Daily Times

A lady in her utter embarrassment stated recently on social media that despite being Punjabi by birth she gets embarrassed when she is asked as to why her children do not converse in Punjabi language.

She knew that as her children had grown, she had preferred to make their admission in English speaking schools. Punjabi was a language for the low class people in their comprehension as her kids conversed mostly in Urdu language at home. This situation is more prevalent in Punjab. Sindhis, Baloch and Pathans converse in their mother tongue and have their mother tongue a part of their schools right at primary level. Since last decade or so the educated lot realised the damage being done to their mother tongue in Punjab, so they joined hands to hold protest on Mother Tongue Day as to why Punjabi language has not been implemented as the medium of instruction at primary level in schools.

Tanveer Abbas expresses on Google that Punjabi is not used in Schools of Pakistan but in other Provinces of Pakistan, their languages are taught also with national language Urdu. But in Punjab there should also a Subject of Punjabi Language for every class. It will help us to live long our Pakistani Tradition and Cultures. India has surpassed this trauma as this enactment, which was approved unanimously by the Punjab Vidhan Sabha during the tenure of the Parkash Singh Badal Government, in which the BJP was an active ally, makes teaching of Punjabi compulsory in all schools in the state from Classes 1 to 10.

The writers and lovers of Punjabi language are not left behind. The likeminded people collect at art councils or Punjabi Institute of Languages Arts and Culture (PILAC) and find ways and means of advancement in Punjabi Language in all forms of literature. One such group has formed an organization namely Institute of Languages, Folk Lore and Punjabi Heritage in Lahore headed by a veteran writer Ilyas Ghuman and assisted by the writer Ali Usman Bajwa. They meet every week at Pilac and writers read their stories and offer criticism. This forum has also started publishing a magazine titled Kahani Darbar. Its latest version pertains to 2022 period.

An organization namely Punjabi Sangat Pakistan has been meeting in the basement of PILAC for a long time now. Its aim is Punjabi Language Movement. Their members met on December 17 2022 to inaugurate journal Kahani Darbar. The meeting was presided by Parveen Malik. The organisers were Haitam Tanveer and Usman Sultan. The stories were presented by Ejaz, Ilyas Ghuman, Anjum Qureshi, Parveen Malik, Javed Panchi, Saeed Bhutta, Sukeerat Singh Anand, Ayesha Aslam, Ali Anwar Ahmad, Ali Usman Bajwa, Sabir Ali Sabar, Mudasar Bashir, Nargis Noor and Haitum Tanveer Akram.

The themes of the stories are diverse in nature. Itikhar Warraich Kalarvi writes on the folklore, Sohni Mahiwaal. The writer hails from Gujarat and his 12 books are written in Punjabi language. About the advent of the folklore he has mentioned that this story was written during Muhammad Shah Rangeela’s rule but some critics have mentioned that Shah Hussain Lahori has also touched upon this folklore in the sixteenth century. Ilyas Ghuman was born on August 25 1961 in Pind Chak Suteya, Tehseel Wazirabad, in Gujranwala Province. He is a learned guy with Bachelors and Masters in Electrical Engineering. He has retired as Chief Engineer Fesco Wapda. Now he spends all his time in literary environment. He has written books on engineering and Punjabi literature. He has been the editor of many Punjabi literary magazines. His collection of Punjabi Stories was published in 1994. The names of his other collections are Pind Di Lajj, Ill Coco, Agla Banda, Band Galli Waala Makaan, Ujre Garaan Dei Waasi, Wand and many more. His story ‘Dumuhi’ included in the book under review pertains to the impact of two faced snake under the backdrop of loot and plunder during partition of India.

The book under review comprises twelve stories along with brief introduction of the writers. The story ‘Hond’ has been penned by Naseer Ahmad from Lahore. The story revolves around a poor man who makes his living through the actions by his pet monkey, meets an accident by a car while performing. The writer writes on the story by explaining the way he takes his monkey to a hospital which treats human beings only where a nurse takes a pity on him and put a bandage around the wound of the monkey after applying some healing ointment.

This literary journal proves one aspect that there are ample writers available in the city who keep on writing short stories without being acknowledged which is an encouraging revelation.

The writer is the recipient of the prestigious Pride of Performance award. He can be reached at doc_amjad@hotmail.com