Ice Candy Man Review: A compelling portraiture of a young soul witnessing Indo-Pak Partition.

Ice Candy Man: Bapsi Sidhwa.

Bapsi sidhwa is a Pakistani-American novelist, of Gujrati-Parsi descent. Her religion is important to mention, because she amongst other minorities were the one who hugely suffered the consequences of partition of India.

The plot involves Lenny, a 4-year-old Parsee girl living in Lahore in the year 1940 who recounts her childhood memories after she is struck by polio in her infancy. She spends most of her time with her ayah Shanta, an 18-year-old Hindu girl from Amritsar.

Their relationship is the main narrative because Lenny spends a lot of time with her Ayah and she learns a lot about adult relationships from being with the sexually attractive nanny and her very diverse group of admirers.

Now this is not just a single story, all the characters have different religions and different stories, there are layers of emotions in every page, layers of love, passion, survival and horrors of communal violence.

The writer has skillfully told the story with a touch of humor, a story of one of the most horrific events of history, all through eyes of a child, of conversations growing around her, mostly through her Ayah. At times she doesn't understand a conversation and gives it her own meaning, adding more beauty to the stories told. And eventually, an event in Indian History that left scar on every human being, the stories of which are numerously told by various writers through various perspectives, but Bapsi Sidhwa has told us this horrific event through perspective of a child.

After reading so many novels on this subject, this became my favorite novel on partition. The writing style is such that it'll keep you glued, jumping form one thought to another, just like a child's mind. Looking forward to read more from the author.