Daughters of Charchinar

I am so grateful that I got to read this book. The Daughters of Charchinar by Almas Hussain is a book that everyone should read atleast once in their lifetime. It hit me damn hard in so many ways.

This book is about Nafisa and Meher, twin sisters born in the land of Charchinar where the life of women is not at all imaginable. They are raped as punishment for crime committed by the men in their family. They are killed just because they wish to pursue education. Charchinar is a land where girls and ladies are treated worse than a non-living thing.

When I did read the blurb of the book, the line "Here, rape is a punishment and not a crime" itself made me feel so much scared and also it was then that I knew this book is a must read.

The twin sisters lose their mother during their birth and from then they grew up in the kitchen and taken care by the cook Tuktuk. Their lives are impacted so much by the meaningless and barbaric rituals of Charchinar. The book then follows the life of the sisters and how they try to tackle or get through all the obstacles to live the life they wished for.

It's not like a typical fiction but that the girls go through the worst possible and then recovers or moves on on their life. It was very much pure and raw.

I personally liked Nafisa more than Meher because I did feel that Meher was not as true as Nafisa or that Nafisa was more true and loyal to Meher. Yet, Meher does amazing stuffs and both are equally inspirational in their own way.

The twist at the end was something that I felt was not fair though it is better than what could have happened.

Jirga court is a practise of solving disputes that is mostly practised in Afghanistan and some parts of Pakistan. This practise eventually ended up as a truncard for some of the people to gain more power and execute so much injustice. You can read or watch documentaries about Jirga Council/practise to know more.

So the above said Jirga practise was what the book cast lights on. For me, this was new and I did learn so much from this book. And to warn you, there are stuffs like brutal rape, body shaming and physical violence in it.