ONCE again Kishwar Naheed has published a book in which she talks to readers in prose. Primarily she is a poet but I feel that she now relishes writing in prose more. There is a reason for it: poetry in general suits those writers who think and feel subjectively; it compels its practitioners to behave in this way. But perhaps while translating some prose works from English into Urdu she realised that prose provides her with a wider space for expression.

After all, she does not belong to that category of writers who are reclusive and like to be left alone with their books, subjective feelings and thoughts. Instead, she belongs to the category of writers who stand in need of the ‘other’ for bringing out what they have deep within themselves.

Kishwar is indeed very social, she is always in search of pleasant company. She loves to have friends and acquaintances around her, and they should be many in number. That is what we observe in her ever-expanding circle of friends, and her newly published book, Muthi Bhar Yadain, speaks eloquently about this.

In fact, Kishwar’s three prose works seem to be a con­ti­nua­tion: Buri Aurat Ki Katha, Shanasaiyan Ruswaiyan and Muthi Bhar Yadain. The first is her autobiography, the next a book in which she has recorded her impressions about her friends and contemporaries — what she recalls about them are not always pleasant memories — and the third is the present volume of Muthi Bhar Yadain. All of them have been published by Sang-e-Meel.

It is in Muthi Bhar Yadain that she appears at her best; she now writes with ease and facility. There is no conscious attempt to evolve a certain style; rather she writes spontaneously. We are introduced to 36 people, and she talks about them in such a way that they come alive for us. All are from different strata of society: they are writers, musicians, painters, actors, actresses, film-makers, dancers, social workers and political activists.

This speaks of her rich experience of people of all hues and colours. Kishwar meets all kinds with equal enthusiasm and in no time comes to know them very well.

In Shanas­a­iyan Rus­­w­a­i­yan, while talking about her friends and cont­­­em­poraries, she betrays her unhappiness with some of them, but she seems to have reconciled with them now. We can barely detect a tone of rancour, and she seems to have only respect for her friends and contemporaries; it seems that with the passage of time she has learnt to forgive and forget.

As she has grown older, she seems to have learned much. She is now happy to see fine people around her — her very own galaxy of charming souls. However, those glamourous souls known as film stars dominate the scene. The book starts with her talking about Dilip Kumar. And then, throughout the book, Kishwar refers to some hero or heroine whom she talks about with exuberance. It seems that at this stage of her life, she is under the spell of the film world.

But I don’t think that this is the end of the story: so many of us are in a queue, waiting for their number to be counted, and for the next volume to come out soon.