By Kashif-ul-Huda, TwoCircles.net
“Look, you already know the subject is a wedding. It could be any Indian wedding. Believe me, that’s where our focus will lie, and not whether it is a Muslim wedding and why we didn’t look at weddings of other faiths.”
The backdrop of Blinkers Off is a class project making a documentary on an Indian wedding. The Indian wedding happens to be a Muslim wedding and that could be because the two main characters of this novel are Muslims but that’s not incidental. Author Andaleeb Wajid writes about subject and characters that are most familiar to her.
Blinkers Off is available for sale at major bookstores all over India
Blinkers Off is the second novel by the Bangalore-based Wajid. Her first novel Kite Strings was a coming of age story of a Muslim girl growing up in Bangalore. Kite Strings was well received by critics and readers and it comes as no surprise that Rupa agreed to publish her second novel.
Only similarity between the two novels is that protagonists of both novels are young Muslim girls of strong characters. While Mehnaaz in Kite Strings was discovering her past, Noor in Blinkers Off has her sights set on the future. In both novels, readers will be challenged about their notions of a stereotypical Muslim girl.
Noor is like any other college girls, with her own conflicts, hopes, and dreams. She wants to be a screen-play writer and takes the documentary-making class very seriously but then can she afford to be distracted by a good-looking Dennis, who makes her heart go flutter? Saying anything more will spoil some of the fun of reading this entertaining story so I would stop here about the story and request readers to go buy a copy.
Andaleeb Wajid has developed her own simple and direct way of storytelling that makes the reader engrossed in the story without much distractions and digressions. This also makes the story move at an even pace with few surprises thrown in just when you think you have the story figured out.
Links:
Blinkers Off availability information: http://blinkersoffnovel.wordpress.com/2011/07/27/blinkers-off-is-out/
Author’s website : http://andaleebwajid.com
Kite Strings: http://andaleebwajid.com/books/4-2/chapter-1/