Hai, Ambreen. "Border Work, Border Trouble: Postcolonial Feminism and the Ayah in Bapsi Sidh a!

s Cracking India." Modern Fiction Studies "#, no. $ %summer $&&&': ()*+"$#. In the following essay, Hai discusses Sidhwa's ,rackin- .ndia in terms of the rubric of bordercrossing in ostcolonial literature.

!orderlands "#$ may feed growth and e% loration or "#$ conceal a minefield. ++/ar-aret Hi-onnet, !orderwork& Feminist 'ngagements with Com arati(e )iterature

It is the intersections of the (arious systemic networks of class, race, *hetero+se%uality, and nation, then, that osition us as ,women., ++,handra /ohanty, ",arto-raphies" .n 0udyard 1iplin-!s short story "2n the ,ity Wall," the border bet een city and country, bet een British control and .ndian resistance, and bet een coloni3er and coloni3ed is occupied by the 4antastical 4i-ure o4 5alun, the "e67uisite" courtesan, entertainer, and artist, on hose hospitable -rounds men o4 all races and reli-ions amicably meet. 8 5iterally located on the border o4 5ahore %no a border city o4 Pakistan', 5alun!s house and body 4unction emblematically as border spaces, sites on the "city all" here se6ual, political, and cultural capital is traded and lines o4 di9ision crossed. This border status is, ho e9er, une6pectedly sub9ersi9e, 4or it is 5alun!s in-enious deployment o4 her seemin-ly non+ali-ned position in bet een many camps that enables her to hood ink the narrator into helpin- a capti9e .ndian re9olutionary escape 4rom British -uards. 1iplin-, as the narrator, rue4ully concludes: ". had become 5alun!s :i3ier a4ter all" %$"('. While hybrid 4i-ures++such as interracial ";urasians" or estern+educated "Babus" in British .ndia++ ere habitually derided in colonial discourse, this atypical colonial moment in "2n the ,ity Wall" seems more kno in- o4 the strate-ic doubleness o4 borderhood, and o4 the radical potential o4 the in+bet een, or the unbelon-in-. As such, it mi-ht be read as a be-innin-, 4rom hich, more recently, postcolonial literary and theoretical ritin-s ha9e alto-ether re+9alori3ed hybridity and be-un to consider the parado6ical po ers++despite di44iculties++o4 many kinds o4 border crossers and border inhabitants. .n recent years, the problems and possibilities o4 borders and boundaries++o4 7uestionin-, crossin-, trans-ressin-, recon4i-urin-, dismantlin-, and indeed inhabitin- borders and border spaces++ha9e become an increasin- preoccupation 4or theoretical discourses in a ide 9ariety o4 4ields.$ .n such emer-ent 4ields as 4eminist, 7ueer, race, postmodern, and postcolonial theories %as ell as cultural and canon studies', e6aminin- the con4i-urations o4 di44erence and the related task o4 rethinkin- disciplinarity pro9ide the impulses 4or acti9atin- boundaries as lines o4 demarcation. .n recent postcolonial ork a 4ocus has emer-ed that considers not only boundary crossing % hich takes the border to be a si-ni4ier o4 di9ision, constraint, or limitation', but also border inhabitation++on the "interstices" bet een, or the spaces o4 o9erlap++ hich re-ards the border itsel4 %and the sub<ecti9ity o4 those positioned on the border' as a critical i4 ambi-uous site o4 9ital reconstruction, a position replete ith contradictions and di44iculty, but also ith re-enerati9e promise. Thus Homi Bhabha describes the border space as the producti9e "tenebrousness" o4 the "interstitial," or the in+bet een: "These in+bet een spaces pro9ide the

terrain 4or elaboratin- strate-ies o4 sel4hood++sin-ular or communal++that initiate ne si-ns o4 identity, and inno9ati9e sites o4 collaboration, and contestation, in the act o4 de4inin- the idea o4 society itsel4" %8+$'. ".t is the space o4 inter9ention emer-in- in the cultural interstices," he continues, "that introduces creati9e in9ention into e6istence" %*'. Border ork, then, as undertaken by the in+bet eens, by those ho both belon- and unbelon-, ho can o44er crucial perspecti9al shi4ts, can ha9e liberatory potential, because it can undo binaristic and hierarchical cate-ories o4 opposition, o44erin- use4ul criti7ue and reconceptuali3ation o4 either side o4 an opposition++be it cultural, political, or intellectual. Abdul =an/ohamed, 4or instance, describes ;d ard Said as such a border intellectual, enabled precisely by his doubleness o4 belon-in- and not+belon-in-, and his ability to 7uestion as an insider>outsider in, 4or e6ample, both ";ast" and "West" %*)+88?'. Thus his "homelessness" %de4ined as a coura-eous re4usal to ally onesel4 ith a dominant ideolo-ical or political position' is use4ul as a 4orm o4 Socratic challen-e to either side. Analo-ously, ;mily Hicks!s ar-ues that "border ritin-," hich arises 4rom the hetero-eneity o4 multiple cultural e44ects, "must be concei9ed as a mode o4 operation rather than a de4inition," because ultimately it promotes in its readers a "psychic healin-." This ritin- is located in border re-ions or hetero-eneous cultures, bearin- the marks and carryin- the bene4its o4 historical o9erlay. Speakin- in many 9oices and to many audiences, it can ha9e the political e44ect o4 "ultimately underminin- the distinction bet een ori-inal and alien culture" %66iii+666i'. .ndeed, . ould add, not only does it o44er "multidimensional perception" %the ability to see 4rom both sides o4 a border' but in 4act thro s the 9ery idea o4 "sides" into disarray. .n Trinh /inh+ha!s ords:

-he moment the insider ste s out from the inside, she is no longer a mere insider *and (ice (ersa+. She necessarily looks in from the outside while also looking out from the inside "# and$ she also resorts to non-e% licati(e, non-totali.ing strategies that sus end meaning and resist closure. "#$ /hether she turns the inside out or the outside in she is like the two sides of a coin, the same im ure, both-in-one insider0outsider. %/hen, )"+)@' 0ecent 4eminist and postcolonial ork in particular has turned to the crossin- and inhabitin- o4 borders by third orld omen riters in an e44ort to reconsider their strate-ies o4 sur9i9al as they ne-otiate++o4ten sub9ersi9ely++the contradictions o4 cultural hetero-eneity, modernity, nationalism, or diasporic identity. ( .t is not, o4 course, the 4act o4 mar-inality per se %o4 -ender or other ise' that assures a border positionin-, either 4or the critic or riter. .ndeed, as . ill discuss in more detail belo , marginality is to be di44erentiated 4rom borderhood because the 4ormer rests upon a binary opposition bet een a presupposed stron- center and eak mar-in, hile the latter su--ests a third or non+ali-ned space bet een and unsettlin- to binarisms. 0ather, perhaps because ine7uity tends to build upon /anichean dichotomies, a 4eminist or liberationist strate-y seeks border spaces, the in+bet een that challen-es the 9ery structure o4 those oppositions. .n discussin- the use4ulness o4 deconstruction 4or 4eminism, /ary Poo9ey has ur-ed the notion o4 the "middle 9oice" or the "in+bet een" %@(' as a politically use4ul strate-y 4or "dismantlin- binary thinkin-" %@*'." Aloria An3aldua!s 4irst book can be seen as an elo7uent e6ample o4 such an e44ort, takin- the literal /e6ican>B.S. borderland to articulate and assess the psychic borderlands o4 culture and ethnicity, historic dispossession, and -ender and se6uality: "To sur9i9e the Borderlands > you must li9e sin fronteras C" ithout borders"D > be a crossroads" %8*@'. To "be a crossroads" is to be in+bet een, the site o4 salutary e6chan-e, 7uestionin- and pushin- both oppositions beyond their

limits. .ndeed, i4 as Heide--er su--ests, "a boundary is not that at hich somethin- stops, but CED that 4rom hich somethin- be-ins its presencin-" %$&?', bein- a border 3one or a boundary can be di44icult but also enablin-, the inscription o4 a limit that yet poses the possibility o4 trans-ression, and no9elty. .4 the crossin- o4 borders can be a 4orm o4 trans-ression, resistance, and sub<ect+4ormation, and the inhabitin- o4 borders a di44icult but producti9ely destabili3inpolitical endea9or, then the border ork o4 both crossin- and inhabitin- borders per4ormed by postcolonial omen riters++con4ronted ith a 9ariety o4 historic constraints and situated bet een polari3ed oppositions o4 -ender, ethnicities, and ideolo-ies++is surely a complicated and crucial endea9or. .t is in this double conte6t o4 sel4+conscious border positionin- on the part o4 such riters and a critical climate that sometimes too hastily 9alori3es this ork under the rubric o4 border crossinthat . ould like to read Bapsi Sidh a!s no9el, Cracking India, a postcolonial 4eminist te6t that can be seen both as a border crosser and border inhabitant as it e6plores the -endered pit4alls o4 the national construction o4 borders. Fo be-innin- increasin-ly to be read %and tau-ht' in the estern academy, the no9el creates a double 4eminist lens 4or the bloody history o4 8*")++the partition o4 British .ndia into modern .ndia and Pakistan. .t o44ers both a sel4+narrated account o4 the -ro in- consciousness o4 a little -irl, a member %like the author' o4 a minority ethno+reli-ious community, and a 4ocus on the++until recently untold++e6periences o4 the scores o4 omen %o4 9arious ethnicities' ho ere raped, abducted, or mutilated in the ensuin- 9iolence. .mplicitly it 4ore-rounds its o n position as border ritin-, and hence its capacity to inter9ene in male nationalist discourse and historio-raphy 9ia the belated rememberin- and retellin- o4 this collecti9e trauma. Ho e9er, hile indeed creatin- a recuperati9e space++both politically and narrati9ally++upon the border, the te6t predicates its border status upon implicit assumptions o4 -ender, class, ethnicity, nationalism, and se6uality that, . ill ar-ue, re9eal contradictions and ambi9alences that 4undamentally undermine its pro<ect. . ill distin-uish border work %ideally both deconstructi9e and constructi9e as described abo9e' 4rom border trouble, here the aspiration to cross or inhabit some borders runs a-round upon other un4oreseen limits that thro that pro4essed border ork into disarray. A concurrent -oal o4 this essay, then, is to sho ho a readin- that 4ocuses on the speci4icities o4 a particular kind o4 border politics can unra9el problems that remain in9isible under the rubric o4 a more -enerali3ed celebration o4 borderhood. While . am committed to the radical potential o4 border ork, . ould also contend that this needs to be re+e6amined and deployed ith caution in contemporary academic discourse, here the crossin- or breakin- o4 borders has be-un to carry an automatic, ipso 4acto resonance o4 laudability. ,ritics ho ha9e recently sou-ht ad9isedly to build transnational alliances amonomen riters in di44erent locations and positions, ho are concerned ith both the ur-ent, recently learned needs 4or speci4icity and the imperati9es o4 cross+cultural and cross+national alliances, or ho seek to e6plore the increasin-ly comple6 and contradictory positionalities o4 diasporic and -endered sub<ects, sometimes re9ert to relati9ely uncomplicated notions o4 border+ crossin-, as i4 all border+crossin- ere in itsel4 somethin- deser9in- o4 approbation. @ /a--ie Humm, 4or instance, -enerali3es across all omen riters hen she ar-ues that because "the condition o4 patriarchy presupposes the reality o4 borders" %o4 lan-ua-e, -enre, -ender, se6uality, 4or e6ample C8D', " omen must make border crossin-s in order to use lan-ua-e at all" %('. Further, a recent special issue o4 the South 1sian 2e(iew, entitled Crossing !orders0Finding Homes, implies in its 9ery pro<ect, as do many o4 the papers, that the crossin- o4 borders is con-ruent ith heroism, and is to be re arded teleolo-ically ith the settlin- happiness o4 a home.#

This conceptuali3ation o4 border crossin- is problematic on at least t o counts: 4irst, in some cases, as =an/ohamed has ar-ued, "home," literal or other ise, may precisely not be as desirable as "homelessness"G) and second, as e ill see, the crossin- o4 borders does not preclude the concomitant enactment o4 other 4orms o4 9iolation and 9ictimi3ation. /oreo9er, an un7uestionincelebration o4 a -enerali3ed "border+crossin-" can either, as /inh+ha puts it, "empty it, -et rid o4 it, or else CED let it dri4t" %"Acoustic" $', or, as Ai<a3 Ahmad has pointed out, occlude crucial di44erentials o4 po er, "-ender, class, identi4iable political location," and directions o4 mo9ement %"Politics" $?)'. Some border crossers %4or e6ample, third orld cosmopolitan elites' can assimilate and celebrate their hybridity, hile others %4or e6ample, mi-rant orkers' cannot, hile still others, such as tra9elers 4rom 4irst to third orld areas, ha9e no e7ui9alent imperati9e or need to "assimilate."? The problems o4 boundary crossin- that ha9e usually been reco-ni3ed tend to 4all into t o 9ery di9er-ent cate-ories: either the troubles that be4all the hapless, the displaced, the economically and politically disen4ranchised border crossers such as re4u-ees, or the homelessG * or the pit4alls that a ait "4irst orld" scholars in their ell+intentioned e44orts to represent subalternity. 8& Thus ,handra /ohanty and 0ey ,ho , 4or e6ample, crucially analy3e, respecti9ely, the strate-ies o4 4eminist scholars %/ohanty, "Bnder" @8+?8' and o4 "anti+colonialists" ho seek to sub<ecti9i3e the "nati9e" but only to make themsel(es 9isible %,ho , /riting ()+(?'. /ar-aret Hi--onet ri-htly cautions "border 4eminists": "The trope can become ha3ardous hen it con9eys the claim that ork on the mar-in brin-s an immunity to criti7ue or a moral superiorityG it then turns into an e6cuse that conceals the pri9ile-ed status o4 most academics CED" %"'. .n li-ht o4 such 9ital ar-uments about the need 4or scholarly sel4+re4le6i9ity and the e6amination o4 the politics o4 kno led-e construction, . ould like to shi4t attention to ard critical sel4+ 7uestionin- o4 a sli-htly di44erent sort: as literary critics ho 9alori3e postcolonial omen!s border ritin-++ima-inati9e, autobio-raphical, or auto+ethno-raphic++are e not also bound to e6amine their %as ell as our' strate-ies o4 border orkH A 7uestion that is not o4ten considered is ho such riters %o4ten "cosmopolitan celebrities," in Tim Brennan!s ords' can predicate %and un ittin-ly sel4+sabota-e' their border ork upon e6ploitati9e and e6clusionary strate-ies. 88 Thus by "border trouble" in my title . mean not <ust the trouble that afflicts the 4i-ure o4 the border+ crosser>inhabitant>narrator, but the trouble that is occasioned by her. An understandin- o4 border ork that is too -eneral can preclude an e6amination o4 the speci4ic ays in hich hat e celebrate++in the ork o4 riters++may itsel4 be culpable o4 7uestionable practices. .t may be time to ask: hat kinds o4 e6clusions and e6ploitations accrue in di44erent types o4 border ritin- to underpin and undermine hat are indubitably laudable -oalsH .n hat ays can literary border ork be ideolo-ically problematicH What are the costs o4 crossin- or inhabitin- borders i4 that is predicated upon, or achie9ed by, the rein4orcement o4 other in9isible borders alon- other lines o4 di44erenceH And hat are the costs o4 critical and peda-o-ical 9alori3ations o4 border ork that 4ail to reco-ni3e or 7uestion such mo9esH Throu-h intensi9e readin-s o4 a riter ho purports to be a border crosser, and ho is read currently in the estern academy as such, . ould like to tease out some o4 the nuances o4 speci4ic narrati9e strate-ies and su--est ays to rethink our postcolonial or transnational 4eminist critical approaches to and assessment o4 border ork. .n readin- a non+canonical An-lophone Pakistani oman riter!s 4iction in the li-ht o4 these concerns, the issue . ould ultimately like to address, then, is this: as postcolonial 4eminist readers and teachers o4 postcolonial 4eminist riters, surely our proper stance in readin- and interpretation is not only to be e6plicatory or celebratory. 8$ As someone ho -re up in Pakistan, ho as educated in the B.S., and ho no orks and teaches in the American academy, . 4ind mysel4 at once in the border position o4 bein-

