Daily Times

Nain Sukh is the pen name of Khalid Mahmood, who is Advocate High Court by profession and a prolific Punjabi poet and writer by passion.

He is from rural background, born in Sargodha, settled in Lahore for past three decades. On June 4, 2017 he spoke to Iqbal Haider Butt and said that he has no space for ideas like return-to-the-village. He says this city has its own history: “It goes to its credit that it was a place which started giving respect to working and skilful people. Names of old Lahore’s all localities are after working communities. There is a shared street culture in the city”.

Basic influence for enticing him to write poetry was listening to or reading the stories, folk tales, folk songs and Sufi poetry etc in his youth. He translated his thoughts into poetry.

Nain Sukh often quotes his poem ‘Kaale Khaate’ written in his early days as follows:

“Black accounts were opened at shops

With them the seeds of sleepless nights were sown in the eyes

And then seasons became, unreliable,

Balanced sleep was mortgaged by traders,

Thus vanquished our blue dreams

Just as clouds shunned the rivers,

Having given up the hope of peacock’s dance

Saddled with dim memories,

Moon, watchman and thief joined together

But blood leads the way still”

Nain Sukh was not happy with his poetry as well as his name. He knew at least six or seven writers or poets with the name Khalid Mahmud, so he opted for a unique pen name Nain Sukh which was from Punjabi language and representative of Punjabi culture. His pseudonym was liked, so he continued using it subsequently. He thought that in poetry he could not express his emotions and thoughts that were sown in his heart properly. He thought that may be change of format of expression works though his poetry book with the name Khalid Mahmood had already been published titled ‘Kikkar Tei Angoor’ in 1994. So he tried his hands on prose writing. He tried his hands in writing short stories trying to develop his own style on social, political and historical issues.

Nain Sukh has ended up with seven books published to-date in various formats which are one poetry book, four short stories, one novel and one on history. He felt that in Pakistan, more people were inclined towards saying poetry rather than writing fiction; prose, fiction, stories, novels, drama. Nain Sukh had published his collection titled ‘Theekeryaan”, his first book of short stories and the collection “Uthal Puthal” in 2011. He published Shaheed and Aai Purray Di Vaa as well as an award-winning Punjabi novel, Madho Lal Hussain: Lahore Di Vel and a book of poems Kikkar Tay Angoor and Dharti Panj Daryai.

His first story collection was ‘Uthal Puthal’. He worked on the upheaval and chaos in the society. He read a portion of the story of the short story translated in easy English in one of his interviews, as follows:

Nain Sukh was not happy with his poetry as well as his name. He knew at least six or seven writers or poets with the name Khalid Mahmud, so he opted for a unique pen name Nain Sukh which was from Punjabi language and representative of Punjabi culture

“Hither and thither! all in turmoil, all helter skelter, from here to there, upside down; all of a sudden everyone is left on their own, there was chaos, and no one bothered about others, nothing to distinguish between our own and strangers, friends and enemies. All in pool; no respect or acknowledgement. None to call a friend for help in need, who would make effort to help their beloved ones? People falling, coming, going, running, dying getting killed none thought twice to leave their places. Where were they going ahead? No thought how they were playing or could sit to contemplate; just take the space wherever they could. Everyday this goes on happens to them, no support from anyone.

Where to get guidance from, which could help them? Those had who had no place in their eyes, why will they remember them? No veranda or walls, without security, with no permanent relationship, they are helpless and remain dumb and silent, even when any excess is committed. There could be ordered to leave the country anytime within moments, could be homeless, where and whom to appeal, there are no justice, lawyers or legal recourse or appeals. They have no place of their own, no permanent address, useless.

They were no part of a story, poetry and or part of pictures on a wall, nor were they like domestic pets. They were just worthless, so who could be bothered about them. They are not partners of any establishment, neither manufacturing gum nor silk. Just as insects carry grains by a single count making a handful as the whole community at work, no place as of wasp’s nest, nor weave webs to catch prey, nor can they spoil. Live in a hole -with many legs to stand, they can be molested by anyone. Even acting as predators, they hardly can kill, rather die can’t walk away”.

The story that gave Nain Sukh fame was titled “Madhu Laal Hussain – Lahore De Vel.” He developed his characters from among many he met from different professions and sections of society men or women, seniors and juniors; a rich settlement of animated people — artisans, jogis, kanjars, land grabbers, maulvis, politicians, etc. His interest was to hear the stories of Lahore from them. What he listened from them, got absorbed in his psyche. The only impediment was there were lot many characters and lot many stories of diverse nature. Above all, his study of the history of Lahore helped create a canvass for him to knit a plot. He also studied available literature; one among it was a book titled “Hakikat Toh Phukran.” This was a story of two monks: Madho and Hussain, its two main characters and there was mention of Dullah Bhatti and the Emperor Akbar. He weaved these characters into a novel blending them with modern day people. His main characters were from National College of Arts; a professor Hussain who is also a painter and Mehboob-al-Haq who later becomes Madho in the novel. As Madho Lal Hussain, they go around discovering Lahore. He received both criticism and praise for this piece of fiction; criticism because of relationship between the main characters and praise for the innovative style of writing blending past with present.

