Has anyone read this novel?
Khwaja Najmul Hasan who made a drama on Tansen’s life, plans to adapt this novel for a drama.
Life is both sweet and cruel to strong-willed young Shabanu, whose home is the windswept Cholistan Desert of Pakistan. The second daughter in a family with no sons, she’s been allowed freedoms forbidden to most Muslim girls. But when a tragic encounter with a wealthy and powerful landowner ruins the marriage plans of her older sister, Shabanu is called upon to sacrifice everything she’s dreamed of. Should she do what is necessary to uphold her family’s honor—or listen to the stirrings of her own heart?
Re: Shahbano - A novel on Cholistan
I've read this. It's one of three novels. The first novel is Shabanu, followed by Haveli and The House of Djinn. I've also read Haveli, which picks up on a few years after where Shabanu left off but have yet to read The House of Djinn.
Re: Shahbano - A novel on Cholistan
So is it worth adapting for a drama considering the novel was published in late 80s and circumstances of Cholistan might have changed in between.
Re: Shahbano - A novel on Cholistan
So is it worth adapting for a drama considering the novel was published in late 80s and circumstances of Cholistan might have changed in between.
I think it would be worth adapting into drama because some of the issues brought up in the novel such as early marriage (Shabanu is only 11 when she becomes engaged), access to education for girls, and disputes over inheritance are still quite relevant.
Re: Shahbano - A novel on Cholistan
When I heard about the idea of adapting this novel for a drama, I thought it might be written in Urdu by a Pakistani writer, but when googled it turned out to be written by a non-Pakistani writer in English. Generally, when someone from west writes about our part of world, it carries exaggeration to some level. Do you think that this writer has written the book without exaggerating too much. what inspired her to write a novel on Cholistan, as I don't remember that there is any such work available even in Urdu (at least I didn't come across that work).
Re: Shahbano - A novel on Cholistan
When I heard about the idea of adapting this novel for a drama, I thought it might be written in Urdu by a Pakistani writer, but when googled it turned out to be written by a non-Pakistani writer in English. Generally, when someone from west writes about our part of world, it carries exaggeration to some level. Do you think that this writer has written the book without exaggerating too much. what inspired her to write a novel on Cholistan, as I don't remember that there is any such work available even in Urdu (at least I didn't come across that work).
It’s interesting that you mention this. There were a couple of aspects that I felt were rather exaggerated and rather unrealistic. One of these is early on in the novel where Shabanu and her father are aghast when they learn that Arabs sacrifice camels for Eid and eat camel meat. I found it extremely unrealistic that the nomads of Cholistan would not eat camel meat, given the harsh and resource poor environment they live in and the fact that they raise the camels as livestock and transportation. The way the author described this made it sound as if they viewed them as pets.
Another thing that stood out to me as odd was that Shabanu refers to her father as "dadi.” Isn’t “dadi” the Urdu/Hindi term for paternal grandmother or is it used differently among Cholistani nomads?
Re: Shahbano - A novel on Cholistan
I think they speak a dialect of Saraiki in Cholistan or at most it would be something near Rajisthani and Thari language. I don’t think that the word for father in Saraiki and Thari languages are ‘Dadi’.
Camel sacrifice can’t be shocking to people of Cholistan. The names suggests that characters in the novel are Muslims, so I can’t understand why they were shocked to hear this practice. May be the writer came up with this point just to emphasise on importance of camel in desert. Otherwise, the ultimate destiny of animals like camel in desert (when they passed their lives and are of no use in travel, etc) is slaughtering and consumption as food. The writer would have made a big issue, if she wrote something about Mongols as they were upto eating horses 
Re: Shahbano - A novel on Cholistan
^ Yes, exactly!!!
I also wanted to add that if the novel is adapted into a drama, I quite hope that the writers tread carefully and are not too heavy handed. I've noticed that when writing about tribal cultures, people tend to romanticise and over exaggerate tribal culture and given many of the tribal elements in the novel, it has the potential to become a saccharine, melodramatic mess if the writer is not careful.
Re: Shahbano - A novel on Cholistan
I think I might go through the book to see what other mistakes the writer has done while developing characters from Cholistan. Have found the soft copy.
Re: Shahbano - A novel on Cholistan
I've read this. It's one of three novels. The first novel is Shabanu, followed by Haveli and The House of Djinn. I've also read Haveli, which picks up on a few years after where Shabanu left off but have yet to read The House of Djinn.
Read the first two. Mostly a coming-of-age story with a focus on misfortunes caused by unfair gender roles and hardships facing women in a typical nomadic/tribal settings.
Re: Shahbano - A novel on Cholistan
I've read this. It's one of three novels. The first novel is Shabanu, followed by Haveli and The House of Djinn. I've also read Haveli, which picks up on a few years after where Shabanu left off but have yet to read The House of Djinn.
Same here. Have read the first two. And for a while I was waiting for the author to produce another book. Did not know about House of Djinn. I will look into that and maybe put it on my reading list.
Re: Shahbano - A novel on Cholistan
Yeah, House of Djinn was published in 2008. I wanted to read it but after reading an introduction to the plot and few reviews on Amazon and a couple of other places, I think I might skip it. The plot sounds terribly clichéd and quite Bollywood-esque.
You can read the plot introduction here:
The House of Djinn: Suzanne Fisher Staples: 9780307976420: Amazon.com: Books