Qurratulain Hyder - An Enigmatic Icon

Qurratulain Hyder Jan 20, 19260 – Aug 21, 2007: An Enigmatic Icon Passes Away


Qurratul Ain Hyder, Annie Apa to many, recipient of Padma Shri and Padma Bhushan died today in a Delhi hospital.

She was iconic, erudite, well read, intelligent, somewhat aloof and arrogant, when I met her many moons ago but had mellowed down lately. She was equally well versed in both English and Urdu. Born into an elite UP family where both of her parents were writers she began writing at age 11.

She wrote short stories, novels, travelogues and did translations: she was most known for her magnus opum novel Aag ka Darya which she translated into English as River of Fire. Praising the creativity of Qurratulain Hyder, Prof Aziz states that books like Kaar-e-Jahan Daraz Hai amply show her firm grip on history.

The [London] Times Literary Supplement wrote that "[River of Fire] is to Urdu fiction what A Hundred Years of Solitude is to Hispanic literature. Qurratulain Hyder has a place alongside her exact contemporaries, Milan Kundera and Gabriel Garcia Marquez, as one of the world's major living writers."

My friend Raza Rumi met her in Noida, some years ago and wrote this:

She recounts how her parents were born at least a hundred years before their time. Her father’s liberal outlook and her mother’s love for the arts were the inspiration for Ainee to devote her life to writing. She never got married; it was quite evident that she could not have met a man capable of complementing her. I suppose the rich inner universe makes up for the ‘loneliness’ syndrome in exceptional individuals.

Ainee is fluent in the language of music; she co-authored a book on Ustaad Barray Ghulam Ali Khan and in her heyday, played the piano and the sitar with equal ease.

We talk about her discovery of the first subcontinental novel written by Hasan Shah in 1790 – The Nautch Girl – which she translated in 1992. She is angry that no one bothered until she unearthed the manuscript from the Patna Library. We drift back into lost eras and she remarks that Dara Shikoh was a 21st century man. Small wonder that he was beheaded in the 17th century, I respond.

Her foreword to Javed Akhtar’s poetry collection Tarkash is an eloquent narration of some of the reasons for the divide. I will go into these factors in a separate article.

The world of literature will miss her physical presence. Her words, indeed as words that come from the heart, shall resonate with us for a long time

The Saudi Connection, River of fire By Ayesha Siddiqa, Ayaz Amir, tracing the `cell` Shaheen Sehbai

Finally someone has spelled it out clearly and eloquently, though I fear he did not go far enough! The terminal cancer they have spread will consume everyone. Thanks Zafar Hilaly.~~t

But what has outweighed all benefits the Saudi equation has brought has been the export to Pakistan of their creed, that is, Wahabism. This has proved deadly. As interpreted and practised in some madrassas in Pakistan, Wahabism has wrought havoc on Pakistan's social structure, producing an army of bigots who believe that the ultimate simplification of life is murder. They revel in killing and make no distinction between friend and foe when it comes to achieving their purpose. The Saudi Connection - Zafar Hilaly

Ayaz Amir has hit on something valid but has drawn a wrong conlcusion. The distraction is not from attentin to article 6 or Musharraf but from corruption and bad governance - ata earlier on, sugar now, law and order, utter immoral corruption, electricity, individual and provinicial rights, transfer of payements, honour killings...those are some of the issues that are being relegated away from limelight t

Brig Imtiaz’s TV appearances — after years of deserved oblivion he is relishing the spotlight — and the renewed focus on the ISI’s 1990 payments have completely distracted attention from other things. Musharraf’s trial under Article 6 of the constitution and the question of repealing the 17th Amendment have receded into the background. If there is a department of dirty tricks behind the spectacle the nation is being treated to, its leading lights would be laughing up their sleeves, because the extent of the distraction must surpass all expectations. Ayaz Amir

Equally quick were those in Pakistan whose commentary was that Singh’s fate depicted Indian imperialism and intolerance. One would like to remind such people of two other books that received similar treatment. The first one, which is closer to Jaswant Singh’s book, is Ayesha Jalal’s The Sole Spokesman about Jinnah and partition. This book had generated controversy. I distinctly remember angry reactions from some who thought Jalal had committed sacrilege by arguing that Jinnah did not have a grand plan for the partition of India. Ayesha Jalal was luckier than the great Urdu novelist and short-story writer Qurratulain Hyder. The reaction to her novel Aag ka Darya from certain rightwing quarters was severe. Pro-establishment intellectuals were upset that her novel did not take a position for the Muslims. Her narrative included the lives of both Hindu and Muslim characters — the way they lived, their sociology and politics — who were not very different from one another. For the rightwingers, it was atrocious for Qurratulain Hyder not to have described the Muslims as the ultimate victims. River of fire
By Ayesha Siddiqa

