Hamid Baig, the novelist who has made an impressive debut with his title Little Maryam, isn’t a novelist by chance. He kept working over his ideas and emotions since the time when he was rather young – a kid, to be specific. His ideas kept taking the form of short stories and poems in the beginning but he checked his unthought beginning the field of full-length creative writing. A successful entrepreneur by profession, Hamid kept working on his story for some time, and recently, on the republic day of 2018, his book Little Maryam was launched. Little Maryam, as the author says and readers countersign that claim too, is not a typical romance with intimate scenes and unnecessary excitement. This is a well-thought novel which keeps the readers indulged in the story and drives the idea of love (true love) to a sentimental conclusion. The author has stayed focused on love; the author has created a sentimental romance, and he did not let the story be bereaved of passion. Yet, the novel is beautiful without any share given to Mr Grey!
Though doing a fully functional and practical analysis of any author just on the basis of a single title would not be fair, however, it can surely be attempted because the author has become popular and almost an overnight fame. The title Little Maryam is being loved by the readers and they are talking about Hamid’s style of narrative and his plot. So, I will try to comment on these qualities of the author.
Hamid Baig’s narrative is not forceful; it’s delicate but, to an extent, enchanting and inclusive. It does not let the readers astray and deviate from the storyline. A clear instance can be found at the very beginning of the novel where the story goes into flashback and resumes in the present on many occasions – still, the interest in the story remains intact because the witty exchanges between Miller and Dr Haider keep the readers indulged. A little, even a little sloppy attitude on those pages could have lost it all of the readers!
In the terms of plot construction, Hamid’s idea of making it an active-passive novel has worked very well for him. The novel begins indirectly – Saadiq is forced to tell the story of his past and reveal about Maryam. Towards the end, readers lose the sight of Saadiq and Miller is forced to narrate the story of Saadiq to the readers by following the letters left by him for her. Now, if the readers have been kept in curiosity till the last, they will surely like to know what happened to the protagonist of the novel and hence, there is no way escaping the pages without reading them! This is how a novelist can wisely compel the readers to indulge in the story without taking the ariel survey and leaving the novel unfinished!
As an author, Hamid Baig has certainly impressed the readers! His novel, not a typical romance, has let the readers be known that writing a romance does not only mean describing the physical beauty of a girl or women. In the current Indian literary scenario, attempts like his were needed and it’s good for the literary well-wishers.
If you also want to read the novel by Hamid, please follow the below link to Amazon. The page will open in a new tab:
Hamid Baig’s Little Maryam on Amazon India – buy now
by an LN contributor