Better to Wink at Life by Kamran Ahmad

The title gives you a hint of what this light-hearted book is all about. 'Better to Wink at Life’ is a compilation of Kamran Ahmad’s thoughts, experiences and memories, all held together with the glue of good humour and irony. As one wades into the narrative, one is bombarded with amusing situations peppered with snappy comebacks and quirky lines. The quote, “Of all the things I have lost, I miss my mind the most,” sets the tone for the writing, and prepares the reader to expect many more such witty missiles.

That the author has a well-entrenched funny bone is obvious, but what is even more so is the fact that he has an equally witty better half, “a lady endowed with a wonderful sense of humour” as he himself acknowledges. He refers to her as “a duchess of drama and a bundle of conflicts” but it is apparent that she is the one who makes his life fun and exciting. Her observations about him are often nonchalant and acerbic, causing him to mock-lament, 
“It was hard now to stuff the genie of responsibility and cares which marriage let out, back into the bottle.”

Life is imbued with light moments, be it a reference to college flings, with “beguiling flirtations, juicy gossip and some love affairs”, sowing one’s wild oats, “Alas, the charade of our decency fell apart like a house of cards before the tempest of our animal impulses”, or casting a glad eye around only to find “she looked like thistledown wafting in a world of dreams”. Hen parties are also a fertile hunting ground for his gentle wisecracks.

 Kamran Ahmed lets go of no opportunity to gently poke fun at people around him. For example, “A bachelor is a thing of beauty and a boy forever.” This is how he describes a rich, happy-go-lucky friend of his. About a young relative, he remarks, “His appearance during (his) waking hours should be described as ‘from bed to worse’ and he is as unsociable as a bear.” Whether it is a description of his “horizontally well-endowed brother” or his bewildered colleague, ‘Anwar Khan’, who could be dubbed ‘Unaware Khan’, the author has perfected the art of witticisms.

However, there is a deep-rooted philosophy that peeps from behind the good humour. The writer, “a combat-weary sailor in search of calmer waters” goes on to remark that “in a sophisticated world of false appearances, double dealings and camouflaged intentions, I was a misfit and craved escape”. He wonders, “Why have we chosen to become prisoners in the windowless dome of our egos? A different world, it could be argued, cannot be built by indifferent people.”

Thus, this is a book that is written with “a disarming forthrightness coupled with a self-effacing humour” as the author strives to make sense of the foibles of daily life. Maybe, that is why he exclaims, “Ah! Our life is but a speck and our stay on earth but insignificant moments in the infinite design of cosmic mystery,” even as he waxes eloquent on “fireflies blinking and twinkling through the trees under a gibbous moon.”

As they say, “People with a good sense of humour have a better sense of life.”