My Ancestor's House (Bina Sharif)

 About the Author: Bina Sharif is an American playwright, actress, director, performer and a visual artist. She has written, directed and performed over30 plays produced in USA, Pakistan and Europe. Her full-length lay “My Ancestor’s House” published by Ruttledge Press and taught in many universities all over the world.

Sharif holds an MD degree from Pakistan and a master’s degree in Public health from Johns Hopkins University.

Sharif has been a theatre critic for the last 20 years, co-hosting HI DRAMA and is the editor and publisher for the blog, Arts International and maintains a website with her writing titled “Stream of Consciousness of Singing Birds”. Her work has been exhibited in group shows at Theater for the New City Art Gallery. Her 31st play was staged in New York at The Theater for the New City in November 2016. She recently completed her 32nd play, which is a one-woman play titled "Sorrow in the Time of Isis" and is being considered for production.

 

Characters in the Play:

Begum Hajira – Mother, aged 50-70.

Sahid – Begum’s elder son, aged 45-50; he is a brigadier in the Pakistani army. 

Nazo -Begum’s eldest daughter (in forties)

Bindia – Begum’s second daughter (in late thirties)

Roona – Begum’s third daughter (two/three years younger to Bindia)

Deedi – Begum’s youngest daughter (in late twenties)

Ali Buksh – a family servant, aged 40-50

Moazzan – a Muslim man, knows how to recite Aazan (a call to prayer in Arabic)

 

 

“My Ancestor’s House” is a memory play. It was first performed in 1992. Bina Sharif calls it a ‘memory play’ as it deals with her own past life, of her siblings and of her parents in Pakistan that she left behind decades age before moving to America. Basically, it is written in the memory of her elder sister called, Deedi, who was cruelly boycotted by the family because she chose her husband without their consent. The husband also proved cruel as he did not support his family; he remained idle till her death.  It is one of the plays in the anthology called “Contemporary Plays by Women of Color”. It focuses on the pathetic conditions of women in Muslim community. The culture, religion and patriarchy are responsible to suppress and dominate the females. The females mentioned in the play are not allowed to live the life according to their wish, rather they have to move according to the desire and interest of their families. They are not even allowed to choose their life partner. If they marry according to their will, they are punished by their society, religion, fate and her husband too. The play, My Ancestor’s House excavates how Muslim women are suppressed by their culture, religion and patriarchy.  In the play, “My Ancestor’s House” we follow the return of Bindia, a Pakistani woman who has chosen to marry and live in the west. But for the sake of her native land and the world of her sisters and dying mother, she returns to Pakistan. It is on this journey that she confronts with jealousy and family strife that question her very existence. There is the picture of female characters like Begum, Nazo, Bindia, Roona and Deedi. The bonding and the relationship of sisters are presented beautifully to resist patriarchal domination in the play.

 

Bindia leaves the male chauvinist country Pakistan for the sake of freedoms and liberties in America. But her problems do not subside there. She remains the metaphor of a weaver's shuttle between America and Pakistan. The liminality of life that is the result of the hybrid self keeps her entrenched in homelessness. Bindia dots upon ‘The jasmines, the daffodils, the beautiful birch trees’ and ‘the best rosebuds’ in the garden of Nazo. She cannot help crying, ‘oh! the lovely roses'; 'you could never have a garden in New York .'Nazo, fond of the garden, asks Roona to ‘let her (Bindia) stay in the garden. It is so lovely out there. In comparison with Roona’s 'smaller garden,' the garden of Sahid is just 'huge .'And like others, he is also very fond and proud of his garden. It is the symbol of joys, luxuries and happiness that a character in “My Ancestor’s House” provides to his/ her own family.

 

Bindia has no children as she has no familial life. She does not own her garden rather. There is a lot of concrete and cement around her house in America. That is the reason she is more fond of a garden than other characters. She is passing a lonely life in America. Nazo’s big garden signifies the worldly success and luxuries that she, along with her life partner, brings to the children. Deedi has no garden at all. Roona’s smaller garden stands for the little material advancement she made for her family. To yearn passionately for the garden is reinforced by the unaffordable miseries of practical life that the unchanging, cruel, and constantly repeated actions occasion them. Nazo’s hollowing unrest due to materialist hunger, Roona’s apprehensions and worries to arrange money for her daughters, Sahid’s unjust moral compass that is the result of modern vicious circles of life and Bindia’s rootlessness in the American ambiance all sharpen their desire for the carefree childhood implicated in the lexical item 'garden.' Bindia committed a one-time important act of leaving Pakistan for America. It brought a big turn plus a boost in her life but then she lost her energies to further struggle for adjustment to the new environment. Deedi proved her dynamism by choosing a husband of her own choice, but she also failed to replenish her forces and courage to overcome her miserable marriage at the hands of her worthless life partner. Sahid, Nazo and Roona, who could not make any one-time extraordinary action, are fully exhausted in terms of peace, contentment, and self-actualization.

