LITERARY talent alone is not enough to make a writer. To be more precise, a writer, in order to be a writer, stands in need of something more in addition to his literary talent.
In fact, a newly published volume comprising miscellaneous writings of the late Majeed Malik has prompted me to make this statement.
The volume has been brought out by the Adara-i-Yadgar-i-Ghalib under the title Khirman-i-Jan. The writings collected here include poems, short stories, short plays, ghazals, short literary articles and a few reminiscences on Pakistan.
The book should come as a surprize to many of us, reason being that in Pakistan, Majeed Malik has been known to us more as a bureaucrat than as a writer. In the early decades of Pakistan, he occupied the important post of Principal Information Officer and gained prominence in that capacity.
Here in their introductory notes, Aftab Ahmad Khan and the compiler, most probably Mushfiq Khwaja, have provided to us the good news that the bureaucrat was also a promising writer. It was during the late 1920s and the early ’30s that he wrote hectically both in prose and in verse, and rose to prominence. At least one poem from him, Magar aiy hasina-i-nazneen; Mujhay tujh sai ishq nahin nahin, was a super-hit.
He belonged to the famous group of writers known as Niazmandan-i-Lahore. The distinguished painter Abdur Rahman Chughtai, too, belonged to this group. And Majeed Malik had the opportunity to assist him in the compilation of one issue of his literary journal, Karavan. He also had the privilege of an exchange of views on poetry with Allama Iqbal, as is evident from an article included in this volume.
But Majeed Malik’s meteoric rise to prominence was short-lived. He remained engaged in literary activity for a decade or so. The bureaucrat in him did not allow the writer to achieve fulfilment. He cut himself off from literary engagement so completely that we hardly find any trace of it in his later life.
So, was I wrong in saying that literary talent alone is not enough to make one a writer. He, in addition, requires a life-long passion to write, which gives sustenance to his literary talent. Majeed Malik lacked that kind of passion. The passion in him to write did not last long. What he wrote during the brief period of his literary involvement doesn’t help him much in finding a place in the fraternity of writers.
In poetry, at least, one poem from him won recognition in a big way. But one good poem doesn’t help its author in winning the status of a poet. The poem may be classified with those stray couplets of Urdu which have won popularity without any reference to their authors.
Majeed Malik’s reminiscences about Partition are valuable. Had he cared to record them in detail, he would have found himself among the authentic chroniclers of Partition. But he missed this opportunity because he lacked the urge to record what he had witnessed. In fact, the man was perfectly satisfied with the role he appeared playing as a bureaucrat. Writing of any kind now appeared to him as something redundant.
Along with this collection of Majeed Malik’s writings, Adara-i-Yadgar-i-Ghalib has brought out another volume under the title, Dair-au-haram-ka Afsana, which offers us a very different kind of prose writing.
Here, Mushfiq Khwaja has introduced us to a writer who loved to live in anonymity. He was known as Syed Wasi Ahmad Bilgrami. He had devised for himself certain manners peculiar to him and in the same way, a certain style of writing. With manners peculiar to him, he paid a visit to the office of the Anjuman Taraqqi-i-Urdu in Karachi on the 15th of every month without fail.
Thanks to these visits, Mushfiq Khwaja developed personal relationship with him to the extent that he allowed him to have a peep into the precious manuscripts he had with him. And thanks to these personal relations, Khwaja has been able to have access to his writings, a few of which have been included in the present volume.
As said before, Syed Bilgrami had devised for himself a style of writing peculiar to him. His writings, in general, have a flavour of fiction. But each of such writings ends on the revelation of some fact which is valuable for a researcher. He, in fact, was a researcher-cum-fiction writer who saves his reader the kind of boredom he is expected to face while going through a research paper.
LITERARY talent alone is not enough to make a writer. To be more precise, a writer, in order to be a writer, stands in need of something more in addition to his literary talent.
