The Wandering Falcon - Jamil Ahmad

First , it was pleasure to read this book, over 5 days i was transported to tribal lands of Pakistan and Afghanistan.The story starts with a couple from nowhere reaches border outpost , the soldiers protects them and allows them to stay near the post.They gives birth to a boy,initially nameless latter called 'Tor Boz' by others.He is a mixed blood, of chief and outlaw.The journey of the boy is the story.

The harshness of tribal law is shown to readers very first itself by the cruel killing of the couples.There starts the wonderful and dangerous life of tribal.The story loosely flows through different tribes and character emerges within each tribes and disappears without trace and reappears again in latter chapter.There is no continuous plot.The tribal people crosses the different landscapes to survive the winter,severe cold and search of pastures over hundreds of years, they were never questioned .But now the new international boundaries are causing lots of problems to them.The author beautifully brings the issues and concerns of these people.The women in this novel are not victimized but follows whatever they can hold onto.

Tor Boz ,orphaned and brought by different people, plays a side role than  a main one, as most of the time he was a second person in the scene and stay quite absorbing.He represents no tribe as he is in all tribe.He speaks high of all eight tribes.The stories of Sherkai and Shaz Zarina are partly portrays the life and struggle of women in the tribal area.One forcefully taken out of her family and other just to get rid of her family follows the man who sell them in the market.Tor Boz buys Shaz Zarina and is in dilemma to sell her to someone for more price or marry her as he promised, his wandering continues but the novel ends there.

This is a very short book but written beautifully in easy prose and gives the reader clear picture of the nomadic life of the tribal people.The writer's vast experience on these tribal land as a government agent gives him first hand knowledge about these people and he used that knowledge to the fullest in this book.Jamil wrote this book in 1973-74 but there was no publisher to publish,it was a good thing that Penguin decided to publish this otherwise this wonderful little book would not have known to the world.

A great book to read, one of the easiest book to read, as Mark Twain on his advice on writing told "I notice that you use plain, simple language, short words and brief sentences. That is the way to write English–it is the modern way and the best way"  this book is one such book. Read and immerse in the lives of the tribal people.

  *boxed quotes from the book.