Among The Believers: pakistan

1. Displacement
In the very start of this chapter of his book, Naipaul uses the sharp images for
Pakistan and Pakistani leaders in a very ironic tone as he says; “it could be seen as a
fragmented country, economically stagnant, despotically ruled, with its gifted people close to
hysteria.” He says that Pakistan is founded thirty years before, of his writing, as a homeland
for the Muslims and is being cherished as a pioneer of the Islamic revival. In Naipaul‟s
opinion, Pakistan and Iran, both are using the logic of religion to gain power because they are
lacking behind in the concerns of science, which is the ability to run a twentieth- century
state. Here, he gives a reference of an article in the Tehran times which, according to Naipaul,
links the two countries by the statements such as follows: “Politics is combined with religion
in Islam. Iran and Pakistan can join hands to prove to the world that Islam is not just a faith of
the past, practicing ancient rituals.”
Further, Naipaul talks about the economic condition of Pakistan at that time by giving
ethnographic details and comparing them to the Iran‟s condition. For example, he says that
“Iran, with a population of thirty-five million, earns seventy million dollars a day, while
Pakistan, with twice the population, earns one hundred forty millions a month”. So, he says
that Pakistan‟s economy is dwindling day by day and to authenticate his argument, he gives
examples of advertisements in Dawn.
Away from economic issues, he also refers to the news headline about pious
Pakistanis who are preparing for the pilgrimage along with their leader, General Zia.
According to Naipaul, General Zia is not going to perform his devotions but rather to collect
a modest loan of a hundred million dollars. So, he says that Muslims are time and again be
fooled on the name of religion and faith.
He even goes back to historical perspectives of foundation of Pakistan that it came in
to being on the name of religion. Here, Naipaul quotes the lines from the speech of revered
poet, Sir Mohammad Iqbal as follows: “Religion for a Muslim is not a matter of private
conscience…Muslims, to be true to Islam, need a state with Muslim polity. So, the Muslim-
majority areas of the north west India should be detached and consolidated in to a single
Muslim state.” He says that it was just apparently logical because the campaigners for
Pakistan became men who overnight had lost their constituencies and were merely men of
reputation who only have concern with elections immediately after the division. Besides,
using his analytic skills to convince the readers of his idea that the logic of faith was misused
by Muslim leaders at the time of division, Naipaul also ignores the influence of British rule
and he also hides the injustices done by British to Muslims of the sub-continent.
He further quotes his dialogues, with some natives of Pakistan, to prove himself a
seeker who is on the quest to search the truth. He describes his observations there that people
who used to fight and sacrifice their valuable stocks and lives on the name of true religious
state, are still dissatisfied with their present conditions. For example, he quotes on line of a
poet about his people as: “they didn‟t live up to the faith."

2. Next, he quotes his conversation with one „maulana‟ who complains about the
banking system of Pakistan and says: “If Pakistan makes money in an Islamic way,
everything will follow.” Here, we see that imagery and tone used by Naipaul, although builds
his narrative authority to attract the reader‟s attention but is based on Naipaul‟s assumptions
about Muslims because he thinks them yet primitive, having limited knowledge and vision as
he writes “uneven, everything retuning to dust”, image of „malevolence‟ for maulana, and
draws his character sketch as: “he (maulana) didn‟t know. He hadn‟t thought about it… he
lived by his rules. His world had shrunk to a hut in a crumbling village.” All these show
Naipaul‟s vulcanization of fictional paradigms with travel strategies as the above mentioned
example blends the art of characterization with ethnographic element of travel writing.
Karachi phantasmagoria
He starts the chapter of Karachi Phantasmagoria in Pakistan by referring to Muslim
world; this is a country that was become independent in order to make experiment with
Islamic and Quranic laws that would sustain an Islamic state and a banking system without
interest. Habib bank symbolizing the magnificence of the New York had number of signs
here and there in Karachi but he got information about an Islamic bank through the
newspaper that is Tebran Times. He went to Mr,Deen‟s office that has distempered walls and
the carpet with its rd and white pattern and a government issued sofa. He was very courteous
to him but a dutiful man and busy with the sending of pilgrims‟ ships to Mecca. Mr.Sherwani
was a colleague of Mr. Deen. Naipaul was introduced to him as he wanted to see Islam in
action. He suggested him to read the interpretation of Quran by Murmauke Pickthall. Naipaul
has quoted the saying of him that true Muslims who follows as a complete way of life is very
rare. Mr.Sherwani asked of his previous religious faith that he responses in negative so he
makes a prophecy about him to be a Muslim after investigation.
It was a happy month of a Ramadan for the Sunni Muslims of Pakistan but the same
month is of mourning for those who could not be recognized as the prophet‟s successors.
Different pilgrims‟ ships went to Mecca. Mr.Deen was Indian who migrated here and
preferred to stay there. Naipaul with Mr., Sherwani and his colleagues went to different
mosques in Karachi that are decorated with fluorescent tubes and sticks of blue white glitter.
He observed there mullahs showing of their knowledge of the Quran how well they knew and
how fast they can recite. Faith unity and discipline are the theme of Islam and was also said
by Jinnah, the founder of Pakistan that locked all components of faith together Mr. Sherwani
left him to his hotel intended to pray till morning fast. The Morning News published a story
with the title „PLOT TO MAKE PAKISTAN A FOREIGN STOOGE. The story was of
Benazir that was fabricated. She has written letters to her brother in order to save her father‟s
life. She mentions the offering of America to give up Pakistan nuclear program. In politics,
there were no rules but faith is full of rules so Islam is cause and tool for everyone, on that he
comments “it could lead to worldly virulence.

3. He met an officer who is in green sari and led him to the docks to see the pilgrims
leave for Mecca. She has done the degree in journalism and allotted to the department in the
information. She did the job because her family gave her the financial support that is not
enough for her. She has made her children to get education in both English and Urdu
languages to get job in Arab contraries that demands of English. She belonged to Ahmadi
sect that was declared by Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto as non-Muslims. She was preparing them in
case of to exile from Pakistan as they are in minority. Ahmad appeared with sigh of
revelations as Messiah in northern India Ahmadi believe in him and do not consider prophet
Muhammad as final as Muslims do. General Rahimduddin, governor of Baluchistan arrived
to say farewell to the pilgrims‟ leaving for Mecca. Pilgrim is one of the practices of Islam
deep rooted in old Arabian tribes. he made a speech here to guide them.
He went to Ahmed‟s office that was also religious person and belonged to Sind
originally from pre-Aryan race. He said about beauty of Islam which is a mixture of law and
compassion. In order to make him understood the Islamic concept of charity and brotherhood,
he wanted to see him the old shrines of Sind. They came back to Intercontinental and Mr.
Ahmed said to him that a intellectual is always concerned with truth so put your eyes in
positive things. Another person he met is Mr. Mirza. There were many books of English
politics of 1930 to 1940 signifying that his education career has passed in England. His
conversation with the two sitting person in front of him was based on the value of truth.
People have lost their interest in truth and there was very little information based on truth.
His purpose was to visit him to get knowledge of the application of Islam to institution to
government and law. He discussed the importance o prophet and Islamic laws that are divine
but not applied. He seemed to him as simplest mullah who was interested in his political
ambition.

