Balochi translation of Gabriel Garcia Marquez’s “No one writes to colonel” by Baloch translator Fida Ahmed is the story of rebels who face every kind of hardships, but nothing makes their dignity down.
Hope keeps life. With the same hope, martyr Augustine’s parents, along with the rest of the people of their town, were living; awaiting to be freed from the colonization.
The main characters of the novella are the unnamed Colonel and his wife struggling to maintain the target of their only son Augustine, who had been killed by the authorities for distributing seditious literature. Augustine used to have a rooster. It had been fifteen years that the colonel had retired. They lived helpless lives. Most of the times, they had nothing to eat. Colonel’s wife was suffering from asthma.
Colonel, on every Friday, goes to the post office for his pension’s letter, but comes without it every time. His wife gets fed up with the poor economic conditions of the home and tells Colonel to sell the old clock. Colonel tries but none buys it, then she tells to sell the rooster to have some money. Actually, colonel never wants to sell it, but he, with convincing statements, says her to wait and that he will do something.
The young, old and children bet on the winning of colonel’s fighting cock. The fighting of roosters is going to be conducted in January, so everyone is awaiting for the day. Due to poverty, colonel gets nothing to feed the rooster. So the others (companions or Augustine) bring corns for it.
Days change into nights and months into months. Colonel’s wife again forces him to sell the rooster, as she asks him again that they have nothing to eat and remain alive. At last, the colonel adds by saying “Shit!”.
Neither Colonel gets his pension nor the journey comes; but the story ends.
In my complete career, I did not have such a unique book in my hands. How big a them this short novella between the lines, but the readers ought to think out of the box.
Actually, colonel is leading the mission of his martyr son. At that time, they were under martial Law. The rooster is the honor of the colonel who lives under tough circumstances, but does not sell it for money as he is not selfish. His wife is one of the supportive companies, who is tired now. Apart from this, colonel knows that he never gets his pension, but he goes on every Friday in order to bring the undivulged information. The doctor and the tailor are the part of insurrectionary. They meet colonel for a revolutionary purpose.
The readers should put a serious glance on the story of this book to feel their own situations by which they are going through. Everything resembles the society we are part of.
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