Daily Times

As is evident from the title of the book, it is a rare anthology of the poems on the subject of the Partition. It is a monumental work. It is compiled by Aftab Husain and Sarita Jenamani. Both of them also substantially contributed to the book by adding four poems of them as well as translating into English other works of the poets. A careful perusal of the book reveals that much effort went into putting together a wonderful collection of poems on the key issue of partition. Now the readers, particularly the western reader need not look elsewhere. All in all, 91 poems by a large number of poets have been incorporated in this magnum opus. To name but a few poets, Faiz Ahmad Faiz, Muneer Niazi, Ahmad Raahi, Amrita Pritam, Fahmida Riaz, Jagannath Azad, Ustad Daman, Akhtarul Iman, Keki N Daruwala and WH Auden.

It bears mentioning that the anthology covers different genres of the poetry: Ghazals, Rubai, blank verse, free verse, matric poems, prose poetry, and haiku etc. It is divided into four parts for the convenience of the reader; introduction, poems, afterword, and short biographies of the poets.

Aftab Husain is an eminent name in modern Ghazal poetry from South Asia. In addition to Urdu, he writes in English both poems and literary essays and translates from German to Urdu and vice versa. He earned his doctorate in comparative literature from Vienna University where he teaches South Asia Literature and Culture. He has four collections of poetry and three books of translations—from Germany into Urdu—to his credit. He was a fellow of Heinrich-Boll-Haus, Germany as well as the “Writer of Exile” of Vienna City. His poems have been translated into many languages. He is a member of the Austrian PEN and co-edits Words & Worlds-a bilingual magazine for migrant literature.

Sarita Jenamani was born in Cuttack, Odisha and studied Economics and Management Studies in India and Austria. She writes in English, Hindi as well as in her mother tongue, Odia. Having three books of poetry to her credit, she has been published in a number of anthologies and has received many literary fellowships in Germany and in Austria. Sarita is general secretary of the Austrian chapter of PEN International, co-editor, publisher of the magazine Words and Worlds. What this the anthology does is this: collect a good number of poems from different languages on the partition, and gives the reader a golden opportunity to read them and feel the shared grief of the poets in a single book. In short, this book aims at infusing a new spirit into the thorny issue of Partition, thereby casting the mind of the reader back to when Sub-continent was cut into two slices; Pakistan and India.

It goes without saying that the history of Partition is written in blood. No sooner did the partition come to pass than Sikhs and Hindus instantly became enemies of the Muslims and vice versa. Widespread riots broke out. Barbaric atrocities were committed against each other, thereby putting to an end the peace and friendship established among their communities over decades and in some cases over centuries. Trains were plundered and set on fire. Homes were looted and razed to the ground. Women and girls committed suicide by jumping into the wells with a view to saving their honour. The children were not spared. However, this is not to deny that there were instances where Muslims and Hindus saved each other’s lives. Needless to emphasize, no leader on both sides envisioned such a massive human tragedy waiting to happen.

The poems vividly capture the agony, unspeakable pain and excruciating sufferings, migrants had to go through at the time of the partition; leaving behind their loved ones and belongings, and starting their lives from scratch. For them, it was a tragedy that wrenched them apart, shook them to the core and changed their lives for good. The partition left indelible marks over the psyche of the people, who faced the unprecedented catastrophe. The stories of sacrifices travelled from one generation to another, keeping alive the memory. In a word, it has long since been part of our collective memory and consciousness. Tragic first-hand accounts come to us through both fiction in the form of novels, short stories and poems and non-fiction. Though the poems are seldom written on this crucial issue. It is worthwhile to reproduce the words of Mohammed Hanif, the novelist and a regular contributor to the BBC and the New York Times, who reviewed this compilation:

“A lot of prose, both fiction and non-fiction, has been written around partition but the poetry about partition is an entirely ignored genre. This book redresses that imbalance. Here you’ll find poetic works about partition, these are songs of separation, voices of despair and the cruel music that still rings through the present subcontinent”.

They say, there is always room for improvement.

One may point out two things that the anthology is found wanting in: Firstly, the original poems are not produced alongside translations. Without the original work, one cannot appreciate the intrinsic beauty of the translation made by the translator. One is well aware of the fact that it would add to the size of the book. However, without adding them, readers won’t appreciate them fully. Secondly, some expressions and phrases employed by the translators need to be looked up in the dictionary. A glossary would address this issue adequately.

The writer is a lawyer based in Lahore. He Tweets at @zaeem8825 and can be reached at zaeem.bhatti89@gmail.com