He met Mr. Slahuddin who was an editor of Urdu language newspaper with five
thousands circulation. In his office, there was a pencil drawing of Mr.Jinnah on the walls. His
was the same that Islamic laws must be employed to be an Islamic state as it was in the time
of prophet and first four caliphs and it was the tine of their ruling. He has also given him
booklets that was published in department of European colonist by Muslim missionary
publication „the Koran and Modern CIENCE” that had an idea that prophet (SAWW) had
many modern European ideas and “First and the Final Religion”. There was also information
about American Dussel Webb who has spent his long life in an Islamic missionary work.
Through Mr. Salahuddin, he met Khalid Ishaq who was a member of the Islamic ideology
council and a member of government commission, leading lawyer in Karachi and a migrant
from India. His purpose was to spread and promote Islamic culture and civilization. They sat
I his office and discussed his passion for Islam. There is a need to develop Islamic institution
based on the emotional needs of the people. That needs could only be understood with the
idea of equality. Scholars and mullahs claimed of having enough knowledge about Islam but
in reality they possessed a very little. Faith was on aspect that can remove and answer
negative emotional needs.

4. Ahmed was taking him to the dinner and he went down in the lobby of the
intercontinental to wait for him where he met two younger that came there to see traffic to
remove their boredom. Ahmed told him that men from Sukkur were rustic villagers who
visited that place top visit naked women. They came to see traffic that seemed to them that
they had seen the whole world. It was a self deceptive idea that Pakistanis had contempt for
naked women and came to se them as well. Ideas of Ahmed about women were also
traditional. He wanted his children to work in hospital even as sweepers as there men could
lessen the stress of others. He told the story of Pakistan in two sentences that Hindus hated
Europeans and when Muslims woke the hated both Hindus and European so Pakistan was the
result of hate. They had taken their dinner. A man came in Pakistani dress with a flat Sindi
cap. He was the one who wanted to show him in one of Sindi shrines. He suffered from
tumor, doctors told him of cancer so an injection of snake poison would be required. He went
to a shrine, kept on praying and one day he cut off that and he was alright since. Everybody
fools here everybody so people started turning to Islam as everything else was failed.
Analysis of Karachi phantasmagoria
Analytic skills have three formal aspects as Naipaul's assumptions, narrative strategies
and narrative authority. He has presented all assumptions in a quite ordered plan. It reveals
some hidden ideology and worldview with which he has portrayed his travel writing. It is not
the result of his one experiment of observing, but after collecting data he has reassessed data,
re-think and re-organize. He has manipulated all his imagery, language, tone other fictional
and travel writing elements in such a way that seemed to be adjectives and factual. He met
different people and discussed experiment of Islam with them.
He wants to see Islam in action so he had seen every man from this perspective and
had not tried to understand what they are saying. He has chosen those characters that were
without mystics or intellectual bent as in the case of Mr. Mirza. He rejected his discussion
because of intellectual bent and preferred the instructions of Mr. Salahuddin who was a
simple man.
He has chosen the words according to his own assumptions and choice as he has been
saying about the person who is faithful as he is in fever of faith. When he met with Mr. Mirza
who talks of Islamic law and institutions that were not launched according to its teaching. He
criticizes him that in spite of his teaching he could not think beyond that point and showed
vanity. Even he assumed of him that he is interested in political ambitions to get heights after
the suppression of Benazir‟s party. It seems that many of his writing is based on his own
assumptions and produced out of his actual experiential text
He has also used auto bio graphical features in this chapter. He was in search of Islamic
institutions and experiments. When Mr. Sherwani asked him about his any religious faith. He
answered in negative; Mr.Sherwani became happy to this news of him and said it is necessary
for Islamic studies not to be prejudiced. It showed his one autobiographical feature that he
was an aethiest. He had no belief in any religion so he did not know the value of respect that
has been associated by any religious person to his concerned religion.

5. His travel writing also include historical perspectives .historical writings were
characterized as factual and objectives and authoritative. Naipaul has also added his own
personal dimensions to many historical passages. He has taken references from articles.
Documents and books to give the addition of a sect who narrative authority. He has given the
historical detail of Ahmadi. Ahmadi was sect who believes in Prophet (SAWW) but do not
call it final. That idea was hateful to Muslims .They are declared non-Muslims by Zulfiqar
Ali Bhutto. Ahmad was born in northern India in last century with some signs of revelations
but he could not resist. He describes the background of Ahmed who belongs to Sind, pre
Aryan race of Sind. That was the builders of Mehenjo-Daro and Harrapa, the creator of Indus
valley civilization. That migrating Aryan had overrun in1500Bc. Mostly Pakistani thought
that their history begun with the independence of Pakistan in 1947. He has a pithy and factual
style that is seemed to be objective but it does not.he has also added one another historical
figure that is Tolstoy. He has used with the reference to Mr. Mirza that he did not like to be
taught such things Tolstoy was the greatest v of the Arab philosopher scholars of the Abbasid
period.he says that parophets are like other men.
It was said by Naipaul that Pakistan was made to sustain an Islamic welfare state with
Islamic banking system. He refers to „the Tebran Times‟ that one Islamic bank system existed
in Pakistan under the guidance of Maulana Madoodi. On the other hand, that signs of ha bib
bank that shows magnificence of New York are found everywhere. Another reference he has
coded from the Morning News. The Morning News published a story with the title „PLOT
TO MAKE PAKISTAN A FOREIGN STOOGE. T he story was of Benazir that was
fabricated. She has written letters to her brother in order to save her father‟s life. She
mentions the offering of America to give up Pakistan nuclear program. He has also given him
booklets that was published in department of European colonist by Muslim missionary
publication „the Koran and Modern CIENCE” that had an idea that prophet (SAWW) had
many modern European ideas and “First and the Final Religion”. There was also information
about American Dussel Webb who has spent his long life in an Islamic missionary work.
There were comments from European and non-European writers who has given a very
positive response towards Islam.
He is also known for ethnographic observations. It is produced by „a detached and
clinical perspective‟. His ethnographic details include landscape, topography and people. It
also bears narrative authority and colonial gaze. He gives the detailed ethnographic of
Mr.Deen‟s office as it had cotton carpet that was worn, its red and white patterns are full of
dust. The distempered walls were of ochre colored and windows of the roughest carpentry.
He said in mosques, poor had feelings of community but rich were separating in engaged in
private devotions. He went to the intercontinental with Ahmed, he found many people there
to see traffic. He gave all detailed biography about his characters. When at the end of
chapters an overgrown peasant comes, he describes the appearance of him, readers assume
especially Pakistani that he has com from Sind as he was worn a flat Sindi cap. He does not
look fresh and he could not speak to him because he could not speak English and he sat at
distance. He has described the detailed of this person who is in decay and is confused how to

