KARACHI: A novel titled The Song in the Night by Qazi Fasih was launched at Liberty Store near Bilawal Chowrangi on Saturday evening. It was a short and sweet event moderated by Taha Kehar.

Before the host put questions to the author, Fasih read out an excerpt from his book.

Answering the first, rather obvious, question about what inspired him to pen the book Fasih said he had read an article in a newspaper about a canal dug in Sindh for water to be drained into the sea. Those who dug it did not realise that there were a lot of sugar mills along the canal and a lot of pesticides were sprayed across. By the time the canal reached the Indus Delta, the water became poisonous. The villagers rose against it saying if there was a cyclone it would throw back poisonous water on to the land. Then the fish in the water started dying, so much so that the fishermen had to migrate. So, the novel told the story of the migration of fishermen.

On why he chose to write a piece of fiction on the subject, Fasih said a story should be knitted into prevailing conditions [of an area]. All those problems touched upon in the book were well known to all and sundry.

Fasih said he’s a urologist. When he set out to write the novel he was encouraged by his daughter [and other members of the family]. He quoted in that context an Urdu line, Safar hai shart musafir nawaz buhterey (it’s the journey that matters, people help travellers). While the writing process was easy, according to him, it was the publishing bit that needed a bit work. Saleem Hussain [of Liberty Books] helped him in that pursuit.

Fasih said there’s no Pakistani publisher that published works of fiction [in English], and only now Liberty was venturing into it.

Responding to the question about writing the villainous characters without being judgmental, Fasih said it was not that difficult because “most of them are ruling us”.

The author said he had been writing teleplays, and The Song in the Night was his first experience of writing a book. When he began writing it, he did what a slogan of a sports brand suggested, “Just do it”. He just did it. As far as the title of the book went, it was his son who came up with it. He wanted it to be something else but was overruled by his children.

Fasih said even the biggest event ultimately affected the common man. The sufferers were the people who weren’t directly concerned with that event.

The author said the solution to all such predicaments was “books”. People should study. They should be made aware [of their problems]. There’s no easy solution.

Answering a question about no medical reference in the book, since he’s a doctor, Fasih said his was a stressful profession. You had to get away from it. Fortunately, he had company who talked about other things as well. “There’s nothing like literature,” he remarked.

Fasih said his favourite author was John Steinbeck. He was also fond of Urdu literature and had read authors such as Manto, Rajinder Singh Bedi and Krishan Chander. The one Urdu author that he really liked was Abdullah Husain, whose novel Udas Naslein was exceptional.

Published in Dawn, November 19th, 2018