LAHORE: Nain Sukh says Dada Amir Haider’s story, Achhna Gachhna (Coming and Going) , was first titled by him as ‘Indian Comrade’ but the people of his village in Potohar told him that they did not see any revolution that Dada talked about, they only saw his “coming and going”.

He was talking about his book Aai Purey Di Waa (The East Wind Blows) at the Afkar-e-Taza ThinkFest at Alhamra on Sunday. The session had its share of controversy as some members of the audience protested against a short story the book had on the late poet Nasreen Anjum Bhatti. However, the organisers intervened to restore calm.

About his style of writing and research, Nain Sukh said that he got the details for his stories from many people, including those from Lahore. “Now when expletives are used against me, they are, in fact, aimed at those people who gave me details.”

He appreciated that his stories were being discussed, saying that he had withdrawn his story ‘Wey Kehra Aein’ because of hurt feelings of some of his friends. The short story describes life of Nasreen Anjum Bhatti.

“In the story of Obaidullah Sindhi, Nithawaan, some of my religious friends had objections to some of its parts and the publisher connected me with them. Though I could not convince them regarding my point of view, there were no daggers drawn against me from their side.”

Describing his style further, Nain Sukh said he had borrowed it from the qissa style of Punjab wherein the characters were described with their real names, including those of Heer Ranjha and Mirza Sahiban.

“I should be asked who I met and who I got details from. You can use expletives against me but you should ask me how I worked on my stories too,” he said, adding that he was willing to participate in any dialogue.

Amir Riaz, the moderator, said at least three stories in the book were on the main characters of the movement of the Left in the region, including Dada Amir Haider, who was an activist of the Left before the Partition, Obaidullah Sindhi and of Agha Khan Sahotra, a leader from the Dalits who had converted to Islam.

Iqbal Haider Butt lauded the narrative style of Nain Sukh.

“There are many unexplored themes in six people whose character sketches he has written and one wonders what’s common among them, including those of Dada Amir Haider, I D Shahbaz and Nasreen Anjum Bhatti.”

He said every reader could take these characters in his or her own way but the personal connection the writer had with the characters could only be accommodated in fiction.

“There can be some controversial incidents and factual mistakes. But we should be grateful to Nain Sukh that he has detailed these characters despite the fact there are no archives on such people in our country. We have to see carefully to know whether the writer is maligning them or not.”

Without any political agenda, he added, Nain Sukh had brought the characters in the focus of the people to show their greatness and he did not demean them.

Another point that Mr Butt raised was whether the stories included in the book were character sketches or fiction.

Prof Zubair Ahmed requested the people to be open to discussion and let Punjabi literature flourish if it was being promoted and whatever space it had got.

He lauded the style of construction that Nain Sukh applies. “He weaves his story by including mythology and folk literature in it. In his stories, he has covered the time starting from 1849 till the present day, showing the changes in colonial Punjab.”

As soon as the session started, some members of the audience resorted to heckling. They had reservations about the depiction of the character of Nasreen Anjum Bhatti in a story -- Wey Kehra Aein -- that has been withdrawn from the book. However, despite two more such interruptions, the session continued.

Published in Dawn, January 15th, 2018