6. survive in society as he is a poor. There are numerous examples in which he has used
ethnographic detail but to gain narrative authority and gave a decayed perception.
He has also used narrative authority to convince his readers by giving a text that
included observations, eye witnessing experiences and offers the readers a very enjoyable
text. He has quoted many Pakistani people, through his sayings, he provides evidence and
convinces readers that Pakistan is independent on the name of Islam but failed to experiment
Islamic laws. He has included all their dialogues that are related to not implementing of
Islamic rules. At the very start , he quotes the saying of Mr.Deen who says that people talk
about Islam but expect from others to start with. Throughout the chapter, by giving different
dialogues from different people he has tried to prove this thing. All characters like Mr. Mirza,
Mr.Salahuddin, Mr, Ahmed, Mr.Deen and Khalid Ishaq, he has tried to prove the same
things. At one place, he quotes the idea that Islam is a complete way of life so people find it
difficult to follow it. At the same he met many people who says that Islam demands not to
live life separately. Mr.Mirza said so and he also employed this formula on himself.
Intellectual strategies are all used his narrative authority. By different ways,he choses a very
critical selection of the realities and convinced his readers.
He has also used fictional elements in his travel writing that makes it vulcanization of
both. Characterizations have also been used by him in his travel writing that is one of
fictional elements. These fictional elements in his travel writing are women and meshed
together. Vulcanization is a better well defining term to describe his new form of narratives.
He has given the detailed description of his characters. He has used minor and major
characters. He met first Mr.Deen who is in mid fifties, wearing grey trousers, a white shirt
and stripped tie. He is very dutiful man. Mr. Sherwani is colleague of him who is of forty
eight. He had a smooth skin and was wearing a short sleeved sport shirt and looked like
Qutub, a Pakistani painter. He gives him instructions to get knowledge of Islam as to read
interpretation of Quran by Murmauke Pickthall. The officer in a green sari with a degree in
journalism led him to see pilgrims‟ ships. She even told him of his biography that he was not
made to choose her nature of job by her but she was allotted a seat in information.
He has depicted her character in such a way regarding her religious sect that every
reader shows sympathy with her. He convinced his readers by giving it objective reality. She
has made her children to get education in Urdu and English as they re in minority, may be
exiled from Pakistan. With English, they can adjust. General Rahimduddin was on of minor
characters who delivered speech to pilgrims and to say farewell. Mr. mirza is one of major
characters who emphasize on truth that has lost in Muslims. He has many books and was
known for its intellectual. Mr .Ahmed was in mid fifties, a penitent he had come late to
religion. He was well built, erect and energetic, still attractive, dark, hook nosed with a full
curved lower lip. He belonged to the original pre Aryan race. He gave detailed description
about his characters that made his writing boring and ugly but sometimes it created interest
and readers enjoyed.
For Naipaul, „textualizing‟ has meant putting „order‟ to things that he has spread it into
areas, imagery and tone. Imagery is another fictional element that has been used by Naipaul

7. in his fictional travel narratives. There were images of people, places and landscapes. He
went to mosques where mullahs were reciting Quran and he has said about them by making
criticism on scholars of Islam that they were showing off how well they knew and how fast
they recite. It is a negative depiction of Islamic scholars. In one mosque, children were so
besieged by the distributor of the sweets that he held his cardboard aloft. He defines this
situation by using animal imagery of dead cockroach that was carried off by ants. He has
described the whole description of Mr. Salahuddin‟s office that was at the top of newish
central building of four or five storey in central Karachi. A broken, bumpy dirt road off a
bazaar street, black skinned children were playing soccer there. When he described the detail
of the government officer, Mr Deen‟s office. he said that outside one scooter created “a
tearing noise in a cloud of blue smoke” government issued sofa set was little „rickety‟. They
are grotesque Representation with cynicism and satire.
His tone is quite ironical satirical, sometimes mockery, full of sarcasm. He criticizes
Muslims gave references by giving reference to different sect that they are not united in
themselves. In a satirical tone, he has described the differences of the celebration of Ramadan
in Karachi and Iran is different as it is full of blessings and sacred month but the month is
celebrated in Iran as full of mourning not to be recognized as prophet successors. He was also
referred to Ahmadi sect who was considered Muslims but now regarded as non – Muslims.
He has criticized politics of Pakistan by referring to Benazir who was more interested to save
her father‟s life than Pakistan‟s development. His tone is full of cynicism as when he said that
it was quite arresting for her to see a woman as civil servant in an Islamic counties. He
portrays all Muslims and intellectual who talks about Islamic law but expect from others to
start. His language also reveals his tone like he used such words like „the fever of the faith‟
„koran‟ and „showing off mullah‟ and he has used tone of extreme pessimism.
Islam had become the cause of the independent of Pakistan but Islamic laws were not
enforced in it. All people had knowledge of Islam but who follows its practices is very rare.
Theme of faith is much highlighted in this chapter that people talk about these things like
Islamic courts, Islamic banks and Islamic experiments but expect other to do the work.
Mullahs and other so called intellectuals had read just few books and had become confident
enough that they knew enough. People had so called Muslims but not true Muslims in
practises, there is nothing. Some had political ambitions to run the propaganda of imposing
Islamic laws. People are going far from their religion that their parents do not impose
religious as Ahmed says that he has not imposed religion on his sons he has included all
negative comments about the practices and experiments of Islam Pakistan is a result of hate.
Everyone fools here everyone else but just faith can guide them that people has not much in
them. Muslims in different sects are divided like Shia, Sunni. Ahmadi is another sect. He has
criticized Muslims and their faith. Theme of poor is also discussed in the end.
Dialogues are another element that he has used in his fictional travel narratives.
Through dialogues, he had tried to get information from the concerned people. His
conversation was simple but they had hidden ideology in them and sound in themes. He had
asked questions that continue their conversation and he got more and more knowledge. After
re-organizing and re-thinking, he has used dialogues for his own purpose that is to pursue

