September 29, 2002

“If I did not write poetry then I would not have done anything. Writing poetry is my vocation and not a hobby or habit.. Perhaps from the age of ten or twelve I started to write bits and pieces, a major part of which was poetry. I did not give much thought to education or making money which I sometimes regret But poetry took hold of me gradually, so now the fact that I am a poet gives me great pleasure.”

This is Zeeshan Sahil, the shy, almost ethereal poet whose collection of poems on Karachi, entitled Karachi aur doosri nazme, is a poignant documentation of the city torn apart by murder, political revenge and civil carnage in the nineties. Published in 1995 these poems confirmed Sahil as a first rate poet.

Sahil writes in his foreword in the Annual of Urdu Studies which published translations of the Karachi poems, “These poems, written for Karachi, are such common property...[of] the children, whose small world sustain both Karachi and the small world outside...and [of] all the brave and scared people of Karachi, whose determination to live on there is the greatest reason these poems were written.”

Children who live/Both inside Karachi and out/Are always asked:/Where was the Quaid-i-Azam born?/In Karachi, the children say./And where is his tomb?/In Karachi, they say again./But one child/Does not respond to this question so frequently asked/And instead, he says/The Quaid-i-Azam’s tomb is found/In a matchbox./To prove his point/He takes from his school bag/Some empty matchboxes/And shows them to his teacher.

Merewether Tower, Frere Hall,/Bunder Road, Empress Market,/And after all the rest/The Quaid-i-Azam’a tomb/—the teacher sees for herself —/it’s all there/in the matchbox

[Translated by G.A. Chausee]

Sahil had already published three earlier collections whose titles are provided in the box. Two new collections, E-mail and Shabnama are in the process of being published.

You obviously read a lot. How did your love for literature come by?

“The undying love that I have for books and literature was engendered in me by my father who was incharge of a small government library in Hyderabad, Sindh. My parents taught me how to love human beings without discrimination, which is the foundation of my poetry.”

How did you start writing the kind of poetry you do?

“From the very beginning my family and friends encouraged me. It was my good fortune that I met the poet Sarwat Hussein just when I had started to write poems. He advised me to abandon the Mustafa Zaidi stereotype and opened the door of the city of Karachi in such a manner that I met the inhabitants of this city and continue to meet them.

“I fell in love with this city filled with life and people, it gave me a place in its heart. Fehmida Riaz, Asad Muhammad Khan, Muhammad Khalid Akhtar, Afzal Syed, Ajmal Kamal, Zeenat Hisam and Rafiq Naqsh give me and my poetry strength and love. My brothers and sisters and my friends have spoiled me with their love and affection and perhaps this is what continues to give meaning to my poetry.

“I love to go places and dream. The outside world and people provoke me into writing poems. I do not love anything more than the sky.”

Sahil’s poems are suffused with charm and wit. There is an innocent, almost childlike, cadence to it.

So what is the basis of your poetry?

“Poetry is a personal endeavour. When a poem germinates in the poet’s heart, this endeavour commences. And when the poem creates itself, letter by letter, word by word, onto paper, other people become a part of the process, they become participants in the poetry. But despite this participation, the poet still considers the poetry his alone.”

How does happiness/Begin?

By always watching/Flowing water./By watching drifting clouds/And trying to touch them.

We can’t touch clouds./But watching them/We can begin/Happiness

[Translated by G.A. Chausee]

Has your physical disability been an impediment in your life?

“I have spent a large part of my life in Hyderabad. I loved the mohalla I lived in. I had many friends there and all of them treated me as though I did not have the physical deformity I have. I went to a normal school. The only thing I regret is not being strong enough to pursue further studies. I was stronger in my youth. When my father died in 1981, I was strong but when my mother passed away ten years later I was devastated and felt physically weak. Now I live with my sister in Karachi. I feel despondent at times but my poetry, my friends and family sustain me.”

Your lines are so simple. Do you work at it or does it come naturally?

“Do you know that music is deeply embedded in me. So the metre and lyricism is inborn. I work on the drafts at least twice. But sometimes the first will do as well. I must tell you of who my favourite singers are. I used to love the group called Police. Now I listen to their singer Sting. I love Cheryl Crow, Phil Collins, Hemant Kumar and S.D. Burman. At one time I listened to a lot of Demis Roussos. I like the new concept of music videos combining songs with action. Madonna’s Bedlam and Sting’s Gabriel’s Message. Everything that moves fascinates me. But now I read more than I listen to music. But there was a time when I was obsessed with it.”

Who do you read?

“I like the poetry of Mahmud Darvesh, Pablo Neruda, and the Polish poet Tadeusz Rozewicz. But I read prose with greater interest than poetry. I am a big admirer of Italo Calvino, Borges, Heinrich Boll and Gabriel Marquez but my favourite book is a somewhat less known work by Pico Iyer called Falling off the map.” I love Muhammad Khalid Akhtar’s story “Khoya hua ufaq,” and Asad Muhammad Khan’s “Basode ki Marium”.

Sahil considers himself a natural poet. So when his work is said to be within the genre of prose poetry it does not bother him. He emphasizes that he does not write ghazals and is, however, planning to write more prose including a novel. “I love trees, the air, travelling and dreaming. I love flowers, colours and words but water and skies are my favourites. I am afraid of loneliness and stagnation.”

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