RECENTLY, an old student of the Government College, Lahore (now a full-fledged university) received an opportunity to enter the premises of the reputed institution after half a century, and have a good look at it. The student is none other than Nisar Aziz, who, in her newly published autobiography, tells us that she, about 50 years back, got admission to the famous college but never entered its premises.
Nisar Aziz should be thankful to her autobiography for making such an opportunity fall in her lap. This autobiography has recently been published by Sang-i-Meel under the title Gaiy Dinon Ka Suragh. Perhaps some scholar at the Government College University read the book and took notice of Nisar Aziz’s innocently expressed wish. Soon, with reference to the autobiography, the Urdu department of the university arranged a function and invited her to participate in it as the guest of honour.
Prof Suhail Ahmad Khan, while talking about the book, pointed out the fact that in modern times autobiographies are being consistently written in Urdu, and wondered if something has gone wrong with the modern world that compels writers to become nostalgic.
Well, that is an interpretation that leaves room for some other interpretations. Perhaps, the writers in our times, for inexplicable reasons, have turned self-centred. Generally, they talk of a writer’s responsibility and obligation towards the people, his country, and humanity. But in practice they love to talk more about themselves than anything else.
The fact that female writers show more enthusiasm in writing autobiographies makes the phenomenon a tad more interesting. Are they more in love with themselves, or addicted to what Ghalib calls Khud Beeni, which, according to him, is a peculiar trait found in beauty queens?
Qurratulain Hyder has surpassed all her contemporaries in her enthusiasm for writing autobiographies. She has, in addition to her voluminous autobiography, two more volumes, which may be seen as extensions of the same. One is a collection of letters addressed to her, while the other is a collection of her photographs, ranging from one-person portraits to her appearances in the company of different people.
One distinctive feature of female writers’ autobiographies is the exuberant affection they show for their families. But the way Qurratulain idealizes her family has hardly any parallel in Urdu’s autobiographical literature.
Nisar Aziz, when she talks of her family, has something different to offer. In this respect, she presents a distinct culture. In fact, each family life is a product of a culture that it carries with it. It can also be said that a culture finds its best expression in the way a family leads its life.
Nisar Aziz was born and brought up in a family belonging to the NWFP. The old ladies of the family in her book are seen talking fluently in Persian. It is the Pushtun-Persian culture that contributes to their upbringing. They, with their own manners and customs, stand in contradistinction with the old ladies of Ismat Chughtai’s family who converse in colloquial Urdu. So if this autobiography has a flavour different from what we find in her contemporaries’ books it is because of the kind of culture it brings with it.
The father portrayed in the book stands aloof from the people around him because of his liberal attitude. He is in favour of modern education for his daughter. He gives vent to his displeasure seeing his daughter taking to veil or burqa. The burqa is his daughter’s choice, not his. This intermingling of the old and the new traditions imparts a distinct character to this Persian-Pushtun family.
The other peculiar feature of the autobiography is the intellectual involvement of the writer in it. One important or key source of her intellectualism is Spenglar’s Decline of the West. She feels lucky that while graduating she chose mathematics as the main subject. This helped her to understand what Spenglar said in a better way. She feels sorry for the writers and intellectuals of Pakistan as, according to her, none of them has cared to read Spenglar’s book. She, in this regard, will not like to grant any exception to even Allama Iqbal. She has reserved all rights of Decline of the West for herself. Nisar Aziz feels indebted to this book for her belief in the inevitability of the decline of the West. She is so sure of the West’s fall, more particularly of America, that in spite of being proud of her leftism, she will go to the extent of shouting hurrah for Osama and Mullah Umar.
Nisar Aziz’s memory seems to be in the habit of conserving events and situations down to their minutest details. Her diary lends a helping hand to her memory. As a result, we have a graphic description of all what she has seen and experienced. The autobiography may be seen as a living portrait of an age with all its detail.
RECENTLY, an old student of the Government College, Lahore (now a full-fledged university) received an opportunity to enter the premises of the reputed institution after half a century, and have a good look at it. The student is none other than Nisar Aziz, who, in her newly published autobiography, tells us that she, about 50 years back, got admission to the famous college but never entered its premises.
