KARACHI, Aug 12: Unfinished Histories: fragments of conversation between a young Pakistani and an Indian girl compiled in book form — a slim volume, yet quite thought-provoking — were brought under discussion at a forum of city writers and intellectuals on Friday.
Asif Farrukhi introduced the book and its contents. The purpose behind its compilation was further elaborated when the co-author, Harris Khaleeque, read out the preface. Sadly, Ms Rohni Kohli, the partner in the talk, stayed in Islamabad and could not present herself to further brighten up the evening.
Among the panelists were such personalities as Dr Nomanul Haq, a South Asian Muslim and American citizen, famous writer and translator Wali Ram Vallabh, Ms Fahmeeda Riaz and Ghazi Salahuddin. They narrated their experiences as witnesses to the traumatic episodes of separation between couples, one Pakistani and the other Indian, and yet the strength of what Ghazi termed the “South Asian bondage,” had not weakened over the years despite the machinations of politicians.
It was commonly believed that nostalgia will not remain after a couple of generations, but it ws not so. Ghazi quoted examples of people whose parents had long since left the subcontinent, who were born in distant lands, yet the longing for the land of their origin remained rooted in their souls.
There were many things in common between Indian and Pakistani cinema, music, poetry and literature. Emotional scenes are witnessed whenever Pakistanis and Indians meet somewhere. Mostly, Indians were dying for one chance to see the home to which their parents belonged to in Sialkot or Gujranwala before partition. And despite this great emotional bond, they lose no time in drawing their daggers to spill each others’ blood with impunity. What would you call it, Ghazi questioned, Kisi aaseb ka saya, or what?
Dr Nomanul Haq opined that some countries were artificially created, and that certain issues and sub-issues were pushed as serious ideological matters, to the grave misery of the people. He said that he was pained to see a Muslim boy of eleven in Delhi pulling a cycle rickhshaw. Similarly, at a lavish dinner table in the US, while diners were talking of very small things, a newspaper picture of a burqa clad woman extending her hand for alms could not attract anyone’s attention.
Wali Ram Vallabh read out an essay based on the separation of a boy from his sister, the former running for a while with a moving train. It must have been a moving scene. Fahmeeda Riaz admired the book and said that it should be translated into Urdu.—Hasan Abidi
