“This is my land, this is my country. No one can come between us. Neither saffron nor green can come in our way. But, they try to.” Deb...
“This is my land, this is my country. No one can come between us. Neither saffron nor green can come in our way.
But, they try to.”
Debut author Sabin Iqbal’s The Cliffhanger features a group of friends – Usma, Thaha, Jahangir and Moosa. Moosa is 19; the ages of the other friends are not mentioned, but it is presumed that they are more or less the same age. They are not very well educated, having, inevitably, failed in school, and hang around the cliff near their village. There is little for them to do. They are considered kafirs for their free lifestyle and friendships with foreigners and with Hindus like Balannan and Vivekannan.
They belong to impoverished homes that rely upon remittances sent home from West Asia. It is mostly the men of these families who have gone in search of work to Dubai, where they occupy the lowest rungs in the workforce, as drivers, shop assistants, or messengers. This is work that is unappealing to the younger men in India, but they realise that it is a matter of time before they too have to join the same workforce. It helps bring in a regular income and is preferable to the backbreaking task of fishing – the...
