KARACHI: Rehman Nishat read out his story at the literary sitting held at Goethe Institut on Wednesday. Prof Hasan Abid was in the chair. Shamim Manzer hosted the evening and introduced the writers.

Rehman Nishat in his story depicted the character of a young man who had built a “fortress of piety” around his person. He had the unique reputation of being a noble, innocent and pious person. Perchance, one day he picked the hand of a young girl sitting by his side and his mother saw it. The shy young man was so disturbed that he wished to commit suicide in the first instance and later prayed for the death of his mother.

Most of the listeners rejected the story for being unnatural but Prof Hasan Abid defended the writer, saying such characters were not unnatural.

Later, Iqbal Haider recited his verse “Marg-i-Gul say Peshtar”. There was an instant reaction of applause. In the second thought, some listeners expressed their ignorance about the theme. As the copies of the verse were not available, even the president failed to work out the real theme. But the poetic rendering of the theme, whatever it was and musical setting of idioms played its magic.

The verse was loquacious and required a couple of dictionaries to dig out the meaning, said a speaker. Ahmad Saghir Siddiqui was equally critical. Others opined that the verse was good but required deeper study. Akber Leghari, Shahnaz Shoro, Yawer Aman, Tashna Barelvi and Fauqia Mushtaq were among those who offered their comments.—Hasan Abidi