Book Review: The Wandering Falcon by Jamil Ahmad

Jamil Ahmad, the author of this book, served for a long time as a bureaucrat in the Frontier Province and Baluchistan. This novel is a product based on his personal experiences about the Nomadic life of the tribes inhabiting Baluchistan and Waziristan. He highlights the old customs, codes, traditions of the Balochi people and their love for nomadic life.

The Wandering Falcon is a ragged piece of writing, a collection of nine stories depicting the interior view of the Baloch life. The central among these stories is a saga of romance: Gul Bibi’s eccentric crush on a man of humble race and her elopement with desiring to settle in the heaven of love. As this is against the laws and customs of Baloch life, she has to suffer a lot in her elopement. Gul Bibi’s escape is sinful according to the tribal customs. Both Gul Bibi and her lover go far away to spend a peaceful life and they take shelter but remain under search. Gul Bibi gives birth to a son, Tor Baz. The tragic point arises when they hunt for their people and are murdered, leaving their son behind. It is a doleful situation that affects the whole life of Tor Baz.

The writer portrays the protagonist character, Tor Baz, anonymous throughout the narrative. Tor Baz keeps appearing marginally during the narrative but never disappears. The Wandering Falcon deals mainly with an identity crisis, a postmodern dilemma of human life. He remains homeless throughout the story. Being a little child, he has no authorship to control the losses of his life and life also plays tricks with him. When he grows up, he never talks about his real identity.

Due to his identity crisis, he faces the agony of isolation and homelessness and wanders like a falcon for a sin he never committed. He tells the Deputy Commissioner: “I am neither a Mehsud nor a Wazir. But I can tell you a little about who I am as I can about who I shall be. Think of Tor Baz as hunting falcon.”

Moreover, the clash between the Balochi Nomads and the state is another issue that Jamil Ahmad highlights in the novel. The tribes are called “The Kharot” and similarly “Pawindas” whose survival depends upon their animals and camels particularly and their movement is unavoidable to search for the animal feed. Even they are put to death by the state-pointed soldiers. Their hopelessness and unjust fair claim that they belong to all countries or none seem true and they die during the borders of Afghanistan, Iran and Pakistan. When they call for freedom, their sovereignty, freedom and pride in their community all are put at stake.

There are also many stories within the stories which add expansion and depth to the narrative as a whole. In all stories, the writer emphasizes some distinct features common to the Balochi tribes: loyalty to the leader, hospitality, code of honour and their nomadic ways of living. The main concern of The Wandering Falcon is on the issue of an identity crisis, stereotypical conventions of society and the suppressed voice of Balochi tribes for their freedom and conflict between the laws of the state and tribes customs.

And most importantly when love gets threatened by the customs and stereotypical facts, the results seem to be venomous. As Gul Bibi and her lover face the hardships of their customs, Tor Baz is left behind to face a number of puzzling questions of his remaining life consequently. Lastly, various motifs, literary allusions, metaphors, imagery as well as postmodern features contribute to attracting the story more.

The writer is a student of English Language and Literature at the Institute of English Studies, PU.