8. colonial gaze. Why did they declare you non-Muslims? What were the pressures on them?
He has brought different stories through dialogues that helped him to pursue his assumptions.
Dialogues can be used for him as a source to convince his readers that whatever he was
describing on truth based on truth but it is not objective but full of subjectivity. He used
dialogues as a tool to grasp knowledge as he asked about the practical achievement of the
Islamic ideology council. Dialogues are also used as a transformation of conversations
between him and Ahmed.
Hyderabad Boogie-woogie
In this part he told about his visit to the famous shrines, which exists near the main city of
Hyderabad in Sindh. He said Sindh was full of the shrines of Muslim Saints. When Pakistan
came into being all the holy places of other religions were under the Muslim‟s control but
still the followers of that places were came to visit their sacred places. Ahmed is found as one
of the guider of Naipaul, who wanted him to visit one Sufi centre. He wanted him to visit that
shrine because he himself feels attraction for that place. That shrine was famous for its idea
of sacrifice and there was a proper arrangement for the food of poor. He gives the whole
description of Hyderabad as he tells about the location of Indus River. In Hyderabad where
he was expecting to stay at night was cancelled due to the arrival of a minister. He said later
that place which was there for his shelter was too dark and rough that he could not spend his
night there.
At that place Razak, a Sindhi man, was there to guide him further to the shrines of the holy
spirits. Second day there plan was to visit the Sufi centre, which Ahmed had suggested. So
first day he visited some other shrines and religious places with Razak. At the first shrine was
a holy man who had thousand followers. They could not meet with that holy person because
he was resting. So they visited some other shrines at that day and came back to their place for
sleep. The room which was for him was too suffocated and without air conditioner. The next
day they started their journey to beyond Hyderabad and he has given the detailed description
of that land through his writings and told about the rocks, mountains, streets etc in a detail
form.
When they reached at the Sufi centre they left their shoes outside in the presence of man and
paid for that pair of shoes. Inside of the shrine was full of people. People were sleeping here
and there because they had come from far and for the poor people there were no more places
to stay. It was an only shelter for them and the babies were on the floor in a pathetic situation
among the flies. The appearance of the shrine was so impressive. They went on to the Sufi
centre, where it was feeding time for the poor. The condition of that centre was too bad and
dirty, everywhere there was muddy water.
One person in the blue gown was there to take them. He was one of the authoritative and he
led them to a guest room, which was in a good condition, to stay for some time. That person
told him the pir of the shrine was out and would be back in three hours whereas in Pakistani
time the meant of three hours is not three. One little boy came to their room to serve food and
Naipaul thought that it is so cruel that he has sacrificed his all life for this service. He had no

9. specific purpose in his life and was blindly following this service. The man in the blue gown
came to their room and asked what he wanted to know about this shrine then he himself told
about him that he was doing this service just to please Allah and for a better status in the
world hereafter. The murshid of the shrine has a better status in front of Allah so I want to
meet Allah through the help of my murshid that why I m here from too many years.
He told him that there are different kinds of believers. Some want money and some want
good afterlife. He was serving them just to please his murshid because he loved him. He
came to know that the shrine was getting money from its followers, who came from all over
the world to fulfill their wishes. Later they visited the kitchen, where the food was preparing
for the people. Different people were there to perform different works but they were happy
because they knew they served poor and God. At last they start their journey back to Karachi
he was very excited after his visit to the interior and wanted to share his feelings with Ahmed.
When he got to Karachi he found that it was Ahmed who had cancelled his booking at the
circuit house. At start he was very kind to him but later on may be he came to know about his
true nature. Naipaul liked him at the start but later he made him unhappy and anxious to leave
Karachi.
In this part of the text Naipaul travelled the session court in Karachi. He told about the
condition of the court that was situated just beyond the central bazaar. He told about severe
condition of the prisoners and about the condition of the court. The condition of the prisoners
was so pity they were tied up with chains attached to their wrists. Some prisoners were tied
up with the ropes due to the lack of chains. They were in a relaxed mood followed by khaki
uniformed policeman. He has given the complete description of inside the court that how the
chairs and tables were arranged and the commissioners were present their for oaths. Naipaul
was followed by a journalist, Nusrat, short man of about thirty with thick moustache. He
visited all the rooms of court with Nusrat and only the one magistrate was present there. In a
little room some spectators were present waiting for the magistrate. Different people were
present there with their different problems but no one was there to listen their problems and
solve them.
He told about the problems of different people in detailed form firstly he told about
the four chained boys waiting for their turn without any anxiety and sharing their adventure
with each other. In a small room an unveiled woman sat with her very thin young daughter in
the case of a property. The condition of that woman was so weak and bad. She was coming to
the court from the last three days but still there was no magistrate to listen her. A plump man
from swat was there but he was at ease because according to him he did not do anything
wrong that‟s why he was relaxed. The police arrested him because the police had found a gun
in his possession. In a storehouse of files it was all recorded but that shelves were in bad
condition with torn and dusty ledgers.
He talked about the Islamic laws in a detailed and tone way. A set of ten Islamic laws
had been passed by the government including the laws of drinking, theft and illicit sex. He
said these were hardly laws because they were more about punishments. As the law of the
drinking was it would be punished by eight stripes. The punishment for illicit sex was to be

10. stoned to death at a public place. For theft at first offence the amputation of the right hand, at
second offence the amputation of the left foot and for third offence, imprisonment for life. At
another occasion he said that if a holy man had been charged with raping the young girl of
one of his followers. The case against him could not get far because Islamic law required four
eyewitnesses to the act. He asked a question that why four eyewitnesses must be required.
Here he took a fact from the prophet life, to prove his point that, the incident of Hazrat
Ayesha innocence. Here the point which he discussing was that the Muslims followed Koran
blindly. Same is the case with the legal marriage age for girls he said there are nine different
opinions about the marriage age of Hazrat Aisha but Muslims without knowing about the true
facts blindly followed Islamic laws.
Analysis of the Hyderabad
The main objective of the travel writings is to faithfully represent geographical,
historical and social reality of the other cultures even the third world. The traveler writer
usually used the colonial gaze to represent the cultures of others and observed them as
primitive and backward. One of the types of travel writing is intellectual analytic in which the
narrator emerged as a kind of intellectual social commentator. V.S.Naipaul is among those
intellectual social commentators who used many strategies in his writings that make his
writings very accurate and convincing. That no one can help himself to deny those realities
which he presents in his writings. He observed very keenly every aspect of others culture and
analyzed them in a very specific tone that reader accepts that aspects as a reality and can not
help themselves to escape from his strategies that he used in order to convinced his readers.
He used different strategies to convince his readers and that strategies are the Naipaulian
assumptions, his narrative authority and his travel strategies. He used these strategies in a
very intellectual way that by using these strategies he actually depicted the negative aspects
of society but he presented in such a convincing way that reader thinks he feels unsatisfied
and pity for it.
There was some assumption and ordered plan in his mind which he has presented in
his writings. Firstly he traveled some specific country, took notes, then back to his centre,
rethinks, reorganizes and reinvent of his travel experience and then presents that experience
in his writing according to his own assumptions. He spent his time in the city of Hyderabad
and he visited many places included famous shrines of that city and met with different kind of
people. When he returned back after spent a long time there then he rethink and reorganized
his travel experience and presented them according to his own assumptions which he had in
his mind for others. He depicted all of them as primitive, backward and dirty people who
have no sense of life.
Naipaul used narrative authority in his writings in order to convince his readers. He
convinced his readers by giving an eye_ witness experience, descriptions, contextualization,
acute observations and pleasing and convincing narrative. He gives eye witnesses in his text
as he said that “and when I got to the circuit house, where I thought I was staying, there was
trouble. Two civil servants greeted me and told me that… my booking has been cancelled.”
Another example is that “one man took our request inside; another man came out to answer

