THEY were six in number, making a galaxy of brothers hailing from Batala. Two among them chose to incorporate a reference of their birthplace in their names, and so are known as Ashiq Husain Batalvi and Aijaz Husain Batalvi. But a third one from among them was content only to share with them their passion for writing. He did not like to be bracketed with them as a Batalvi. He introduced himself as Agha Babur and earned a name for himself as a short-story writer and a playwright. But now we have his autobiography published posthumously by Sang-i-Meel under the title Khad-o-Khal, which tells us that he was no less a Batalvi than his brothers. The autobiography is as much a tribute to Batala as it is a family saga.
For writing an autobiography, most appropriate is perhaps the time when one has grown quite old and is living far away from the social environments he had grown in. It is the time when one is overtaken by a sense of loneliness and loss. And it is in such a situation that one’s heart and mind is swarmed with memories of the good old days.
Agha Babur, in his last phase of life, was living in America, far away from his homeland and the cities where he had grown and flourished as a writer. He was leading the life of a widower which, in addition to the factors mentioned above, was bound to bring in its wake a sense of loneliness. Agha Babur had the writer’s wisdom to avail this situation for a journey to his past and to recall all that gave meaning to his life. All such moments come alive to him. He records them as reliving them.
The book opens with the depiction of some romantic moments, leaving us wondering whether it is an autobiography or a romantic novel. Only after some suspense do we come to know that Agha Babur is depicting his own love affair, and that the beloved is no other but his future wife, Sikandera. What a candid depiction of his own love affair culminating in marriage! He is equally candid both in expressing his feelings of love and hatred. So when he talks about Qudratullah Shahab, he cares not to hide his dislike for him. He is all praise for Pitras Bukhari and finds nothing praiseworthy in Shahab.
But Agha Babur loves more to talk of his own family than of others. The others who figure in his account are either the friends of his father or the circle of friends his elder brother, Dr Ashiq Husain Batalvi. This account hardly tells us if he had any circle of his own friends. In fact, he is perfectly happy moving in the circle of his own family and hardly needs a friend outside this circle. And he loves to talk about them. That is what prompted me to call this autobiography a family saga.
In fact, our female writers are more fond of writing family sagas. And they are very fond of idealizing every member of their family. Quratulain Haider’s Kar-ai-Jehan Daraz Hai may be cited as an example of an idealistic portrayal of her family. Of course, Ismet’s treatment in respect of her family is a bit different.
Agha Babur’s family saga is different at least in one respect from those written by female writers. They pay equal attention to male and female members. Agha Babur’s account of the family smacks of male chauvinism. They were six brothers and three sisters. But none of the sisters finds a respectable place in this account. As portrayed, here it is a male-dominated family, the most dominant being the figure of the father. The mother remains in the background.
However, it is a family with something unusual. Here we see an odd mixture of police officers and writers. Daood Rahbar, in his introduction to the book, has tried to show that police service and poetry are not always incompatible. The history of Urdu literature offers examples of reconciliation between the two. One such example, according to him, is of Zaheer Dehlvi, who was associated with Bahadur Shah’s court and performed this kind of duty. At the same time, he was a poet actively engaged in writing verse.
Ghulam Akbar Khan, the father of the six sons, was in the footsteps of such personalities. He was the city kotwal, doing his job efficiently. At the same time, he had a taste for poetry and a deep interest in books. Agha Babur has cared to describe him in detail. Here we have from him a fine portrait of a father, who, though dominating, is kind to his sons and has left for them a mixed legacy of police service and literary involvement. He is the dominant figure in a family, which, as described here, speaks of a rich family culture.
The other family member who has, in particular, attracted his attention is Dr Ashiq Husain Batalvi. Here, we have from him some glimpses of the personal life of the scholar hitherto not known to us.
THEY were six in number, making a galaxy of brothers hailing from Batala. Two among them chose to incorporate a reference of their birthplace in their names, and so are known as Ashiq Husain Batalvi and Aijaz Husain Batalvi. But a third one from among them was content only to share with them their passion for writing. He did not like to be bracketed with them as a Batalvi. He introduced himself as Agha Babur and earned a name for himself as a short-story writer and a playwright. But now we have his autobiography published posthumously by Sang-i-Meel under the title Khad-o-Khal, which tells us that he was no less a Batalvi than his brothers. The autobiography is as much a tribute to Batala as it is a family saga.
