The Last Knot by Shabir Ahmad Mir
The Last Knot by Shabir Ahmad Mir takes me back in time when I lived in Aladdin stories as a part of my English course and other magical shows/stories like Alibaba aur chalis chor, Potli baba ki, etc. Every story was significant and had magic. This book caught my attention for the same reason. You may grow older but your heart always expects some magic.
As the story begins, the protagonist yearns to break free from his monotonous work and fly away into something unknown and different. That was the first hook that kept me glued until the end. The author understands the karmic rotations and explains to his readers that they cannot escape their destiny until they complete what is to be done by them in this life. Along with the protagonist, I was equally excited to tie that last knot to the carpet and fly.
Did I succeed?
You need to pick the book and know yourself!
Interesting story elements
The pace of the story is just perfect and keeps you engaged within chapters. The story flows smoothly with different episodes of the protagonist and connects back seamlessly to the reality that he has to weave, weave and only weave.
The language
After a long time, I came across a story written in such beautiful language. It reminds me of good old literature books. It’s different from the way we talk and that makes me want to read it more and more.
Some beautiful lines from The Last Knot
Vicious circle of life
One thing that is for sure is you can’t escape your destiny. Here, the protagonist tries everything to run away from his daily, mundane life as a weaver. He runs, hides, and even acts as a madman, but every time he comes back to square one.
Circumstances and life events force him to be a weaver and if he wants freedom from all, he pays a price for that.
The short stories connect the dots
Many short stories explain the reason behind a particular event in the book, and all convince me of them. Stories make you understand a series of fateful occurrences easily. Here, at many instances, the author gives reasons for a particular ritual/tradition, like why blue dye is not common and how Heemal’s father couldn’t make it.
The love story is the pillar of strength in The Last Knot by Shabir Ahmad Mir
Usually, the love story gets lost in between the series of events and another plot erupts from nowhere, disturbing the writing arc but here, I liked the strong love between the protagonist and Heemal. Like a strong pillar, both of them stood by each other at a time most awaited.
It is their love only that takes them ahead with weaving and finding the right shade of blue. His lady love becomes the reason for every small victory that the protagonist achieves.
The end that stays with you
I don’t sit with the book and finish it at one go anymore. There’s more in life and night is the time that leaves me peaceful with my book. For some days now, reading this book has become a ritual and I look forward to reading a few chapters every day to peek inside the protagonist’s life. On the day I finished the book, I felt hollow from inside as if my companion had been taken away. The story stayed with me for some time before I sat down to review it.
Shabir Ahmad Mir
You can find the author on Facebook and buy the book from here.
If you have picked up this book, do share your review with me. It will be interesting to know others’ take on the same. When I searched for reviews on the internet, I found different stories but my observation was different.
So let’s have a conversation.