e6pected to brin- third orld te6ts to the "appreciation" o4 4irst orld readers, and, in all honesty, antin- to criti7ue both that e6pectation and the te6ts that . 4ind problematic. The readin- that 4ollo s assumes that both Sidh a and . are not situated on either side o4 an east> est "di9ide," but that both, to use ,ho !s terms, are "precisely because o4 the history o4 Western imperialism, already "Westerni3ed"" %/oman 6i'. As a Pakistani oman ith /uslim parents ho also mi-rated 4rom .ndia in 8*"), . 4ind Cracking India both compellin- and importantly inter9entionist, but at the same time . also cannot read it ithout certain 7ualms, ithout pausino9er its contradictions and ambi9alences. This is not to say that any o4 us are e6empt 4rom ideolo-ical blindness, but as critics and teachers e are surely obli-ated to take into consideration hat e mi-ht see as the implications o4 a certain narrati9al disin-enuity or con4lict bet een purported -oal and underminin- counter 4orces. Besides, re-ardless o4 our 9arious "sub<ect positions," ri-orous analysis should still be possible 4or all te6ts, and that indeed to read any te6t ith an eye to its conte6ts, histories, and -oals, and yet also to its troubles, is 4inally to pay it the best compliment that e can. .t is rarely noticed that in the recent e6plosion o4 South Asian postcolonial and diasporic ritin-s in ;n-lish, there is a dearth o4 omen riters 4rom Pakistan. 8( The numbers o4 male riters in ;n-lish ith links to Pakistan ha9e be-un to -ro %in addition to Tari7 Ali and Iul4ikar Ahose, a ne , youn-er -roup ould include Aamer Hussein and e9en Hani4 1ureishi'G hile increasinnumbers o4 .ndian omen riters 4rom Britain, Forth America and the ,aribbean, and ;ast and South A4rica %such as =humpa 5ahiri, /eera Syal, Suniti Fam<oshi, ,hitra Ji9akaruni, and Arundhati 0oy' <oin the ranks o4 ell+kno n ones such as Anita Jesai and Bharati /ukher<ee. Ho e9er, althou-h a 4air number o4 middle+ and upper+class omen are educated in ;n-lish in Pakistan %and some abroad', the paucity o4 omen riters associated ith Pakistan is perhaps ine9itable -i9en its dismally parochial and discriminatorily -endered systems o4 education, opportunity, modes o4 acculturation, and -eneral de9aluation o4 the arts. Sidh a is one o4 the 4irst omen 4rom Pakistan to be ritin- 4iction in ;n-lish and publishin- internationally no . 8" .n addition to the characters she constructs in her 4iction, Sidh a hersel4 occupies se9eral border positions. She has al ays li9ed in Pakistan % here she rote her 4irst three no9els, thou-h she no li9es in part in the B.S.', and she belon-s to the minority Parsee or Ioroastrian community %to hich Bhabha, the ma<or proponent o4 hybridity in our times, also belon-s'. This community is historically diasporic %e6iled 4rom Persia since the se9enth century', ethnically distinct, and 4ounded upon an ancient reli-ious tradition independent o4 both =udeo+,hristian+.slamic monotheism and Hinduism.8@ Thus it could be said that hile Sidh a has had di44erent constraints imposed on her than ha9e most middle+class /uslim omen, 8# she is enabled by her positioninto cra4t a uni7ue critical lens: addressin- %;n-lish+speakin-' audiences ithin Pakistan and .ndia and in the "West"G an "insider" to Pakistan by nationality and historical e6perience, but an "outsider" to the Hindu>/uslim di9ideG at once seekin- to represent a minority %Parsees' and the national a--re-ate.8) Sidh a thus 4aces the tricky position o4 ha9in- at once to <usti4y speakin4or++and to++the nation, and to build a criti7ue o4 the /uslim nationalism that includes non+ /uslims as citi3ens but in 4act -rants them only second+class status. Sidh a!s 4irst no9el %thou-h the second to be published', The Bride %8*?(', describes the multiple displacements o4 a youn- peasant -irl ho loses both her parents in the atrocities o4 cross+ethnic border+crossin- o4 8*"), is adopted by a "tribal" man, raised in the city but then sub<ected to an arran-ed marria-e amon-st his hill+people % ho li9e beyond the <urisdiction o4 Pakistani la ', and 4inally escapes, despite rape and brutality, to a dubious urban 4reedom. 8? Her second and 4ourth no9els, The Crow Eaters %8*)?' and An American Brat %8**(', more notable 4or their humor, both 4ocus on 4amily dramas ithin the diasporic Parsee community in Pakistan. The 4ormer describes a community split bet een 1arachi and Bombay, the latter e6plores the

possibilities and dan-ers o4 cross+ethnic marria-e 4or a Parsee -irl mi-rant to the B.S. .t is, ho e9er, her most ambitious third no9el, Cracking India %ori-inally published as Ice-CandyMan in 8*?? in ;n-land and Pakistan', that has deser9edly dra n the most attention, primarily in the conte6t o4 postcolonial and border studies, and that ill be my sub<ect here. 8* This semi+autobio-raphical+historical 4iction recounts++in a discourse o4 immediacy and personal e6perience++the idespread bloodshed, rapin-, lootin-, and arson amon-st /uslims, Sikhs, and Hindus, the displacement o4 o9er ten million people, and the massacre o4 at least one million crossin- in both directions o9er ne national borders. $& Sidh a is by no means the 4irst South Asian riter to address the e9ents o4 a bi+national trauma that is only no be-innin- to be historici3ed.$8 What distin-uishes her account is that it locates itsel4 at the ne6us o4 a number o4 intersectin- contemporary concerns: -ender, 9iolence, nationalism, cross+class representation, and ethnicity. Written at a time hen 7uestions o4 nationalism and -ender ere only be-innin- to be theori3ed, Cracking India is amon- the 4irst %o4 a ne a9e o4 second+-eneration ritin-' to address an e9ent that still remains shrouded in silence. .4, as 5inda Hutcheon has ar-ued, postcolonial narrati9e is a 4orm o4 trauma narrati9e, then its 4unction is to reclaim a-ency both by rememberin- belatedly, and by tryin- to heal, to undo that trauma by recallin- in a public 9enue++ but in the mode o4 the personal++the 9iolence o4 nation 4ormation. To do this, this te6t situates itsel4 upon 9arious borders %-eneric, discursi9e, ethnic, political', hile it also e6amines and celebrates++o4ten by enactment++the inhabitation o4 such borders. There are at least 4i9e ays in hich the te6t can be read as doin- hat . ill call border ork. %. use the term here not as Hi-onnet does ith respect to 4eminist and comparati9e critics, but rather, as the ork done by the 4icti9e te6t itsel4.' First, sel4+consciously locatin- itsel4 in Pakistan!s border city o4 5ahore, Cracking India e6plores the traumatic e9ent o4 Partition and the construction o4 -eo-raphical borders % hich "cracked" British .ndia into t o un4or-i9inenemies, modern .ndia and Pakistan' to re4lect on borders as sites o4 postcolonial national 4ormation. .t 7uestions and ironi3es the arbitrary and hurried imposition o4 borders 9ia a child!s an6ious nai9etK:$$

-here is much disturbing talk. India is going to be broken. Can one break a country3 1nd what ha ens if they break it where our house is3 4r crack it further u on /arris 2oad3 How will I e(er get to 5odmother's then3 *676+ "#$ 8laying !ritish gods "#$ the 2adcliffe Commission deals out Indian cities like a ack of cards. )ahore is dealt to 8akistan, 1mritsar to India. "#$ I am 8akistani. In a sna . 9ust like that. "#$ :id they dig the long, long canal 1yah mentioned3 %8@&' The no9el asks analo-ous 7uestions: ho ill it cross those ne borders to maintain earlier %4amilial' tiesH Ho is such a di9ision to be ima-ined, maintained, and policedH .ndeed, as 4amilies ere split and people assi-ned ne identities, in a 9ery literal sense neither the Pakistani nor .ndian state could address the social and ethical problems o4 muddied boundaries: o4 children born o4 mi6ed /uslim and Hindu parenta-e as a conse7uence o4 rape and abduction, un anted by either side and assi-ned in con4usion either to the dishonored and reluctant mother or to the imputed 4ather!s countryG or o4 omen 4irst raped and separated 4rom their 4amilies, and then 4orcibly "rehabilitated" accordin- to their reli-ious a44iliations, depri9ed by the .nter+Jominion Treaty o4 8*") o4 their ri-ht to choose national citi3enship. $( A second ay that the no9el can be read as doin- border ork is as a sel4+consciously Parsee and

sel4+problemati3ed %because not /uslim' 8akistani narrati9e. Cracking India inter9enes in dominant .ndian nationalist historio-raphies, but ruptures the Hindu>/uslim binarism by producin- a third perspecti9e that allies itsel4 to a nation and yet not to either dominant -roup. Althou-h it cannot claim nationalist neutrality, it insists on ethnic neutrality as a basis 4or contestin- both .ndian and Pakistani nationalist discourses 4ounded upon reli-ious identity. .n a subtle reminder, 4or instance, Sidh a inserts the story o4 the beauti4ul Parsee i4e o4 =innah, Pakistan!s /uslim "4oundin- 4ather," ho broke his i4e!s heart by ne-lectin- her 4or the nation++ that in turn broke his %8)&+)8'. Let this ser9es also to rupture the /uslim nationalist amnesia that idoli3es =innah but erases his cross+ethnic alliances. .mplicitly it reminds its readers that like =innah!s marria-e, Pakistan!s secular nationalism as attached at its 9ery 4oundation to non+ /uslim minorities. Thus, to recall Hicks!s terms, Sidh a!s border ritin- indeed undoes the distinction bet een "ori-inal and alien culture" since it too speaks at once 4rom ithin and ithout, producin- simultaneously a no9el 9oice addressin- Pakistanis 4rom ithin yet 7uestionin- the homo-eneity o4 " ithin," and a 9oice addressin- .ndians 4rom ithout that o9erturns the presumption o4 " ithout" as /uslim. Third, Cracking India challen-es the centrality and e6clusi9ity o4 Pakistani and .ndian masculinist master narrati9es by impudently locatin- its narrati9al perspecti9e in the 4i-ure o4 a 4emale child o4 a minority community. By re4ractin- national history throu-h a -endered consciousness, Sidh a shi4ts historio-raphic perspecti9e to those not usually re-arded as central to that history. Also, as e ill see, by choosin- a %relati9ely' unse6uali3ed child as opposed to a oman as narrator, Sidh a creates a border or alternati9e space to the binarisms o4 adult se6uality++thou-h this is not sustained. Fourth, in its 9ery 4orm and discursi9e choices, the te6t con4ounds the -eneric di9isions bet een 4iction, history, and autobio-raphy, and bet een public and pri9ate space. 0ecallin- "real" e9ents e6perienced by the author hersel4 in a 4icti9e 4orm %the narrator 5enny bears a stron- resemblance to Sidh a hersel4, includin- details such as a childhood illness o4 polio, and the disco9ery o4 a body in a -unny sack', it blurs the distinction bet een memory and 4icti9e %re'creation, bet een personal and national e6perience.$" Althou-h it relies on a con9entional stylistic mode o4 narrati9e realism and 4icti9e personal reminiscence, it sets itsel4 up 7uite sel4+consciously as a te6t on and about borders. And 4inally, hat is also potentially po er4ul and no9el about this narrati9e is that Sidh a o44ers the bene4icial po ers o4 a ne kind o4 postcolonial 4eminism, hat e may call "border 4eminism," embodied in the Parsee omen o4 the narrator!s 4amily: they cross class and ethnic borders %to rescue the "Ayah," a Hindu ser9ant oman both se6ual and political 9ictim to the anta-onisms bet een /uslim, Sikh, and Hindu men', and they themsel9es inhabit a "neutral" and re-enerati9e political identity. By analo-y, Sidh a!s narrati9e su--ests that it too++as a narrati9al border 4eminism that undoes binary oppositions and that locates itsel4 in the space in bet een++ can describe, restore, and heal some o4 the dama-e done by hat it represents as male neo+ nationalistic discursi9e and political 9iolence. .ndeed, by constant parallels bet een the positionin- and ork o4 narrator and narrati9e, the te6t implies that its o n ork may be reconstituti9e and salutary in re9isin- national history and identity, or in orkin- throu-h collecti9e trauma. The main problem be-ins, ho e9er, ith perhaps the most critical 4i-ure o4 the narrati9e, ho is not, a4ter all, the Parsee 5enny, but rather, her Hindu nanny or "Ayah," the 4emale domestic ser9ant ho is abducted, -an-+raped, and 4orced into prostitution by an erst hile /uslim admirer, and ho becomes the sole representati9e 4i-ure o4 4emale 9iolation in this te6t. $@ The nanny, al ays called the "Ayah"++as i4 she ere no more than her 4unction %she is named only

