A Case of Exploding Mangoes….
By
Mohammed Hanif
The debut novel of author Mohammed Hanif, A Case of Exploding Mangoes, tries to build up on the theories that surround the unexpected death of Pakistan’s military dictator Zia-ul-Huq. Intended as a satire, with the paranoid ruler, Zia, and his entourage (that indulged his fears with mindless protocol and security) taking centre stage, Hanif uses his debut novel to portray the underbelly of a nation that was ruled with the iron hand of its military. Hanif places Ali Shigri, a junior under officer at the heart of the novel, as his narrator.
Ali is hauled up because his room-mate Obaid has decided to use his call-sign to take an aircraft. Ali faces torture in the dungeons and the author takes this opportunity to describe the other inmates of the prison – each facing the unjust laws of the land; a man who is in solitary confinement for 9 years, a woman who is to be stoned to death for adultery, when she was actually gang-raped. In this pit of apathy and irony, Ali soon becomes the leader in an intricate plot to assassinate the General, when he learns that Zia might have had a role to play in his father’s death. Ali’s compatriots in this journey are carefully drawn out caricatures, who add their own dimension to this multi-layered story. For a first time author, Hanif alternates brilliantly between Ali’s underground plot to kill General Zia and the latter’s last living days as he sinks further and further into paranoia and self-obsession.
If dark humour is the backbone of Hanif’s story, then its perfect metaphor is the scene where the author describes a 4th of July party, being hosted in Islamabad in 1988, where American guests are present in their traditional finery. Amongst the guests is a man referred to as OBL, who works for Laden and Company Constructions, who strikes up a familiarity with several guests, amongst whom is the CIA chief, who sees off OBL by saying, “Nice meeting you OBL…Good work…keep it up.” Hanif deserves a pat on his back for his brilliant amalgamation of imagination and irony!
Hanif’s debut novel also makes an attempt to highlight how radical Islam was pampered by the very forces (read America) that are now trying to curb it. He reminds the readers how there was a time when USA helped General Zia to finance and train the Afghan Mujahideens in their insurgency against the Russians in the 80’s. Zia not only gave them the dollars but also allowed them to use the borders of Pakistan as training camps. In the light of the fact that the Al-Qaeda is a menace looming large on the whole world today, a reminder of these moments of history forces the readers to decide on who is the real culprit.
Even as Hanif meanders between the various occurrences of the past that continue to have repercussions on the present, he does not lose sight of the main intention of his novel; that of trying to solve the mystery of Zia’s death. One of the theories being that a crate of mangoes was loaded on the aircraft before it took off. Some of the mangoes had ampoules with nerve gas that incapacitated the pilots. Several other probabilities are explored by Hanif and in the process he reveals a man whose ambiguous character guided Pakistani life for over a decade; a man who was alternately pious and violent.
The speculations over Zia-ul-Huq’s death continues to this day, with the most recent report saying that it was a rogue pilot who brought the aircraft down, killing the general and all the other important officials on board.
Hanif Mohammed’s debut novel is a noteworthy pot pourri of dark humour, brilliant imagination, vivid characterizations and brutal honesty and it hooks the readers right from the opening pages. Some readers might complain about the author’s indulgence over building Zia’s character, which resulted in a paucity of space to create a build up to the main purpose of the story; with the result that the tension build up is seen only in the final chapters and the resolution is a wee bit hurried, but in no way can these take away the laurels that must come the author’s way for this unique effort at storytelling.
