In Zahid Rafiq's debut short story collection, the future of Kashmir is uncertain

Summary

NPR's Book of the Day: Exploring Zahed Rafiq’s “The World with Its Mouth Open”

NPR's Book of the Day delves into the poignant and evocative short story collection The World with Its Mouth Open by Zahed Rafiq, a journalist-turned-author residing in the tumultuous region of Kashmir. Hosted by Eric Deggans, this episode offers a comprehensive exploration of Rafiq’s narratives, drawing deep connections between his unique storytelling approach and the volatile backdrop of Kashmir.

---

Author Introduction and Collection Overview

The episode opens with host Eric Deggans introducing Zahed Rafiq and his debut collection, The World with Its Mouth Open. Rafiq, a writer and journalist based in Kashmir—a region marred by prolonged conflict involving India, Pakistan, and China—brings to life the precarious yet ordinary lives of its inhabitants through his stories.

Deggans describes the collection as a series of powerful tales set in modern-day Kashmir, featuring characters such as:

• A pregnant woman searching for fresh fish
• An unemployed son seeking work during a downpour
• A shopkeeper attempting to return a mourning-like mannequin
• A work crew uncovering a severed hand while digging a foundation

These narratives collectively paint a vivid picture of life amidst uncertainty and conflict.

---

The Writing Process: Embracing the Unknown

A significant portion of the discussion centers on Rafiq’s unconventional writing method. At [04:03], Rafiq explains:

“Because I don't know a story when I sit down to write it. That is a necessity for me. I must not know what the story is. That's the only reason I can keep going.”

This approach mirrors the unpredictability of life in Kashmir, where the future remains uncertain. Rafiq emphasizes the importance of allowing characters and plotlines to develop organically, ensuring authenticity and originality in his storytelling.

---

Excerpts and Descriptive Mastery

To illustrate his descriptive prowess, Rafiq reads a passage from his story "Bare Feet" at [02:17]. He vividly portrays the starkness of Kashmir’s streets through sensory details:

“Packs of angry dogs and littered corners, birds perched on electric wires, a faint stench of rotting meat… Bunkers made of sandbags with loops of barbed wire wound around… dark eyes watch you with pointed barrels. They are everywhere.”

Deggans commends Rafiq’s ability to blend his journalistic eye with his literary talents, capturing both the ordinary and the harrowing aspects of daily life in Kashmir.

---

Deep Dive: The Story of the Severed Hand

One of the standout stories discussed is “House,” where workers uncover a severed hand while laying a home’s foundation. At [05:23], Rafiq shares the genesis of this story:

“It came out of a single sentence that a man comes running out and says, I found something. And when they look, there is a hand on the spade.”

The narrative explores themes of violence, memory, and the struggle to build a future amidst a violent past. The character Manzoor, an idealistic laborer, contrasts with others who seek to dismiss the discovery, symbolizing differing responses to trauma and loss.

Rafiq elaborates on the metaphor of building a house in a graveyard, reflecting the broader context of Kashmir:

“In a way, it is the building of a future on the... on a terrible, terrible past. And many characters react very differently to that kind of building, to that kind of a construction. And yet we see that life goes on.” ([06:28])

---

Living in the Moment: Reflections on Kashmir’s Uncertainty

Rafiq discusses how living in Kashmir shapes his philosophy both in life and writing. At [07:24], he remarks:

“Because you live in the moment. The future is very dark, very uncertain. Tomorrow is very dark. So all you have is this today.”

This perspective emphasizes the immediate reality faced by Kashmiris, where planning for the future is often overshadowed by present uncertainties. Rafiq contrasts this with his experiences abroad, noting how the security to plan ahead in places like America starkly differs from his lived reality.

---

Conclusion: A Mirror to Kashmir's Soul

The episode concludes with Rafiq’s reflections on his storytelling journey and the intrinsic link between his creative process and his environment. By embracing the unknown in his writing, Rafiq not only crafts authentic and compelling narratives but also mirrors the unpredictability and resilience of life in Kashmir.

Eric Deggans thanks Rafiq for his insights, leaving listeners with a profound appreciation for the intersection of literature and lived experience in one of the world's most contested regions.