once as Shanta'$#++indeed 4unctions in many ays: as the center o4 4ascination 4or the upper+class child narrator, 4or hom, in the 4irst hal4 o4 the no9el, she acts as both an ideali3ed sel4 and other++beauti4ul, desired %be4ore .ndependence' by men o4 all reli-ious and class back-rounds++an adolescent body throu-h hose ad9entures the narrator 9icariously ac7uires dan-erous kno led-e 4rom a sa4e distance. But the ayah!s se6uality also has other 4unctions that become more problematic 4or the te6t: in the second hal4, in a stran-e con4lation o4 political and se6ual 9iolation, the ayah!s ethnic, -endered, and class position enables her body to become the displaced 4i-ure 4or a nation that is brutali3ed and ra9a-ed 4or tellin- a story other ise too traumatic to be told. Sidh a!s narrati9e thus attempts to dra attention to the conse7uences 4or all omen as casualties o4 decoloni3ation %her sel4+proclaimed -oal, accordin- to Araeber', to render the ra9a-es o4 the history o4 decoloni3ation as the ra9a-es o4 a 4emale national body, su--estin- that some %border' omen can succeed++at hi-h risk++at healin- the dama-es rou-ht by men. Fe9ertheless, as the ne6t section ill sho , this narrati9e ends up renderin- the class+ and ethnically inscribed 4i-ure o4 the ayah both e6pendable and usable 4or its o n purposes. 2ne 4orm o4 border trouble that this potentially producti9e border ritin- runs into is, 4inally, that it actually remains 7uite ambi9alent about the borders o4 class and ethnicity it purports to cross. The border++as limit++then becomes literali3ed as the body o4 a 4emale Hindu domestic ser9ant, the only site upon hich the unspeakable can be permitted to happen, and 7uestions o4 boundary+ crossin- be posed and played out. .n 4act the ork that this orkin-+class oman does in the narrati9e is to become the epitome o4 absolute otherness, the ""other" o4 the other" %,ho , /oman 8@'. %.n an increasin-ly ti-htenin- circle, Ayah is the only Hindu, hile the narrator and her 4amily are Parsee in the predominantly /uslim city o4 5ahore.' $) As the multiply othered 9ictim, Ayah ser9es 4inally as a tool to emphasi3e the -oodness o4 the ethnically neutral and upper+class Parsee %border' omen ho 9olunteer to sa9e her and others like her.$? But as they try to 4ind her a "home" they can only send her beyond the borders o4 Pakistan to an .ndia that has no assurance o4 elcome++<ust as the narrati9e can only place such a 4i-ure o4 mar-inality 4inally beyond its o n boundaries, ithin hich she cannot 4ind a home. Thus, as e ill see, the Hindu ayah becomes the -round upon hich the te6t can 4or-e a Parsee+ /uslim alliance, and the 4i-ure 4rom hich all duly sympathetic Pakistani middle+class readers may 4inally distance themsel9es. Hence, despite its -ood intentions, the narrati9e -ets cau-ht in its o n ambi9alences, 4ettered by its o n inability to cross the boundaries o4 class, ethnicity, and reli-ious nationalism. The Ayah ends up embodyin- the mar-in %4inally opposed to a dominant center', at the e6pense o4 hom the narrator can construct her o n border position. Cracking India 4aces a stran-e problem: in a postcolonial separatist nation like Pakistan, ho is a Parsee riter to represent at once Parsees ithin the nation as uni7ue and separate 4rom other ethnicities and reli-ious identi4ications %not+/uslim, not+Hindu, not+Pun<abi, not+,hristian, not+ coloni3er, and so on' and represent the nation as a cohesi9e entity constituted also by a 9ariety o4 non+/uslimsH Ai9en the historic 9ulnerability o4 the Parsee community++an endan-ered political minority++ho is a riter 4rom that community to at once assert distinctness 4rom dominant %/uslim' culture and yet also assert its belon-in- to a nation upon hich depends its sur9i9al %particularly hen that nation <usti4ies its o n 4oundin- upon the lo-ic o4 separation o4 /uslim minority 4rom Hindu ma<ority in .ndia'H Who or hat must become the ritual scape-oat 4or this te6tH To counter such di44icult problems, ho e9er, this te6t 4inds a dubious solution: structurally, it sets one ethnic minority a-ainst another in a perilous mo9e that reconciles one %the Parsee' at the e6pense o4 the other %the Hindu', as i4 implicitly ar-uin- 4or ri-ht4ul belon-in- based upon the dubious lo-ic o4 class sameness rather than o4 ethnic di44erence. %.t could be said that Sidh a!s plot de9ice o4 e6pellin- the Hindu Ayah could <ust as easily be read as an indictment o4 the

political and cultural e6i-encies that allo ed no place 4or such a 4i-ure in the ne Pakistan. Let the no9el o44ers no discursi9e distance or critical attempt to point out the limitations o4 such a national lo-ic. . am not su--estin- that there is no sympathy ith the Hindu ayah. But as the ayah becomes alle-ori3ed, the te6t does not seem to kno ho to reconcile the desire to build hetero-eneous -ender alliances across class and international boundaries ith the con4lictinneed to construct an intranational homo-enous Pakistani 4eminism.' .ndeed in both The Bride as ell as Cracking India, Sidh a uses ethnically alien 4i-ures as a mode o4 assertin- belon-in- 4or the relati9ely less alien dominant narrati9e 9oice by establishinits reassurin- sameness to a dominant middle class: usin- the opposition o4 urban 9ersus tribal in one no9el, and Parsee 9ersus Hindu in another.$* Thus . su--est that precisely because it is a te6t that makes such important inter9entions Cracking India is also orth readin- a-ainst its o n -rain: 7uestionin- it 4or the ays in hich it -oes about its ends and tracin- the boundaries that limit its o n pro<ect. What 4ollo then are critical readin-s o4 this te6t in terms o4 the problematics o4 border+ ork outlined abo9e: my purpose here is to read theory and te6t contrapuntally, e6aminin- the implications o4 readin- each 4or the other. This is then not a criti7ue o4 either classism, or ethnic bias, or indeed o4 Sidh a!s proto+4eminist nationalist discourse per se, thou-h it includes the intersections o4 all o4 thoseG rather, . seek to e6amine the problems o4 a border positionin- and practice that is 4ounded++and that 4ounders++upon a limited understandin- o4 -ender solidarity and an ambi9alence about crossin- more di44icult borders o4 ethnicity and class. Sidh a!s narrati9e constitutes itsel4 on a peculiar triple displacement: 4irst, a temporal shi4t o4 narrati9e sub<ecti9ity %sel4+con4essedly autobio-raphical' to a pre+ %and later' pubescent childG second, a mediation o4 this child!s disco9ery o4 se6ual and political 9iolation 9ia the story o4 her ser9ant AyahG and third, the construction o4 a -endered national alle-ory hereby territorial 9iolence is deemed representable only 9ia a Hindu ser9ant oman!s ra9a-ed body. /y readinbe-ins ith certain 7uestions re-ardin- all three: hat narrati9al needs impel these shi4tsH What is too unspeakable to be rendered e6cept 9ia these obli7uitiesH What ad9anta-es++and costs++ accrue to these narrati9al displacementsH And hat is the role o4 displacement itsel4 in a te6t deeply 4ascinated ith bordersH The 4irst displacement shi4ts the tension bet een Sidh a!s o n childhood e6perience o4 Pakistan!s turbulent, san-uinary early days o4 independence and her adult hindsi-ht onto the uncom4ortably, unrelentin-ly circumscribed 9ision o4 5enny, the polio+a44licted child+narrator. At times, this shi4t creates an unease and a k ardness in the disin-enuous dis<unction bet een child and adult, rupturin- the seamlessness o4 the nai9e perspecti9e. .4 5enny!s innocence supposedly 4unctions as a strate-ic tool 4or a 4resh e6posK o4 adult politics, then that con4licts ith the narrati9al need to render hat a child cannot kno , leadin- to <arrin- moments such as a 4i9e+ year+old in-Knue commentin- on hite sla9e tra44ic or pubic hair %#?+#*'. This is not resol9ed technically by the use o4 the usual autobio-raphical dis<unction bet een e6periencin- and narratin- consciousness. /ore importantly, the incapacitation o4 the child su--ests a metaphor 4or the sel4+positionin- o4 the narrati9e itsel4. "/y orld is compressed," 5enny be-ins the no9el, in an un ittin-ly emblematic openinsentence %88'. .ndeed, this no9el re9eals itsel4 to be sel4+imprisoned, stru--lin- a-ainst the sel4+ imposed banda-es o4 a pre+pubescent discourse that <ars a-ainst une6pected insertions o4 adult kno led-e, as i4 su--estin- ith some complacency that such constraint mi-ht be an ad9anta-e. The 4irst scenario o4 the no9el, o44ered as 4our+year+old 5enny!s earliest memory, presents 5enny in a perambulator pushed by her Ayah, abruptly stopped by an o44icious, "short, middle+a-ed, pointy+eared" ;n-lishman, ho demands to kno hy "such a bi- -irl" is not yet alkin- by

hersel4 %8$'. Fonplussed by Ayah!s broken ;n-lish and 5enny!s silent disclosure o4 her emaciated, leather+and+steel+strapped le-, the ;n-lishman still insists %ironically' on the e44icacy o4 sel4+reliance. But then, 5enny says: "Ayah and . hold our eyes a ay, e44ecti9ely dampenin- his -ood+Samaritan e6uberance CED and a--in- his head and turnin- about, the ;n-lishman 7uietly dissol9es up the dri9e ay 4rom hich he had so enthusiastically sprun-" %8$'. This openin- scenario can be read as a 4antasy su--esti9e o4 Sidh a!s postcolonial 4eminism: the British male!s coloni3in- inter4erence that 4irst misreads ailment and then misdia-noses treatment, is abashed and dispatched by his con4rontation ith t o mar-inali3ed 4emale 4i-ures. Sidh a!s rather undue optimism su--ests that it is their silence and a9erted -a3es in the 4ace o4 his absurdity that sends him scuttlin-++as i4 independence ere so easily to be -ained or that the predicament o4 double mar-inality had so much po er. This rather dubious paradi-m o4 4emale resistance, then, is based on a solidarity built upon the 4alterin- lan-ua-e o4 one and the speechless re9elation o4 her eakened 4emale body by the other. (& But such alliance bet een the incapacitated child and her Ayah is not easily dra n, 4or this openin- episode also su--ests ho the child narrator can become oddly ali-ned ith the 4i-ure o4 the coloni3er. .n this episode, the ;n-lishman is indicted as much 4or his harm4ul o44iciousness (8 as 4or his sel4+ser9in- desire, his co9ert capti9ation by Ayah!s "stunnin- looks," her "rollinbouncy alk that a-itates the -lobules o4 her buttocks CED and the hal4+spheres beneath her short sari+blouses" %8('. Let this salacious 9ision is mediated throu-h and shared by the child+narrator, ho remains una are %as indeed does the narrati9e' o4 her replication o4 hat she indicts. .ndeed, her lan-ua-e su--ests that she pro<ects onto him her o n 9ision o4 the Ayah. "The ;n-lishman no doubt had noticed," she hypothesi3es, hat she sa . This narratorial complicity becomes paradi-matic o4 the no9el!s strate-ic modes: it illustrates in the 9ery be-innin- ho Ayah!s hea9ily se6uali3ed ser9ant body ill become a9ailable not only 4or multiple masculine desires, but also 4or certain buddin- 4eminine ones. Let 4emale desire 4or this other 4emale body ill al ays, in this te6t, 4orbid itsel4 kno led-e o4 itsel4, camou4la-in- itsel4 in a casti-ation o4 hat it ill see insistently as e6clusi9ely male 9iolation. Already ithin the discourse o4 personal a44ection and child!s innocence, class di44erence seems to allo Sidh a to take liberties, to render ith some prurience a 9ision o4 a9ailable 4emale se6uality that she ill 4orbid hersel4 in applyinto omen o4 a hi-her class. The ayah!s 4emale body ill thus become both the site upon hich this narrati9e o4 4eminist recuperation ill see 4it to -round itsel4, and a de4inin- limit 4or hat ill be censored in her narrati9e. 5est it appear that my readin- un arrantably e7uates the perspecti9e o4 child narrator and author, let me clari4y that . do take Sidh a!s 4re7uent separation 4rom and displacement o4 point o4 9ie upon the child as a narrati9al choice. .t clearly ser9es at least a couple o4 4unctions: one, educationally, to build a reader!s a areness and understandin- o4 an un4amiliar orld 9ia the child!sG and t o, some hat sel4+ser9in-ly, as e ill see, to allo the a9oidance o4 certain issues 9ia a coyness o4 childlike innocence that remains unre9oked by adult retrospection. .t is ne9er clear at hat a-e 5enny is tellin- her story, since the temporality o4 narration is not located as it is, 4or e6ample, by Saleem in Salman 0ushdie!s Midnight's Children. Fe9ertheless, as in the readin- abo9e, . do interpret as con-ruent certain narrati9al strate-ies and e44ects that are created both by the child and by the narrati9e. %. hesitate to o9er+assi-n authorial intention and pre4er to 4ocus on the strate-ic mo9es made by the narrati9e as ell as by the child+narrator in the narrati9e.' ,ertainly Sidh a builds in a certain irony at the child!s e6pense % hen, 4or e6ample, 5enny does not understand adult se6uality'G but the double irony o4 this irony is that authorial choices and unsel4consciousness become con-ruent ith narratorial ones, especially hen they re7uire makin- use o4 the Ayah. 2n such occasions, the le9el o4 the narrati9e echoes the le9el o4 the narrator, hile the te6t lacks markers that mi-ht indicate some reser9ation or distance

