#nishat

Nishat Garden in Srinagar ( Kashmir / India )

♥️ 10/10

⚠️ Possible spoilers

I finished The Henna Wars and my god what an incredible book. I devoured this book, in one day I read 80% of it. It has such a pleasant rhythm, the writing is so addictive, it generates so much curiosity and makes you freak out so much that it's honestly very difficult to stop reading.

This book debates cultural appropriation in a way I've never seen before. Yes, you can use art, food etc made by non-white people, no, you can't take it as your own, want to go over someone whose thing you are using/reproducing/consuming be part of that person's culture and then act as if it were just fashion, as if diversity were something just for profit, as if it wasn't part of someone's experience.

But because it's the kind of moment I could never have dreamed of having in a million years.”

so what is this book about? it's the story of Nishat, a girl of Bengali origin who lives in Ireland. she's a closeted lesbian -- only her loving sister, Priti, knows of her sexuality. she decides to come out to her parents after a wedding because she doesn't want her parents to have similar conventional expectations from her due to her sexuality. Her conservative parents don’t take it particularly well, and deduce that Nishat’s sexuality is probably a ‘phase’ and that it’s a consequence of her being bought up in Ireland, which is more liberal in its gay laws than Bangladesh, their home country, where being gay is punishable by death. on top of this, Flávia, Nishat’s childhood crush, makes a comeback after having left their school a few years before. Nishat realises that her feelings for Flávia -- a biracial Brazilian-Irish girl -- haven’t subsided. a business competition is announced in their class, and both decide to set up henna stalls -- Nishat wants to do it because it’s a part of her culture and something that gives her solace, while Flávia and her cousin Chyna ( the latter had spread racist rumours about Nishat ) want to do it because it’s ‘trendy’ and to paraphrase Flávia -- because it’s all art and art doesn’t have boundaries. Or does it ? what do I think of this story ? it is a very beautiful, honest story. normally, i wouldn’t have liked Nishat’s character - she remains aloof on the goings-on of her sister and friends, despite them being involved in her life; a quality which usually turns me off. but this is just part of her character arc, and Adiba Jaigirdar rendered Nishat’s character in a manner that i loved Nishat from the very beginning, all the same. she’s got problems; she’s afraid-- to paraphrase Nishat herself -- that she can be anything that she wants to be except herself. she’s scared that no one except her sister is really going to accept her, and in such circumstances, i could understand why Nishat would be anxious about her future. she also had a great sense of humour and her more serious internal monologues really made me want to protect her soft heart. i loved that this book also raised the problem of cultural appropriation and why it’s so wrong. i loved that Nishat had a strong, firm relationship with her sister and that they listen to each other and accept each other so wholly. I loved that the romance did not completely take a lead over Nishat’s other relationships -- her best friends help her on her journey as a better person along with her sister. I loved the descriptions that Nishat gives of her culture -- she’s not embarrassed by it; she embraces it but at the same time is tentative of the reaction of fellow white students to her culture, a culture she clearly holds so dear to her. I loved that Adiba Jaigirdar called out the hypocrisy of those who toe every other line in religion but are selective when it comes to matters like sexuality.  i also loved the realistic banter between Nishat and Priti. not to mention the love story itself, which was one of the cutest I've ever read. there were some predictable turns the story took and the ending seemed to be like too much of a fairytale , but what the hell, I still loved it. The story as a whole was very endearing and I hope that I can see more stories like this in the future. Thank you, Adiba Jaigirdar, for writing a story so endearing and adorable, yet so thoughtful.

@diversenet event one: intersectionality >> nishat, the henna wars

she didnt expect an answer.