Source: http://www.thenews.com.pk/Todays-News-4-161327-A-trip-through-19th-century-Awadh
Kenize Mourad, a French writer, enlightened history buffs with her novel “In the city of gold and silver” at the Alliance Francais on Thursday evening.
The book takes readers on a tour of Awadh around the time of the First War of Indian Independence (1857) and is an account of the Begums of Awadh and their resolution and gritty determination whenever the situation demanded so.
Source: http://www.thenews.com.pk/Todays-News-4-161327-A-trip-through-19th-century-Awadh
Kenize Mourad, a French writer, enlightened history buffs with her novel “In the city of gold and silver” at the Alliance Francais on Thursday evening.
The book takes readers on a tour of Awadh around the time of the First War of Indian Independence (1857) and is an account of the Begums of Awadh and their resolution and gritty determination whenever the situation demanded so.
The book describes the character and exploits of Hazrat Mahal, first wife of Nawab Wajid Ali Shah of Awadh. It also portrays the way Hindu and Muslim cultures existed side by side in Awadh.
In her talk, she highlighted the steel and gritty determination, and valour of the Begum of Awadh, and said that in the first war of independence, the intruding British promised to return her palace and other possession if she capitulated to their demands but she resolutely refused and preserved her honour.
Mourad said that what motivated her to write the book was that when she visited India for the first time, what she observed was totally different from the stereotype of an eastern woman, especially Muslim women, namely, that they were overly obedient and submissive. She said she thought that it was incumbent on her to cast the eastern woman in the right perspective and tell the world that Muslim women were as free and had as much of initiative and individuality.
“I wanted to tell the world that Islam guarantees full freedom and dignity to women and bestows all the rights on them that are due them as women. Islam preaches progress and granting women their due rights.”
Chiding the British, Mourad said that at the time of the first war of independence, the British said that they were waging the war to impart superior values and civilisation to the Indians, and that in our time it was George Bush who had offered exactly the same argument while launching the most savage invasion of Iraq.
She said that scouring the field for the subject matter and information for her book took her to libraries in London, Oxford, and Cambridge, and later to New Delhi and Lucknow.
In Lucknow, she said, she met the great-grandson of the Begum. In due course, she said, she also met the descendents of those who fought alongside the Begum to oust the British. This, apart from being a very gratifying experience, also consolidated the authenticity of the book, she said.
“Coming from France at 31, I found myself in Lucknow. Lucknow still retains its old charm, majestic buildings oozing history and culture, but things have changed too.”