The Sea Lies Ahead

In 1947 young Jawad Hassan gives up his ancestral home in India and his fiancee Maimuna for a dream country founded by Jinnah. And even though the newly created state of Pakistan is thronged by a huge number of zealous Muslims, ready to lead from the front, the rapid breakdown of law and order in Karachi makes many, like Jawad, retreat into reminiscence of their past in undivided India. It nudges them to probe the larger history of ‘migration’ and the rise and fall of ancient cities and civilizations. The second in Intizar Husain’s acclaimed trilogy, The Sea Lies Ahead takes up the story of Pakistan where the first novel Basti (1979) ended: poised on the verge of breaking off from its eastern arm. Its title is a nod to the callous remark made by General Ayub Khan who – when asked what would happen to the Urdu-speaking muhajirs who had come from India and had, in a sense, burnt their boats – allegedly said, ‘Aage samandar hai’, the sea lies ahead. This is a novel about those muhajirs, among them the author himself, who went to the promised Land of the Pure, and were met with mistrust, prejudice and apathy. Equally, it is a rich portrait of the new culture of urban Pakistan fostered by people who came from the countless towns and hamlets in and around Lucknow, Meerut and Delhi. Bringing alive unforgettable characters with its sparkling prose, this novel is a powerful exploration of Islamic history and the story of Pakistan’s great disillusionment.