the Moon is Low by Nadia Hashimi

 

An emotional book. A book that we will all relate to. A book that stirs the right emotions. It makes us think and be thankful of our situation. The language is almost poetic. Beautiful words. 

Very quickly the books moves from the present scene in the preface to the past in the first part of the book, spoken by one person - Fereiba. Half the book is about Fereiba's life and the other half is more the story of her son, Saleem, but also accounts of a mother-son relationship, partnership.

Fereiba has a tough childhood. Her mother died giving birth to her and old wives' tales say that a child that has killed the mother is an unlucky one. Unlucky she was. Fereiba was kept away from love and affection. Her father too busy making a living on the orchard they inherited and her step mother giving her the step daughterly treatment. Fereiba's step mom, KokoGul is a mix of good and lukewarm- good for her own children and lukewarm towards Fereiba. But, when a child is desperately seeking love and attention from a parent, he/she does everything to please the parent in question...only to receive a few good words, a pat on the back or a warm hug. KokoGul was not an evil person. She just kept Fereiba at arms length, never bringing her close.

She is kept back at home to handle all the chores or do the dirty jobs around the house and convincing that she could always get an education the following year. It was heartening for me to read that Fereiba took up kindergarten school when she way into her teens. She finally gathers courage and convinces her father to send her to school, six years behind schedule. With hard work, Fereiba moves up one class to the other and reaches the grade she should actually be in at her age. Education was thus taken care of diligently. In a world where education is an obvious thing, it is beautiful to read how people are actually fighting their fates to gain an education. Reminds us of Malala, or even the story of The Breadwinner, where children are forced to forego schooling and denying them a choice of education.

Soon it is time for the girls of the home to be married. Fereiba and her sisters are all looking for potential husbands. KokoGul pushes her own daughter to be married off to a rich household. The household of a boy who Fereiba never meets, but shares a silent bond with him in the silence of her orchard. They often speak with the wall between them and when she realizes that their thoughts and dreams were similar, she quickly "fell" in love. But, when the family chooses her sister Najiba instead, she resigns to being the unlucky one. Only if she knew how lucky she would be to marry someone much better. 

Fast forward to Fereiba having a good life with a good husband and three beautiful children. But, Kabul is no longer the beautiful place it was. When Fereiba's husband gets kidnapped and assumed killed by the Taliban, they decide to leave Kabul and go to England. The journey from Kabul to Turkey to Italy and Rome and Paris and England is a journey we would all love to have in the luxuries of our world...but not so for Fereiba and her children. In Turkey, Fereiba and Saleem lose each other's company and Fereiba is forced to make the decision to travel to England leaving Saleem behind and hoping that he would find his way through difficulties and reach them safe and sound.

The following chapters speaks quite in detail of the lives refugees live and more often than not, if there is a sea or ocean mentioned in the story, images of that little boy in blue floats in my mind of how he drowned trying to find asylum. There are some feel good characters who Fereiba and Saleem meet and thank god they do. I do always believe that the world is not so bad like we sometimes perceive it to be.

There are some beautiful lines that emotional people like me will re-read and allow the words to remain in the mind. I particularly like one scene where it shows how a mother's instinct kicks in. Mothers are born with a sixth sense when their little ones come into the world. I have experienced it myself... I have often felt that my little man may not be alright. And I am proven right when he has returned home often enough like a wounded soldier.

There is a scene where Saleem has to go out to sell his mother's bangles to gather money for their trip ahead. Fereiba suggests that they go together another day to sell the bangles and head to the station from there. Going that day was making her feel uncomfortable. Saleem rubbishes her fears and promises to return, but never does. There is something that binds mothers to children apart from the umbilical cord. 

Does Saleem manage to get united with his mother and siblings? You will have to read this keepsake book to know. This book is one of those that you will use your marker on to highlight precious words, or the book you will read while it pours outside your window. Or when the moon is low...