Daily Times

Karamat Mughal is in different fields such as fiction, criticism and teaching. He is also an editor, translator, transcribe, column writer, feature writer etc. It is because in Punjabi there is need of writing in every field. He is an activist struggling for introducing Punjabi at primary education level.

In FC College, Lahore Karamat Mughal set up Majlis Warris Shah in collaboration with his colleagues Kamran Aajiz, Shahid Bhatti and Iqtidar Karamat Cheema. The purpose was to make students get attached with their mother tongue. Karamat is a Lahori who studied at Model High School, Model Town, Lahore. After intermediate and graduation from F. C. College, he did Masters in Urdu Literature, Masters in Punjabi Literature and PhD from Punjab University.

In FC College, Majlis Warris Shah arranged small poetry and criticism sessions. This group was lucky to have patronage of great teachers like Jamil Ahmad Paul and Dr Naheed Shahid. Karamat was the last student of Dr Naheed Shahid up to PhD level in Punjab University. He stated in one of his interviews that he kept his attachment with Nahid Shahid intact till his last breath. In 2009 his first posting was in Islamia College Railway Road Lahore, so he was lucky to get a job in the field of his interest.

In F. C. College he used to publish a small literary magazine in Punjabi by getting small donations from students and teachers. Many poetry pieces used to be received. Karamat felt that other formats of Punjabi literature need to be included, so he took initiative and his first small short story titled ‘O Meri Ki Lagdi’ was published. The short story’s theme was his love for his mother tongue, Punjabi.

Karamat’s first book ‘Titli’ (butterfly) was published in 2003 by Punjabi Markaz which comprised his 17 short stories. The same book was published in East Punjab (Charhada Punjab). This was a beginning to his further works for the promotion of Punjabi language. The stories are titled ‘O Meri Ki Lagdi’, ‘Takhleeqkaar’, ‘Chat Ooper’, ‘Wand’, ‘Jeevan Jadu’, ‘Sapni’, ‘Bhuka’, ‘Peela Gulab’, ‘Ikarut’, ‘Nice to meet you’, ‘Mango Juice Corner’, ‘Titli’, ‘Ik Kuri’, ‘Dooji Dhairi’, ‘Janasheen’, ‘Kandh’ and ‘Hoor’. The first story is about love for his mother tongue, Punjabi. The initial hesitation to declare his love, what will people say, how to remove age-old apprehensions and finally realization that she was his identity and pride, sums up this story. The next story ‘Takhleeqkaar’ revolves around a poet trying to knit a poem but fails to pen it down. His friend Seemi is more worried that it may be published in the college magazine, not realizing that writing a poem itself is different from getting it penned by somebody else. After the hero hands it down to his girlfriend Seemi, she gets his poem published under her name. The poet is dismayed.

In FC College, Majlis Warris Shah arranged small poetry and criticism sessions. This group was lucky to have patronage of great teachers like Jamil Ahmad Paul and Dr Naheed Shahid. Karamat was the last student of Dr Naheed Shahid up to PhD level in Punjab University

The best part of Karamat’s stories is their brevity, crisp messages and easy language devoid of cliché diction. The story ‘Chat Ooper’ is the despondence of a sick young man, who runs away from taking medicine in time as though he did not desire to get better, peeping to a wide-eyed girl on next roof and his mother calling him downstairs on the pretext that witches come in the evenings! The story titled ‘Wand’ is about a half-crack young man who keeps on saying ‘Wand Deyo’ outside the central character’s window till he is served with rice dish by the residents in the house but he runs away by saying that his share may also be distributed. The story gives a universal message of distributing one’s wealth.

The story ‘Jeevan Jadu’ is a story of an educated woman Roma who is into teaching and gets involved with a fellow teacher till he finds out that she earlier had married a man Shamoon who used to take alcohol. So did her to appease her husband. On her birthday she invites the fellow lecturer to her house and he finds out that she was drunk. Without entering into any physical relation he leaves her house, only to find out the following day that she had died due to brain hemorrhage. Instead of going for funeral he leaves for his house! The other stories are also interesting mostly on themes of contemporary life. Karamat believes in giving a touch of modern contemporary life in his stories instead of emphasizing on the rural backdrop which his previous generation writers like Ahmad Nadeem Qasmi or Ghulam us Saqlain Naqvi did.

Short stories collection, ‘Wailey Kuwaily’ comprising thirteen short stories was published in January 2014. The readers were compelled to come out of reading old diction style to the modern language as spoken in cities. The topics too are diverse; the religious intolerance has been highlighted in the story ‘Moejeza’. It is the fifth story in the collection ‘Tu, Kahani Tei Main’ which comprises 32 short stories by Karamat Mughal. Ali Anwar Ahmad in his introduction says that many crows are familiar with a particular household, so when one visits that house; one must throw seeds at them. Similarly, story choses the writer and it is not the other way round. When one reads Karamat’s stories, one has a gut feeling that the story chose him to write it. In the first story with the same titled as that of the book, Karamat opens up by exposing what lay inside him. He is put to test by Abida, his cousin in the village when they were kids, may be nine years old, who brings almonds to him, asks him to pick up one and eat it.

