Daily Times

It is much harder to compose a biography than an autobiography. In the context of subcontinent and Urdu literature, the autobiography, biography and personality sketch occupy a reasonable space. But unfortunately, a few of these narrations maintain neutrality. If we take the case of autobiographies, the autobiographers usually present their bright area and put grey sides under the carpet. Shahabnama of Qudrat Ullah Shahab is a classic example of self-praise and personal glorification. On the contrary “Truth, Love and a Little Malice” by Khushwant Singh is an example of a truthful account. It is very difficult to write naked truths and bitter realities about oneself as Singh did.

In the contemporary literature we come across biographies even more biased than autobiographies. The phenomenon exists almost all over and throughout history. Even great spiritual personalities have been quoted by historians as supernatural beings. The same fault holds good for political leaders, artists, poets and writers. It goes without saying that all great personalities who altered the course of history were essentially humans, with weaknesses and strengths. If a writer loses sight of this fact, most readers get bored while reading rhetoric penned by biographers or sketch writers. On the other hand, certain biographers go to the other extreme, maligning personalities due to personal reasons and malafide intentions. In both cases the biographies do not remain realistic.

Irfan Javed has introduced a new trend to the sketch writing and by staying neutral and realistic he successfully keeps the interest of a reader intact. The book under review, Surkhaab by Javed is a masterpiece in non-fiction. It contains sagacious life accounts of twelve famous writers, poets and artists. In Surkhab, Khalid Hassan, Parveen Shaker, Ustad Daman, Sa’adat Hassan Manto, Joan Elia, Mansha Yaad, Tassaduq Sohail, Gulzar, Amjad Islam Amjad, Muhammad Ilyas, Ayub Khawar and Iftikhar Bokhari have been realistically and impartially sketched in a manner that the reader does not suffer from an iota of boredom or rhetoric.

While sketching the life of PraveenShaker, Javed gives a true picture of the talented poet, her talents, her happy moments as well as her agonies including her married life. About her relationship with her spouse and family life, Javed scribes: “Praveen and her husband, both were nice souls, but they were not made for each other. The contrast of ideas and priorities over-whelmed their married life. While the kettle-drum of fame sounded in exterior grounds, a killing silence of sadness and gloom prevailed inside their domestic arena. Certain true and untrue stories attached to Parveen would perturb her husband, Naseer Ali Khan. Much earlier in the same context, Parveen’s father Shaker Hussain had cautioned Parveen to stay away from poetry, else no one the earth could save her marriage and her son.”

Javed portrays these famous individuals as normal humans with all their strengths and weaknesses. While drawing the life sketch of Jaun Eli, Javed has not kept any part, be it dark or bright, hidden from the readers. Very few people, including myself knew that Elia was a philosopher, writer and a dynamic personality. Irfan describes him as “a keen reader who often entangled himself into philosophical riddles. He was a curious soul who was desperate to gain mastery over every field of acquirable knowledge. As for linguistics, Elia was fluent with Urdu, Arabic and Persian languages while he had a working knowledge of English and Hebrew. At the same time, he was obsessed with self-glory and narcissism. He was a renowned poet himself who loved poetry, but somehow owned a malice for other poets. Elia did not consider Ghalib a great poet and often called him a poet of twenty five couplets. However, he adored Mir Taqi Mir. Nevertheless he considered himself superior than others and his father even greater. There was an artist inside Elia. He performed in theatre as well as in real life. While in Amroha (India) he actually performed as an artist in theatre. In 2006 the Government of Pakistan announced the Pride of Performance for Joan Elia. He not only returned the medal but also rejected it as a protest against the military rule in the country.”

Javed has very successfully and skillfully sketched the lives of people who have contributed in the fields of art and literature in a great way. He has used informal, yet literary metaphors in a manner that you enjoy reading lengthy accounts of poets, writers and artists of our times. Portraying the life of the great artist Tassaduq Sohail, Irfan starts with a quote of Mark Twain; “The fiction should be trust worthy unlike the real life”. You come across certain people in your life who look like the characters of a novel or an afsana. Recently departed, renowned painter Sohail was certainly a fictional character. Similarly, Javed has written about Sa’adat Hassan Manto, Amjad Islam Amjad and Mansha Yaad as if the reader is witnessing, talking, walking and sipping a cup of tea with them.

About the renowned fiction writer, Muhammad Ilyas, who has authored six novels and numerous short story books, Javed writes: “Anton Pavlovich Chekhov, a Russian Playwright was once asked, why he writes short stories. In response to the query he narrated an anecdote: “Somebody asked a small bird; why he sings such small songs? The bird replied: “My life is short and I have a lot of songs to sing, I wish to sing countless songs held in my chest. Ilyas has countless short stories within him. He is in a hurry to put them on paper in the short span of his remaining life.” By sketching Ilyas in his natural attire, Javed has presented to readers, the silent and upright dervish behind his commendable master-pieces of Urdu fiction.

Javed has honestly flashed the laser of his pen over the dark as well bright areas of each and every sketched personality. Discussing Manto Sahib’s life story, Irfan proffers: “Manto’s wife Safia was an orphan. She passed her married life suffering from poverty and inconsistent life style of her husband. Their only son died in his very childhood. Her husband also died leaving behind three small daughters for Safia to raise. I wish Manto’s story was conceived and written by Safia.”

Javed in this book has given a nickname to each personality. He calls Gulzar “dina ka laal” (the pearl of Dina). He has sketched Gulzar in eighteen pages in Surkhab. Due to limitation of the newspaper, only a few lines can be reproduced here: “While sitting in Bombay, Gulzar yearns for his native town and childhood left in Pakistan. He surmises Indo – Pak rivalry an un-natural phenomenon. In 1996 Indo – Pak tension was at his peak. In the same year Gulzar produced the famous Urdu Film “Machis” (The Matchbox). Its’ songs were enriched with the sweetness of his native lands, Jhelum and Dina:”Chhor Aye Ham Woh Gallyan “ . . . And “Pani, Pani Ray . . . “ in those songs Gulzar recalls his home in Pakistan and tells the rivers that flow from India into Pakistan:

O! Water descend from mountain slopes

Cross the smoky vales coming in our your way

Then comes my village, enter my home right away.

A pain surges out of these songs, there is a tinge of regret in his thoughts and an agony of longing seems to have been kneaded into Gulzar’s poetry”.

In a literary and the most interesting manner, Javed has biographed the writers, poets and artists. He has requisite command over Urdu vocabulary, form and craft. ‘Surkhab’ is a classic example of a non-fiction written in fictional tone. The book is a treat to read and has occupied a place in front row of Urdu literature in Pakistan. We congratulate Irfan Javed for this marvelous work and wish he would treat us with more of like books.

Published in Daily Times, December 19^th 2018.