Mother is the symbol of the sap of life for all the characters in this play. Bindia says, ‘mother is dying’; her ‘vacant stare…is almost frightening’. The routine-based habitual life has squeezed their prospects to nourish and flourish vigorously. The attitudinal and existential trajectory of all the siblings snakes into the undynamic mother image. Bindia says that she wanted to help Deedi even at the cost of her own self. She wanted to tell her, ‘Deedi, you are not alone’. The other example of the act of omission is Bindia’s regrets. She is sorry for not having reached out earlier when the mother was able to speak and recognize her family members. She says, 'I just wish I came back a little bit earlier'.

 Nazo, her husband, and Sahid have already pooled their selfish and cruel plan to expel Deedi along with her children and the worthless husband from her mother's house. Being elders among the siblings, they are bent on occupying the house cleverly. First, they try to pave the ground against Deedi, in front of Roona and Bindia, by finding faults with the former. They condemn the husband of Deedi. They also show their apprehensions about that worthless man who, they think, might occupy, along with his wife, the mother's house. Then they further exercise their pressure against the subaltern Deedi: Sahid says that her sinister husband wants that the former should bring up his children. Sahid very clearly announces that he will not do this job. Bindia and Roona have discerned the plan of Sahid and Nazo very well.

Encouraged by Nazo, Sahid, advises Roona and Bindia to construct a commercial market in the location of the ancestral house. It would every month fetch a lot of rent from the banks to be built there. He also announces, along with Nazo, that the latter's husband has voluntarily agreed to supervise the construction work. For this purpose, Sahid requests a power of attorney from his siblings. As these women do not trust their elder brother and elder sister, therefore, they decline the request. When the dissenting group advises selling the house, Sahid disagrees with it. Then all of a sudden, he changes his strategy. He begins to say that all of them are 'empty souls'; all the children of the family are 'emotionally crippled monsters incapable of having a healthy conversation .'To dispel the effect of his younger sister's doubts about him, he spreads a new trap before them. He says, 'I am trying to save our children. He elevates himself to their father's position and says, 'I promised myself to prevent further decay of my family .'He announces to 'get Deedi out of this mess .'He even offers his own house for Deedi. When the group of his younger sisters does not show agreement, he begins the self-pitying process. He curses his career in the army. He also belittles his value before others saying that he is not happy with his institution as it usually destabilizes the governments.

There is a causal relationship between madness and meaningless activities. The same formulation is spotted in My Ancestor House. The characters are mercilessly and cruelly involved in 'an unending quarrel . Everyone claims that his/her love for the mother is greater than those of others. Bindia states she served the mother during her stay in Pakistan better than others. Nazo also takes pride in caring for her mother more than others. Roona also claims to have visits to look after the mother. Sahid says that he will protect Deedi and his mother. All these characters have empty claims of love and care for the mother. There is another form of madness found in these characters. Every character tries to have a father figure for others. Nazo positions herself as the mother and Sahid calls himself the father. The reality is that no one cares about others. Everyone is selfish in each way.

Bindia wants her share of the house immediately to settle somewhere comfortably. Roona wants her share because she wants to arrange for the dowery of her daughters. Nazo wants to construct a commercial building there as it would bring a healthy income for her household. Sahid also wants a power of attorney from her siblings as he is desirous of fleecing all of them. The excess of all these works shows that they are without any pleasant colour in their acts of commission.

Conclusion

The investigation of My Ancestor’s House produced very significant results. It can be announced humbly that the habitual actions left dangerous impacts on the life of all the characters. Of course, some characters like Deedi and Bindia showed courage to bring a big change in their lives via one-time actions. But after some time, they became the victims of patriarchy, tradition and religious culture. Consequently, their existence was as faded as that of the other ones with routine action. Unable to come outside of the unhealthy orbit, they fall flat on sinister practices like bragging, double-crossing, dishonesty, an exhibition of false emotions, levelling allegations against others, and self-projection. These immobile individuals behave like a robot in terms of their lust, instinct, and material thirst. They are all ready to cheat each other to bring more and more luxuries and pleasures to their own families. Their acts of commission are directly related to their routinized activities. Their acts of omission are so many. For instance, Bindia has a wish to comfort Deedi, to bring toys for her nephews and nieces, to come earlier to see her ailing mother and to shift Deedi and other family members to America. But these are just desires and whimsical materials. Most of the time, their actions, behaviours, and discourses are ridiculous and ironic. They often signify the meaninglessness of life.