When he did that she asked if it was sweet. He said it was sweet. She declared that he was her friend. The ritual was repeated for Abida now. Her almond turned out to be sweet also. So she finally declared that they were friends now. Many years later when he looks at her with two kids, he misses her warm fist with almonds. In this story Karamat recalls memories of his youth in the village when one rupee was enough to eat Naan-Channa meal.

The story gives life in school, marriage, losing a child and remembering a mad woman wandering in the streets with a dead child. Karamat’s stories have God hidden in them in such a way that nobody can see it but He is there.

The other short stories are titled ‘Bhaar’, ‘Hawai Shae’, ‘Boti’, ‘Bhuka’, ‘Nahin’, ‘Wand’, ‘Ibadat’, ‘Ik Kahani Hor’, ‘Gunjallan’, ‘Alaap’, ‘Ik Sur’, ‘Akhri Aurat’, ‘Agg’, ‘Nakhaira’, ‘Sudh Budh’, ‘Lalkaar’, ‘Zehreela’, ‘Kalotri’, ‘Barf’, ‘Barae Farokht’, ‘Reejh’, ‘Kalakaar’, ‘Wiss’, ‘Sarapa’, ‘Do Button’, ‘Bhait’, ‘One Way’, ‘Tauba’, ‘Kadon Kiwain Tei Kithe’ and ‘Azaan’. The themes are unique and deal with our social structure. If ‘Barf’ deals with the frustration of a young teacher Madam Sophia, about 30 that she needs ice to be delivered by her students at her house whether for use in drinks or for rubbing on her ankles or ‘Azan’ that deals with keeping mum over different call prayers for different sects.

Puthe Turde Log is Ravel Publication of Karamat Mughal comprising ten short stories.

In parallel Karamat entered into the art of translation from 2003 to 2005. His first work was translation of Cyprian Ekwensi’s book in which the author describes the lonely woman in a dreadful relationship in Lagos. The author has explored objection and oppression to transmit claustrophobia and frustration leading to loneliness of a woman Lillian. She enters into a dreadful relationship described by the author through symbolism and internal and external conflicts in Onitshan Society. In Onitsha town in Nigeria there were slogans on the walls, meaning thereby that there was no privacy. Karamat’s selection of stories of this African town is something out of the way titled ‘Lagos Taun Ajnabi’. As far as section of a black writer is concerned, Karamat told me that such writers tend to portray stories of oppressed people.

Karamat Mughal was intrigued by the story of French novel ‘The Man in the Iron Mask’ and translated it into easy Punjabi reading for youth titled ‘Lohe Dei Makhote Waala Jee’ (2017). In 1998 this French novel was film directed, produced, and written by Randall Wallace, and starring Leonardo DiCaprio in a dual role as the title character. The picture used characters from Alexander Dumas’s D’Artagnan Romances and is very loosely adapted from some plot elements of his 1847-1850 novels The Vicomte de Bragelonne.

According to Wikipedia, the film centers on the aging four musketeers, Athos, Porthos, Aramis, and D’Artagnan, during the reign of King Louis XIV and attempts to explain the mystery of the Man in the Iron Mask, using a plot more closely related to the flamboyant 1929 version starring Douglas Fairbanks, The Iron Mask, and the 1939 version directed by James Whale, than to the original Dumas book. The three musketeers enter a gloomy island prison and smuggle out a prisoner locked in an iron mask, taking him to the countryside, where Aramis introduces him as Philippe, Louis’s identical twin brother. On the night Louis and Philippe were born, King Louis XIII ordered Aramis to take Philippe away to live in the countryside, with no knowledge of his true identity, in hope of avoiding dynastic warfare between them. Their mother Queen Anne was told that Philippe died at birth, but once her husband revealed Philippe’s existence to her and Louis on his death bed; she wished to restore Philippe’s birthright. Louis, now king and too superstitious to have his brother killed, had Aramis imprison Philippe in the iron mask to keep his identity secret. Aramis’ plan is to redeem himself and save France by replacing Louis with Philippe. The musketeers begin training Philippe to replace Louis, while Athos develops fatherly feelings for him.

Karamat’s attempt makes his translation a thriller good enough to capture young audience plus make Punjabi language flourish.

Helen Keller by Gare Thompson 2017

Novel “A Certain Smile” by Francis Sagaan has been published in fortnightly Ravel, Lahore.

