Synopsis "Vampire"
The unnamed narrator in Azeem Baig Chughtai's Vampire-written as a letter toGod-is a 16-year-old girl who has just had her nikah ceremony. She dreams ofa life of happiness with a loving, handsome husband-whose face, however, shewill only see at her rukhsati, when she finally leaves her parents' home for hermarital home.Then, tragedy befalls her. Separated from her family on the journey to hercousin's wedding in a neighbouring town, she finds herself stranded at the railwaystation. She has no other recourse but to spend the night at the station master'shouse, discovering too late that the only other occupant is his male guest. In thespace of a night, her life is changed forever; she loses her 'honour' and faces theterrifying prospect of being shunned by her family, in-laws and friends.In her letter to God, she pours out her grief and terror, her conflictingemotions of denial and acceptance of the events of that night, until she reaches aconclusion. The decision she makes when she finally comes face to face with herhusband, leaves the reader both shocked and disturbed.The brother and literary mentor of the legendary Urdu writer Ismat Chughtai, Azeem Baig was an iconoclast and a feminist who did not hesitate to breakboundaries. Nowhere is this more evident than in Vampire. Long before termslike 'rape syndrome' and 'secondary rape' were coined, Chughtai dared to writeabout the unmentionable subject of rape in Muslim society-from the femalevictim's perspective. What makes the novel unique and amazingly relevant is thatthis story, set in 1930s' India, could well be happening in the twenty-first century.Flawlessly translated by his grand-daughter, Zoovia Hamiduddin, this is the firstof Azeem Baig Chughtai's works to be translated into English.
