Please tell us in detail how you developed a penchant for writing? How did it all begin for you?

It began after I dropped out from my engineering studies at the NED University of Engineering & Technology. The year was 1988, I guess. I read a lot, spent some time trying to learn German and French, worked as an administrative assistant at an NGO, and then joined The News International when it was about to be launched. I had gone to look for a reporter’s job because I was told that it was best suited to a lazy person with no fixed waking or sleeping hours. During the interview the editor designate Ghazi Salahuddin told me that they were not hiring reporters yet. They were hiring sub-editors. I told myself that a lazy person should be able to adapt a job to his lifestyle, and took it. In the first few months I learned to edit which is a useful skill for a writer. A couple of years later, with two other friends I launched a literary magazine. In the same year, in 1994, I moved to Canada where I wrote my first novel over a period of two or three years while doing odd jobs. I had already translated Afzal Ahmed Syed’s poetry by then, and started translating the Dastan-e Amir Hamza. Writing and translations has been my life since.

How much did your family support and encourage you when you decided to take up writing professionally?

My father taught philosophy at the university, and he always hoped that I would become a scholar. But he was sceptical about the circuitous route I was taking to a scholarly career, and, of course, writing stories lacked the gravitas of serious scholarship. My mother, on the other hand, always got happy if I got some press but privately worried about my ruining my life by choosing to be a writer. I never really cared or even thought about anyone’s support and encouragement for what I had chosen to do. It gave me pleasure and that was enough and more. When one is in love the last thing one needs is the support and encouragement of one’s family. It spoils the whole thing.

Do you think opportunities and avenues are bigger for aspiring writers abroad than in Pakistan?

Let me put it this way: Good writing, or even competent writing, will find a publisher both in Pakistan and abroad.

Growing up, who were some of the writers you enjoyed reading the most?

In Urdu after I exhausted the books published by Ferozsons, Sheikh Ghulam Ali and Sons, Sheikh Shaukat Ali & Sons and others which introduced me to Maqbool Jahangir, A Hameed, Yunus Hasrat and many others, I began reading popular Urdu digests. I would easily read a digest a day. I do not recall a single name from those but I have recently rediscovered Ilyas Sitapuri who wrote many popular historical romances. I am looking forward to reading more of his works. And I’m still growing up, by the way.

Let me put it this way; good writing, or even competent writing, will find a publisher both in Pakistan and abroad

You were one of the five writers short-listed for the Man Asian Prize for Literature in 2012. What according to you has been your biggest achievement so far?

My novel Between Clay & Dust. It was for this novel that I was short-listed.

How did the idea of setting up Urdu Thesaurus occur to you? What were some of the initial challenges you faced when setting it up?

During my work as a translator of classical Urdu literature I realised there were no good portable Urdu language reference tools. I set out to make a dictionary eleven years ago when I was finishing my translation of Dastan-e Amir Hamza. That dictionary is still in planning and modelling. I decided that the thesaurus would be a simpler first product, which could be easily linked to the dictionary when it is completed. The actual work of collecting the data, having it typed and sorted, and readied for a database took the last five years. A number of data entry operators and proofreaders worked on it. Later, in October 2015 Awais Athar came on board, volunteering his time and expertise to develop the database and app. We only have 40 percent of the data online. There is still a lot more work remaining to be done on this project and for that more resources are needed.

What is your vision for Pakistan and what does it mean to be Pakistani for you?

As a writer, and also a publisher of children’s books, I have been curating Urdu literature written for children in the twentieth century. I am developing another programme called Kahani Se Kitab Tak, to be launched from my publishing house KITAB, to adapt for children the 19th century Urdu classics that included a lot of qissas and dastans. It will take 10 years of work to raise a generation aware of this literature. My vision for my contribution to the society is to provide a framework and a system to make it accessible to them.

What advice would you give to a novice in the industry?

That writing is not an industry! But in terms of actual work advice, I have always shared the view that one must write in competition with the masters of literature, not one’s peers. It keeps one’s focus on learning the craft and the need to excel.

Which piece or story of yours has been your most favourite? Which has been the most challenging?

My novel Between Clay & Dust. Another favourite is my short story The Jinn Darazgosh.

What are you currently working on?

I have developed a programme to teach Urdu language to native speakers called Kahani Se Kitab Tak whose content I briefly discussed above. It will be launched in September in a number of schools including the Lahore Grammar School. The response from the schools has been very encouraging, and I will be working on refining it in the coming months. I have also finished a new novel.

We at Daily Times, consider you one of our national heroes. Who are some of yours?

The rag picker children in our streets. There is no society in the world, no matter how impoverished, which cannot take care of its children. We are one of the more prosperous societies in the world, but we have abandoned our children. They are the worst abused creatures in our society; far more than animals, and we are very cruel to our animals. Yet these little kids carry on, despite their hellish lives. There is none braver.

                           Achievements

VERSATILE WRITER

Writer Musharraf Ali Farooqi is not just a novelist. He is an award-winning translator, essayist, entrepreneur and a publisher as well.

GLOBAL RECOGNITION

Musharraf Ali Farooqi has been recognised internationally for his work. He was among the five writers short-listed for Asia’s most prestigious literary prize in 2012. He is the author of the novel Between Clay & Dust, which was short-listed for the Man Asian Literary Prize. His earlier novel The Story of a Widow was short-listed for the 2011 DSC Prize for South Asian Literature and considered for the 2010 International IMPAC Dublin Literary Award. His children’s books includes the collection The Amazing Moustaches of Moochhander the Iron Man & Other Stories, illustrated by Michelle Farooqi, which was short-listed for the India ComicCon Award in the Best Publication for Children category.

SUCCESSFUL ENTREPRENEUR

He is the founder/editor of Urdu Thesaurus, which is provided as a free educational resource featuring only synonyms. Planned features for versions include integrated Urdu-to-Urdu lexicons, bilingual dictionaries, and dictionaries of antonyms, idioms and proverbs.

Published in Daily Times, August 6^th 2017.