David Crystals’ Book ‘THE LANGUAGE REVOLUTION’.

Translated many short stories, poems & Articles of various writers in Punjabi and in English.

Karamat’s notable work is writing Punjabi Grammar for students; basic rules in 2005. He is also the co-author of Punjabi Qaaiday for Cass one to five. These are very important contributions towards introducing Punjabi language up to primary level, once the Punjab’s legislatures take actions in its favour. The book for class one starts with Hamd, Naat, essays ‘Saade Pyare Nabi, Changi Aadat Apnao, Mano Billi, Sehet, Bhai Chara, Rukh Dei Fayade, Laddu Tei Daddu, Warris Shah, Bewaqoof Biwi etc. Similarly book for class three has interesting contents with Exercises for the students after each poem, story or essay. This is a very laudable work carried out by Karamat Mughal.

After his visit to India, Karamat wrote a travelogue ‘Muhabbat Ka Safarnama’ which was published in 2014.

Karamat Mughal started publishing his monthly literary Journal ‘Ravel’ in July 2007. He preferred inclusion of new writers in this journal. He allowed poetry, short stories or even novels. His desire was to have new generation on board.

Karamat is very vocal about two types of students he came across in his teaching career, in remote area like Jindiala Sher Khan, District Sheikhupura the students were keen students who would travel miles on bicycles or on motor bikes in extreme weathers to come to class in time. On the other hand a student in developed city like Lahore needed to look at his social status on his mobile every fifteen minutes, so Karamat adopted the technique of micro-study such that it became a part of student’s interest. As far as developing our generation’s interest in one’s mother tongue is concerned, Karamat’s experience says that our new generation is more interested to know and earn about it that its previous generation. So, a teacher needs to create their interest through social media, Youtube or a book.

An important book on research and criticism by Karamat Mughal is ‘Kahani Da Safar’ published in 2015. This research covers many writers from Punjab and declares Punjab as home for a story. Its history is thousands of years old, even older to the Western writers. For centuries Punjabi was separated from the mainstream; Farsi took over followed by English till the British ruled in the subcontinent. Karamat Mughal throws light on the story writers Afzal Tauseef, Jamil Paul. Hameed Raazi, Zubair Ahmad, Nain Sukh, Khalid Farhad Dhariwal, Nadir Ali, Seed Bhutta and many others who emerges during last fifteen years of twentieth century.

Another research work appeared in the book ‘Jhalkary’ of stories of Ajoka stories by Ali Anwar Ahmad, stories from Pothohaar Ajoka, Ahmad Shahbaz Khawer and stories of ‘Wangan Waalian’, Coverage is given to the poetry of Ajoki Leher by Nasreen Anjum Bhatti, Anjum Qureshi, Samina Isma, Nur ul Ain Saadia and Tasneem Tassaduq, New trends in Ghazal Saying and Poems are also covered in this exhaustive research work.

The literature of three languages of Pakistani literature; Barahwi, Baluchi and Sindhi has been covered in the book ‘Pakistani Adab Kei Teen Rukh”. This unique book covers the ancient literary work in these languages as well apart from the modern day works.

Karamat Mughal has been a part of many rallies and hunger strikes along with his colleagues in support of Punjabi language rights and the discriminatory attitude meted out to the Punjabi language by the establishment. On February 22, 2010, the hunger strike was held in connection with the International Mother Language Day in front of the Punjab Assembly. The protest was because of the constitutional, moral, legal, and democratic rights of the Punjabi people were being appropriated by the establishment and the integrity of ten Crore people of Punjab was in grave danger. One of the demands was to end discrimination against the Punjabi language and adopt Punjabi language as the official medium of instruction in the province. The politicians, religio-political parties, and rulers, both dictators and elected ones, played no part to promote the Punjabi language. Needless to say that Punjabi is language of the Sufi saints like Baba Farid, Sultan Bahu, Khwaja Farid, Shah Hussain, Bulleh Shah, Waris Shah and Mian Muhammad Bakhsh who spread the word of God in this beautiful language through their poetry. He asked the people to make good use of the treasure trove of the Punjabi culture and language to enrich their souls. The speakers on such Rallies ask the people of the Punjab to rise to the occasion and speak and write Punjabi language with a renewed vigour and pride. It was demanded that all the announcements at airlines including the Pakistan International Airlines coming to the Punjab, bus stands, railway stations and other public places should be made in the Punjabi language. According to a news report on August 08, 2020 it is pity that SHO who spoke in Punjabi in the court had been ordered by the honourable judge to DPO to take legal action against the SHO. This is one of the many cases reported where we Punjabis are belittling our language; our identity!

It is a pity that despite so many protests for past four decades, Punjabi Establishment is giving deaf ears to these just demands.

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