In The return of the Daylight Jackals, Shaheen Sehbai connects the dots...Brig. Imtiaz with Family friend Nadra`s Ali Hashmi with family friend of Faiyal Talpur, Zardari`s sister. This is the disinformation `cell` Zia League`s leaders are crying about.--t

Baithak World May 12: Sunday Books, Headlines, RealNews

Death has failed to take Qurratulain Hyder away from us. Annie Aapa lives through her works. And, no, she is no prisoner of Urdu ustaads to communicate with posterity. In life she chose Urdu as the preferred way of expression. But when she wanted — as in the wonderful translation of Fireflies in the Mist — she could communicate with those who could not make out a rafiq from a raqib. Trenchant but inspiring An expose of the relationship between Indians and British, it is vintage Qurratulain Hyder. Fireflies In The Mist


THERE must surely be some rational explanation for a politician whose recollection of matters of which he was personally aware is constantly wrong, who makes misstatements, utters palpable untruths and, where these do not suffice, makes convenient inventions. It is a weird collage and explicable only by the fact that this is a politician whose ambitions make him disregard the truth completely. Here is a list. It is illustrative, not exhaustive.In his true colours review article by A.G. Noorani


Origins of hatred review by A.G. Noorani
Man in a Black Turban by JAMES GLANZ on Basra (Iraq)
Bring Us ApartBy GEORGE F. WILL on McGovern, George S
ON POETRY; Vendler’s Yeats By DAVID ORR
Styron’s ChoicesBy DAVID LEAVITT on Baldwin, James
All the Difference By JONATHAN MILES on Fall of Frost (Book)
The New New World By JOSEF JOFFE on Post-American World, The (Book)
ESSAY; Recipes for Disaster By PAUL GREENBERG on Global Warming


Headlines


Archaeologists find Queen of Sheba's palace at Axum, Ethiopia
Jaswant Singh says Advani may have a short memory
Ben Cohen: Time Magazine Advocates invading Burma
Kal Penn: Open Letter to Two Undeclared College Superdelegates
Ahmad Samih Khalidi: Israel's celebration remains a Palestinian catastrophe
Generation Faithful: Young Saudis, Vexed and Entranced by Love’s Rules
Clinton and Obama on Al-Jazeera
Who's the superpower now?


Paul Jay presents RealNews

When did the US "lose" Latin America? Forrest Hylton: The US is promoting secessionist movements to break up countries it cannot control view AP Lebanon update view Update on Myanmar cyclone relief effort view

ismat chughtai

#2766 Ismat Chughtai`s Autobiography -- A Transalation on November 11, 2000
Lubna #6

My understanding is they lived 'au-pair' and he was/is Hindu.

As for Ismat being a role model let me ask a rhetorical question.

Who would you select for a life partner: (am oversimplifying a bit but you will understand)

(a) A Muslim who prays five times daily, pays zakat, fasts during Ramadaan but lies occasionally, cheats on taxes, drinks on the side and once in a while consorts with call girls.

(b) A non-Muslim who maybe an atheist or agnostic but is sensitive, considerate and a good 'corporate' citizen.

The answer should be obvious. But given the choice, what I find interesting to speculate about is what would God do?....well, that is His problem....really :)


sac #5

Muniba has posted an excellent reply. Cannot add much to it.


scout #10

The results of a quick net search.