---

Notable Quotes:

• Zahed Rafiq [04:03]:

  “Because I don't know a story when I sit down to write it. That is a necessity for me. I must not know what the story is.”

• Zahed Rafiq [07:24]:

  “Because you live in the moment. The future is very dark, very uncertain. Tomorrow is very dark. So all you have is this today.”

• Zahed Rafiq [06:28]:

  “In a way, it is the building of a future on the... on a terrible, terrible past. And many characters react very differently to that kind of building, to that kind of a construction. And yet we see that life goes on.”

Zahed Rafiq’s The World with Its Mouth Open offers a window into Kashmir’s soul, blending journalistic precision with literary depth. This NPR episode not only highlights the beauty and pain embedded in his stories but also underscores the universal themes of uncertainty, resilience, and the quest for meaning amidst chaos.

Transcript

[Andrew Limbong]

Hey, it's NPR's Book of the Day. I'm Andrew Limbong. Today's interview is an examination of control or lack thereof. It's with the author Zahed Rafiq, who is a writer and journalist living in Kashmir, a geographical region that has multiple countries fighting over it. Rafiq's got a new short story collection called the World with Its Mouth Open, and He spoke with NPR's Eric Deggans about purposefully not knowing the endings to his stories, otherwise he can't even start writing. And they they start to draw parallels between that style of writing of going out into the creative darkness with no map and living somewhere where the future is uncertain. That's ahead.

[NPR Sponsor]

Support for NPR and the following message come from Goodrx Looking for relief from cold and flu symptoms? With Goodrx, you can save an average of $34 on cold and flu medications, plus find savings on everyday prescriptions. Goodrx lets you compare prescription prices at over 70,000 pharmacies and instant find discounts of up to 80%. Even if you have insurance or Medicare, Goodrx may beat your copay price. Save on cold and flu prescriptions and [e-mail] book in a new short story.

[Eric Deggans]

Collection titled the World With Its Mouth Open, characters live very precarious yet ordinary lives in modern day Kashmir. It's an area in the Indian subcontinent that's seen decades of conflict between India, Pakistan and China. A pregnant woman goes in search of fresh fish. An unemployed son looks for a job during a downpour. A shopkeeper tries to return a new mannequin that looks like it's in mourning. A work crew digging a foundation unearths a severed hand. It's a powerful collection of tales, and Zahed Rafiq, a journalist turned author, is here to talk about it. Thank you so much for joining us.

[Zahed Rafiq]

Thank you for having me.

[Eric Deggans]

Eric, your language in these stories, it just paints such vivid pictures. And I was hoping that you could read a passage from the story called Bare Feet, where a new native of Kashmir who's lived outside the country for years returns and then travels the streets with a friend. Could you read that passage for us?

[Zahed Rafiq]

Sure, I can read it. I have never seen the streets like this, the city like this. For a moment, it occurs to me that this is not my city, but some other unfortunate city. Packs of angry dogs and littered corners, birds perched on electric wires, a faint stench of rotting meat. In the windows of houses are silhouettes, brief apparitions peering out at empty roads, neighborhood after neighborhood, desolation, nothing but Bunkers made of sandbags with loops of barbed wire wound around. And from little holes in the bunkers, dark eyes watch you with pointed barrels. They are everywhere. The bunkers, the blind eyes, the searching muzzles. I had heard all this in my absence. But to see it is another thing.

[Eric Deggans]

Those details, I was wondering, is that your journalist's eye at work there, that was a mix.

[Zahed Rafiq]

That was a mix of the journalist eye, of the writer's eye, of the eye of a person who has to live here every day. And also retrieve those images from the blur of the normality that you begin to see. And then it becomes so normal, all of this, that you no longer see it. So it was almost like returning oneself the sense of sight.

[Eric Deggans]

Right? And listeners may sense. It's tough for me to talk about the specifics of these stories without giving too much away, because the way you construct them is that you're slowly kind of revealing the scope and nature of the story as the reader goes through the pieces. And I was interested in that storytelling approach as well. How did you sort of light on this way of sort of revealing the stories to the people who read them?

