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Hameed Kashmiri remembered By Hasan Abidi The first death anniversary of noted fiction writer Hameed Kashmiri was held last week at the Arts Council and was well attended by friends and admirers. The function was co-hosted by Begum Hameed Kashmiri and Salim Kashmiri, Hameed's younger brother. Jamiluddin Aali presided over the deliberations. The speakers included many of Hameed's former comrades - actor writer Kamal Ahmad Rizvi, senior actor Ibrahim Nafees, Prof Mir Hamid Ali, writer and journalist Akhlaque Ahmad and Tajdar Adil. Naqqash Kazmi of the Council's adabi committee introduced the work of Hameed Kashmiri, who had displayed tremendous energy in writing for the print media and television. He authored 1,000 teleplays, 38 long plays, nine novels, short stories and newspaper columns. Begum Hameed Kashmiri expressed the wish that her husband's literary work should be preserved before it was lost. Her suggestion was welcomed and warmly supported by the chair. Begum Hameed informed the audience that her family had been living in a two-room flat on Park Street in Saddar for the last 46 years. The building was in a dilapidated condition, and looked almost like a relic from the past. This bit of information was mostly ignored by the speakers and the audience, although at Jamiluddin Aali's initiative it was resolved that the name of Park Street be changed to Hameed Kashmiri Street. A committee was formed to meet the authorities and get their approval for the proposal. Hameed Kashmiri called himself 'Qalam ka Mazdoor' - slave to the pen. Writing was his sole source of income, but he never sold his pen to the highest bidder. He was writing practically till his last breath - the TV serial Khwab-o-Khayal. A point which Aali brought up was the property owned by the Pakistan Writers Guild in Lahore (No. 1, Montgomery Road) "unduly occupied" by the Guild's central authority, its value being more than Rs280 million. If it was sold and Sindh got its share from the proceeds, the financial problems faced by the families of writers like the late Salim Ahmad, Hameed Kashmiri and others could be solved to some extent. * * * * * Well-known ghazal poet, critic and researcher Shamim Hanfi was the chief guest at a reception held in his honour jointly by the Fiction Group and Pen for Peace last Sunday. Ahmad Hamdani was in the chair. Saba Ikram introduced the guest from Delhi. Hanfi is the author of around 60 volumes, some poetry collections, and a doctoral thesis on the poet Shad Arfi. He has held the Iqbal Chair at Kolkata University for 14 long years. Ghazal is Mr Hanfi's forte, and he was requested to recite some of his ghazals, which he did and the audience enjoyed the poetry. But what was even more enjoyable and informative was his talk on current literary issues. Urdu, he said, was worst affected in UP, because it was ousted from all schools there from the primary to the higher levels. As Hindi is the official language of the state, Urdu had no place in any office or school. But in other states such as Bihar and Bengal, Urdu had a popular base. Never mind the script, Urdu or Devnagri, the language is still the most popularly spoken in India. Almost 120 Urdu books are being published every year. Urdu academics hold comfortable posts in almost all states and there were some Urdu papers, with a circulation approximating 100,000 - not a lot given India's size and population, but at least registering a presence. Mr Hanfi said that much credit went to Arabic madaris where students learnt Urdu along with Arabic and thus were able to learn more about literature. A politico-religious party publishes pamphlets and booklets in the Urdu script in large numbers. Urdu is the official language of Haryana and occupied Kashmir. Given India's cultural diversity, Urdu too has developed many shades and variations. * * * * * Ashraf Shad, a journalist, poet and novelist, was in the city last week. Working at the UAE University in Al Ain, Shad is the author of two poetry collections and three novels - Bey-Watan, Wazir-i- Azam and Sadr-i-Mohtaram, the last one yet to reach most bookshops. He read out passages from the novel at a gathering of around a dozen writers and friends who had assembled to hear him. Sadar-i-Mohtaram, like Shad's previous novel Wazir-i-Azam, is a portrait of Pakistan's political life and its system of privileged rule. The listeners included Karachi University Vice- Chancellor Dr Pirzada Qasim and Obaidullah Beg. The novel sounds like a good piece of political satire. The occasion set one thinking again how the number of really good Urdu novels in Pakistan can be counted on one's fingers. Actually, it doesn't go beyond single digits - Abdullah Hussain's Udas Naslein was published a long time ago. Ney Chiraghey, Ney Gulay from Nisar Aziz Butt, Aangun from the late Khadija Mastoor, Khuda ki Basti and Jangloos by Shaukat Siddiqui, Basti and Tazkera by Intezar Hussain, Raja Gidh from Bano Qudsia and, of course, the two most-admired novels from Mohammad Khalid Akhtar, Chakiwara mein Wesal and Yatra, the former described as the finest Urdu novel by none other than Faiz Ahmad Faiz. There may be one or two others, but the list is depressingly short. Please Visit our Sponsor (Ads open in separate window)