Nain Sukh was given Dhahan Literary Award in Vancouver, Canada in 2015 on this novel. Novel’s full name is “Madho Lal Hussain – Lahore De Vel’. The ensuing rituals, festivities are also mentioned in this novel like kite flying Basant.

About Nain Sukh amalgamating past with present that forms the base of his award-winning novel, he presented the rationale to Iqbal Haider Butt on June 04, 2017 in a local daily “I am addicted to history, but it is of no significance if not linked with the present times. That is also to confirm that what is good and bad today also existed in the past; there is continuity. I can’t keep writing about those in the past without mentioning those around us. It is to complete the thread of events in time. In legal terms, if there is an occurrence and cause of action today, it was also present in the past. I see links between the past and the present”.

While Nain Sukh spoke about his book ‘Aai Purey Di Waa’ at the Afkar-e-Taza ThinkFest at Alhamra on January 15, 2018 the session saw some tumultuous uproar as some members of the audience protested against a short story the book had on the late poet Nasreen Anjum Bhatti. Some members of the audience had reservations about the depiction of the character of Nasreen Anjum Bhatti as depicted in her poem ‘Wey Kehra Aein’. They were told that Nain Sukh had withdrawn this story from the book due to objections of some of the critics. The story still is present in the collection. Nain Sukh responded ‘I appreciate that my stories are being discussed, saying that he had withdrawn his story ‘Wey Kehra Aein’ because of hurt feelings of some of his friends. The short story describes life of Nasreen Anjum Bhatti. In the story of Obaidullah Sindhi, Nithawaan, some of my religious friends had objections to some of its parts and the publisher connected me with them. Though I could not convince them regarding my point of view, there were no daggers drawn against me from their side’.

About comparison between poetry saying and fiction writing, Nain Sukh’s point of view is that in poetry, the language used has different shades; these come forth; but when one is writing prose say only fiction can cover a whole set of life the past, the contemporary, the language that is spoken now or before. The problem is that most of our people are writing poetry and among them there are some people whose style is very old fashioned and very few go for modern diction, the latter oblivion of traditions. The other extreme comprises hard core traditionalists. There is need to address the present age, contemporary issues, psychological issues and thoughts expressed in such a manner that the new generation can feel and understand that something is being written in their language which is relevant to the modern world. This is the kind of literature which should be written; it should also use modern techniques; all sort of explorations. At the same time our traditions need not be forgotten also. That is how good literature will be written.

On both sides of Punjab, whatever is written especially good literature in Punjabi must be made available in Shahmukhi for Pakistani side of Punjab and in Gurmukhi for Indian Punjab. Translations from Gurmukhi to Shahmukhi and vice-versa should be made. So far, not much work is being done on either side of Punjab in this direction. Similarly, all such good literature should be translated to English so that the rest of world also knows what is written in Punjabi language.

Nain Sukh is very sensitive to the problem of Punjabi families not transferring their language to their kith and kin like all the other activists. He is fully aware of lack of official backing to this cause as Punjabi is not taught in our schools. Nothing is being done at the government level, Punjabi language is left behind. The Punjab Adabi Board gets no grant and there is nothing for writers to look forward to in this matter. Then there are Punjabis who speak to their children in Urdu which is wrong or among the well-educated families, they speak in English. So the attitude of Punjabis themselves towards Punjabi language is not too good. They should try to speak to their kids in Punjabi. Listening to Punjabi music or through Punjabi songs or dancing to Punjabi tunes on weddings alone will not save Punjabi language. Punjabi language will be saved and will o progress only if Punjabis whole heartedly commit themselves to love their language. That affection should be visible, expressed through conversation with their children who are the next generation of our language. Disappointed with his two sons Daniyal and Shehryar, Nain Sukh had dedicated his book ‘Dharti Punj Daryai’ to them stating the bitter fact that they do not speak, read or write in Punjabi language.

Critic and writer Mushtaq Soofi, feels that Nain Sukh allures with his non-linear narrative and the possibility of time travels within his stories.

Critic and writer Zubair Ahmad feels that Nain Sukh’s award winning novel has the strength to be placed in parallel with any international masterpiece in this domain.

Critic and journalist Iqbal Haider Butt feels “in Nain Sukh, you can read the dialects of all key sub-linguistic groups of Punjab. His story ‘Margalla Kahani’ is written in Pothohari dialect and is backed by in-depth research that he puts into tracing the histories of the focused habitat in his fiction. He used to frequently visit Islamabad for his law practice and hear about stories of qabza of land and property. It was then that he started thinking of the ancient times, when there were jungles that had also been occupied like the present day. He became curious and started his probe into the Margalla settlements. He read on how Islamabad was founded. He talked to the native people and all this material helped him to connect the land-grabbers of the past and present”.

Mahmud Awan based in UK writes in a local daily “in his latest book Dharti Panj Daryai, Nain Sukh combines oral and written texts to understand, analyse and explain this magical land of ours i.e. Punjab. In his opening lines, he talks about the dilemma of our collective failure to collect, preserve and connects our past oral history with today’s literacy, and warns of the looming dangers, as the generation that holds our oral history is rapidly disappearing. He remembers hearing some folk lines from an old man that he met in Gondal Bar back in 1994 and explains how just recently he was able to make the connection of those with its written text while reading a book about times of Sultan Allauddin Khilji”. He considers this book as a guide to write the history of Punjab.

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