[Zahed Rafiq]

Because that is how the stories are revealed to me. Because I don't know a story when I sit down to write it. That is a necessity for me. I must not know what the story is. That's the only reason I can keep going. If I plan the story ahead, if I think it through, then the pleasure of it is done for me. So I sit down, I'll take a sentence. I have a vague sense of where I want to go. But then somebody else might come. A character comes up and he says something. I don't plan him, but I allow him to say what he wants to say. If he feels real, if he feels true. So in the way the details slowly gather together, people come together. That is how it is revealed to me as well. And I want to preserve that originality in some sense, that authenticity of something gathering together, of a story coming together.

[Eric Deggans]

I want to talk to you about the house. The story about workers who find the severed hand while they're digging a home's foundation. The wife of the homeowner is very practical. She just wants that hand out of there. And one of the laborers, Manzoor, he seems like the only one who's committed to figuring out if there's more remains there. And how does dispose of this sort of correctly, given how you work, how did you start that story? What gave you the idea? And how did you sort of progress through it?

[Zahed Rafiq]

I think the idea came from really with the desire to have a small place of my own. The desire also for a house came amid all this violence that was in my head. It was almost. The mind is a graveyard. The mind is a place of where terrible things happen. It came out of a single sentence that a man comes running out and says, I found something. And when they look, there is a hand on the spade. And then the rest of the writing was a natural progression, trying to make sense of what can possibly happen. Manzoor, the laborer, he kind of spoke his own lines, really. He was this young guy, younger guy, who is the only one, in a way, who is still idealistic in some sense, saying, what should we do? What is it that we owe somebody? And everybody else played themselves. So it comes out of the desire to have a house in a graveyard.

[Eric Deggans]

Well, I was wondering if you were saying that in Kashmir in particular. It's tough to build something new without building it on the bones of something that's already been there.

[Zahed Rafiq]

In a way, it is the building of a future on the. On a terrible, terrible past. And 1. Many characters react very differently to that kind of building, to that kind of a construction. And yet we see that life goes on.

[Eric Deggans]

I was blown away by the way you put sentences together, the way you describe things. You are discovering what you want to say as you're writing it. It's like, start on a trip and you don't even know where the destination is. Which is awesome.

[Zahed Rafiq]

No way. If I know where the destination is, I can never set out. I'm a person like that. Like, if I go travel somewhere, I'll never book the return tickets. Never. When I went to America, to Berkeley, to study, and I realized that people have made plans for the next week. It was astounding.

[Eric Deggans]

I wonder if that's sort of an outgrowth of your upbringing in Kashmir. You talked about people living on the.

[Zahed Rafiq]

Edge, in a way, because you live in the moment. The future is very dark, very uncertain. Tomorrow is very dark. So all you have is this today. What is the point of planning if you don't know what it's going to be like tomorrow? I think the only people who plan really are the people who are secure that they have a week. And then there's going to be Thursday. And Thursday will look like Wednesday. Wednesday will look like Tuesday.

[Eric Deggans]

Yeah.

[Zahed Rafiq]

I want to say, when I say this, it's me. It's like a very subjective experience of living. I'm sure there are people who know that they're going to be around next year, 28th of March, and they have planned for it. Like in America, I realize people book vacations like six months away. The kind of planning it comes out of a certain degree of security where you know that I have agency, I have control over. Six months later, Absolutely.

[Eric Deggans]

Zahed Rafiq he's the author of the World with Its Mouth Open. Thank you so much for joining us on the show.

[Zahed Rafiq]

Thank you, Eric.

[NPR Sponsor]

Support for this podcast and the following message come from Autograph Collection hotels. With over 300 independent hotels around the world, each exactly like nothing else, Autograph Collection is part of the Marriott Bonvoy portfolio of hotel brands. Find the [e-mail] this message comes from BetterHelp. Working to make therapy more convenient, flexible and affordable, BetterHelp is committed to helping people manage their well being and mental health through therapy. Visit betterhelp.com NPR for 10% off your first month.

This message comes from GiveWell. GiveWell provides rigorous, transparent research about the best giving opportunities so that donors can make informed decisions about high impact giving. To learn more, go to givewell.org and pick podcast and enter NPR at checkout.