11. it. He said the great man received only in the mornings.” He gives another eye witness in his
writings by saying that “we left our shoes with the man who sat below a sheet awning. He
was turbaned and dignified, brisk, a professional; he tied up each pair of shoes and charged
half a rupee a pair”. By giving these eye witnesses to his readers he convinced them very
intellectually.
He gives descriptions in a detailed form and observed each and every aspect very
keenly. But point is that by giving these descriptions and through acuity of observations he
did not present the positive aspects. In spit of it he presented just negative imagery of their
lives and took them as a primitive and other. He focused just on the dirty and filthy areas in
his writings whereas if there are some negative points then positive points are also there but
he did not bother about them. As he said in the text “Hyderabad _ a nondescript desert town
with low, ochre distempered concrete buildings baked. But there were pools of stagnant water
here and there: the desert was waterlogged.” Another example is “the marble floor was
grimy; there were babies, and many flies, seeking always to settle on the floor and the
bodies.” At another place he said that “the stone was heart shaped… people passed their
hands over the stone, caressed it, and then brought their hands to their lips and eyes, or
touched their heart; or they appeared to hug themselves.” He has given all of these
descriptions and has keenly observed their cultures in order to convince his readers. He used
such convincing elements in his writings for a way of giving authority to his travel narrative
as an objective reality.
Naipaul used particular travel writing strategies in his writings in which different
techniques and approaches are included. As journalistic techniques, detailed ethnographic
reporting, historical perspectives, autobiographical features and philosophical inquiry. In
some of his travel texts he completely focused on one of these techniques while sometimes he
used two or more than two. In this part of the text he has used detailed ethnographic reporting
in which he has given the detailed descriptions of landscape, geographic, and human
observation. Colonial gaze is usually used behind this ethnographic method and this style
brings narrative authority to bear. As he said in text “beyond Hyderabad there were patches
of cultivation; patches of scrub, patches of sand. The brightness hurt the heat hurt. Village
dogs stood still in yellow waterlogged pools. We were in one of the famous river valleys of
early civilization. But there was no feeling of a valley; the land felt like an immense plain,
until you noticed that the flat land was at different levels and that the upper levels were
capped with rock… town with the shrine.”
There are fictional elements used by Naipaul in his travel writings that are actually
Vulcanization or a new genre according to Santiago that is travelon.First element used by
Naipaul is tone. His tone is satirical. He continuously criticized Pakistani regions specifically
as he has used the words dirt, old, dusty street, hot, filthy, sandy tracks etc.His main purpose
was just to degrade Pakistani regions. If we analyze his writing critically we can say that he
can give the positive description as Pakistani regions have good areas, open n cool climate
but he has just pointed out negatively. Second element is characterization as he has given
complete description of every one to whom he met. He considered himself as a social
reformer and thinks that it‟s his duty to make order out of chaos.

12. He used different themes and imagery in his writings to make its accurate and
authentic. The theme which he mostly discussed dealt with themes of poverty, desolation,
decay, inability and decadence. He presented totally negative imagery that is dark, sharp,
dirty and filthy, not pleasing. The imagery he has used in text is like this “but the place they
took me to _ in spite of the central air conditioning rough and dark, with a broken lavatory
seat in my bathroom.” At another occasion he said “the marble floor was grimy; there were
babies, and many fly, seeking always to settle on the floor and the bodies.” He used satirical
tone in his text to criticize others as he said in text “he said that the pir was out and would be
back in three hours. In Pakistan the standard unit of stated delay was half an hour; three hours
meant not that day”. Naipaul makes Among the Believers an ultimate travel or fiction journey
by making the travel narrative feel like fiction at many places, not only by the imagery and
tone, but by the intense dramatic dialogue that he used. So by all these fictional elements and
strategies he depicts completely negative picture of the third world countries. Apparently it
seems that he is trying to make order in the things and feels unsatisfied but in reality he used
all these dark images, tone and strategies in order to convince his readers that readers also
finds its difficult to know that what is the reality and unable to take it as a wrong perception.
Basics
In this chapter Naipaul has visited twin cities Islamabad and Rawalpindi. There he
met a doctor who was the chief medical officer of a small oil company. The doctor was a
shia, they are the supporters of Ali. Doctor introduces his son to the writer, who was a young
man age of 28. The doctor said him a rebel and a rationalist. He was interested in English
literature. we can see his rational approach in his poems and in his views. In the end of this
chapter he gives his views about the religion of the shia people.
Analysis
He gives ethnographic details in his travel writings. “six or seven hundred miles northeast
of Karachi. In the foot hills were the small “twin cities” of Rawalpindi and Islamabad.”
We also see ironic tone in his travel writings. “But the doctor had not mentioned the
afterlife or hereafter as one of the articles of his faith. Wasn’t that essential for a
Muslim?”
He gives acute and minor details about individuals. “Doctor a man of fifty, small and fine
featured was aware of the dignity of the house.” We also find some statements in his travel
writings which show biesenes and cynicism. “The west is emotionally rejected. It
undermines: it threatens. But at the same time it is needed for its machines, goods and
machines….” In this chapter he refers back to the history of Hazrat Ali who was khalifa of
the muslams. He gives his own assumptions and views in his travel writings.
“No religion is more worldly than Islam. In spite of its political incapacity, no religion
keeps men’s eye more fixed on the way the world in run. And in the poetry of doctors
son, in his fumbling response to the universal civilization.”

