Arts Council award winners

THE Pakistan Arts Council is jubilant over the Independence Day awards won by 11 of its members. Prominent among them are Talat Hussain, Mazhar Jamil and Prof Saher Ansari.

The happiness was evident at a gathering on Saturday to honour another award winner, head of the National Book Foundation, Iftikhar Arif.

Mirza Akhtar Ali presented a welcome address. Longtime friends and admirers of Iftikhar Arif, Khawaja Razi Akhtar and Asad Mohammad Khan, read interesting papers. An essay by Raza Ali Abedi written some decades back was also read out on the occasion. Shahida Hasan in her article critically examined Arif’s poetry and praised his chiselled and urbane diction. Prof Saher Ansari was brief in his discourse and mentioned the popularity of Iftikhar Arif — his former boss at the Urdu Markaz, London — in many countries and in many languages.

Dr Pirzada Qasim, Vice-Chancellor at Karachi University and a reputed poet, spoke highly of Arif, who was to him the “conscience” of our time. “Whenever the history of our country will be written, 50 or a hundred years later this age of ours will be described as the age of Iftikhar Arif,” Dr Pirzada declared.

Arif recited his ghazals, for which the audience had to wait for a long time. First a hamd, then a naat, then a manqabat and lastly a salam were presented.

TRADITIONS of Urdu short stories in reference to the writings of noted writer the late Khadija Mastoor were defined at a seminar held last week at the Arts Council. Firdous Haider, author of many story collections and travelogues, presented a paper focussing on the late author’s famous novel Angan, comparing it to contemporary writings.

Khadija Mastoor’s sister, Hajira Masroor, another eminent story writer, spoke briefly about the early years of their writing career and the circumstances which led them there. They observed life as it appeared to them and narrated their experiences in simple words.

From children’s magazines to prestigious literary monthlies, the sisters traversed a long journey to success. There were no models before them. They carved their own path without copying others. The Progressive Writers Movement came to their support for their realistic approach toward life.

Prof Saher Ansari, who presided, made a pithy assessment of Khadija Mastoor’s fiction which he described as a fine blend of classical and modern diction and original to the core.

WHAT are the new trends commonly found in Urdu short stories or what are the favourite subjects discussed by young writers?

These questions were raised at the Irteqa Adabi Forum on Sunday. Jamal Naqvi who compered the proceedings introduced the subject in brief remarks. Life was changing fast, he said, and new events and ideas were emerging each day. “Going through the new writings, we can determine the direction and speed of life,” he said.

Story telling and listening to stories were always a favourite pastime of people of all ages. There was a time when the story lost its “storyness” and so also its attraction. Urdu fiction suffered heavily. Thankfully, the short story had regained its charm and glamour, Naqvi concluded.

There were two short stories on the agenda on that day, one by Shakir Anwar, the other by Romana Roomi. The former had written his story around 15 years back and it was much admired by the late Ismat Chughtai. Anwar’s story is based on a woman’s illicit relations with a nephew and was, to some listeners, “bold”, but there was nothing so very startling about it. Though skilfully written, it was not “new” and did not help in understanding modern trends, most writers agreed.

Romana Roomi’s story concerned a nagging wife and her husband, a poor salaried person. One day, the dejected husband leaves the house in frustration and is killed in an accident. The wife is shocked, but when she receives a hefty amount in lieu of her late husband’s insurance policy, she finally forgives the poor departed soul.

Ali Haider Malik, a story writer and critic, dispelled the belief that the short story was ‘lost’ in the ’60s. It was there with all its “storyness”; only the diction had changed and a new vocabulary had entered the stories. Secondly, the topics had changed according to the demands of the times.

Senior story writer Shamshad Ahmad enumerated the changes which had shaped fiction over the years. Long and lingering narratives including descriptions of natural scenic beauty were no longer part of our stories. The technique and the vocabulary found in new fiction had also changed even as the world had become more insecure and unstable. Further, an ever-increasing number of scientific and technological inventions had entered households, thus affecting the traditional pattern of life, Shamshad Ahmad pointed out.

Ahmad Saghir Siddiqui was rather harsh in his judgement when he said young writers were mostly repeating the same themes that were in vogue decades back. A critical study of fiction was non- existent, not only in Urdu but in English literature as well.

The discussion boiled down to the consensus that a close study of day-to-day life and extensive knowledge of the classics were needed by today’s writers as well as by discerning readers.