April 20, 2008

Reviewed by Anwer Abro

Mazhar Jamil, a noted Urdu writer, has documented the life of Sobho Gianchandani with great respect and assiduousness. He has presented the facts without any exaggeration and portrayed a real picture of the person. Sobho may be counted among the senior most members of the independence movement in South Asia.

His son, the late Dr Kanyo Gianchandani, had recorded him in English in more than ten audiocassettes, but this project was halted due to the untimely death of Dr Kanyo. One can gauge the courage and commitment of this old Bolshevik by the fact that on the very day of his son’s death he raised the slogan, ‘Inquilab Zindabad’ (Long live the revolution). Even after the collapse of the Soviet Union he never changed his ideology.

Sobho was born on May 3, 1920 in the village of Bindi, near Mohenjodaro. He did his intermediate from D.J. Science College in Karachi. Then travelled to obtain his BA at Shantiniketan, a highly acclaimed educational institution established by the noble laureate Rabinderanath Tagore at Bolpur, near Calcutta (now Kolkata).

He started to write in 1936 at the age of 16 years. His first writings were essays on the life and poetry of Tagore and Swami Ram Teerath, which were published in the school magazine of N.J.V. School, Karachi. His first short story was titled ‘Adhai Rupaya’. He also wrote a play titled Napoleon and Nest Helena. Later he wrote a number of articles and stories which were published in various publications of that time. He has remained associated with journalism as an editor of a Sindhi newspaper Naeen Sindh.

In 1990, a new phase of his life started with the column writing from a newly launched Sindhi newspaper Awami Awaz. Sobho’s weekly column entitled Taareekh Gaalhaaye Thee (History speaks) opened the minds of Sindhi readers and showed them a new world through his own experiences. So far two collections of his columns Taareekh Ja Visaryal Warak (Forgotten pages of history) and Wadi Wuth Huaam (They were the great asset) have been published. A book of stories Hik Inqlabia Jo Moat (Death of a revolutionary) was published in the early 1990s.

The author has named eminent figures with whom Sobho Sahib met, and worked together with some of them. They included Mahatma Gandhi, Jawaharlal Lal Nehru, Maulana Abul Kalam Azad, Rabinderanath Tagore, Hyder Bakhsh Jatoi, Faiz Ahmed Faiz, Mir Ghous Bakhsh Bizenjo, I. K. Gujral, Hushu Kewalrami, Goband Malhi, Goband Punjabi, Krishan Khatwani, A. R. Sehgal, E. K. Hangal, Yousuf Mazhar Ali Khan, Somendernath Thaker, Pana Lal Gupta, Subhash Chander Bose and G. M. Syed. Indeed, the author has vigorously tried to make the book a comprehensive biography and he has succeeded to some extent.

No doubt there were limitations for the author to ignore some aspects of his life, because a government-controlled body was publishing the book. Despite this the author has given such details which were not possible to mention in the past. The Academy of Letters must therefore be commended for publishing the book. The book will prove to be entertaining and useful for readers and writers of all four provinces.