The Tree with a Thousand Apples
Author: Sanchit Gupta
Publisher: Niyogi, Rs 350
In a state of clashing ideologies and superseding ego, the civilians lose the most. The author presents the novel in a way that the line between fiction and facts gets majorly blurred. This is what makes it relevant in the contemporary times, says Akshita Rawat
Inspired by true events, The Tree with a Thousand Apples is a novel set in the backdrop of Kashmir trying to present a truer picture of the strife-torn Valley. The author of the book, Sanchit Gupta, was born and brought up in the hills of Himachal Pradesh and has worked as a freelance scriptwriter, co-founded his own theatre company and been acclaimed as a published writer for short stories and poems. The Tree with a Thousand Apples is his debut novel.
“If a criminal was once a saint and a saint was once a criminal then who is the criminal and who is the saintIJ”
The epigraph of the novel gives away the central theme of it. The pertaining question that hovers over the three protagonists, Bilal, Deewan and Saifeena, is whether they will choose to become ‘sinful criminals’ or ‘pacifist saints’IJ The novel begins with the present-day narrative and quickly changes its course to tell the story of the past. November of 1989 is when we first get an insight into the day-to-day lives of these three friends. The three are inseparable, more so because of their families’ acquaintance. Gupta gives a beautiful description of the spices and condiments in their lives. The reader can almost smell the brewing kahwa in a living room, or the essence of indigenous saffron. The calm and quiet of the friends’ lives is disturbed by the onset of terror in Kashmir. The horrifying events of January 20, 1990 change their lives forever. Saifeena’s mother had to suffer for the terror in the valley, while Bilal had to face a life full of poverty and wretchedness after that. Deewan was forced to flee from his own home to save his life. Their precious friendship gets staked for the communal violence forced upon the people.
“The apple tree still has a thousand apples, maybe some more.” The apple tree of the Kashmir that the children used to see remains the same. But, Kashmir changed drastically. Destiny brings the trio together after 20 years of tremendous change. They all have been damaged in their own ways for no real fault. Through these characters, Gupta has symbolised youth of Kashmir in the 1990s, the young lot who found themselves helpless as these three characters. A Kashmiri Pandit who had to live in separate refugee camps becomes ‘sinful’, and so does his Muslim friends. Bilal represents the ‘scapegoat’ who understands that all of them are being used for some people’s own rigid sentiments.
Saifeena comes back to Kashmir to look for justice for the price she had to pay for nothing. Deewan longs for his identity and love from any one, any one he could call family. While, Bilal still seeks redemption for the night Saifeena’s mother was wronged. Is it a never-ending cycle of violence that grips the civilians of the ValleyIJ Is the only way to redeem for a sin, is by committing another sinIJ The characters move around these questions and so do we. We feel the angst of Bilal in his choices of rebellion, and understand Diwan’s sense of longing for his home.
In a state of clashing ideologies and superseding ego, the civilians lose the most. After going through what the three friends went through, the choice of retaining the old self is not a given. Between the ‘saintly’ deeds and the ‘sinful’ ones, the reader cannot really judge them.
The author presents the novel in a way that the line between fiction and facts gets majorly blurred. This is what makes it relevant in the contemporary times. Certain real-life incidents, like the fake Macchil encounter, 1933 Mumbai blast, Indo-Pak cricket matches etc, find mention in the plot to give us a sense of reality within the fiction that is produced. The true picture of Kashmir is not known in any fact, and that is why the fiction based on Kashmir is so important. The author in this novel has tried to deliver an unbiased perspective on the issues of Kashmir.
The interesting story line grips the reader along with invoking in them the question of humanity. The various lines of cast, creed, colour, religion, class seem to be overpowering the real concern of humanity. How can innocent relationships like friendship survive in such a worldIJ This novel then is not only limited to the backdrop of Kashmir, but becomes a novel about universal human emotions.