13. In this chapter he refers to the book which was given to him by the doctor. The maxims of
Ali. It was the book on the famous sayings of hazrat Ali
In The Kaghan Valley
This chapter is about Naipaul's visit to the Kaghan valley. The writer went to the
north where there are high Himalayas. They were covered with snow. He hired a jeep and
went to kunhar river. He was accompanied by a young university student Masood. Masood
accompanied and guided him throughout his journey to the Kaghan valley. Masoos was a thin
tall man with moustache. His moustache hinted at his military background. Then they went to
Abbottabad through Taxila. They saw the dry bright hills of Abbottabad. Then they arrived at
Balakot and bargained a jeep from the government travel office. Masood bargained for the
jeep and at last they got the jeep for 700 rupees. The jeep driver was a very handsome man in
a strong physique. He took the boy with him for the Balakot bazaar. Then both of them
arrived at the bazaar and they saw the blackened dirt area with blackened shops.
The writer arrived with the boys at Kunhar River. They stopped to listen the sound of
water. The place was very pleasing and comforting. He saw the Afghans in turbans and
women in baggy trousers and covered heads. The houses were near the hill sides and roofs
were made of mud. There were many trees around. Somewhere houses were seen earthen and
their roofs leveled with the road.
They stopped at a village near by. The writer met some school boys and a young man.
The boy's relatives belonged to different areas of Pakistan and Saudi Arabia. As they were a
few hours away from Rawalpindi, the writer noticed small heighted people and two floor
houses of the landlords. He also saw some Gujars. He had a negative image of them. Then
they saw a river dropped below the road. The hills were cultivated with maize.
Masood told the writer about the wedding traditions and dowry common among those people.
The scene of pale green river and sound of water was fascinating. The writer also saw an
Afghan camp with animals and fire lit for cooking. The boy took them to the camp where a
girl was preparing tea in the manner of the subcontinent. He noticed Afghan women who
were old and lined by face.
Analysis
Chapter 8 "In the Kaghan valley" of the novel starts with the Ethnographic details.
The writer gives a good description of the Himalayas. As it is said, "Just to the north the
mountains began, and less than a hundred miles away were the high Himalayas. In
September began migration of the herdsman and their families and their flocks from
their high summer pastures to the lowlands".

V.S Naipaul falls into third category of travel writing in which he gives acute
observations and depth of analysis. He also overlaps with the second category in which he
focuses on geographical, economical and ethnographic details of a man and says: "He was a

14. tall, thin melancholy man with glasses and a walrus moustache. The moustache hinted
at his military background".
The colonial gaze is also described in the chapter by V.S Naipaul. Colonial Gaze is
looking down on people and their landscapes and studying, observing them as 'primitive or
'backward'. As it states in the chapter "Gujars; the original inhabitants of the valley, not very
bright, rather backward in fact, and keeping to themselves". Hence the writer is looking down
on the gujars and representing them negatively.
Naipaul's narrative authority is seen in Among the Believers where the writer as an
eye witness demonstrates acuity of observations. In the novel the writer is the eye witness of
the acute observations of the pine trees in Balakot. He says:"The pines seeded themselves
on the hill sides, the seedlings, after their first horizontal thrust, straightened up and
looking for the light, they were the tallest pines I had ever seen".
Naipaul has also given fictional elements like theme, imagery and use of dialogue.
These elements can be found in Among the Believers. Theme of poverty is seen in the novel
as he describes the poor condition of Afghanis "tea had been brewed or stewed, in the
manner of the subcontinent; dirty little china cups lay on the ground". On another
occasion the writer says about the afghani women in these words: "Busy, the women,
private, shut away in their migrant life, grimy with their bright colors, underfed,
exhausted by the work and the walking, their faces tanned and lined".
Use of light and dark imagery is also found in the novel. As it says "The mountain
sun had given wonderful dark warmth to their white skins". We can also find the use of
dialogue employed by Naipaul in his novel. As the writer says, “what do they do with the
money?" Masood said: "They have their dependents. They have daughters or sons to
marry off".
Concluding we can say that the writer with the use of certain stylistic features like
fictional elements, autobiographical elements, ethnographic details and themes has made his
novel a master piece in travel writing literature.
Agha Babur
Chapter starts with the description of condition of Pakistan. Writer said that in
Rawalpindi, newspaper carried news about Govt. no new jobs were created and no salary
rises for the people of Baluchistan in job. Twenty nine officials of weight and measurement
department were dismissed and Govt. should provide them alternative jobs to save them and
their families from frustration and starvation.
Minibuses between Rawalpindi and Islamabad had gone on a one day strike to protest
against police. Drivers told that police demanded higher bribes and police complaint about
bad behavior of drivers with passengers. In The Pakistan Times a retired army man wrote an
article about indiscipline. He discussed social evils and domestic atmosphere and their impact
on children. He said that children growing up in a domestic atmosphere and when they see

15. the social evils around them, such as bribery, black-marketing, and corruption etc. they
should not be expected to accept any discipline and they try to project the atmosphere of
home to the educational institution.
There was a review, in The Pakistan Times, of an art exhibition in an art council and
the artist was Hameed Sagher. When someone enters into the hall of the council‟s premises,
the eye was caught by a number of bright panels and the mind is gripped by conflicting
reactions to these panels. Hameed Sagher was a poet for some time and then he started the
vocation of art in the commercial field with a professional experience, as his guide. As a poet
he is fascinated by ideas and as an artist he captures those ideas in colors. The man
responsible for the Hameed Sagher‟s exhibition was Agha Babur, a humorous middle-aged
man with a fringe of white hairs, slender and attractive as well. Agha Babur wrote a short
note about Hameed Sagher‟s work, that it is important for our artists that they should have
these brochures of their exhibition when they go abroad.
Naipaul said that, Agha Babur was in the army before he joined the Arts Council. He
asserts himself as a man of ideas and he gives us example that the 1975 was the year of
tourism, he wrote the letter to all embassies to get their tourist poster, when he got poster they
held an International Exhibition of touristic posters. When he wrote a letter to the minister
that this is what he had done and minister‟s department is sleepy they don‟t know that what to
do and when. He said that these ideas came in my mind when I heard that our president in
Havana, that this is the fourteen century of Islamic Hijra, and fourteen years ago a revolution
take place and an idea came into his mind that when we enter into the new Hijra and he was
going to arrange an exhibition on the calligraphy of the Holy Koran.
Agha Babur asserts about Hameed Sagher that he utilizes a poetic atmosphere in
his paintings where translation of agony and nostalgia is represented in a naïve style. Writer
talked to Agha Babur and asked him about place of English in Pakistan. First Agha Babur
disagree with the statement that many people cannot speak English language but afterwards
he accept it, and said that spoken language may be dying but not the spoken language. All
Arabs and Persian countries have English and it would be bad if we lose it.
Agha Babur mentioned one of his friends that Caro-leen was my guide in the United
States. He said that she was my guide in the United States; I was a cultural guest of the State
Department. Caro-leen said to him that some time people only visited some places in United
States and they claim that they‟ve seen the United States.
In the next, writer talks about a ceremony in which Iraqian ambassador was come to
make the opening speech and cut the ribbon. Time for ceremony was 5:30 and writer reached
at 6:05 and speeches had already been made. Agha Babur was an army man and he cares for
time so much and that‟s why he was not used to waste the time. When writer reached guests
were in the section of paintings. Hall was full; Agha Babur had done it again that in the social
desert of Rawalpindi he had created another occasion. Many of his paintings were sold,
different ambassador purchase his paintings. He also met a man who was the teacher of the
artist; a young man with him was also a teacher. That young man was in army but he had left

