Sakoon – A Novel
SUGAR LAND: Nishith Vasavada, a resident of Sugar Land, has recently published a novel titled Sakoon on Amazon.com as an e-book (no hard copies). When we asked him what inspired him to write a novel, he said that , “Sakoon is a sincere attempt to explore my late mother’s yearning for the Karachi she was forced to leave during partition of India in 1947. My grandfather realized that staying there was too dangerous due to their ethnicity.” Nishith further explains that these victims of ethnic cleansing–Hindus, Sikh, and Muslims–were left to wonder what happened to their former homes afterwards and why they had to leave? “I have witnessed the conversations my late mother had here in the United States with the Pakistanis who also had to make a torturous journey, like her, but in the opposite direction. Their sense of loss has touched me in a way that is hard to describe.”
Without give away too much, Sakoon is the story of one young woman’s courage to raise her voice against tyranny and injustice. The time is the early 1980s. Dictator General Zia-ul-Haq turns to religion and jihad as the twin saviors of the state under the threat of Soviet invasion. Growing up in Karachi, Pakistan, Sakeena is a carefree girl who falls in love with Rohan, her brother’s best friend. Sakeena and Rohan are caught unexpectedly in the erupting ethnic conflict due to events beyond their control. Rohan makes a haunting choice when he is caught suddenly in the middle of a terrible situation. Sakeena exposes violence on her campus, landing her in trouble with the powerful Islamists. Their only potential savior is an ISI spy, who is seeking his own redemption for his family’s shameful past
As for the audience that Sakoon should appeal to, Nishith believes that the human urge for liberty is a universal theme that should resonate with most readers. The story also has its share of romance, suspense, and history of Pakistan after its birth in 1947. As for his writing experience, “I had to stick to my dream,” he explains. “My first novel took six years to complete and turned out to be a practice novel. Sakoon is my second novel, and it took seven years to finish. Story telling is a craft.” When asked what he found the most difficult aspect of writing a novel, he mentions rewriting and editing, cutting out what he thought was really good stuff, as a few examples. As far as Sakoon is concerned, he says, “The hardest part was to write from the viewpoint of a young woman.”
When asked how he managed to write with a full-time job that also requires him to travel internationally, he said, “If you’re passionate enough to stay awake thinking about something late into the night, then you have a story to tell. The story compelled me to write. I wanted to take my mother back to the place she could not visit again.”
Sakoon is available only as an e-book via Amazon.com. For further details email at
sakoon.novel@yahoo.com, or visit the Facebook page at fansofsakoon.