Professor M Asaduddin of Jamia Milla has translated excerpts from her autobiography:

Autobiographical Fragments
Ismat Chughtai

(Excerpted from Ismat Chughtai's autobiography, Kaghazi Hai Pairahan)

Translated from Urdu by Prof. M. Asaduddin
more at

http://www.freespeech.org/manushi/110/ismat.html


Rekindling an Old Fire

Ismat Chughtai made Urdu the language of rebellion
By Gillian Wright

ISMAT: HER LIFE, HER TIMES
EDITED BY SUKRITA
PAUL KUMAR & SADIQUE
KATHA
PAGES: 287


Rekindling an Old Fire Ismat Chughtai made Urdu the language of rebellionBy Gillian WrightISMAT: HER LIFE, HER TIMESEDITED BY SUKRITA PAUL KUMAR & SADIQUEKATHAPAGES: 287 This is a fun and imaginative book. As a concept it's wonderful -- literary criticism, biography and autobiography, with lots of photos, box items and memorabilia -- a real guide book to Ismat Chughtai, one of Urdu's great modern writers and script/story writer of a bevy of Hindi films, particularly the moving Balraj Sahni starrer about Partition, Garam Hawa.To recreate her times Katha's editors have brought together all her "set" at a period when being a writer was truly exciting, when it mattered, when, and many of them were, of course, communists, and thought they could change society. The contributors read like a who's who of modern Urdu writing -- there's Faiz Ahmad Faiz, Sadat Hasan Manto, Krishan Chander and Qurratulain Hyder commenting on Ismat.Hyder sums her up very well as "Lady Chenghez Khan, because in the battlefield of Urdu literature she was a Chughtai -- an equestrian and an archer who never missed the mark". Hyder writes from experience. Ismat had used her for target practice in an essay entitled "Pom Pom Darling", a reference to Hyder's elitist duck-shooting characters.The question arises -- who is this book for? Priced at Rs 395 and in English its most likely readers are going to be people whose first language is English. However, they should have heard that Ismat is great, and ideally have read some of her works translated into English -- most likely Lyhaaf (The Quilt). This was the story for which she faced the trial for obscenity because of a lesbian scene between a lady and her maid. This compilation reveals that Lyhaaf, great though it was, hung like an albatross around Ismat's neck for the rest of her life, overshadowing her other writing which deserved just as much attention.The book provides for its readers a real insight into her character, her loves, her likes. She was a flirt, a wit, a born rebel and a fearless speaker of her mind. Ismat brought a new idiom to Urdu prose, the language of the urban and semi-urban middle class, and a new awareness of the woman's point of view and the oppression she faced and faces.It is important that here for the first time a number of chapters from Kaghazi Hai Pairahan, the nearest Ismat ever came to an autobiography, appear in English. The drawback is that the translation is in places sloppy. I will give one tiny example, not because it's the worst, but because it's the first. The translation of Ismat's words reads, "A heartless brute was beating a hapless, dark child." The original, however, has no P.G. Wodehouse-ian "heartless brute". It is more like, "One person was beating another mercilessly. The person doing the beating was tall and strongly built, and the one being beaten a rather frail and extremely black child."I'm not sure whether the fault lies with the translator or in excessive editing. The introduction admits that translators for many articles "knew Urdu" but had to work from Devnagari as they could not read the Urdu script. Ismat Chughtai was in favour of printing Urdu in Devnagari to save the language from extinction. However, if you are embarking on literary translation, ideally you should be familiar with its literature. With Urdu that means taking the trouble to learn the alphabet. It's not difficult to do and I am sure the results would show that it was worth it.

Two more reviews of the same book

Torchbearer of a literary revolution
Ismat Chughtai, enfant terrible of Urdu literature, has been accused of having a limited choice of subject matter. That is true, for she wrote of only what she knew at first hand. But within these limits she perfected her art, giving the greatest shock that an artist can ever give her readers, says RAKHSHANDA JALIL.

A BOLD and unconventional woman

http://www.the-hindu.com/2000/05/21/stories/1321017u.htm


Inscribing the Rebel reviewer sara rai

A haphazard but welcome tribute to Urdu's first lady

ISMAT: HER LIFE; HER TIMES
Edited by Sukrita Paul Kumar and Sadique
Katha
Rs 395; Pages: 287

http://www.outlookindia.com/20000410/books.htm


And an english translation of the lihaaf:

The Quilt
by Ismat Chughtai

(Translated by Syeda Hameed
http://www.humanistmovement.org/hs/jan99/quilt.html
________________________________


love and rgds

t

This year's London book fair celebrates the diversity of contemporary Indian writing.

