‘No Place To Call My Own’: A slow start makes way for a realistic portrayal of women’s relationships

Sophia, the protagonist of Alina Gufran’s debut novel No Place To Call My Own has always lived a dual life. With an Arya Samaji Hindu mother and a Muslim father, even the union of her parents was strenuous under the watchful eyes of both families – only her father’s parents attended the wedding while her mother’s family offered money to the groom to leave her alone. Sophia was once called Mehak by her mother’s side, a name she was not familiar with. As a child, she learned to switch up the greetings – namaste for one and salaam for the other – depending on which family she was around.

Despite their rebellious love, her parents soon fell into the trappings of marriage. Slurs about each other’s religious identity were quick to erupt during a spat. Her father accused her mother of being a skinflint Baniya, while her mother did not hesitate to term him unhygienic like his brethren.

Her parents’ unofficial separation and flitting between two homes disrupt whatever sense of normalcy that the young Sophia had grown accustomed to. And before long come the teenage years, when she dives headlong into indifferent boyfriends and a dangerous affinity for the fast life.

Fast and furious

When adulthood beckons in a...

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