There are many Arabic words in the languages we speak in Pakistan and northern India, which in some cases reached us directly and, in most cases, via Persian. Many may have a slightly different pronunciation in our languages because of being twice removed from the original, and because of the tones, emphases, phonemes and conventions specific to our branch of Indo-European languages. Barkat is a word from Arabic which, when used, means a blessing in this worldly life, but assumes a Divine intervention to make some boon possible for the person who is being blessed. A simple English translation of the word barkat would be either blessing or boon.

There’s a reason I’ve been thinking about this word specifically, but I will come back to it.

Many of us enjoy deliberating and discussing words and their etymology. Others may not be interested in language and literature as such, but take interest, read and/or write on different subjects such as philosophy or sociology, physics or astronomy.

Mark Twain said that a person who does not read has no advantage over a person who cannot read. Although the numbers remain dismally low compared to the more literate and intellectually advanced societies, some people in Pakistan are avid readers. They have a passion for the acquisition of knowledge, a quest to seek answers in matters that concern them, a determination to discover and discern phenomena and events and a desire to apply in their work what they have learnt and understood. These people find ecstasy in their love for knowledge and fulfilment in their reverence for the printed word. And it is only their creed that produces thinkers and scholars, artists and filmmakers, scientists and writers. A poet once asked in Urdu: “Tum par kabhi munkashif hua hai/ Jo ilm mein lazzat aur maza hai? [Has it ever occurred to you how seeking knowledge is most enchanting and delightful?].” The answer, of course, is obvious and contained in the versified question itself.

But it is particularly during childhood and adolescence that this love for knowledge and reverence for the printed word is inculcated or encouraged. Parents and teachers play a major role in developing reading habits and infusing this spirit to learn and seek. Anywhere in the world, children’s literature, rhymes and poems, fables and parables, cartoon strips and drawing puzzles are used to educate and sensitise children. These are made abundantly available in developed societies. But in places such as Pakistan where most parents are non-literate or semi-literate and most teachers are handicapped by the absence of adequate teaching material, accessible, friendly, illustrated and motivating children’s literature is needed much more than elsewhere.

However, it is neither sufficiently produced and made available nor given appropriate importance by either government institutions or the private sector. Exceptions in the shape of small, self-motivated organisations or personal initiatives are there to prove the rule. The linguistic divide based on incomes makes it even more difficult for the majority middle-class, lower middle-class and working-class children to have access to cheap and subsidised Urdu books — leave alone books published in Pakistan’s other mother tongues, which are regrettably almost non-existent. Most new and interesting reading material and activity books are available only in English, and hence offered and useful only to a minority.

In these circumstances, those who bring out children’s magazines are the real champions of knowledge and enlightenment in Pakistan. Our present may not be as rich, but Urdu has a healthy tradition of children’s magazines — from Bachhon Ka Akhbar to Phool and from Ghuncha to Taleem-o-Tarbiat — but no other magazine saw an editor as consistent as Syed Masood Ahmed Barkati of Hamdard Naunehal, which he edited from 1953 to 2017. As regular readers of Naunehal during our childhood, I and my friends owe a personal gratitude to this selfless and dedicated editor and writer whose quality of work was par excellence. Barkati Sahib who passed away last Sunday was by his very name a blessing for children. Rest in peace, Barkati Sahib.

The writer is a poet and essayist based in Islamabad

Published in Dawn, Books & Authors, December 17th, 2017