bet een the t o. The narrator 5enny 4re7uently presents hersel4 as mar-inal and "abnormal," both incapacitated and pri9ile-ed by her pain4ul polio %by implication, the narrati9e also presents itsel4 as analo-ously disabled and enabled'.($ Let . ould ar-ue that instead o4 bein- mar-inal %the lesser o4 t o', she is a borderer %an in+bet een third'. She has the po er o4 hat :ictor Turner has called a liminal 4i-ure %*"+8(&': as a not+yet+se6ual, not+4ully+classed bein-, she -ains access as an obser9er into realms o4 adult politics, 9illa-e li4e, and ser9ant se6uality that ould other ise be denied to an adult o4 her class or -ender. While such liminality enables her to produce her distincti9e narrati9e, 5enny!s embodiment o4 this pri9ile-e pre9ents her 4rom becomin- the "crossroads" "sin fronteras" that An3aldua describes. As Turner remarks, the transitional, "bet i6t and bet een" %*@' condition o4 liminality "implies that the hi-h could not be hi-h unless the lo e6isted, and he ho is hi-h must e6perience hat it is like to be lo " %*)'. But, he continues, in a dialectical mo9e, "men are released 4rom structure %hetero-eneity, hierarchically ordered society' into communitas %homo-eneity, liminality' only to return to structure re9itali3ed by their e6perience o4 communitas" %8$*'. Thus the temporary disen4ranchisement o4 the liminal 4i-ure only pre4i-ures a return to rea44irm the status 7uo. This seems precisely the 4unction o4 5enny!s %and by e6tension the narrati9e!s' liminality, hich does not dismantle or re+order the hierarchies that she>it inhabits++but rea44irms class>reli-ious>ethnic hierarchies in the uses it makes o4 a lesser 4i-ure. .n 5enny!s 4ondly e9oked colonial childhood, the ayah 4unctions as the romantici3ed center o4 4ascination 4or the middle class child narrator at 4irst because she is a beauti4ul ob<ect desired by men o4 all reli-ious and class back-rounds, and as the instrument throu-h hich 5enny ac7uires a 9icarious kno led-e 4rom a sa4e distance. This surro-ation o4 Ayah is by no means simple, 4or Ayah is at once 5enny!s double and her antithesis. 5enny!s adoration 4or her beauti4ul ser9ant, and her 9oyeuristic pleasure in Ayah!s 9arious se6ual encounters, become continuous ith the tale o4 her o n -ro in- understandin- o4 se6uality and politics, so that the ser9ant+ oman in many ays becomes the "sub<ect" o4 5enny!s story, the ob<ect+lesson o4 her o n %bise6ual' adolescence. .ndeed, her Ayah is 4or 5enny simultaneously both intensely desired sel4 and other: she embodies a desirable adult 4emaleness that 5enny hersel4 both ardently desires and desires to be. Her repeated descriptions o4 Ayah!s arm, 4ra-rant, cur9y body, her "chocolate so4tness" %8&"' and her beauti4ul "kohl+rimmed eyes," testi4y to a double 9ision that sees Ayah as the ob<ect o4 her o n desire and as the ob<ect o4 desire o4 the men that 5enny obser9es. .t is perhaps 5enny!s desire 4or this body 4or hich this body ill later be punished, and 5enny!s desire subsumed by accusations o4 male 9iolation. 24 course, this is a comple6 4orm o4 desire: it is at once both desirous o4 the pro<ected sameness o4 the "other" body and also relie9ed at its di44erence, relishin- the distance hich allo s 5enny as sub<ect to atch Ayah become ob<ect++to 9iolation. At 4irst, as i4 allo in- her to learn heterose6uality by e6ample, Ayah!s body mediates 5enny!s o n se6ual a akenin-s. A secret sharer in Ayah!s ad9entures, 5enny shado s her se6ual arousal: as one lo9er murmurs to Ayah, "somethin- happens in %5enny!s' stomach" %8$?'. 2r, as 5enny -a3es at the "radiant, amber eyes bet een bushy lashes" o4 Ayah!s Pathan lo9er -a3in- at Ayah, she reports:

Something ha ens within me. -hough outwardly I remain as thin as e(er I can feel my stomach retract to create a warm hollow. ,-ake me for a ride--take me for a ride,, I beg and Sharbat ;han, tearing away his eyes from 1yah, laces me on the cycle shaft. He gi(es me a turn round the backyard. "#$ He smells of tobacco, burnt whetstone and sweat. He brings me back and

offers 1yah a ride. "#$ and with a great show of alarm 1yah wiggles on to the shaft in front CED. %?#G emphasis added' Such thinly dis-uised se6ual metaphoricity does not re7uire psychoanalysis++the point to be noted here is that 5enny demands ser9ice not only 4rom Ayah!s lo9er, but also 4rom Ayah hersel4, desirin- Ayah to redirect her lo9er!s attentions to 5enny hersel4. %.t is clear 4rom the be-inninthat Ayah is able to consort ith her admirers++ hile takin- her youn- char-es to the park++by dependin- upon 5enny!s indul-ence and silence, bou-ht by "candy bribes" C$*D'. Thus Ayah!s ser9ant body and her se6ual accessibility make her a9ailable not only to surroundin- men++o9er hom she can e6ert some semblance o4 po er in co7uetry and re4usal++but also to 5enny!s desires % hich Ayah cannot ithstand', and indeed, to Sidh a!s narrati9e, hich, bound ithin Pakistani neo+:ictorian class decorum, can thus more com4ortably adumbrate 5enny!s buddin%hetero'se6uality. Here the narrati9e 4unctions in a parallel relation to the narrator, as it calls upon Ayah!s pliable class and ethnically inscribed body 4or analo-ous ser9ice%s'. But another point to be noted here, i4 e read this te6t yet more closely, and a-ainst its -rain, is that 5enny identi4ies not only ith her Ayah in this se6ual scenario, but also ith Ayah!s lo9er. 5ike the incident ith the ;n-lishman earlier, this is another occasion o4 trian-ulated desire %to adapt ;9e Sed- ick!s adaptation o4 0enK Airard!s theory o4 male homosocial desire', in hich the 4emale narrator!s 4ascination 4or her ser9ant!s body is cataly3ed by her intense obser9ation o4 male 4ascination 4or the same++as i4 both 5enny and Ayah!s men ere ri9als 4or Ayah. But this is not a compulsion that this te6t ill allo itsel4 ackno led-ment o4++in 4act, . ould ar-ue, it is precisely in attemptin- to repress this kno led-e o4 cross+class, cross+ethnic, same+se6 tension that this te6t ill displace upon the clichK o4 male desire>9iolation its o n unkno indesire>appropriation o4 Ayah!s body. Be4ore the onset o4 9iolence that bursts upon 5enny!s 4ondly nostal-ic e9ocations o4 childhood and pre+Partition, Ayah is rendered, rather like 1iplin-!s 5alun, as the ma-ical -oddess o4 racial harmony, the locus o4 con9er-ent desire, the border terrain that neutrali3es ethnic or reli-ious di44erence. Surrounded by her circle o4 admirers in the park here she takes 5enny e9ery e9enin-, Ayah rei-ns under the presidin- shado o4 Mueen :ictoria!s statue o9er an ethnic spectrum o4 orkin-+class males: cooks, -ardeners, masseurs, traders, butchers, restlers, and .ce+,andy+/an %the popsicle 9endor'. As their massa-in- 4in-ers and toes dartin- under Ayah!s sari inculcate the atchin- 5enny in the mysteries o4 bodily odors and ser9ant se6uality, their political talk 4ilters into her absorbent attenti9eness. Then chan-e, a disinte-ration into communalism, is tan-ible in the air at Mueen!s Aarden: "And . become a are o4 reli-ious di44erences. .t is sudden. 2ne day e9erybody is themsel9es++and the ne6t day they are Hindu, /uslim, Sikh, ,hristian. People shrink, d indlin- into symbols. Ayah is no lon-er <ust my all+ encompassin- Ayah++she is also a token. A Hindu" %8&8'. For a hile Ayah still seems sacrosanct, sa4e: "2nly the -roup around Ayah remains unchan-ed. Hindu, /uslim, Sikh, Parsee are, as al ays, uni4ied around her. . di9e into Ayah!s lap" %8&@'. The 4all 4rom this child!s paradise o4 colonial harmony occurs hen political and se6ual 9iolence bursts not upon 5enny, but upon her Ayah. As borders are struck to "crack" mother .ndia!s body into .ndia and Pakistan, and the outbreak o4 reli-ious and ethnic -enocide 4ollo s upon decoloni3ation, racial harmony crosses into racial murderousness++ hich translates into se6ual atrocity. While on both sides 9illa-es are plundered and burnt, men and omen are mutilated and se6ually tortured, and trains o4 mi-rants crossin- in opposite directions arri9e 4ull o4 dismembered bodies and -ory sacks containin- se6ual or-ans, the Hindu Ayah is kidnapped 4rom her protected domain o4 domesticity and ser9itude, raped, and 4orced into prostitution by her

4ormer /uslim de9otee, the .ce+,andy+/an. Sidh a!s attempt to render this history o4 a -rotes7ue national boundary crossin- itsel4 treads stran-ely the boundaries bet een hat can and cannot be said, bet een hat cannot be %re'co9ered by her lan-ua-e and hat can be 4orced upon the reader as the disconcertin-ly sensationalistic and -ritty++as i4 some kinds o4 bra9ely 4er9ent namin- could become alibis 4or other kinds o4 not+namin-, or as i4 crossin- some boundaries could make up 4or the re4usal to cross others. As she atches .ce+,andy+/an!s mob o4 an-ry men dra- Ayah a ay, 5enny reports: "The last thin- . noticed as Ayah, her mouth slack and piteously -apin-, her dishe9eled hair 4lyin- into her kidnappers! 4aces, starin- at us as i4 she anted to lea9e behind her ide+open and terri4ied eyes" %8*@'. With this central ima-e, the dismemberment o4 Ayah into body parts, into empty spaces, is be-un++both in and by the narrati9e++as her speechless mouth underscores the unspeakability o4 hat she ill under-o, and her eyes can report only that they ish themsel9es absent.(( .n this central passa-e in the no9el, 5enny depicts her o n position as helpless++but complicit++ obser9er: in a literal betrayal, it is she ho -i9es a ay the Ayah!s hidin- place. But 5enny++or any oman o4 her class++cannot e9en be allo ed to 4unction as itness. And like 5enny, the narrati9e cannot report hat ill happen to AyahG it directs the ima-inin- o4 horror in her direction but re4uses to 4ollo , redirectin- attention instead to its o n stance o4 separation. As it con4lates rape and prostitution into the unspeakable, it shrinks 4rom the scene o4 the rape into a child!s disin-enuous innocence, lea9in- a -ap at the center o4 )enny!s narrati9e, 4rom hich, at this key moment, Ayah emblematically drops out. When 4inally Ayah is 4ound, that silence is ne9er reco9ered. %.n the 4e sentences that Ayah utters, she can only be- 5enny!s -odmother 4or help in escapin- her tormentor and insist upon bein- returned to her "4olk" C$)@D'. .t is 5enny!s Aodmother ho 4iercely con4ronts .ce+,andy+ /an: ""Why don!t you speakH ,an!t you brin- yoursel4 to say you played the drums hen she dancedH ,ounted money hile drunks, pedlars, sahibs, and cut+throats used her like a se erH" Aodmother!s 4ace as slippery ith s eat" %$#$'. The po er o4 speech, o4 makin- onesel4 sub<ect, is shi4ted both 4rom the 9ictim and the perpetrator %the /uslim lo er+class man, ho also cannot speak' to rest 4inally ith the sel4+ri-hteous upper+class recti4ier o4 9iolence. %As the narrati9e coura-eously indicts /uslim 9iolence upon non+/uslims in this /uslim country, it also ends up appeasin- its Pakistani readers by shi4tin- that blame onto seemin-ly unreasonin- lo er+ class male culpability.' As Ayah becomes the silent representati9e o4 4emale 9iolation in this te6t, hat, e may ask, is the role %central, peripheral, or sel4+distancin-' o4 the narrator ho can only represent in one sense %as reporter' but not in any other %as representati9e'H .n narratin- the sel4+con-ratulatory, 4antasi3ed reco9ery and restitution o4 the ra9a-ed Ayah 9ia the inter9ention o4 a -randparental matriarch, Sidh a!s belabored 4ocus on the -raphic details o4 that o9er+used body de4lects attention 4rom and substitutes 4or hat could not be ima-ined about upper+class 4emale bodies, allo in- pro6imity only by e6pendin- its indi-nation upon the permissible distance o4 class and ethnic di44erence. .t becomes a decoy that disallo s the sur4acin- o4 other issues++such as the rapes and abductions o4 /uslim omen by /uslim men, or o4 u er+class omen++that may be perhaps much more disturbin- to Pakistani readers. The motor 4orce behind the ultimately unspoken, the unspeakable and censored horror is the possibility that "respectable" 4emale bodies may be e7ually 9ulnerable++or rapable by lo er+class men. 5et me distin-uish here bet een at least t o kinds o4 silence: one, the silence o4 the 9ictim++ about hat happened++ ho cannot or ill not tell her o n story, or hose story can only be