16. and became a teacher. When writer talked to him he told that he want to go to England to do
his thesis on Graham Greene, Forster, Conrad. Young man wants to do a thesis and want to
prove these novels as political novels. Writer asks him that Shakespeare attracted young man
but People considered him as unnatural.
Analysis of Agha Babur
In his book Among the Believers Naipaul has used different formal aspects that makes
his writing more authentic. These aspects are Naipaul‟s assumption, narrative authority and
his travel strategies. The main objective of the travel writings is faithful representation of
geography, history and social reality of the other cultures. While talking about Naipaul
assumptions by reading Among the Believers, we can say firstly that, Naipaul has
assumptions in his mind but after completing his tour of Pakistan and knowing about the
geography and lives of Pakistani people Naipaul has stated them all according to his own
wish. He obviously has spent long time in Pakistan several months and given every minute
detail but same as there was everything. It is said about Naipaulian assumption that actual
text must be produced in Vitro (separated from) the actual experiential context. Here in this
text even the time and space arrangement are not same, although it‟s different. He has used a
tool textualization that means putting order to things. Although by using this tool of
textualization we can say that he may not have presented the whole phenomena in the way in
which he must have present it. He uses different literary strategies, travel writing strategies,
and his fictional elements in his travel writing, Among the Believers.
In Agha Babur, he has used narrative authority. Firstly he has given eye witness
experiences as Naipaul said, “the minibuses plied between Rawalpindi and Islamabad had
gone on a one-day strike to protest against police harassment. The bus drivers told the
newspaper that police wanted higher bribes. The police said the drivers had been
„misbehaving‟ with passengers”. The main purpose of using narrative authority is just to
convince the readers and making the text more pleasing. Naipaul has demonstrated acuity of
observations as he minutely analyzes different ceremonies held in Pakistan. He gave
description of art exhibition which held in Rawalpindi and he also went to another art
exhibition arranged by Agha Babur, a retired Army officer. He describe the condition of
Agha Babur as in the text he said that, “Agha Babur in a light-grey suite, the artist in a fawn-
colored woolen jerkin”. He gave minute description of everything and he keenly observes his
surroundings and by giving the minute description Naipaul actually has presented a readable
and impressing text. Here main purpose of these eye witness experiences and demonstrated
acuity is to control the minds of readers intellectually. These are tools for him through whom
he makes every positive reality as negative and readers start believing them.
Naipaul has employed particular travelling strategies as one of them is detailed
Ethnographic reporting. He has explained ethnography of Pakistan in complete detail as he
said that, “there were to be economies in Baluchistan: no new jobs were to be created, and
there were to be no salary rises for people in jobs.” On another place he quoted from an
article that, “children growing up in a domestic atmosphere where smuggling, black-
marketing and hoarding, bribery and corruption….. Are indulged in quite blatantly, should

17. not be expected to accept discipline in any form.” Naipaul only pointed out the bad things in
Pakistan. The main point is that if there is something bad then there is something good in
Pakistan. Naipaul should focus on those positive issues as well, but he only highlighted the
negative points that he found here.
There are fictional elements used by Naipaul in his travel writings that are actually
Vulcanization or a new genre. First element used by Naipaul is tone. His tone is satirical. He
continuously criticized Pakistani regions specifically as he has used the words dirt,
indiscipline, shame, old, dusty street, hot, filthy, sandy tracks, misbehaving with others,
social evils etc. After reading the section “Pakistan” in this travel writing, Among the
Believers, his main purpose was just to depict the negative image of Pakistani regions. If we
analyses his writing critically we can say that he can give the positive description as Pakistani
regions have good areas, open and cool climate although he has just point out negatively.
Second element is characterization as he has given complete description of every one to
whom he met. In this chapter he gave the description of Agha Babur, a retired military
officer. He said that in an art exhibition, “Agha Babur in a light-grey suite, the artist in a
fawn-colored woolen jerkin”, he also describe the condition of Ambassador in that
exhibition, as he said that, “ambassador in a dark three peace suite, thickest, looked earnest
and pained and listened with his head to one side”.
Another element is of imagery he has used different type of images. At some places
he used sharp images and sometimes he used light images. He uses images of mental agony
and starvation, frustration, domestic atmosphere, social evils and colorful panels. Another
fictional element used in his travel writing is theme. He used different types of themes in his
writing. The issues which he mostly discussed dealt with themes of poverty, desolation,
decay, decadence, mental agony and frustration, and indiscipline. He presented totally
negative imagery that is dark, sharp, dirty and not pleasing. Although through his travel
writing and by using such fictional elements and travel writing strategies he makes his
writing more pleasing but that mostly never based on reality. He uses different journalistic
techniques in this chapter. He takes examples from different articles from different
newspaper and historical books.
The Salt Hills of Dreams
Chapter starts with the description of weather in Punjab, Pakistan; he said that
weather of Rawalpindi is cooler than the other areas of Punjab. Then he talks about the
village of Raiwind, which stood in the middle of new desert, Lahore. There was a big
gathering at Raiwind; from far away it was look like a fair: people were going on straight
path to a great tent city. It was a religious occasion in Pakistan, there had been Ramadan and
the festival at the end of the Ramadan. There had been the excitement of the pilgrimage to
Mecca and the festival of sacrifice was soon to come. The assembly of the Muslim shows that
every Muslim was also a missionary for Islam.
Many people come here from different parts of the World and Pakistan, they were not
among the poor, and many of them were traders. For three four days they listen to speeches,

18. live and pray together. Writer describe the land of Raiwind, he talks about fertility of the
land. Then he mentioned that when he went to the tent area he listened that different people
were talking about different things. When he passed person to person he observes that
everyone was talking about different issues. When he came to main place of that ceremony he
meets a young scientist, about him he said that he had sad eyes, white forehead and with a
tender manner he came to the narrator and asked him about the afterlife. Young man said that
the one aim of this gathering is to get people to think seriously of the afterlife.
After this scientist told him that he was in England at the end of the war. And he had
seen the signs of dissatisfaction in West and he wants peace. He said that he didn‟t want to be
„divided‟ as his father had been divided in British India: a Muslim at home and a European
away from home. He wanted to be Muslim in the way the earliest Muslim had been. Then he
said that he wanted to do everything according to the Order of Allah (S.W.T). Then he told
him that stay for our prayers because sometime it has an effect for new comers.
When he was going back from Raiwind, he stopped at a village and he observed that
no crops grew here and the village was full of stagnant pools, some quite large and it shows
the dirtiness of the people of that village. He said that there is no greenery in the village and
at some walls there were cattle‟s dung cakes and fuel for drying. He said that there were very
small houses of Muslims and he said that before Pakistan small houses were only belonged to
the Non-Muslim people and now Muslims were living in small houses. He said that there was
no fix time for prayer, at the prayer time got up and go to the Mosque.
He talked about Ahmadis, who claimed that that they are the purest of Muslims. There
had been repeated campaigns against the followers of Ahmadis; and in the Mr. Bhutto‟s time
the hated Ahmadis had been declared non-Muslims. Writer said that he met an Ahmadi
woman, civil servant, in Karachi. She married to a person in her own sect, her husband was
an army officer and writer inspired by her education, dignity, her acceptance of persecution,
her acceptance of the fact that it might be necessary for her and her children to leave
Pakistan.
Narrator met the son of a retired army officer; he met Colonel Anees, formerly of the
Pakistan Army. The Colonel was of the sect; he had left the army because he felt that the
prejudices were now too strong. He said that it was harder to know about Ahmadis faith, if
someone wants to understand the Ahmadis it was necessary for to know a lot about Islam. He
had taken the writer to meet the Lahore leaders of the sect. when they reached to the house of
their one leader; writer gave a detailed description about their house. He said that when they
reached many men, of varying ages, were waiting for him, most of them were modern
businessmen from their dress, education and manner. They had an extra authority: they were
men in their own estimation made tremendous by their faith. They said that a hundred years
before there was only one Ahmad, one man, but now there were ten million Ahmadis all over
the world. They told that last year there was a conference in London and there were hundred
of delegates from different parts of the world but the press ignored the conference.

