KARACHI: More than half a dozen sessions on a variety of subjects marked the second day of the 9th International Urdu Conference on Friday at the Arts Council.

Eminent scholar Dr Nomanul Haq delivered a lecture on ‘Che Mastana Mi Ravad –– Ghalib Se Iqbal’ in the first post-lunch segment. He said the title of the lecture was a phrase taken from an Iqbal poem, a translation of one of Goethe’s poems. He said there were many common elements in Ghalib and Iqbal’s poetry. He said both poets were the two qutbain (poles) from which all streams of poetry flowed. He said they used all symbols and metaphors that had been used in poetry and felt them on an entirely different level.

Quoting critic Shamsur Rehman Farooqui, he said Ghalib had imparted a new meaning to the word ‘aasmaan’ (firmament).

The situation was similar with Iqbal who employed the word in his unique way. He said Ghalib and Iqbal did not avoid modernity or tradition; in fact tradition was more pronounced in their art.

Dr Haq said Ghalib turned every day and quotidian into universal realities while Iqbal’s creative trajectory was from the concrete to the abstract. He said the latter’s masterpiece Masjid-i-Qurtuba was an example of it.

Silsila-i-roz-o-shab, naqsh gar-i-haadisaat

Silsila-i-roz-o-shab, asl-i-hayaat-o-mamaat

[This string of night and day, the maker of all events

The string of night and day, truth of life and death]

Dr Haq said Ghalib and Iqbal had a penchant for seldom-used meters. As an example he quoted a few couplets, one of which was:

Aa ke meri jaan ko qaraar nahin hai

Taqat-i-be daad-i-intizaar nahin hai

[Come, I’ve been feeling restless

Hapless, can’t face the tyranny of time]

Dr Haq lamented that in our urge to look for a message in Iqbal we have separated him from his poetry. He said there was multiplicity of meaning in both Ghalib and Iqbal’s poems.

The next session was on ‘social media and national integrity’ moderated by Dr Ayoub Sheikh. Ghazi Salahuddin said as a young journalist he had learnt that ‘journalism was literature written in haste’. He said the problem with social media was that people were not ‘trained’. He said the advent of independent television had instilled hope in us but things happened otherwise. He said apart from other people, social media was being used by those who advocated militancy.

Mazhar Abbas said social media had introduced ‘unedited media’ to us. He said the problem arose when mainstream media picked things from social media.

Raza Ali Abidi said the world was opening up and new relationships were being made. He said it was because of social media that we got to know and see where the house was where Sir Syed was born.

The session was followed by a discussion on Pakistani languages and national cohesion.

Perhaps the highlight of the day was a conversation with renowned fiction writer Mirza Athar Baig moderated by Dr Asif Farrukhi.

Mr Baig said his critical points of view could be found in his novels because in his works fiction (itself) was a subject. He said while writing fiction, he followed his impulse. He said contrary to the idea that his famous novel Ghulam Bagh wasn’t read as much as one would have liked, by local standards, it did garner a fair amount of readership. He said since he had read western literature, he had always considered his works in a global framework. Talking about using multiple voices, he gave examples of Marlon James and Roberto Bolano whose novels he had recently gone through.

Mr Baig said these days he was working on five works of fiction simultaneous, two of which could be called novels. Referring to the phrase ‘seeds of fiction’, he said: “A novel should be something novel.” He said no novel had a universal readership. “Every writer has a particular set of readers”. On the question of some readers finding it hard to grasp his stories, he said the novel was the challenge of language’s ultimate dimensions. Expanding on it, he said the novel explored ultimate possibilities of language. Alluding to his fondness for philosophy, he said for him “novel writing is doing philosophy”.

After Mr Baig’s interview, four books were launched. They were Jaun Elia’s Ramooz; Zameenein Aur Zamaney by Mubin Mirza, Habs by Hasan Manzar and Khaak Ki Mahak by Nasir Abbas Nayyar.

Speaking on Nayyar’s book Ziaul Hasan narrated two of his stories ‘Kaffarah’ and ‘Waldiat Ka Khana’ from the book. He said in the former the writer tried to find the 99 per cent of a character (of us) behind one per cent of his revealed self. He said in his stories the author seemed to discover our connection with the past, especially rural life.

Then the theatre group Dastango presented pieces from Mushtaq Ahmed Yousufi’s writings ‘Haveli’.

Earlier, the day began with a session ‘Hamd-o-naat aur hamari adabi riwayet’, followed by a segment on ‘Zaban-o-adab ka farogh aur nisaab-i-taaleem’.

Published in Dawn, December 3rd, 2016