adumbrated but not told ithin this narrati9eG and t o, the silence o4 the narrati9e++about hat else happened++that in its 9ery structure and obsessi9e 4ocus on lo er+class 9ictims, tellin- %their' stories as 9ictims, renders impossible the -enerali3ation 4rom lo er+ to %our' upper+class omen. The 4ormer kind o4 silence, as . discuss belo , may be le-itimate 4or certain reasons, but the latter, . ould su--est, hich creates a dichotomy o4 "us" and "them," is not. To be-in ith the silence about hat else happened: 4irst, on its o n terms o4 historical accuracy, i4 Sidh a!s narrati9e seeks to correct earlier omissions by representin- the 9iolence perpetrated upon omen as a casualty o4 decoloni3ation, then hy does it halt at representin- only lo er+ class 9iolenceH While 9aluably dra in- attention to sub<ects i-nored by national histories, hy does it still erase the e44ects upon other omenH Historically, rapes o4 upper+ or middle+class omen did o4 course occur, but such possibilities seem not permissible ithin the bour-eois ima-inary o4 this te6t, hich re4lects the still pre9alent classed cultural silence about 4amilies o nin- to the rape o4 their omen. .n describin- the accounts o4 sur9i9ors or social orkers, Butalia ackno led-es the absence o4 class markers in these accounts, thou-h, she adds, that 9iolence did not reco-ni3e class di9isions, e9en thou-h upper+class omen ere more protected since they tra9eled by car, air, or ship instead o4 by 4oot %$"#'. .4 the o44icial estimate o4 abductees % hich does not include those killed' as @&,&&& /uslim omen in .ndia and ((,&&& Hindu and Sikh omen in Pakistan %/enon and Bhasin )8', then surely not all could be peasant or orkin-+class. From the records, /enon and Bhasin 7uote a ,i9il Sur-eon ho reluctantly testi4ied in re9ealin- lan-ua-e: "e9en the ladies o4 the most respectable 4amilies had the mis4ortune o4 ha9in- under-one this most terrible e6perience" %"8'. .n Sidh a!s no9el, at best 5enny can be allo ed to play se6ual -ames ith a manipulati9e older cousin, or her parents can be darin-ly portrayed as en<oyin- con<u-al se6uality, but its ima-inary cannot++or ill not++allo any but rural or orkin-+class omen to be 9iolated ithin its bounds. (" The issue here is not to insist on the tellin- o4 one or another kind o4 story, or to pose a ri9alrous comparison bet een the 9iolations o4 pri9ile-ed or under+pri9ile-ed omen. 0ather, it is to e6plore the mani4old troublin- implications o4 this narrati9al unspeakability. This silence about certain kinds o4 9iolation, 4or one thin-, ac7uiesces to, indeed, rein4orces, the cultural system that dictates that rape si-ni4ies a oman!s shame and the dishonor o4 her male protectors. /oreo9er, it su--ests that the dishonor o4 upper+class omen is someho more disturbin-, or 7ualitati9ely di44erent 4rom and -reater than that o4 lo er+class omen, and that there4ore, it cannot be touched. /ore importantly, in terms o4 the ork and politics o4 representation, i4 a narrati9e constructs its orld as di9ided into lo er+class rapable 9ictims and upper+class rescuers, then it results in the intensi4ication o4 the 9ery distances it seeks to breach. .t ultimately creates stulti4ied roles 4or both these arti4icially created, hermetically sealed -roups o4 omen: one must remain eternal silent 9ictim hile the other may ha9e the sole pri9ile-es o4 sub<ecti9ity and heroic a-ency. The te6t!s silence about Ayah!s story, moreo9er, has other rami4ications. The rape o4 Ayah++ absent and untold++occurs structurally at the center o4 the te6t, the point 4rom hich the narrati9e separates 5enny %in e9ery ay' 4rom her erst hile double. .n 4act, upon her disappearance, it shi4ts une6pectedly to a se-ment entitled "0anna!s Story." 0anna, a /uslim 9illa-e boy and 5enny!s cook!s -reat+-randson, arri9es suddenly to -i9e his harro in- account o4 his escape 4rom the mass 9iolence perpetrated upon his 4amily by Sikhs. While perhaps the most -raphic section o4 the no9el, it is structurally set aside 4rom the main narrati9e. The only part o4 the no9el not told in 5enny!s 9oice, this oddly <u6taposed, artistically a k ard de9ice bespeaks a desire perhaps to brin- in the horror in some other ay, but not to brin- it too close. 0anna and his lost omen relati9es appear brie4ly only to 9anish 7uickly 4rom the main narrati9e, as i4 their only 4unction as to substitute 4or hat happened to Ayah, ho substitutes 4or 5enny. .nterestin-ly, 5enny

ac7uires another "ayah," ho is a lo er+class peasant /uslim oman in turn a 9ictim 4rom the other side. While the narrati9e!s inclusion o4 Hamida here su--ests an impulse to render e7ually the 9iolence enacted upon /uslim omen too, it does not attempt to -rant her e9en the a-ency or centrality -i9en to 0anna. /oreo9er, it solidi4ies the illusion that rape is a lo er+class a44air and ser9es to enhance the rehabilitatory -enerosity o4 the 4amily that takes her in. A-ain, it is important to note the 9aluable 4eminist border ork underlyin- Sidh a!s attempt to empo er and e6hort a notoriously apathetic middle+class society o4 Pakistani omen to 4or-e cross+class, cross+ethnic -ender alliances, and to undertake++at risk to themsel9es++the responsibility o4 helpin- less pri9ile-ed omen. ;9en thou-h such an alliance is ima-ined in bour-eois terms, Cracking India ur-es action, o4 a kind, and prescribes a politically acti9e role 4or its readership. Ho e9er, it remains unconscious o4 the problematic ays in hich that ork remains insu44icient, or con4licts ith its narrati9al strate-ies and sel4+contradictory ideolo-ies. .n her important essay "5i4e a4ter 0ape: Farrati9e, 0ape and Feminism," 0a<es ari Sunder 0a<an insists that, in addition to a "thematics o4 liberation, CED 4eminist te6ts o4 rape must also en-a-e in te6tual strate-ies to counter narrati9e determinism" %)('. She notes t o 4eatures o4 narrati9e determinism that occur e9en in proto+4eminist rape narrati9es such as Samuel 0ichardson!s Clarissa or ;. /. Forster!s 1 8assage to India. The 4irst 4eature, she ar-ues, is the replication o4 the centrality o4 the rape in the 9ery structure o4 the narrati9e: "literary representations o4 rape ha9e di44iculty in a9oidin- the replication o4 the act in the 9ery mo9ement o4 the narrati9e" %)#'. "The moment o4 rape is made the center, 9irtually the e6act structural center, CED so that the plots describe a -raph o4 clima6 and anticlima6 around that point" %)"'. .nstead, 4ocusin- on sur9i9al and continued e6istence a4ter rape may be a narrati9al and political mode o4 diminishin- the po er o4 rape to de4ine sub<ecthood, because to continue to de4ine a oman as a rape 9ictim is to maintain the rape as de4initi9e o4 her bein-. To center the narrati9e else here is to disallo rape 4rom bein- the sin-le shapin- 4orce o4 the sub<ect and o4 the narrati9e itsel4. Second, 0a<an e6plains the silence o4 e9en these narrati9es, and the ensuin- absence both o4 the scene o4 rape and o4 the raped oman %9ia death or disappearance' as emanatin- 4rom a con4ormity ith the 9ery system o4 cultural miso-yny 4rom hich rape as an act o4 9iolence -ains its po er: "their reliance upon, and doubts about, the oman!s "unsupported ord" about her ordeal are the symptoms o4 a deep underlyin- male 4ear that rape could be a 4emale lie, or 4iction" %)@'. Feminist te6ts, on the other hand, 0a<an concludes, "counter narrati9e determinism" in se9eral ays, includin- "representin- the raped oman as one ho becomes sub<ect throu-h rape rather than merely one sub<ected to its 9iolation, CED structurin- a post+rape narrati9e that traces her strate-ies o4 sur9i9al, CE andD countin- the cost o4 rape CED in terms more comple6 than the e6tinction o4 4emale sel4hood in death or silence" %)#+))'. 0a<an!s ar-ument is use4ul in helpin- us see ho Sidh a!s narrati9e may also++despite its "thematics o4 liberation," or 4eminist desire to indict se6ual and political 9iolence++end up rei4yin- instead o4 underminin- that cultural system by its un ittin- choice o4 narrati9al structure and strate-ies. As 5enny describes the search 4or Ayah, the narrati9e turns to silence and unspeakability a4ter rape, positionin- the absent Ayah as no more than the 9ictim, the one ho must be reco9ered by the sub<ect o4 the narrati9e, but ho cannot be the sub<ect hersel4. Ho e9er, in this case, the silence and double disappearance o4 Ayah %a4ter her abduction and a4ter her reco9ery' are based not, . think, upon male 4ear o4 a oman!s ord. (@ 0ather, that te6tual uninterest in Ayah!s consciousness seems based upon a need to separate the Hindu ser9ant+as+ 9ictim 4rom the Parsee upper+class sub<ect+as+rescuer>storyteller, 4ore-roundin- the latter at the e6pense o4 the 4ormer, to 4orestall the dan-er that the t o may collapse into one.

.t may be said in de4ense that Sidh a!s e44ort is precisely to mark the real silence that still haunts the 9iolence o4 Partition and to represent the reality here such omen were silent, and continue to be so. ;9en sur9i9ors! accounts such as those included by Butalia and /enon and Bhasin describe murder but do not ackno led-e rape. .ndeed, many rape 9ictims may not ish to speak o4 the rape precisely as a strate-y o4 sur9i9al, in order to put it behind them. (# Furthermore, . certainly ould not ant to su--est that speech alone %and not silence' can be a 4orm o4 a-ency or resistance. For am . ar-uin- that it is incumbent upon a 4eminist no9elist to represent rape in order to break the silence that shrouds it in shame, since that ould produce the opposite problems o4 replicatin- the 9iolence or sensationali3in- its impact. Arantin- this, ho e9er, . still ha9e a couple o4 responses to this de4ense. First, e need to distin-uish bet een the kinds o4 silence e are talkin- about and the 9arious moti9ations 4or them: i4 silence about rape is a strate-y o4 sur9i9al, or a decision not to replay the 9iolence, it should command our respectG but i4 the silence is an ac7uiescence to the system that re-ards the e9ent as a oman!s humiliation, or i4 it results 4rom a desire to 4ore-round the rescuer at the e6pense o4 the 9ictim, it mi-ht be called into 7uestion. Hence, the problem lies not in representinsilence but in bein- the a-ent o4 silencin- in the 9ery mode o4 representation. 2ne problem o4 silencin- in Sidh a!s narrati9e is not that the Ayah 4ails to speak o4 hat happened to her, but that the narrati9e disallo s any entry into her mind or 4eelin-s or consciousness, or her construction as a sentient sub<ect. Her 4ate a4ter rape is to be 4ound or to be packed o44 by other omen, not to act but to be acted upon. There can be no "li4e a4ter rape" or accession to sub<ecthood 4or Ayah in Sidh a!s te6t. Second, surely the e44ort++or hope++o4 4iction or o4 9isionary border ork is not only mimetically to represent or correspond to reality, but also to construct and ima-ine alternati9es or alternati9e modes o4 representation. As Said has cautioned in describin- orientalism, the issue at stake is not one o4 9erisimilitude or %mis'representation, o4 4alseness or truth, but rather, o4 the comple6 relation bet een po er and representation. "2rientalism is more CED 9aluable as a si-n o4 ;uropean+Atlantic po er o9er the 2rient than as CtheD 9eridic discourse CED it claims to be" %4rientalism #'. Analo-ously, postcolonial representations too must consider their responsibilities in implicitly rea44irmin- or challen-in- the po er structures that condition hat they represent. .n analy3in- the reports o4 the "communal" crimes a-ainst omen, /enon and Bhasin identi4y three speci4ic 4eatures o4 the 9iolence: "their brutality, their e6treme se6ual 9iolence and their collecti9e nature" %"('. The collecti9ity o4 the 9iolence su--ests a cultural lo-ic o4 precisely non+ indi9iduated, non+class di44erentiated 9en-eance 9isited upon omen de4ined as the belon-in-s o4 other men. Ho e9er, in Sidh a!s narrati9e, the 9iolence upon Ayah is sin-ular, almost as i4 she ere selected and separated especially 4rom omen o4 a hi-her class or other ethnicities. While this ser9es to indi9iduate the 9ictim, it also su--ests that there is only one kind o4 o9er+ determined lone 9ictim, or, that certain others could only be a-ents o4 rescue. .nstead, hat ould be the implications i4 Sidh a!s no9el attended as much to the rapes o4 upper+class or /uslim omen, or i4 it <u6taposed other narrati9es o4 di44erently situated omen to e6plore the contrasts and imbrications o4 ethnic and class positionin-H Perhaps it could then introduce a less sel4+ e6culpatin- and 4atalist discourse and historical memory in order to re+think national and communal responsibilities. .t mi-ht then also not pro9ide its /uslim readers ith the escape hatch o4 ima-inin- the 9ictim o4 political 9iolence as a4ter all only a ser9ant and a Hindu. As 5enny shado s Ayah!s ad9entures earlier, by the end Ayah!s 9iolation becomes a shado o4 5enny!s++but it remains an appro6imation 4rom hich the te6t retreats, 4or rape is al ays distanced by the uncrossable boundaries o4 multiple lines o4 di44erence. And thus, in a ay, the te6t articulates another desire, a -ladness at the di44erence that allo s Ayah to be the attackable one, instead o4 5enny or omen 4rom the circle o4 her 4amily or 4riends, ho must al ays be