19. Some Muslims believe that Christ will return to earth as the redeemer or the Mahdi.
Ahmadis said that the prophecy has been misinterpreted, for this reason; Christ is not alive in
heaven somewhere, waiting to comeback to the earth; Christ is dead. They said that the true
prophecy was that someone like Christ was going to comeback to earth as the Promised
Messiah, to cleanse religion at a time of darkness and restore the purity of Islam, and that
man was Ahmad, born in 1838 in a village Qadian, a British colony in India. Jesus was born
after thirteen years of Moses, and Ahmad was born after thirteen years of the Prophet.
Naipaul describe the information which he got from those people and he said that it
was a difficult story and he told us only those things which he wrote at that time and some
information he got from Idrees, the Lahore Imam‟s brother. He said that Idrees was a little
nervous after outlawing the sect and anxious not to appear to be blaspheming and his
explanation could be fine and detailed. The outlawing of the sect by Mr. Bhutto had been
prophesied, so had the punishment for Mr. Bhutto because it had been prophesied that a ruler
was going to declare them cafors. After that he discussed the condition of the Ahmadis before
and after partition.
Idrees told him that long before the partition, the second caliph had prophesied a
migration similar to Christ‟s. He said that the land which we had been driving was flat, the
hills were abrupt. They were the salt hills of the Punjab, they were low red hills, were red
with the dust. Beside the hills was the Chenab River, one of the rivers of the Punjab, a river
of the Indo-Pakistan Subcontinent. Idrees told about the 2
nd
immigration of the Ahmadis, the
second Caliph had seen a landscape like this in a dream, and it did have a quality of dream,
with the abruptness of red rocky hills. He told that 2
nd
Caliph seen that there was a huge flood
and we are all drifting in it and ultimately we touched land at a place which was hilly and
some sandy area also. He said that hills were important in this immigration that resemble to
that of Christ. Promised Messiah himself had prophesied that times would be hard for his
people, and he would be appear on the bank of the Nile to support them.
After wards Naipaul said that Idrees brought him to the guest house because he wants
to meet me with the Imam. The Imam was grandson of Promised Messiah according to the
Idrees. He was seventy and M.A from Oxford. After sometime Idrees told that Imam had
many other matters, so meeting cannot be possible today with the Imam. He told that Imam
permitted him to live in darkened waiting room; writer observed their family groups and he
said that it was a somber family group with a bowed and black veiled women. In publication
section he saw different booklets in stacks. Idrees showed him the translation of Koran
language by language, and title page by title page. He said that Ahmadis were active in
Africa: they had Korans in different languages. They were banned in many Muslim countries
but the work went on elsewhere.
Naipaul also discussed that salt rocks of Rabwah hills stored and radiated heat. In
summers the rocks never cooled down but Idrees was at peace: this land of salt, rocks and
river was his safe place. At the evening when they come back, he saw the sunset, water
logged fields. He saw horse carriages and trucks without lights and then he said that “when
the law is dishonored by the lawmakers, how can the common man obey?”

20. Analysis of the Salt Hills of a Dream
In The Salt Hills of a Dream, he has used narrative authority. Firstly he has given eye
witness experiences by given the description of weather as Naipaul said, that, “the evenings
were getting cooler in Rawalpindi; the summer was nearly over”, at another place he said
that, “Lahore in the plains of the Punjab was to go down where it was still very hot.” The
main purpose of using narrative authority is just to convince the readers and making the text
more pleasing. At another place he mentioned that, “there was a big gathering at Raiwind:
from far away it was look like a fair”. Naipaul has demonstrated acuity of observations as he
minutely analyzes Muslims festivals. He makes plan to go for travelling around Raiwind,
Lahore, as he said, “the village of Raiwind stood in the middle of an area of new desert…
drive out to it from Lahore was to see lands hundreds of blighted square miles”. “It was a
religious occasion: in Pakistan the religious excitement never abated, there had been
Ramadan and the festival at the end of Ramadan; there had been the excitement of the
pilgrimage to Mecca; the festival of sacrifice was soon to come.” By giving the minute
description Naipaul actually has presented a readable and impressing text.
Naipaul has employed particular travelling strategies as one of them is detailed
Ethnographic reporting. He has explained ethnography of Pakistan in complete detail as he
said, “besides the hills was the Chenab River, one of the rivers of the Punjab, a river here of
the Indo-Pakistan subcontinent”. “The salt rocks of Rabwah hills stored and radiated heat. In
summer the rocks never cooled down”.
The traveler writers usually in their writings use the colonial gaze to represent the
cultures of others and observed them as primitive and backward and low, although they must
be pure and fair in their works. Naipaul is one that has presented the third world according to
his own wish in a complete negative way. While describing this part Naipaul has used
narrative authority in order to make his text more authentic. At one point he said that, “I
thought this was strange thing to say, until I understand that what was being said was that,
before Pakistan, the house had belonged to non-Muslim, now the villages was all Muslim,
pure and at prayer time- though no call time- two of the men got up to the Mosque”.
Naipaul includes fictional elements in his travel writing as his tone towards Muslim
history is quite satirical. In this chapter he talks about Ahmadis, who claimed that they are
purest Muslims. He said that Muslims are dividing into different sects and even one Muslim‟s
by self not know the reality. At the end of this chapter he raises a question that in Pakistan
“when the law is dishonored by the lawmakers, how the common man can obey?” Another
element is of imagery he has used as imagery of small houses, red hills, hot weather, and
rivers, salt rocks, pools of dirt water, dung‟s cakes etc. He presented totally negative imagery
that is dark, sharp, dirty and filthy it‟s not pleasing. Although through his travel writing and
by using such fictional elements and travel writing strategies he makes his writing more
pleasing but that mostly never based on reality. He dealt with theme of religious conflicts,
uncivilized people, poverty, disorder etc.