Kamila Shamsie, novelist
Qurratulain Hyder, novelist, short story writer and prose stylist of rare accomplishment, is one of Urdu's greatest writers. Literary critic Aamer Hussein has compared her to her contemporaries, Milan Kundera and Gabriel Garcia Marquez, as "one of the world's major writers: eclectic, iconoclastic and versatile". In her 30s, she wrote her magnum opus, Aag ka Darya - published in English for the first time in 1998 as River of Fire - a great river of a novel, majestic in its sweep, grand in its vision. She maintained that writing can encompass "fact, reportage, imagination, documentary presentation, the epistolary form", even cinematic treatment. All her novels, novellas and short stories are a testament to this belief, as well as to her cosmopolitanism and uncompromising secularism.

Qurratulain Hyder (Aini Apa), 1927-2007 - azra raza

t was a lovely winter evening in 1983 when I first met Aini Apa at the home of my beloved Misdaq Khala Jaan (Saleha Abid Hussain, the prolific Urdu writer) in Okhla (New Delhi). She looked even grander in person than I had imagined and by the end of that evening, I was completely ravished forever by her palpable charisma, her sharp intellect and her great good humor. She, on the other hand, thought I was a snob and said so to my dearest friend Sughra Mehdi (a famous writer in her own right and the adopted daughter of Misdaq Khala Jaan and Janab Abid Hussain Sahib). The reason she thought I was a snob is quintessential Aini Apa. My visit to Delhi, along with my mother, had been hastily arranged from Karachi, while I was home from the USA for two short weeks and our stay in India was going to be quite rushed. The dinner had been arranged by Misdaq Khala Jaan so Ammi and I could meet our friends and relatives in one evening. Aini Apa was living in Zakir Bagh at the time, being the first occupant of the Khan Abdul Ghaffar Khan Chair at Jamia Millia, and was a frequent presence at my aunt’s home. She considered Sughra Mehdi as her friend and confidant (Aini Apa bestowed the title of “Musheer Fatima” on Sughra as Sughra is forever being solicited for practical advice by the young and old alike).

[click here to read this in full]

sarwat ali, ammar mir and qurratul ain haider

By Sarwat Ali

'The Colour of Nothingness', a selection of modern Urdu Short Stories, edited and translated by Umar Memon -- reprinted in 2006 -- is quite simply the stories he personally enjoyed reading. "I can offer no better criteria for their inclusion than my own passion and prejudice", he wrote in the introduction. But of course he had a larger purpose in mind as well, manifestly, to present the texture and flavour of the modern Urdu Short story, both as daring experiment and a more refined heir to traditional fiction.

Impressions from the partition - Ammar Mir (review of Shameful Flight By Stanley Wolpert)

Wolpert reserves his singular contempt for the last Viceroy of India, Lord Louis 'Dickie' Mountbatten. Wolpert paints Mountbatten as conceited and vain, who viewed India as an unnecessary burden on the British Empire. This latter view is reinforced by evidence of successive blunders Mountbatten committed. Given a duty he was ill-equipped to handle, a subcontinent he had little or no understanding of, the Viceroy allowed his desire for personal glory to replace his common sense. Cutting the allotted time for Partition in half, Mountbatten stuck to his mantra that "speed is of the essence". Bengal's Secretary J.D. Tyson is quoted as saying "ever since he came out he has pursued shock tactics...The India of 'after August 15th' will not be the kind of country I should want to live in." One wonders why what was so evident to so many, was blatantly ignored by the man in charge. Wolpert is of course, more than willing to explain.


Remembering Qurratulain Hyder (no credit mentioned for the writer)

However, I personally admire her as a translator. Years ago, I read her impressive Urdu translation of TS Eliot's play 'Murder in the Cathedral' believing that a better translation of the play was impossible. Likewise, her translation of Henry James' 'Portrait of a Lady' is a masterpiece. Her travelogues and reportages, too, are a specimen of literary excellence.

[link for all three in the heading]

Qurratulain Hyder - End of an Era -Raza Rumi

annie was an icon of post-independence urdu literature and she was iconoclastic...did not suffer fools easily...was aloof and imperious but not impervious...her knowledge and writing canvas was vast, observations sharp, wit devastating...here is an excellent roundup of her career by raza...just click on the heading

k k aziz By Altaf Hussain Asad

Hot Seat

By Altaf Hussain Asad

It is sometimes difficult to sum up the accomplishments of a man whose contributions in any field are mammoth. One falls short of suitable words to do justice to his or her achievements. Professor K.K. Aziz is also one such person who, as an outstanding historian, is not only held in the highest esteem in Pakistan but also across the globe for his in-depth erudition.