kept sa4e 4rom the possibility o4 lo er+class disrespect. As 5enny becomes the real sub<ect, she casts both Ayah %reduced repeatedly to "eyes" and "diminished 4lesh" C$)$D' and her lo9er>betrayer into stereotyped roles: "When . think o4 Ayah . think she must -et a ay 4rom the monster ho has killed her spirit and mutilated her "an-el!s" 9oice" %$)#'. Ayah becomes an inhabitant o4 5ahore!s 4amed "Hira Mundi," or "Jiamond /arket," a euphemism 4or the same red li-ht district datin- back to /u-hal times here 1iplin-!s 5alun also resided. But unlike 5alun, Ayah becomes alto-ether the mar-inali3ed 9ictim, not a border inhabitant ith any a-ency. The ability to deploy one!s in+bet een status is reser9ed 4or her sa9ior, the storyteller and her 4amily. /oreo9er, the te6t also turns to the com4ort o4 positionin- lo er+class men %o4 any ethnicity' as al ays and only se6ually threatenin- 4i-ures++a potential rapist in e9ery one. %Whereas ethnicity and class are used to separate those C omenD yoked by -ender, ith -ender and class di44erence there appears no need 4or ethnic di44erentiation.' ;arly in the narrati9e, it is made clear that men like .ce+,andy+/an could ne9er be allo ed ithin the precincts o4 bour-eois households. "/other ould ha9e a 4itN He!s not the kind o4 4ello ho!s permitted inside, CED thu--ish, CED shady, CED disreputable" %()'. 24 course, Ayah must meet him outside those clear boundaries, here brie4ly hersel4 a boundary 4i-ure ho tra9els bet een the inner sacrosanct domain o4 the respectable middle+class omen and the outside orld o4 "thu--ish" men. .ronically, to delineate those lo er+class men, Sidh a resorts to the sti-mati3ations o4 nineteenth+century colonial discourse hich produced the notion o4 "thu--ee," associated ith bodily 9iolence and the4t. Fot only is Ayah used as a 4i-ure o4 the lo er+class and there4ore rapable oman, but also, lo er+ class men are insistently and silently positioned as the collecti9e se6ual enemy, the implicit threat that cannot be permitted to materiali3e in any 4orm other than to ards Ayah. The contrast bet een 1iplin-!s representation o4 5alun!s borderhood as threatenin-ly sub9ersi9e %to colonial authority understood as sel4hood' and Sidh a!s representation o4 5enny!s borderhood as empathetic but sel4+distancin- %as a model 4or postcolonial sel4hood' is tellin-: 4or us as critical readers, at the 9ery least it disallo s a priori political 9alidation. 1iplin-!s 5alun is un7uestionably an orientalist, masculine pro<ection and 4abrication o4 4eminine -uile, and perhaps a mode o4 sel4+e6culpation 4or lapses in colonial authority, but it re9eals an uneasy ackno led-ment o4 the potential o4 border ork to hich Sidh a!s 5enny and her narrati9e aspire. That her narrati9e becomes entan-led in another problem is not to su--est that 1iplin-!s account is unproblematic, but my concern is ith the 4ormer, not the least because it is producti9e o4 di44erent e6pectations. As hersel4 an ad9ocate 4or omen!s ri-hts in the increasin-ly ti-htenin- milieu o4 Pakistan, Sidh a dra s upon a certain 9ariety o4 postcolonial nationalist 4eminism as a pro<ect 4or Cracking India.() First, ritin- in the conte6t o4 a bede9iled postcolonial nation hose reactionary cler-y ha9e recently sou-ht to oppose colonial herita-e by imposin- "Sharia" or so+ called ".slamic" la s that le-ally seek to disen4ranchise omen, %particularly rural and lo er+ class urban omen', Sidh a attempts throu-h her 4iction to increase reco-nition o4 omen!s 9ictimi3ation by male ri9alries and bids 4or political po er. (? She has said that her aim as to sho that " omen su44er the most 4rom political uphea9als," that "9ictory is celebrated CED and 9en-eance is taken on a oman!s body CED in CherD part o4 the orld" %7td. in Araeber 88'. Second, in its 9ery 4orm o4 personal, autobio-raphical narration, the no9el stri9es to substitute one dominant kind o4 historio-raphy %masculinist, totali3in-, e6clusi9ist, %neo'colonial, impersonal, national' ith an alternate one %partial, multiple, non+teleolo-ical, -rounded in collecti9e e6perience'. Third, the no9el also implicitly addresses a recurrent 7uestion that has belea-uered postcolonial 4eminists: hat modes "4eminism" may adopt in speci4ic postcolonial conte6ts, and ho

4eminism may 7uestion or locate itsel4 ithin a hea9ily -endered nationalism. (* The no9el e6empli4ies the restorati9e ork per4ormed by omen o4 the Parsee community, border omen ho seek to heal the pain4ul cracks in this partitioned .ndian land+as+body. Jeployin- their ethnic border status, and, o4 course, their upper+class economic and social pri9ile-e, 5enny!s mother and aunts construct a re4u-e 4or "4allen omen" o4 all reli-ious a44iliations++peasant omen or domestic ser9ants raped or abducted in the a4termath o4 Partition++and try to restore them to their 4amilies or to 4ind homes and ork 4or those ho, seen as shamed and "de4iled," cannot return. "& 2r, they smu--le petrol to help their Hindu and Sikh 4riends ith cars cross "the Border" sa4ely to .ndia %$@"'. .t is such a Parsee collecti9e that seeks and 4inally 4inds 5enny!s Ayah++a collecti9e 4orce o4 matriarchal po er embodied in 5enny!s Aodmother. "29er the years, Aodmother has established a net ork o4 espiona-e ith a reach o4 hich e9en she is not a are. CE SheD can mo9e mountains 4rom the paths o4 those she be4riends, and erect mountainous barriers here she deems it necessary" %$$$+$('. Aodmother determinedly breaks many codes o4 decorum hen she takes 5enny to 9isit Ayah in the red li-ht district, and then e6tracts her 4rom the hands o4 .ce+,andy+/an++by commandin- a posse o4 armed men. Thus the te6t su--ests by analo-y that its o n postcolonial 4eminist ork is that o4 both crossinboundaries and o4 occupyin- borders. .t crosses the bounds o4 Pakistani 4icti9e decorum and national discourse in settlin- both on a minority %Parsee' community and on omen!s and ser9ant communities as sites 4or re4ractin- and recastin- history. As a Parsee Pakistani oman!s ritincontin-ent upon belon-in->unbelon-in- it attempts to build a use4ully ske ed national identity and su--ests ne modes o4 creatin- trans+ethnic and trans+reli-ious alliances. .t thus upholds the po er o4 border 4eminism %as emblemati3ed by Parsee omen' to redress the casualties o4 neo+ colonial history. Let hat is interestin- about Sidh a!s 9ersion o4 postcolonial 4eminism is precisely the mi6 o4 contradictions that it e9okes and the ambi9alences it re9eals. .t also raises a problem 4or us as readers and teachers o4 such te6tsG namely, ho an incautious prioriti3ation o4 "otherness" may occlude the comple6 ays in hich these ritin-s too may participate in the 7uestionable ideolo-ies they seek to challen-e. As a te6t that is no bein- tau-ht not only in literature but also in history and omen!s studies courses in the An-lo+American academy, Cracking India is o4ten appropriated as an authentic subaltern 9oice or as itness to trauma ithout reco-nition o4 its inade7uacies. .t mi-ht be more use4ully tau-ht i4 it could also be problemati3ed 4or its discursi9e and political strate-ies, and historici3ed in relation to its -oals and conte6ts 9ersus ours. .n buildin- a nuanced readin-, e mi-ht consider ho %to use 0aymond Williams!s terms' promisin- but problematic "emer-ent" te6ts still bear the "residual" dominance o4 other systems %8$8+$)'. Ho are e critically to assess such 4ictionH Ho are e to account %in 0a<an!s apt phrase' 4or the " ays in hich %4eminist' resistances also enter into the processes by hich structures o4 domination persist or rene themsel9es" %"+@'H ,ritics such as Ai<a3 Ahmed ha9e arned a-ainst the myopia o4 many celebrated third orld riters to class di44erence and to their o n socioeconomic pri9ile-e in representin- a part as the hole %In -heory )(+*"'. While -i9in- Sidh a due credit 4or e9en broachin- the taboo issue o4 rape, e must also reco-ni3e ho her ritin- mi-ht be insu44icient++ho it ill only allo the possibility o4 rape and prostitution hen enacted upon "other" bodies. At best the possibility o4 se6ual assault on "us" can only be hinted at++but then distanced and mediated throu-h "their" bodies. Ho , in the act o4 dra in- to-ether " omen," are omen di9ided into "us" and "them"H And ho are men, both upper and lo er class, rhetorically positioned by this 4eminist narrati9eH While Sidh a!s narrati9e seeks to celebrate both border+crossin- and border inhabitation, it is hampered by its o n in9isible boundaries, border troubles that seem to me concentrated in at

least three areas. First, in locatin- the ork o4 postcolonial 4eminism in terms o4 traditionally understood and clearly demarcated roles o4 healin- and restoration, Sidh a lea9es intact and un7uestioned the binarism that insists that men are a-ents o4 9iolence, politics, and history, hile omen are either 9ictims, itnesses, or healers, bound ithin the limits o4 domesticity. The ori-inal title, Ice-Candy-Man, is more re9ealin-, 4or its male eponymous hero, despite 5enny!s central consciousness, remains the a-ent o4 9iolation, and perhaps, o4 the no9el. % Cracking India ends not ith Ayah or ith 5enny but ith .ce+,andy+/an, no romantically and -uiltily de9oted to his 9ictim, sorry 4or his part in the madness, contri9in- pathetically to 4ollo her across the border.' .t is surely tellin- that in this lon- narrati9e, Ayah hersel4 has no 9oice o4 a-ency or independence o4 purpose++her story is told by 5enny, as )enny!s story o4 her 4all into kno led-e. .n one scene, Sidh a hersel4 mourns the disappearance o4 " omen" 4rom the scene o4 postcolonial politics. When 5enny returns to her old play-round, the Mueen %:ictoria!s' -arden, she 4inds a paradi-matic absence: ". cannot belie9e my eyes. The Mueen is -oneN The space bet een the marble canopy and the marble plat4orm is empty. CED Bere4t o4 her presence, the structure looks un omaned. The -arden scene has depressin-ly altered. /uslim 4amilies ho added colour hen scattered amon- the Hindus and Sikhs, no monopoli3e the -arden, depri9init o4 colour. CED There are 4e er omen. /ore men" %$"*'. The shi4t 4rom British imperialism to /uslim nationalism cannot be re-arded as alto-ether <oyous hen it seems also to ha9e dictated a monopolistic takeo9er o4 the "play-round" by men, and the elimination o4 " omen," either as rulin- po ers or as players in the 4ield, irrespecti9e o4 racial or class di44erence. Let, despite this 9ital reco-nition, the ima-inati9e boundaries o4 Sidh a!s postcolonial 4eminism cannot recon4i-ure this 7ueen!s -arden beyond a trimmin- o4 its ed-es. .ndeed, it remains surprisin-ly uncritical o4 the ine7uities and tensions already present in this hypothetically harmonious "-arden." Hence this 4eminism actually remains 7uite :ictorian %and colonial' in its understandin- o4 -endered spheres, its essentiali3ation o4 male 9iolence, and its reassertion o4 class di9isions. .t sees lo er+class men as an uncontainable, unanaly3able problem++as a collecti9e rabid mob inherently prone to unreasonin- 9iolence++and the middle class as not in any ay implicated in the problem. .t remains obli9ious to the socioeconomic circumstances and ine7uities that may in 4act produce those tensions. .ce+,andy+/an!s beha9ior is presented as unmoti9ated, ine6plicable, and irrational. By contrast, Arundhati 0oy!s po er4ul account o4 child molestation in -he 5od of Small -hings, also art4ully playin- upon a child!s perspecti9e, does not e6cuse or e6plain a ay the moti9ations o4 the 5emon+Jrink 2ran-e+Jrink /an, but it does o44er a more comple6 understandin- o4 the colonial histories and class resentments that structure his -rotes7ue assault on an ;n-lish+speakin- a44luent child. Second, Sidh a!s continuous con4lation o4 the political and the se6ual produces another set o4 problems. That 5enny!s a areness o4 the 9iolent repercussions o4 political independence is e7uated ith both her o n arri9al at se6ual a areness and ith Ayah!s se6ual 9iolation su--ests a troublin- conceptuali3ation o4 4emale se6ual maturity as a 4all into political kno led-e and, 4urthermore, an e7ui9alence bet een political 9ictimi3ation and se6ual relations. 5enny!s pain4ul puberty, 4or instance, becomes a symbol 4or Pakistan!s -ory comin- o4 a-e, and her understandino4 rape is entirely coincident++and coterminous++ ith that o4 Pakistan!s emer-ence as a ne nation %$@$'."8 A-ain, hat ist4ully nostal-ic ima-inin- o4 colonialism as protected chastity underlies this tropolo-yH Why a4ter all must political 9iolence continue to be understood as se6, and 9ice+ 9ersaH What may be the unima-ined conse7uences++4or both++o4 liberatin- the t o 4rom each otherH But this is not a boundary crossed by Sidh a!s ritin-. As it deplores the parochial 4orms o4 thinkin- that demand that political ri9alries be enacted se6ually on omen!s bodies, or that

nations be ima-ined as rapable omen, her narrati9e rei4ies these concepts and tropes in its o n symbolic structure. =enny Sharpe has sho n ho colonial rhetoric such as /utiny narrati9es o4 rape cast nati9e insur-ency a-ainst colonial authority as a se6ual threat to hite omen. Fot only did this ser9e to <usti4y repressi9e colonial counter+measures, but it also depolitici3ed subaltern re9olt by representin- it as se6ual attraction to and 9iolation o4 the coloni3er!s omen. Analo-ously, in postcolonial discourse, i4 male>ethnic peasant or orkin-+class protest is essentiali3ed and seen consistently as e6clusi9ely se6ual 9iolence, then e also risk depolitici3inand dan-erously misapprehendin- the comple6 4orces that underlie such historical collecti9e mo9ements. Finally, perhaps the most serious constraint to Sidh a!s border 4eminism is her narrati9e!s in9ention o4 a national alle-ory o4 border crossin- that also depends upon the rei4ication o4 -ender, ethnic, and class di9isions."$ As national borders are dra n to de4ine postcolonial nationhood, the Hindu Ayah becomes the embodiment o4 the border that is crossed by men o4 all sorts, the site o4 trans-ression itsel4. Where there as once no border, and tra44ic in either direction as un7uestioned, in this postlapsarian uni9erse o4 postcoloniality, that 9ery same body has no become a 4orbidden and thus trans-ressible border. When the history o4 the 9iolent -eneration o4 Pakistan is mapped ith such relentless literalism upon Ayah!s ra9a-ed body, e need to ask: hat psychic needs demand that this national history be thus metaphori3ed %and de4lectedH' throu-h this particular prismH What psycho+narrati9al needs demand that Ayah!s body be cast as an alle-ory 4or .ndia>Pakistan, or 4or Hinduism as a 9ictim o4 /uslim nationhoodH .4 the birth or death o4 a country must be 4i-ured as 4emale 9iolation, ho can e read this replay o4 the colonial and neo+colonial nationalist metaphor o4 land as 4emale body, 9ictimi3ed this time not by hite oppressors, but by decoloni3ed men ho run amok in the deran-in- liberty o4 independenceH Joes this not run the dan-er o4 nostal-ically 4abricatin- colonial harmony and rea44irmin- the colonial pro-nostication that decoloni3ation could only pro9e disastrousH 2ne dan-er o4 -endered national alle-ories is that they ork in a circular 4ashion: dra in- on culturally a9ailable -ender prescriptions %o4 both masculinity and 4emininity' upon hich to construct nationhood, they then rein4orce those norms. As the editors o4 the collection <ationalism and Se%ualities assert, the colonial and neocolonial "trope o4 the nation+as+ oman CED depends 4or its representational e44icacy on a particular ima-e o4 oman as chaste, duti4ul, dau-hterly or maternal" %Parker et al #'. The "/other .ndia" trope has been used in .ndian nationalist rhetoric also to interpellate men: to marshal ci9ic+as+4ilial loyalty, and to cast secessionist %Pakistani' nationalism as matricidal betrayal. ;6aminin- the rhetoric o4 one ne spaper, Butalia indicts the e7uation o4 "manhood and nationalism" and the ima-ined "purity o4 /other .ndia, the motherland hich -a9e birth to the Hindu race," o44erin- a strikin- e6ample: "2ne issue o4 the 4rgani.er %Au-ust 8", 8*")' CPakistan!s .ndependence JayD had a 4ront pa-e illustration o4 /other .ndia, the map o4 the country, ith a oman lyin- on it, one limb cut o44 and se9ered ith Fehru holdin- the bloody kni4e" %8"8'. When Sidh a re+uses this trope o4 .ndia as ra9a-ed body sub<ect to %incestuousH' male 9iolence, she ends up rea44irmin- this lo-ic hich, incidentally, also ser9es to ideali3e motherhood as a prescripti9e norm o4 4emininity 4or 4emale citi3ens. Another problem, as Aayatri ,hakra9orty Spi9ak puts it, is that " hen the oman!s body is used only as a metaphor 4or a nation %or anythin- else' 4eminists correctly ob<ect to the e44acement o4 the materiality o4 that body" %In 4ther /orlds $@)'. The problem is not ith alle-ory in itsel4G but ith the implications o4 the particular alle-ory used. For one thin-, the alle-ory o4 Ayah as national body is not sustained throu-hout the no9el, nor is it supported by a correspondinpolitical 9ision %as in Midnight's Children or Shame' or empathy 4or the Hindu nation. /ore importantly, ho e9er, Sidh a!s alle-ory o4 Ayah replicates ithout 7uestionin- another aspect o4

the symbolic 9iolence it deplores. /enon and Bhasin describe and analy3e this as 4ollo s:

-he range of se%ual (iolence "#$--stri ing= arading naked= mutilating, and disfiguring= tattooing or branding the breasts and genitalia with trium hal slogans= am utating breasts= knifing o en the womb= ra ing of course= killing foetuses--is shocking not only for its sa(agery, but for what it tells us about women as ob>ects in male constructions of their own honour. "#$ -attooing and branding the body with ,8akistan, ?indabad@, or ,Hindustan, ?indabad@, "or symbols like the crescent moon or trident$ not only mark the woman for life, they ne(er allow her *or her family and community+ the ossibility of forgetting her humiliation. "# -$hey became the respecti9e countries, indelibly imprinted by the 2ther. %"(+""' The lo-ic o4 such symbolic %and material' 9iolence reduces omen to the sites o4 reproduction upon hich each side could tar-et its desire both to 9an7uish and to eradicate the other. .t positions omen as ob<ects o4 possession and 9ehicles o4 communication bet een men. And then it also alle-ori3es the nation as such a terrain. For /enon and Bhasin, "the trope+o4+nation as oman 4urther secures male+male arran-ements and an all male history" %8&*'. Sidh a!s ell+ intentioned replication o4 that symbolism seeks emoti9ely to arouse moral indi-nation about 9iolence a-ainst omen, but in replayin- the trope it then consolidates++instead o4 7uestionin-++ the -ender assumptions o4 that symbolism. /oreo9er, . ould ar-ue that such a selecti9e national alle-ory has yet another 4unction: it allo s 4or hat Huma .brahim has called "e9asion" in partition literature. .t re9eals a narrati9al inability to recuperate a national and ethnic past too 9iolent, shame4ul, and traumatic to be told e6cept throu-h the distancin- o4 a child!s censored 9ision, and the displacement o4 national history to a 4emale body rendered multiply other. .n turn, the Ayah!s body becomes an alle-orical 4i-ure %and indeed reduced to only a 4i-ure' 4or a nation that is brutali3ed and ra9a-ed, in a narrati9e that seems unable to %re'cast that history in an alternate discourse. /ohanty has made a po er4ul case a-ainst certain kinds o4 "reducti9ist Western 4eminist" constructions o4 "third orld omen" as a monolithic ob<ect o4 study. .mportantly, she adds, this may e7ually pertain to middle+ or upper+class A4rican or Asian 4eminist scholars ho study rural or orkin-+class omen. Such orientalist and neo+colonialist mo9es, she ar-ues, ultimately build a sel4+enablin- sel4+construction %as sub<ect' at the e6pense o4 a con9eniently constructed otherness %"Bnder" @8+?&'. By analo-y, . su--est, Sidh a!s narrati9e un4ortunately perpetrates across lines o4 class and national>ethnic di44erence hat /ohanty reprehends in some 4eminist ork across political lines. =ust as the lo er+class Hindu Ayah became a surro-ate 4or the obsessi9e e6ploration o4 se6uality 4or an upper+class child so, as a 4i-ure, she also becomes the impassable boundary++the limit++4or this narrati9e!s sel4+positionin- as border ork. The triumphalism o4 the narrator!s %and narrati9e!s' position, hich, a4ter the rape, identi4ies ith Aodmother and not Ayah, may be a -ood e6ample: "The lon- and di9erse reach o4 Aodmother!s tentacular arm is clearly e9ident. She set an entire con-lomerate in motion immediately a4ter our 9isit and sin-le+handedly en-endered the social and moral climate o4 retribution and <ustice re7uired to rehabilitate our fallen 1yah" %$?@G emphasis added'. 5enny!s %and the te6t!s' ambi9alent border ork stops short o4 crossin- into Ayah!s dan-erous terrain: indeed, it presents itsel4 as success4ul border+crosser only by re7uirin- the 4i-ure o4 Ayah to become its mar-inal site, an icon o4 absolute other as 9ictim, a-ainst hich irreco9erable

otherness 5enny!s subalternity can de4ine itsel4. .t is an e6ample o4 hat Spi9ak has described as the "token subaltern" % ho is taken to be a "spokesperson 4or subalternity"', but it is e9en more than that because it positions itsel4 as the paradi-m o4 the subaltern by capitali3in- upon the subaltern 4or hom it purports to speak %"Subaltern" $*$'. "( Sidh a!s narrati9e constructs upper+ class Pakistani omanhood and its po er to cross borderlines parasitically upon the status o4 Ayah as a scape-oat 4or its o n an6ieties and -uilt. .t 4abricates a solidarity o4 -ender that in 4act 7uite simply relies upon class and ethnic di44erence to tell the story o4 the other ise unspeakable, the++other ise++unthinkable. The youn- 5enny!s participant obser9er!s complicity in betrayin- Ayah 7uite literally then is no minor detail in her story. Tricked by .ce+,andy+/an, she -i9es a ay Ayah!s hidin- place to the aitin- cro d o4 men, 4or her -uilt mirrors the te6t!s repressed complicity in the traitorous use it makes o4 Ayah. While 5enny!s complicity is ackno led-ed ithin the story at the le9el o4 plot, that complicity is not ackno led-ed by the te6t as a mirror o4 its o n strate-ies at the le9els o4 narrati9e strate-ies or representation. .n order to construct itsel4 as a narrati9e o4 the relie4+-i9inpo ers o4 border+inhabitation, this narrati9e seems to need to push 4i-ures like Ayah beyond its o n borders. Muite literally, there is no recuperation 4or Ayah ithin the bounds o4 Sidh a!s te6t++or her PakistanG the only solution to the ruptures in and o4 this narrati9e is to con9ey Ayah across the border into .ndia++to a hypothesi3ed other space, to a supposed sa4ety beyond. .n a -rotes7ue parody o4 An3aldua!s ords, Ayah indeed becomes a "crossroads," but hers is not a narrati9e o4 sur9i9al: it is a casualty o4 the sel4+positionin- as 4eminist o4 Sidh a!s narrator>narrati9e, that seeks to cross borders ithout considerin- the other border lines it dra s. .t may be ell to recall then Jiana Fuss!s caution in another conte6t: the "delimitin- o4 boundaries CED becomes a problem hen the central cate-ory o4 di44erence under consideration blinds itsel4 to other modes o4 di44erence and implicitly dele-itimates them" %88#'. .t is in this sense that the ayah!s rape becomes an alibi++a misleadin- distraction 4rom, and a clue 4or++the te6t!s o n -uilt at the sel4+promotin- use o4 the 9ery 4i-ure hose 9ictimi3ation at the hands o4 male 9iolence it decries. The production o4 an alibi %as proo4 o4 innocence' presupposes accusation in a conte6t o4 suspicion. Let o4ten the stron-est alibi is the best co9er+up, a declaration o4 innocence precisely as an act o4 sel4+e6culpation. . use the term "alibi" as such an act o4 co9erin- up++as a 4orm o4 substitution and a de4lection o4 responsibility. By producin- an e6cess o4 outra-e o9er the rape o4 the Ayah, the psychic mechanism o4 this te6t de4lects attention 4rom the strate-ies by hich it in 4act is also e6ploitati9e. 5ike the most une6pected culprits in detecti9e stories, ho as narrators ser9e as implicit -uarantors o4 innocence, the 4eminist impulse o4 Cracking India presumes its o n innocence as it looks about 4or others to blame. But the 9ery act o4 seekin- else here and 4ocusin- attention on one kind o4 outra-e becomes the alibi that obstructs the disco9ery o4 its o n collusion, its o n pri9ate satis4action at bein- e6empt. .4 all representation brin-s ith it the politics o4 9iolation, it may ell be asked, hat, i4 any, is the solutionH .n the postmodern era, e ha9e learned that there is no unburdened or unmediated representation, but that there are de-rees o4 di44erence. The intrusi9eness o4 representation may be miti-ated by a 4ore-roundin- o4 the problems o4 that representation, and by an insistence on a responsible and sel4+a are sel4+positionin-. Anthropolo-ists 4ollo in- =ames ,li44ord ha9e come to reco-ni3e that i4 one must be a participant obser9er, one could at least e6amine the 4orms o4 one!s participation and e44ects on hat one "obser9es." As Spi9ak concludes: "4indin- the subaltern is not so hard, but actually enterin- into a responsibility structure ith the subaltern ith responses 4lo in- both ays: learnin- to learn ithout this 7uick+4i6 4ren3y o4 doin- -ood ith an implicit assumption o4 cultural supremacy hich is le-itimi3ed by une6amined romanticism, that!s the hard part" %"Subaltern" $*('. A are o4 li9in- in and ritin- about an ethnically and "class+structured society," Sidh a mani4ests still a certain obli9ion to her o n

position ithin it. .n an inter9ie ith Fero3a =ussa alla and 0eed Way Jasenbrock she has announced that she is "on the borderline o4 a 4e cultures CE andD that CED -i9es CherD a certain ob<ecti9ity" %$8"', hile 0ushdie, by not li9in- in Pakistan, has "Britishi3ed biases" %$8#+8)'. The border 4eminism o4 Cracking India seems e7ually unsel4conscious o4 its o n positionality and desires as it demarcates the 9iolation o4 Ayah as e6clusi9ely the pro9ince o4 a rabid lo er class maleness. .t 4ails to ackno led-e its o n complicated 4ascination 4or and repudiation o4 that 4i-ure++the 9ery 4i-ure that it seeks to ally itsel4 ith but needs to di44erentiate 4rom. As such, this contradictory te6t re9eals both its -ood intentions and its myopias, its aspirations and its insu44iciencies: as a border orker, it depends upon the use o4 a 4i-ure that 4inally becomes its o n site o4 limitation and occasions its -reatest troubles.

Acknowledgements
An early 9ersion o4 this essay as deli9ered as a con4erence paper at the /5A in Toronto, 8**). . ould like to thank my audience there and the 4riends and collea-ues ho ha9e o44ered comments at 9arious sta-es o4 the manuscript: /ar-ery Sabin, Helen ;lam, 0andy ,rai-, /ichael Aorra, =osna 0e-e, Sadia Abbas, 1e9in 0o3ario, and the anonymous readers o4 MFS ithout hose insi-ht4ul and incisi9e 7uestions this ould ha9e been a much lesser piece. <otes For an analo-ous readin- o4 this tale, see also 0ushdie!s essay "1iplin-" in Imaginary Homelands. A -lance at the titles o4 some recent notable e6amples across a ran-e o4 4ields is illuminatin-: /ae Henderson, ed., !orders, !oundaries, and Frames& Cultural Criticism and Cultural StudiesG Homi Bhabha, ed., "Front>5ines>Border>Posts," Special .ssue o4 Critical InAuiryG Stephen Areenblatt and Ailes Aunn, eds., 2edrawing the !oundaries& -he -ransformation of 'nglish and 1merican )iterary StudiesG =ohn ,. Welchman, ed., 2ethinking !ordersG Henry Airou6, !etween !orders& 8edagogy and the 8olitics of Cultural StudiesG Hector ,alderon and =osK Ja9id Saldi9ar, eds., Criticism in the !orderlands& Studies in Chicano )iterature, Culture, and IdeologyG ;mily Hicks, !order /riting& -he Multidimensional -e%tG /artine 0eid, ed. !oundaries& /riting and :rawing. Bale French StudiesG /a--ie Humm, !order -raffic& Strategies of Contem orary /omen /riters G 5aura Joyle, !ordering on the !ody& -he 2acial Matri% of Modern Fiction and CultureG /ar-aret Hi-onnet, !orderwork& Feminist 'ngagements with Com arati(e )iteratureG and a some hat earlier piece, =ac7ues Jerrida, "5i9in- 2n: Border 5ines." Ai9en that "4eminism," in the conte6ts o4 both the An-lo+American academy and the "third orld," is itsel4 a contested term, . dra upon ,handra /ohanty!s use4ul de4inition o4 an "ima-ined community," here despite di44erences there is a non+essentialist commitment to "the way e think about race, class and -ender++the political links e choose to make amon- and bet een stru--les" %",arto-raphies" "'. . also use the term "third orld" as /ohanty does % hile co-ni3ant o4 its problems' to desi-nate not a unitary -roup but a "political constituency" %)'. .ts historic connotations as politically "non+ali-ned" to 4irst or second orlds also ties in ell ith the sense o4 a third or alternati9e space that marks the border 3one. This is to be distin-uished, she insists, 4rom the o4ten essentialist appropriation o4 the middle 9oice as a 4eminine 9oice in some French 4eminist approaches. See also /a--ie Humm on the 9arious strate-ies o4 border crossin- by omen riters.

