Sheer Abandon With Sarmad Sehbai By Harris Khalique

When I chanced upon a copy of Pal Bhar Ka Bahisht from a fresh stack of assorted newly published titles lying almost at the entrance of a bookstore, I called Sarmad to congratulate him. While instructing me to buy a copy at once, he used his characteristic expletives for the literary adversaries in the same vain and then asked me to meet him as soon as I finish the book.

Poet, playwright, film and theatre director, Sarmad Sehbai, is one of the most original and important artists Pakistan has ever produced in Urdu, Punjabi and English. His genius is multidimensional and atypical. Speaking to Sarmad at times reminds me of an incident from Agha Hashr Kaashmiri’s life. Agha Sahib, the pioneering dramatist of Urdu, left Benaras to visit all possible natak (drama) companies across India. He would meet the owners, directors, owner-directors, staffers, etc. and humbly tell them all about his skill and potential. He would read out passages and dialogues from his plays in a soft voice if allowed by them before getting dismissed.

People would not even give him a patient hearing, let alone a chance to write or perform for their companies. One day, he decided to change the style. He barged into the office of the owner of one of the biggest companies in the country. Thespians and business investors surrounded him. Agha Sahib, without any introduction, looked straight into the eyes of the owner and started reading from his work at the top of his voice.


After a while, he stopped and asked them all, who by that time were overwhelmed by his presentation, ‘Is there anybody in the whole of Hindustan who could write like this?’ Then Agha Sahib narrates how the meeting ended. ‘As I uttered these words, mouths of the envious were gagged forever.’ He got the job.