Author of almost 75 books, his area of interest is history, political science, Muslim art, and even poetry as he has complied a collection of the best of Persian poetry too. He has taught at renowned institutions as in Cambridge, Heidelberg, Manchester, Toronto, Khartoum and Oxford. Besides Urdu, Punjabi and English, he is well familiar with Persian, French, German and a smattering of Spanish and Italian.

As far as he can remember, books were a part of his surroundings. His father, Sheikh Abdul Aziz, also wrote books on Mughals and also did monumental work on Heer of Waris Shah by properly editing it. As consequence, Prof Aziz too got attracted to the printed word quite early.

“I have been reading books from an early age. It was my father who instilled in me the love of books and learning. Raising my pocket money, he wanted me to buy more books. At first, I read Phool magazine and some titles from Charana Library. On growing up, I got introduced to authors like Hardy, Dickens, Maugham and some others. I have also been studying Persian poetry from my early days as I believe that a man cannot be civilized unless he reads poetry,” says Prof Aziz.

Thus started Prof Aziz’s affair with books which remains as passionate today as it was in his childhood. Though he sat in the competitive examination as per his father’s desire, his heart was not in it. After two years of stay at F.C. College, Lahore, he joined Govt College, Lahore, where he was lucky to have tutors such as Patras Bukhari and Prof Sirajuddin. The days passed in the inimitable company of Patras Bukhari are so firmly etched on his memory that he is planning to write a book on him.

Prof Aziz feels a bit uneasy when asked to name just one book as his all-time favourite. He recalls few books that have left an indelible mark on his memory. History of Western Philosophy by Bertrand Russell is a book that is a treat to read. He is also all praise for the book Shakespearian Tragedy by A.C. Bradley. He is infatuated by Moorish culture, thus the History of Moorish Empire in Europe, a work by S.P Scott in three volumes, is a book for which Prof Aziz has unbounded praise.

Prof. Aziz also loves to read Urdu fiction and poetry. Since his father edited Heer of Waris Shah after painstaking research, he too came under its influence. In Urdu fiction, he names Krishen Chander, Premchand, Bedi and Manto as the writers whose works he reads with interest. About Manto he says, “I have different views on Manto. He only paints just one aspect of life. My opinion might be a bit biased but I think Manto was vulgar. In my estimation, Bedi has more depth than Manto,”

He terms Patras kay Mazameen as “unparalleled” and says he read the book almost 50 times. Of the other humourists, he likes Rasheed Siddiqi, Shaukat Thanvi and Kanhayya Lal Kapoor. Praising the creativity of Qurratulain Hyder, Prof Aziz states that books like Kaar-e-Jahan Daraz Hai amply show her firm grip on history. In the field of poetry, he ranks Ghalib as the best poet of Urdu.

Yes, he likes Iqbal too, but his opinion is not stereotyped about him. He says, “The Urdu poetry of Iqbal is not that promising. Apart from few poems like Shikwas Jawab-e Shikwa, Masjid-e-Qurtaba, etc, the rest of his Urdu poetry cannot be termed great. The real poetry of Iqbal is in Persian, of which we are not aware because we no longer study the language these days.”

He considers Nasir Kazmi is a great poet as he, according to Prof Aziz, “brought something new in the Urdu poetry”.

One feels tempted to ask him why we shy away from the discipline of history. He answers, “The powers that be do not want to impart the subject of history in the right manner. It is their aim that the nation does not get to know the real history of the country. As a result, we have been studying disfigured history since 1947. What we study is not history but is sheer mythology. In my opinion, no ideological state can produce true history.”

Prof Aziz is unhappy about the decline of Persian language as he thinks that we must learn it because all the primary sources of Mughal reign are in Persian. “Even the best work of Ghalib and Iqbal is in it”, states Prof Aziz sadly.

As for music, he only likes to listen to is any beautifully sung ghazal. Singers who appeal him are Mahdi Hasan, Amanat Ali Khan, Saigol, M. Kaleem, Nayyara Noor, Iqbal Bano, and, to a certain extent, Tina Sani. About Noor Jehan, he says that though she sang nazams well, but she “should not have been allowed to touch ghazals”.

“I have with me the tapes of songs sung by Spanish gypsies in their language. Historians are of the view that these gypsies migrated from the areas of Punjab and Sindh few centuries ago. I listen to their songs though I am not able to make heads or tails of it. While listening, it appears as if you listening to Punjabi ditties as there are Punjabi words in these songs,” discloses Prof Aziz.