For t o recent e6amples o4 e6cellent analyses that ork a-ainst this tendency, see Are al and ,aplan, and Ahosh and Bose. =ussa alla!s introduction reads: ",rossin- borders both literal and metaphoric has become the condition o4 postmodernity and o4 postcoloniality" %9i'. Papers %such as Ara9ely+Fo9ello in the same issue' that 4ind border+crossin- "dan-erous" do so on the -rounds that the border+crossin- is either 4atal, or does not chan-e the sub<ect!s mar-inality because it 4ails to produce a home in the ne space entered. For an astute criti7ue o4 Bharati /ukher<ee!s .ndian+American immi-rant 4iction, and her uncritical celebration o4 the .ndian immi-rant!s "crossin-" into the re4u-e o4 American as modern space, see 1oshy. Ho e9er, e9en =an/ohamed, in delineatin- the "specular border intellectual," notes the " leasure o4 border+crossin- and trans-ression" %88"G emphasis added'. ;d ard Said reminds us o4 the "perilous territory o4 not+belon-in- CED o4 re4u-ees and displaced persons" %"/ind" @8'. ;9en Homi Bhabha ackno led-es the di44icult ork in9ol9ed in constructin- hybridity, hich re7uires continuin- ne-otiations ith shi4tin- boundaries, and the construction o4 the "unhomely," the de4amiliari3in-, unsettlin-, and shi4tin- border spaces created by such artists as Toni /orrison and Fadine Aordimer %)ocation *'. Ai<a3 Ahmad, ho e9er, rites more scathin-ly: "History does not consist o4 perpetual mi-ration. CED /ost mi-rants tend to be poor and e6perience displacement not as cultural plenitude but as torment" %"Politics" $?*'. For an illuminatin- discussion o4 this cate-ory see /ere ether. This ould su--est not a biolo-ical or racial cate-ory, but a location that ould include, 4or e6ample, third orld scholars in the An-lo+American academy. Ahmad!s essay on 0ushdie!s Shame is an important e6ception %In -heory'. .t ould be ell to recall Sara Suleri!s timely arnin- a-ainst the dan-erous "iconicity" o4ten -ranted in the estern academy to the combination o4 "postcolonial" and " oman" %"Woman" )@?'. .n the <ubilant celebrations o4 .ndia!s 4i4tieth anni9ersary o4 independence, such publications as the special issue o4 -he <ew Borker %=une $( E (&, 8**)' on .ndian+;n-lish riters did not include e9en one article by a Pakistani, Ban-ladeshi, or Sri 5ankan riter %thus uncritically con4latin- British and modern .ndia'. This does not include o4 course the ork o4 Pakistani omen <ournalists or scholars, or o4 the omen ritin- in Brdu or other Pakistani lan-ua-es. Fotably, one ould add Sara Suleri, ho is better kno n 4or her critical ork and 4or her memoir, Meatless :ays. As Sidh a hersel4 has documented, " e don!t ha9e a stron- publishin- industry in Pakistan, and it!s almost non+e6istent here ;n-lish 4iction is concerned" %=ussa alla and Jasenbrock $8@+8#'. Sidh a and Suleri are also the only t o Pakistani riters to be included by 0ushdie and West in their recent antholo-y on .ndian ;n-lish riters in celebration o4 4i4ty years o4 independence. %Thou-h it is interestinthat the e6tract chosen 4rom Sidh a!s Cracking India is the only se-ment not narrated by the 4emale child+narrator++it concerns the horri4ic testimony o4 the rape and massacre o4 his 4amily by a 9illa-e boy. Let it remains a rather ironically tellin- choice considerin- that the no9el is emphatically concerned ith 4ocusin- on the ne-lected e6periences o4 omenN' Some ne British+Pakistani omen riters be-innin- to publish no include /ona Al9i, ho has t o

collections o4 poetry and a memoir on her li4e in and bet een Pakistan and Britain, and 0ukhsana Ahmad, ho has <ust published her no9el -he Ho e Chest. 264ord Bni9ersity Press in Pakistan has also <ust published a ne antholo-y edited by /unee3a Shamsie that includes earlier, lesser+ kno n riters as ell as more recent ones. For a brie4 conte6tuali3ation o4 Sidh a!s ork ithin Parsee tradition, and an account o4 the Parsees! historic mi-ration 4rom Persia to .ndia, see =ussa alla, "Fa9<ote." This increasin-ly 4ra-mented diasporic community is no mainly located in Bombay, 1arachi, and 5ahore, and in 9arious metropolitan centers in Britain and Forth America. See also Sidh a!s some hat sel4+ ironic comic 9ersion o4 the community!s ori-inary tale o4 mi-ration 4rom Persia and assimilation into .ndia, as the parable o4 a "teaspoon o4 su-ar" %the minority' that ould melt into and "s eeten CED a -lass o4 milk" %the ma<ority' %Cracking ")+"*'. Sidh a has described the initial di44iculties o4 ritin- as a Pakistani oman e6pected to prioriti3e her children and co44ee parties %Jha an and 1apadia $)+("'. Let she still has had the bene4its o4 belon-in- to a middle+class and a Parsee community unusual 4or its commitment to e7ual education and social acti9ism. Pakistan as 4ounded upon a perhaps contradictory secular ideal++althou-h demandin- a separate country 4or /uslims, the ori-inal 4ounders ima-ined a secular le-al and constitutional system, ci9ic e7uality, and reli-ious liberty 4or all. Pakistan!s 4la- symboli3es this ori-inal ideal: a lar-e -reen space ith star and crescent 4or /uslims, coe6istin- ith a smaller hite space 4or non+ /uslims. .t as only later that Pakistan as declared an ".slamic" state, and discriminatory practices to ards non+/uslim "minorities" instituted. -he !ride is more une9en but similar to Cracking India in that it also attempts to address the debilitatin- e44ects o4 Partition on a 4emale child and is marred by its unsel4conscious attempts to represent a lo er+class and ethnically alien 4i-ure. .t is perhaps yet more problematic 4or its orientali3in- representations o4 hat it terms "tribal" culture. . say this not because . subscribe to any notions o4 "authenticity," or to ethnic belon-in- as endo in- some "ri-hts" o4 representation %4or e6ample, the territorialism that insists that only a member can rite about a -roup', but rather because it presumes to represent to estern readers a remote ethnic -roup 9ia a primiti9ist and deni-ratory discourse based solely upon an authority o4 cultural pro6imity. Thus the tribals are ata9istic and brutal, all their omen are oppressed, and escape lies in the dichotomi3ed ci9ili3inurban space. While such condemnation may arise 4rom a laudable desire to chan-e -ender politics, the no9el still re+inscribes colonial rhetoric and constructs a bour-eois nationalist discourse that prescribes a norm 4or those ho do not 4it. Sidh a rote this no9el hile she held the presti-ious Buntin- Fello ship at Har9ard %8*?)'. Since then, she has tau-ht at ,olumbia Bni9ersity, the Bni9ersity o4 Houston, and /ount Holyoke ,olle-e. Attention to Sidh a!s ork is be-innin- to -ro , thou-h ith the e6ception o4 the collection by Jha an and 1apadia, there is little published criticism o4 her ork. For t o o4 her more accessible published inter9ie s, see /ontene-ro, and =ussa alla and Jasenbrock. See Wolpert ("# and ("? and /enon and Bhasin (@. For a detailed historical account, see also Butalia. .n ;n-lish, 1hush ant Sin-h!s -rain to 8akistan %8*@#' remains the most important precursor. See also /enon and Bhasin %recently published oral narrati9es', Bhalla, and ,o as<ee and Ju--al %selected stories in translation'. For recent scholarship, see also the second special issue %4orthcomin-' o4 the ne postcolonial <ournal, Inter(entions %/enon'.

Br9ashi Butalia describes the Boundary ,ommission, chaired by Sir ,yril 0adcli44e, a ne arri9al 4rom ;n-land, ho as -i9en only 4i9e eeks to demarcate the boundaries ithout 4urther research or 4amiliarity ith the histories or issues %#(+##'. See /enon and Bhasin #@+8(& and Butalia 8("+(? and 8?)+$$&. Sidh a su44ered 4rom polio as a child and could not attend school until she as 4ourteen %Araeber'. She also itnessed much o4 the carna-e o4 Partition++4ires, riots, bodies spillin- out o4 -unnysacks++that she describes 9ia 5enny %/ontene-ro @8?' The translation o4 "Ayah" as "nanny" is o4 course inade7uate, since it does not imply the cultural e7ui9alence o4 authority, discipline, or pri9ile-e associated ith a British or American nanny. An ayah is 9ery much a ser9ant and a drud-e++poor, illiterate, homeless, ith no ri-hts or recourse to any hi-her court o4 appeal, and 9ulnerable to all 4orms o4 abuse, se6ual or other ise. .n reality she ould sleep on the 4loor in the children!s room, attend to all their needs, be clothed in cast+ o44s, and ha9e little time o4 her o n. The ayah!s contrast ith such a picture in Sidh a!s no9el only hi-hli-hts the de-ree to hich she is romantici3ed and e6otici3ed in her narrati9e. She is named on a tellin- occasion: hen she dra s her upper+class mistress!s attention to a physically abused ser9ant child in the 4amily compound %$&+$8'++that is, hen she hersel4 4unctions as a mediatin- a-ent o4 rescue 4or another 9ictim. There is a male Hindu -ardener, ho con9erts to .slam and is circumcised %8)$'. .nterestin-ly, Jeepa /ehta!s 8*** 4ilm 'arth, based upon the no9el, omits this dimension o4 the no9el++su--estin- that the politics o4 the 4ilm resist the sel4+a--randi3ement o4 this middle+class omanhood. By contrast, e may compare the .ndian Parsee riter 0ohinton /istry!s 4iction, particularly 1 Fine !alance %8**#', hich takes a 9ery di44erent tactic: it inter ea9es stories o4 Parsees o4 di44erent class back-rounds ith those o4 ",hamaars"++an untouchable caste++insistently to re4ocus attention on the reinte-ration o4 all as citi3ens o4 that nation. This may in each case be related to di44erent national cultural discourses and imperati9es: Pakistan!s ethno+phobic reli-io+ political conser9atism 9ersus .ndia!s secularism and much stron-er le4tist political traditions. /y thanks to Sadia Abbas 4or su--estin- this di44erence. 5ater, 5enny!s doctor belli-erently declares that polio as introduced to .ndia by the British++as i4 the ailment that assails 5enny!s childhood ere colonialism itsel4 %$@'. This o44iciousness can be read as analo-ous to colonial attempts at "rescue" that in4antili3ed "nati9e" omen, such as in the contro9ersial abolishment o4 sati in 8?($. By contrast, in 0ushdie!s -he Satanic Cerses, the position o4 9ictim is seen as much more comple6, complicit, and sel4+disablin-. When Saladin ,hamcha metamorphoses into a de9ilish horned satyr, emblematic o4 an immi-rant!s internali3ed sel4+ima-e upon encounter ith British racism, his 4riend remarks: ".deolo-ically, . re4use to accept the position o4 9ictim. ,ertainly, he has been 9ictimi3ed, but e kno that all abuse o4 po er is in part the responsibility o4 the abusedG our passi9eness colludes ith, permits such crimes" %$@('. /ehta!s 4ilm makes the stunnin- choice o4 endin- at this point++makin- this the climactic

conclusion o4 5enny!s story++emphasi3in- the absence that ill permanently mark her li4e, and re4usin- to tell the subse7uent tale o4 the Parsi omen!s e44orts to reco9er her. The rape o4 upper+class or hi-h+caste omen is by no means unkno n in South Asian literature, particularly in contemporary omen!s ritin-++ itness Anita Jesai!s Fire on the Mountain %8*))', hich concludes ith the brutal rape and murder o4 lla Jas by the 9illa-er hose youndau-hter!s arran-ed marria-e to a rich dotard she is tryin- to pre9ent. ;9en there, ho e9er, the raped oman is an old, shrunken, comic 4i-ure, ho is not allo ed to sur9i9e to tell her story++ and is thus di44erentiated 4rom the central, di-ni4ied 4emale character. Ho e9er, that te6t at least is more sel4+kno in- in its incorporation o4 the possible punishments o4 heroic inter9ention. Parado6ically, in a South Asian conte6t, an abducted oman is automatically dishonored: the burden is not on her to pro9e rape, but i4 anythin-, to dispro9e it, since she is automatically assumed to ha9e lost her chastity. /y thanks to =osna 0e-e and Sadia Abbas 4or raisin- these tricky problems, and 4or 4orcin- me to think them throu-h to clari4y my ar-ument. .nterestin-ly, on a number o4 occasions Sidh a has denied a44iliation ith 4eminist causes. She did not <oin the Pakistani -roup Women!s Action Forum because o4 their attention+dra inmethods o4 protest: "They burn their 9eils or shout on the road," she e6plained %/ontene-ro "&+ "8'. She has also said that she pre4ers to ha9e her -ender "buried" and "-ender does not come into Cher ritin-D in a 9ery bi- ay" %=ussa alla and Jasenbrock $$8'. Ho e9er, she has also claimed that many o4 her no9els, in particular -he !ride and Cracking India, are concerned ith protestin- omen!s oppression, and she has hersel4 been read as 4eminist on many counts %Jha an and 1apadia 8)#+?#'. For recent discussions o4 the Sharia in Pakistan and the discriminatory e44ects particularly on lo er+class omen, see Suleri %"Woman"' and =ahan-ir and =ilani. See, 4or instance, Peterson, or /c,lintock. .t should be noted, o4 course, that not all Parsees are middle class, thou-h Sidh a!s narrati9e only describes a44luent 4amilies. 5ike Saleem Sinai!s midni-ht birth in 0ushdie!s Midnight Children, 5enny!s birthday and se6ual a akenin- coincides ith Pakistan!s birth %8"&+""'. .t ould be ell to in9oke Ahmad!s criti7ue o4 Fredric =ameson!s statement that all "third orld" te6ts are to be read as "national alle-ories" %"=ameson!s"'. ,learly, hile all third orld te6ts are not to be read as such, many third orld te6ts, as . think Ahmad ould a-ree, particularly those made a9ailable in the "4irst orld," published and populari3ed by estern publishin- circuits %possibly as a materiali3ation o4 their o n desire 4or certain kinds o4 third orld te6ts', o4ten present themsel9es precisely as national alle-ories. 24 these Sidh a!s is e9idently one, as su--ested by the recent republication and retitlin- o4 her no9el in the B.S. .n this inter9ie , discussin- the ays in hich her essay "The Subaltern ,annot Speak" has been misapprehended, Spi9ak e6plains that the "subaltern ho cannot speak" re4ers to the one ho cannot be heard e9en hen she does speak %"Subaltern" $*$'. /orks Cited

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