While paying tributes to the great learned figures of the past, some people tend to assume that the days of such scholars are past and the modern age is not conducive to such erudite learning.

However, a different picture emerges from the vivid personal sketches of twelve literary figures whom Mazhar Sherani has focused on in Kahan Se Laoon Unhain. This book could be read as a moving portrait gallery of the scholars and writers he has come across in his life and of his own intellectual pursuits. Learned references and intellectual digressions are inevitable in such a book but the author is successful in keeping the essays highly readable. Even more impressive are the humanistic values he finds in his subjects and it is in this spirit that he takes up the scholars and writers as his subject.

It is perhaps inevitable that the author of such a book will weave some details of his own while drawing out his reminiscences and recollections. Sherani manages to do this without being obtrusive. The son of poet Akhtar Sherani and grandson of Mahmood Sherani, who wrote Punjab Main Urdu, and other scholarly works, Mazhar Sherani’s background serves him well and he is able to relate to many of the scholars on personal and familial terms.

A personal touch is found in the opening piece, the author’s moving recollection of his father. Known in the annals of Urdu poetry for his romantic verses, the author here brings out the self-destructive streak in Akhtar Sherani and his strained relations with his father who did not approve of his bohemian lifestyle.

Although writing about his father and grandfather and touching on several aspects which must have been painful to him, the author avoids being mawkish or sentimental. He writes with affection and personal warmth but is neither judgmental nor apologetic.

The writers Sherani has selected as his subjects are all well-known in their own right. These include Wazirul Hassan Abidi, Dr Ghulam Mustafa Khan, Hameed Ahmed Khan, Ziauddin Desai, Ahmed Nadeem Qasimi, Rasheed Hassan Khan, Dr Waheed Qureshi, Mushfiq Khwaja and others. He writes about his personal associations with each person but highlights their works and intellectual achievements as well. He observes them at close quarters, searching for references and books, trying to locate manuscripts, undertaking new projects and participating in seminars.

The reader is able to share the author’s excitement and closeness to his outstanding subjects. There are instances when he touches upon the loneliness and isolation of some of his subjects and the price they had to pay. In spite of this, the prevailing mood of the book is not elegiac; instead Sherani shows them to be involved in what can be described as a “common pursuit” of learning and humanities.

The portraits of Wazirul Hssan Abidi and Rasheed Hassan Khan are written with affection and humour but one cannot help realising the loneliness they must have faced in dealing with difficult situations. This is also evident in the informative piece on Ziauddin Desai whose death coincided with violent ethnic riots in his home state of Gujrat in India, over-shadowing the historical traditions he had made the subject of his study. Another notable piece is on Hakim Nayyer Wasti, which brings out the rich and now almost lost tradition of hikmat.

A noteworthy feature of the book is the polished style in which these essays are written. Befitting the subjects he has selected, Sherani writes in a formal, almost classical manner. It is for the style as well as the subject that this book is worth reading.

The author’s approach is that of reconciliation; he advocates a return to the great liberal traditions of scholarship as a way out of the quagmire our society has landed itself in.

Kahan Se Laoon Unhain (sketches) By Mazhar Mahmood Sherani Ilqa Publications, Lahore 285pp. Rs590