Prof Aziz remembers watching his first movie in Batala when he was a student of Class Eight. On growing up, he watched mostly the English movies. Although his advancing age handicaps his memory a bit, he is able to remember few movies which he watched in the years gone by. These are Ben Hur, Casablanca, The Man in the Grey Suit, Waterfront, John of Arc, Gone With the Wind and he singles out Waterloo Bridge as his all-time favourite movie.

Though not a fond Urdu film watcher, Prof Aziz alludes to films like Heer Ranjha and Anarkali with some adoration. Without a second thought, he names Madhubala as his favourite actress. Concluding the conversation Prof Aziz says the ban on screening Indian movies must be abolished.

Favourite book: Many

Favourite actress: Madhubala

Favourite film: Waterloo Bridge
http://dawn.com/weekly/dmag/dmag14.htm

Faraz the irrepressible - Afzal Mirza

Originally linked on 7/27/06, this profile of Ahmed Faraz by Afzal Mirza is worth reproducing.


Writer Michael Mewshaw has quoted famous writer Jean Paul Sartre as saying that writers arere generally inferior to their books. But Mewshaw himself qualifies it with the assertion that this should in no way jeopardise the writer's status as a writer. Ever since his debut as a poet in early 1950's Ahmad Faraz has maintained his penchant for creating controversies, but his beautiful poetry helps in settling the dust raised by these controversies. There are many reasons for such controversies, but to me the major cause is his exceptional wit and uninhibited bluntness in commenting on almost every subject that he is asked to comment on. This has cost him heavily in life and for it he even had to undergo incarceration and exile. But again he knows how to extricate himself from such situations and resume his life as ever.

The problem is that, like all great poets and writers of yore, Faraz is not generous to his contemporaries. You ask his opinion about someone and he replies with a witty remark denigrating him. I remember that in the late 1950's the Bazm-i-Ilm-o-Fun in Abbottabad, of which I was then the general secretary, decided to hold an all-Pakistan mushaira. Among the few we considered inviting from the Peshawar Region was Faraz's name. Faraz had not yet written his famous ghazals 'sookhe hue kucch phool' and 'ranjish he sahi'. In those days his poem 'Bano ke naam' was in demand at every mushaira. While preparing the list of poets to be invited I found that majority of the members of the organising committee were opposed to inviting him. They gave number of reasons for their opposition, including that after reciting his poem Faraz would join the audience in hooting the other poets. Recently a friend who attended almost all of his mushairas in USA told me, "I like Faraz's poetry, which is marvellous, but I don't understand why after reading his poems he comes and sits in the audience and joins them in hooting other poets." I do not know why Faraz indulges in such pranks, but I have a feeling that even now, at the ripe age of 75, there is a 'teenager' in him that instigates him to do it.

Generally Faraz's detractors insist that he is the poet for teenagers. Late Ahmad Nadeem Qasmi wrote about an interesting incident that happened in Mecca. He along with Ahmad Faraz were performing Umra and a young man holding the trembling arm of his aged father approached Faraz because the old man wanted to meet his favorite poet. Qasmi says that he told Faraz that "Didn't you see this teenager expressing his devotion to you. It is a different matter that this teenager seems to be past 80-85." Qasmi continues to write, "'Faraz is a poet of teenagers.' 'Faraz is a poet of those who have just entered the threshold of youth.' 'Faraz is the poet of young college and university students.' Faraz has been facing these accusations since long, but oblivious of this he continues to produce beautiful poetry." I think Qasmi sahib has aptly defended Faraz against such frivolous charges. A critical look at his more-than-dozen books of poetry that have sold like hot cakes, shows his popularity among readers of all ages. One finds a perpetual development in his poetry which is a beautiful blend of matters of the heart and political cross-currents.

Faraz started writing poetry when the Progressive Writers' movement was at its peak. Some people call him the image of Faiz. As far as I remember, he always proudly acknowledged the influence of that great poet on his poetic thought and style. But, like other poets who after attaining a certain status in literary world try to project their own individuality, Faraz also seems to be keen on carving out his own niche and to be remembered as poet of his own diction and style. That is why, in some of his recent interviews, he has said that he would prefer to be known as Faraz and not the image of Faiz. "I did follow Faiz but never as a disciple or even as a rival," he clarified. He elaborated it by saying that as a student Ghalib and Faiz were his ideals. The quality he revered the most in Faiz most that even on the harshest and hardest subjects, he used polite expressions. Replying to an Indian journalist's question as to who was his ideal poet, Faraz named Sahir Ludhianvi.

