hile Safinah Danish Elahi’s The Idle Stance of the Tippler Pigeon marks a radical departure from her earlier work, the sophomore novel forays deeply into an intricate web of familiar themes that have dominated her oeuvre. In her first novel, Eye on the Prize, one of the female protagonists opts for therapy to confront her traumatic past. At first, the crippling shame over her mistakes and the desire for secrecy compel her to conceal this fact from her family. As she peels back the hidden layers of truth, these therapy sessions become her oasis in a dry desert and eventually help her navigate the dark, dangerous tunnels of her insecurities.

Efforts to destigmatise the conversation surrounding mental health also assume centre stage in Elahi’s new novel. However, the author is not just tackling the bitter burden of a traumatic event on an individual’s psyche but also seeks to unearth its collective impact on those who witnessed it from varying degrees of proximity/ distance. Since she is painting on a much larger canvas, Elahi eschews the detached voice of a third-person narrator and employs multiple narrators to steer her plot towards its satisfying denouement. Each chapter is narrated from either the perspective of one of the three protagonists – Nadia, Zohaib and Misha – or a diverse menu of minor characters who share their insights and observations as onlookers to an unforgotten calamity.

Ambitious in its scope, The Idle Stance of the Tippler Pigeon draws its spiritual and creative thrust from a childhood tragedy which unfolds on a fateful afternoon in Karachi. The details are shrouded in mystery until the end of the novel. Elahi is not keen on portraying the dramatic consequences of the tragedy. Instead, she is more concerned with exploring the repercussions of the incident on her characters’ psyche. Nadia and Zohaib, who have witnessed the events at close quarters, carry the scars of this life-altering incident into adulthood. The lingering effects of their childhood woes remain at the heart of The Idle Stance of the Tippler Pigeon.

The story begins at a cold, comfortable distance from the root of the conflict, several years after the tragedy and many miles away from its epicentre – Karachi. Though she spends her days in a poorly ventilated, male-dominated office in Lahore, Nadia is still consumed by reminiscences and traumas of her childhood spent in the Hashim household. Trapped in a spiral of his own dilemmas, Zohaib Hashim is still haunted by the ghosts of his past in distant England. Their daily struggles and insecurities, along with their preoccupation with the past, emerge through a string of chapters narrated in the first-person perspective.

The fundamental link between both characters is Misha Hashim, Zohaib’s sister and Nadia’s devoted companion, whose naive optimism shines through in a series of chapters written from her perspective as a child.

Though not a character in the novel, the titular tippler pigeon inhabits its pages as food for thought, a moral compass and a gentle reminder to look beyond the surface and understand complex emotions.

Though Nadia was the daughter of a domestic helper, she remained indispensable to the lives of the Hashim siblings. A young Misha finds it difficult to envisage her life without her beloved ‘Nono’ – her nickname for Nadia – who can be “just as naughty as [her] sometimes, and, other times, a saint, an angel.” The three children spent many afternoons of guileless play at 55 Alhambra, the palatial home in Karachi where the Hashims live. Nadia wields considerable influence on Zohaib, who is closer to her age than Misha. She shares the occasional “inside joke” with him and has a remarkable way of helping him enrich his relationship with his younger sister.

Even so, the Hashim siblings cannot escape the subtle ways in which Nadia’s socio-economic status serves to alienate her from them. “The only thing I don’t like is that Mama doesn’t let Nono sit with us [at the dining table]. That’s not fun at all because she has to eat with Masi in the kitchen,” Misha says.

The aforementioned tragedy fractures their childhood bond and prematurely leads the Hashim siblings to confront the crippling inequalities between them and Nadia.

Straddling two timelines and the first-person accounts of a rich panoply of characters, Elahi’s new novel seeks to bridge the emotional distance among the protagonists through a tale of redemption.

The Idle Stance of the Tippler Pigeon stands out for its poignant evocation of trauma and emotional distress. The pressing need for a more comprehensive discussion of mental health concerns is emphasised throughout the narrative, especially through Zohaib’s experiences of grappling with his inner turmoil. Zohaib attends regular therapy sessions with the bespectacled Dr Whitaker at the latter’s clinic on Harley Street. Conventional wisdom would have us believe men are far more averse to therapy than women. Elahi’s decision to write about a man who opts for therapy allows her to raise pertinent points about promoting the psychological well-being of men in Pakistani society.

Though not a character in the novel, the titular tippler pigeon inhabits its pages as food for thought, a moral compass and a gentle reminder to look beyond the surface and understand complex emotions.

Written with unflinching honesty, Elahi’s second novel comes through as a meditation on loss, forgiveness and the path towards healing.

The Idle Stance of the Tippler Pigeon

Author: Safinah Danish Elahi

Publisher: Neem Tree Press

Pages: 234

The reviewer is a freelance journalist and the author of No Funeral for Nazia.