IT seems that almost everybody has decided to take up writing an autobiography or memoir, as the overwhelming flow of autobiographies and memoirs written in Urdu during the last couple of decades suggests.
Many high-ranking officials, once they retire from service, turn to churning out a book or two on how they have spent their ‘glorious’ life and what ‘great feats’ they achieved while they were a part of officialdom. Though the genre has become somewhat notorious for self-glorification to the point of being annoying, it goes without saying that writing an autobiography is a risky province since it necessitates portraying oneself as the hero, or at least, the leading character in the book. Very few can achieve the almost impossible task of putting one’s ego aside and recording the memories with modesty and fairness. While the genre has given us many page-turners, it has produced some vapid tomes, too.
Another hurdle for those who write an autobiography or memoir in Urdu is that memoir writing has come of age in Urdu and any memoirs that tend to be even slightly lacking can be savaged by critics as well as by readers. But Muhammad Hamza Farooqi’s just published memoirs Aasaar-i-Deed-o-Shuneed would be ranked among the memoirs that do not glorify the writer neither do they tell the tall tales. An absorbing read, the book at times makes you smile and then makes you feel like crying, as it records Farooqi’s some nice and some not-so-nice memories, taking the reader through the vicissitudes of life.
As the title suggests, the first part of the book narrates the events that the author himself has passed through and seen with his own eyes and the latter part describes what he had heard from his elders, especially about life in the former Patiala State and the tragic events that took place in 1947.
Beginning from getting early education at a Karachi school named Sindh Madressatul Islam (now a university), acquiring higher degrees at Karachi University and then going on to join London University’s School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS) for further education, the book takes the reader through kaleidoscopic views of the three educational institutions that played great roles in shaping the author’s personality and his world view. Farooqi, comparing the three institutions and consciously or unconsciously drawing conclusions, has many things to say about education, our education system and how and why the West has done it in a much better way — reaping the fruits thereby.
The general tone of the narration is lively and at certain places the book makes you grin as the author tends to laugh at his own miseries and his comments, mostly in a lighter vein, on the idiosyncrasies of certain personalities are delightful. But at certain points he tends to be a bit bitter, especially while describing the unpleasant circumstances he had to go through at the then Sindh Madressah. The aura of the latter part of the book is gloomy and tearful as it describes the brutalities meted out to the Muslims of the former Patiala State in east Punjab and why the Muslims had to flee to Pakistan, leaving behind everything as well as the bodies of their loved ones.
Hamza Farooqi’s parents, uncles and aunts with their children had to suffer miserably while trying to sneak across the border to safety. Some of them were martyred and as Hamza Farooqi was a young child at that time he does not recall much of the tragic events. What he has described in this part of the book is mostly the account he had heard from his elders. Farooqi has got a degree from SOAS on the subcontinent’s history and is a scholar of our history, but to make the account authentic, he has taken help from some historical sources for the details and has also substantiated it with references.
Muhammad Hamza Farooqi is not a retired or serving civil servant and he has nothing to boast about. He has not made himself the hero of the book neither has he bragged about his achievements, though he has quite a few good literary works to his credit. In fact, the narration is quite modest and he has tried to not talk about his literary success though he is a versatile writer. Farooqi is a research scholar, historian, humorist and travelogue writer and has contributed immensely to research on Allama Iqbal and Ghulam Rasool Mehr. His work on Allama Iqbal was even plagiarised by some ‘researchers’ and no acknowledgments were made.
Farooqi’s travelogues and pen sketches are sprinkled with humour. This streak of liveliness is very much present in the first part of the book.
Published by Academy Bazyaft, Karachi, the book makes a different kind of memoirs.
Published in Dawn, April 12th, 2021
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