The Otherness That Defines Me
Syeda Naghma Abidi
TYPHOON by Qaisra Shahraz Amber Books India, 2015, 350 pp., 2129
June 2015, volume 39, No 6

Typhoon is the story of three women with different backgrounds, though connected by the manner in which past plays a critical part in their lives. Naghmana is a glamorous woman from the city, Chaudhrani Kaniz, a land baron based in a village, and Gulshan, an innocent homemaker. When Gulshan finds her husband Haroon in the arms of Naghamana, a storm is unleashed in the lives of the three main characters of the novel. The matter is taken up before the Village Elders and a Katcheri is called. Naghmana who arrives in the katcheri as a tainted woman is revealed to be the first wife by Haroon who desperately makes an attempt to recover the damage throughout appealing to Hajra and Siraj din the Sarpanch. But things move out of his hands and Siraj din sets in motion an acknowledgement of the relationship between Naghmana and Haroon which in seconds brings them close and separates them forever.

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