BOOK REVIEW: AN EXUBERANT TRAVEL MEMOIR

Book: Travels in a Dervish Cloak Author: Isambard Wilkinson

Since 9/11, there have been books about radical Islam, the identity of Taliban, and the geo-political alliances of Pakistan. But not much books have been written about the ground reality prevailing in the country. The author Isambard Wilkinson comes up with such a book “Travels in a Dervish Cloak”, which is a memoir in which he navigates Pakistan’s inner pockets and describes the country in all its exuberant, colourful and contemporary glory.
The book is a travel memoir, and details the experiences of the author exploring an often misunderstood country. The author, a foreign correspondent, enchanted by his Anglo-Indian grandmother’s stories about the subcontinent and his own youthful travels in the region, takes up his post as the Daily Telegraph’s correspondent in Islamabad, when the country is in the epicentre of ‘the war on terror’.
Guided by his grandmother’s Pakistani friend, Sajida Ali Khan, known simply as “the Begum”, he sets off on a quest to discover what of Pakistan’s old traditions have been destroyed and what survives. His encounters with Sufi mystics, omnipotent tribal chieftains, spies and rebellious domestic staff, unveil an often wild, contradictory and enchanting land in the throes of an identity crisis, and by this the author tends to know more about what he has gone to find, in his own words- “the essence, the quiddity of Pakistan, which I hoped to find by encountering its mystics, tribal chiefs and feudal lords”.
The book has many delighting photographs by Chev Wilkinson. However, the account is somewhat uneven and could have been more deftly composed. Also, not much travels are into Gilgit-Baltistan and Pakistan occupied Kashmir to know about the contemporary realities there, which will be of more interest to Indian readers. But the book has been written in an expressive writing style, and the author’s enthusiasm about exploring the country and his child-like fascination about the ground realities that he finds, captivates the reader.
This is a book that evokes a very specific idea of Pakistan- and gives the reader the feeling of a place not overtly radical Islamist in character, but boasting of syncretic Sufi traditions, though these traditions are much threatened in today’s Pakistan with a political dispensation having extremist overtones. The memoir, despite a few flaws, engrosses the reader with its immersive depth and the lyrical writing style of the author; and offers an excellent slice of life in the interiors of today’s Pakistan, which is much different from what is described in the negative news reports.
This is a book that offers astute and first-hand commentary about a journey to the heart of Pakistan; and this acerbic, moving and hilarious travel account should be read by readers who are interested to know more about the contemporary situation in Pakistan, as it reveals complex dynamics of a country home to diverse multitudes.