KARACHI: Eminent individuals from the world of literature and art gathered at the Arts Council of Pakistan Karachi’s Josh Malihabadi Library on Tuesday evening to pay tribute to the legendary writer Mushtaq Ahmed Yusufi on his third death anniversary.

Poet Iftikhar Arif, who spoke online from Islamabad, said Yusufi sahib was a man of many shades. He was one of those rare individuals who wrote about his creative process which can be detected from his writings because eventually that’s what’s going to remain [of writers]. He was an extremely learned man who had read Western literature and philosophy in depth.

Arif said the late author had penned two travelogues and started to write a novel. After a while the writer said to him [Arif] that he didn’t think he’d be able to complete the novel. When asked why, he replied because it’s been a long time and the hero had just been born. Arif wondered whether those 700 or 800 pages of the novel could now be retrieved.

On his predilections, Arif said the writer was fond of collecting pictures and recordings. He had a wide collection of books and there was no art gallery that he didn’t visit. In his last 10 to 15 years, Yusufi sahib had stopped consuming meat and was only eating vegetables. He had read whatever he could lay his hands on Buddhist philosophy, he added.

Poet Zehra Nigah said Yusufi sahib never wrote with a carefree attitude. He would revisit his writings and listen to the inner ‘judge’ on the verdict on his works. It’s very difficult to write satirical prose. While a poet had the luxury or comfort of having at his disposal a great many literary tools such as metaphor, similes and allusions, a prose writer’s devices were limited. He needed to be precise and direct in his approach to engaging the reader. Yusufi sahib was like that. He was meticulous when it came to employing words in his stories. He often used to say that he was not an ahl-i-zaban (that is, his mother tongue was not Urdu) but his writings showed great control over his art and craft.

She said the late author had tremendous belief in himself. Whatever he did, he did with full conviction.

Dr Syed Noman Ul Haq said Yusufi sahib was extremely cautious about the use of the Urdu language. He lamented the fact that passing of giants such as Yusufi and Intizar Husain has created a huge void in our literary world.

Dr Fatema Hassan said she spent a great deal of time with the late writer. He was a loving senior friend. He treated her with affection and respect. She also got to travel with him to places such as Oman and found him to be a gentle human being. The trait also showed in his writings when he wrote character sketches.

Ahmed Shah said the writer treated him like his child, and while he was a strict boss, he would be a different man at get-togethers or events, cracking jokes. He also thanked the family of Yusufi sahib for allowing the council to take 10,000 books from the late author’s collection and use it as an important section of the council’s Josh Malihabadi Library which is to be inaugurated soon.

Published in Dawn, June 25th, 2021