Last evening, I spoke to the friend who gave me Nomad’s Land for my birthday.
“Are you okay?” she asked. “You sound like you have a cold.”
I promised her I was fine. “But I just sobbed over Nomad’s Land.”
How does one review a book as beautiful as Nomad’s Land? It’s one of those books that you just have to put aside once in a while to take the time out to feel, even though you’re itching to know what happens next. It’s poetic and lyrical, and silly and sweet. It made me cry. It made me smile and roll my eyes because teens and pre-teens will be teens and pre-teens.
The book begins with a confession, where author Paro Anand tells the reader that she has deliberately tampered with the historical timeline to set the story in the 2000s and make it more relevant to youngsters today. The exodus of the Kashmiri Pandits took place in the late 80s and early 90s, but the story pushes these dates forward so that the young characters in the story have access to the internet and to mobile phones. While I think I would have enjoyed the story just as much had it been set in its own time, I loved this telling too.
Everyone urges Shanna’s family to leave, even as buses fill up with people fleeing Kashmir. Yet, Shanna’s father refuses. He stays on, forever trusting of his friends – until he is killed by terrorists. Shanna and her mother finally leave, and the girl is so overcome by grief that she allows hate to take over and pushes away her dearest friend, Huma.
Then, we have Pema, who belongs to a fictitious tribe called the Qhushavans. In their culture and belief system lies more of the magic of Nomad’s Land. The Qhushavans are the happy people. They’re nomads, who are in love with forever skies, but are persecuted by the government who wants them to have documents and follow laws that are alien to them. The Qhushavans stand for all those wanderers who are forced to conform to a normal that is not normal to them at all.
The friendship that blossoms between Shanna and Pema is wonderful. Shanna, shy, inhibited and easily shocked, is a lovely character, who grows through the book to become a breathtaking young lady (there’s a pun there, which you’ll find out if you read the book). She finds courage, rekindles hope and together with her friends, rediscovers what love and compassion are. The friendship in Nomad’s Land is the kind of friendship I hold dear, one that is so close-knit that it isn’t friendship, but sisterhood. It’s the friendship of my childhood and teenage years – giving, forgiving and passionate. It’s beautiful.
| Title | Nomad’s Land |
| Author | Paro Anand |
| Tags | Historical Fiction, Young Adult, Kashmir |
| Rating (out of 5) | 5 |
| Age-group | 12+ |
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