Born as Agha Ahmad Shah in the small town of Kohat in North Western Frontier Province, Faraz wrote his earlier poetry as Sharar Kohati. In this he followed his father Agha Barq Kohati, who was an Urdu and Persian poet and oriental teacher. From him he imbibed the Persian language that gave strength to his poetry, which is replete with Persian idioms and words. But after his early schooling and on shifting to Peshawar he changed his name to Ahmad Faraz because, as his friend from Kohat Rahim Gul points out, once one of his friends told Faraz that he couldn't sleep the whole night because he forgot to close the tap of water and it flowed shrr..rr..rr. That might be true but my late friend Sharar Naumani, who also practised poetry in Peshawar during that period, used to claim that Faraz changed it because his (Sharar Naumani's)name was more popular in Peshawar region.

Soon after the partition of the subcontinent, Peshawar could boast of many outstanding poets -- Farigh Bukhari, Raza Hamdani, Nazir Mirza Birlas, Shaukat Wasti from the older generation and Khatir Ghaznavi, Ahmad Faraz, Mohsin Ehsan, Hafeez Asar and others from the younger. From time to time Radio Pakistan also provided the city with poets of repute, like N. M. Rashed, Ahmad Nadim Qasmi, Kartar Singh Duggal etc., who came to serve there. While pursuing their studies many of the younger writers found part-time work in Radio Pakistan, and it is there that I met Ahmad Faraz for the first time, in 1959. He was then program producer in-charge of talks and I had gone there to deliver a talk. He was then a handsome young man with a fair Pathan complexion and thick crop of brown hair. He already had the script of the talk with him. In those days we used to go directly on the air. He made me to rehearse my talk and pointed out some pronunciation errors. After the talk, as we were sipping tea in the office, of duty officer Khatir Ghaznavi came in. He always appeared to me as a double of poet Shahzad Ahmad. Khatir was then attached to Radio Pakistan as a producer and was also the official photographer. Khatir was then already well known in literary circles of the country and Faraz was coming up fast. Then in the next few years, while he studied in Peshawar University for his Master's in Persian, Faraz flabbergasted the literary circles with numerous ghazals that were spontaneous and came straight from the heart. Faraz, who later lectured in the college, became a rage because his ghazals reached a wider audience through the radio ,TV and movies.

As a government servant he did not associate himself with any political party, but like the majority of Pathans he always had a soft corner for the National Awami Party and its founding father, Khan Abdul Ghaffar Khan. That is the reason for his tilt towards the Leftist cause as well. Since the party had also always stood for peaceful relations with India, one can understand Faraz's recent interest in Track-II diplomacy. Faraz is a democrat and that is why he has been opposing all dictatorial regimes, starting with Ayub Khan's. When during Yahya Khan's rule Pakistan faced a defeat from India and lost its eastern wing, Faraz wrote some very poignant poems -- the most popular being 'Professional Killers'. Though Faraz remained associated with officialdom in various capacities during the Bhutto period, it is interesting that during PNA's anti-Bhutto movement his poems, especially 'The Professional Killers', were circulated in anti-Bhutto rallies. He was apprehended during Zia's dictatorship and was confined in the infamous Mansar Camp. After his release he escaped from the country and remained in exile for many years, living in England and visiting other countries, especially USA, for participating in mushairas. After Zia's death, when democracy was restored in the country, he came back and served in various positions, ending with the Managing Directorship of National Book Foundation from which he was recently removed.

During his recent visit to America I met him, after many years, at the residence of Dr Attiya Khan. The Khan household has played host to numerous literary personalities from the subcontinent, including Faiz Ahmad Faiz, Qurratulain Hyder, Javed Akhtar. Faraz seemed quite frustrated by what had happened to him at the National Book Foundation. He was also quite critical of the political affairs of the country. His recent renunciation of Hilal-e-Imtiaz is one manifestation of that frustration. Lots of critical articles have appeared on this count, but looking at the stature and poetic achievements of Faraz and listening to his side of the story, one could only remind the present regime of Faiz Ahmad Faiz's line:

Apne ushshaq se aise bhi koi karta hae.