Daily Times

The book Rubaru comprises of a compilation of interviews of famous literary personalities by Amir Bin Ali, Hassan Abbasi and Lubna Safdar.

It is dedicated to Ashfaq Ahmad, Ahmad Nadeem Qasmi, Mushtaq Ahmad Yousufi, Munir Niazi, Munnu Bhai, Mashkoor Hussain Yaad, Shahzad Ahmad, Shuhrat Bukhari and Aslam Kolsri whose interviews are included in this book but they are no more now. A couplet ‘Aik Ik Kar Kei Sitaron Ki Tarah Doob Gaye/Haye Kaya Log Mere Halqa-e-Ehbaab Main Thei’ (One by one many stars fell who were among the fraternity of my friends) has been quoted which is very apt for this situation. This book contains practically most of the famous names but this reviewer did find some lesser but deserving ones also.

Ahmad Adnan Tariq was born in 1963. His mother had done her Masters and taught in Tandaliawala. His father was Excise and Taxation Officer. His mother used to buy novels from Feroze Sons and books for children also. So Tariq had an access to these books and he became fond of reading from his childhood. On his mother’s demise his juvenile age ended and he moved to Faisalabad from where he completed his studies. After his Masters he joined police service and completed his LLB during his job. He wrote 14 books for children and on poetry. Another intellectual is Dr Hassan Mubarak from Faisalabad. Psychologically he felt that changing the name of his city of Lyallpur to Faisalabad deprived him of the cultural and historical heritage of the city. His poetry collection ‘Naye Dinon Kei Khwaab’ was instrumental in giving him exposure to public. In 2011 his second selection appeared titled ‘Tanha Rehna Seekh Liya Hei’. Apart from poetry, his travelogues were appreciated as well.

The book is dedicated to Ashfaq Ahmad, Ahmad Nadeem Qasmi, Mushtaq Ahmad Yousufi, Munir Niazi, Munnu Bhai, Mashkoor Hussain Yaad, Shahzad Ahmad, Shuhrat Bukhari and Aslam Kolsri whose past interviews are included

Dr Ali Muhammad Khan is an educationist, critic and one of the great sketch writers. He is a writer of 36 books. Tahir Naseem is a poet and a journalist simultaneously. He believes that literature apart from developing oneself should be instrumental in developing the nation. Dr Shahnaz Muzammil is known as ‘Maadar-e-Dabistan’. She is running an organisation namely ‘Adab Sarae’ since many years. She was also born in Faisalabad. She is Masters in Library Science followed by DHMS from Holland. Her twenty poetry books have been published. She has done considerable work on Iqbal in prose format. Dr Ajmal Niazi is a popular literary figure. He was born on September 16, 1947 in Musakhel, Mianwali. His grandfather Jehan Khan was Zaildar and was a Sardar. Ajmal was among three brothers who were admitted in Government College, Lahore. Their father was Inspector in Police. He was a learned person and had memorized many good pieces of poetry. Ajmal got his initial training from his father. Ajmal admits that he tried saying poetry in his early days His poetry collection ‘Pichle Peher Ki Sargoshi’ was published but he became a popular column writer later on.

He is however disappointed on the quality of ‘Mushairas’ and fears that such sittings have hardly played a proper role in nation building lately.

Muhammad Asim Butt spent all his childhood in the walled city of Lahore. His parents hailed from Amritsar. He is affiliated with Academy of Letters since past decade. Interested in sports he won Orange Belt in Karate. Poetry saying was a natural phenomenon for him. In the daily News he was in the translations section. He wrote features also He took interviews. So, his first book ‘Doosra Aadami’ was his book comprising interviews. In the Academy he became editor of its magazine ‘Adabiaat’. His two books on stories ‘Ishtihaar Aadmi’ and ‘Dastak’ have been printed and a third one is on way. The other interviews by Hassan Abbasi are of Saleem Shahzad, Dr Suleman Abdullah, Zafar Islam, Ashiq Raheel, Dr Kausar Mahmud, Lubna Safda, Muhammad Saeedullah Siddique, Dr Nasir Abbas Nayyar and Nazir Qaiser.

Bushra Ijaz is a house wife but has carried out her desire for saying prose and poetry with passion. She hailed from Sargodha but has been living in Lahore since long. She got married while very young. Her son was in Cambridge when she did her Matriculation. Then she did FA and BA privately. She was fond of reading books even when she lived in her village. Her first attempt at writing a book was her impressions of doing Hajj. She desired to say poetry in Urdu bur became popular in Punjabi poetry instead. Her books ‘Pabbah Bhaar’ and ‘Bhulejha’ were hailed. She wrote a short story and sent it to Dr Wazir Agha for ‘Auraq’. Then she read a story in Halqa of Sara Hashmi. Her stories’ book was also published. Writing was her necessity as she abhorred social attitudes. The other personalities interviewed by Lubna Safdar are Dr. Amjad Parvez. Bushra Rehman. Saeed Aasi, Seema Ghazal, Suhaib Marghoob, Zahoor ul Islam Javed, Naseer Ahmad Nasir, Neelum Ahmad Basheer, Dr. Najma Shaheen Khosa, and Yasmin Hameed.

Such interviews give the interviewee a chance to express him/herself more freely. The book under review is a good attempt in achieving this goal.

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