Being a Punjabi-speaking Catholic in Pakistan already sounds confusing on a lot of levels. Have the words in the sentence been jumbled up? No. That is the other Pakistan. The less-glorified Pakistan that's not about cricket, or Kashmir, or politics. It's the Pakistan nobody speaks about. Alice, the titular character, is the center of the working-class Karachi that hangs as the backdrop of Mohammed Hanif's black satire.
Alice is not the fully-covered woman that Islamic societies are largely characterised by. She is, as Hanif describes, 'a miracle of malnutrition' with a slender waist, skinny limbs but perfectly-shaped breasts. Alice married Teddy Butt, a police errand boy, in order to stay safe. Hanif only embellishes the story with his satirical, dark comic writing, without which, 'Our Lady of Alice Bhatti' is no different from a work of realism. Hanif doesn't shy away from talking about something he feels most strongly about- the plight of women.
Look at my legs, these are my legs that I'm walking on, this is my neck. Can you feel the ice-cold Pepsi flowing down my throat? Should I wear a nose ring? Hanif talks about sex, crime, social tension, male chauvinism, policing, moral policing, and all that that runs rampant, unchecked and unreported in the average day of the Karachi work-life. And all of this he does without the slightest romance to it, in a gloomy, but comical voice of a voyeuristic narrator. Hanif stays away from most cliches and dives right into ugly greasy social structure he exposes with the help of well-sketched characters. Alice, a nurse in a Catholic hospital; Teddy Butt, a police helper and informer; Inspector Malangi, a seemingly-sincere law enforcer; Hina Alvi, a senior nurse at the same hospital. Alongside a host of other characters that could have been stereotypes in a Hindi film, but come across as refreshingly original because of how realistically they all form the backbone of urban Pakistan's social fabric.
Hanif's plot works single-mindedly towards an end result that he seems to have in mind right from the start of the story. A tragic finish to the story that in one stroke puts a finish to the discourse on everything he's been trying to highlight. An effortless single act that ties everything up together, leaving you with a sense of deep pain, shame, and utmost regret- not just for the characters, but for the society at large.
'Our Lady of Alice Bhatti' remains in your head as an affectionate ode to the Pakistan we don't know.
Alice is not the fully-covered woman that Islamic societies are largely characterised by. She is, as Hanif describes, 'a miracle of malnutrition' with a slender waist, skinny limbs but perfectly-shaped breasts. Alice married Teddy Butt, a police errand boy, in order to stay safe. Hanif only embellishes the story with his satirical, dark comic writing, without which, 'Our Lady of Alice Bhatti' is no different from a work of realism. Hanif doesn't shy away from talking about something he feels most strongly about- the plight of women.
Look at my legs, these are my legs that I'm walking on, this is my neck. Can you feel the ice-cold Pepsi flowing down my throat? Should I wear a nose ring? Hanif talks about sex, crime, social tension, male chauvinism, policing, moral policing, and all that that runs rampant, unchecked and unreported in the average day of the Karachi work-life. And all of this he does without the slightest romance to it, in a gloomy, but comical voice of a voyeuristic narrator. Hanif stays away from most cliches and dives right into ugly greasy social structure he exposes with the help of well-sketched characters. Alice, a nurse in a Catholic hospital; Teddy Butt, a police helper and informer; Inspector Malangi, a seemingly-sincere law enforcer; Hina Alvi, a senior nurse at the same hospital. Alongside a host of other characters that could have been stereotypes in a Hindi film, but come across as refreshingly original because of how realistically they all form the backbone of urban Pakistan's social fabric.
Hanif's plot works single-mindedly towards an end result that he seems to have in mind right from the start of the story. A tragic finish to the story that in one stroke puts a finish to the discourse on everything he's been trying to highlight. An effortless single act that ties everything up together, leaving you with a sense of deep pain, shame, and utmost regret- not just for the characters, but for the society at large.
'Our Lady of Alice Bhatti' remains in your head as an affectionate ode to the Pakistan we don't know.
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