Khaaka or qalmi khaaka (pen sketch) in Urdu literature is a piece of prose that delineates the character of a person in a lively and a bit informal manner.
Urdu Khaaka nigari (sketch writing) is about a century old; that is, if we ignore the early sketch-like accounts of Urdu poets recorded in Muhammad Hussain Azad’s Aab-i-Hayaat (1880). Azad wrote a critical history of Urdu poetry and while describing the personality and characteristics of some poets, his pen drew some vivid and delectable sketches. After Azad, Mirza Farhatullah Baig is credited with writing the earliest of sketches and that of his teacher, Nazeer Ahmed, is unforgettable. In his Dilli ka yadgar mushaera, Farhat draws sketches of poets in such a way that it makes them come alive. Baba-i-Urdu Abdul Haq, Rasheed Ahmed Siddiqi, Shahid Ahmed Dehlvi and Muhammad Tufail are a few distinguished sketch writers.
Ismat Chughtai wrote a sketch of Azeem Baig Chughtai, her brother, under the title Dozkhi and made him immortal. Mumtaz Mufti’s collection of pen sketches Oukhe log (and its sequel Aur oukhe log) is a very fine example of sketch writing that is in essence informal, at times slightly humorous and candid, and reveals the inner depth of different personalities yet makes a good reading like an interesting novel.
Those who made their marks in Urdu sketch writing during the last two decades or so include Prof Dr Abul Khair Kashfi (1932-2008). Kashfi Sahib was a scholar, critic and linguist. He taught at Karachi University’s Urdu department and served as its chairman for quite some time. Known for his sharp wit and gift of repartee, Kashfi Sahib would crystallise any thought in a few words. His critical writings too are delightful as there is hardly ever any dull moment. Before he turned to sketch writing, Kashfi Sahib launched a literary magazine Mehr-i-neem roz (or midday sun, literally) in collaboration with Hasan Musanna Nadvi, and played quite a bit of a literary spy who detected plagiarised literary pieces and uncovered plagiarists by publishing detailed comparative studies of the original pieces and the plagiarised ones. This created huge ripples in literary circles and shot Kashfi Sahib to fame. Karachi University recently published a selection of such pieces under the title Che dilaver ast.
These characteristics of being witty, inquisitive and straightforward certainly came in handy when Kashfi Sahib began writing pen sketches of those he had seen closely. The first collection of his sketches was named Ye log bhi ghazab the and the second one Ujle log. Now third collection of pen sketches by Kashfi Sahibs named Saaibaan log has appeared posthumously. It tells of people whose existence is just like shady trees. Kashfi Sahib’s doctoral student Dr Dawood Usmani has collected these pieces. In his foreword to the book, Dr Usmani says: “On the fourth death anniversary of my reverend teacher, I have collected these sketches that had appeared in different periodicals. Some of them were published for the first time in monthly Tameer-i-afkaar”. Prof Muhammad Iqbal Javed, Syed Aziz-ur-Rahman and Prof Anwaar Ahmed Zai have paid tributes to Kashfi Sahib’s sketch writing in their intros.
Published by Zawwar Academy, Karachi, the book includes pieces written on Maulana Zawwar Hussain Shah, Maulana Abul Hasan Nadvi (popularly known as Ali Mian), Maulana Abdur Rasheed Naumani, Dr Ghulam Mustafa Khan, Moulvi Abdul Haq, Prof Riaz-ul-Islam, Nawabzada Liaquat Ali Khan, Dr Abdul Qadeer Khan, Dr Saleem-uz-Zaman Siddiqi, Maulana Moudoodi, Malik Ram, Khaleeq Ahmed Nizami, Prof Takishi Suzuki (Japanese scholar), Abul Lais Siddiqi, Masood Ahmed Barkati, Mahmood Ahmed Barkati, Sarshar Siddiqi and some others. Almost all the sketches in the book reflect Kashfi Sahib’s crisp style and his thinking mind. Some of his comments qualify as aphorisms. But most moving sketches are the ones written on Maulana Zawwar Hussain Shah, Maulana Abul Hasan Nadvi and Maulana Abdur Rasheed Naumani. These sketches show Kashfi Sahib was deeply seeded in Islamic culture and traditions.
The book, otherwise quite a valuable one, has a few typographical errors. Minor errors could have been ignored as these days there is rarely any Urdu book that is published without typos but misspelling the name of famous Japanese Scholar of Urdu Prof Gamou Reiichi is very painful.
In addition to readability and insight that the book has, it also offers some rare pieces of information: Malik Ram, Urdu’s well known Indian scholar, is believed to have embraced Ahmedism but Malik Ram’s words, as quoted by Kashfi Sahib, clearly contradict that impression. The first ones to have earned doctorate in Urdu include Syed Sajjad, Mohiuddin Qadri Zor, Hamid Hasan Bilgrami, Shaista Akhter Suharvardy (Shaista Ikramullah) and Abul Lais Siddiqi. Pakistan’s first prime Minister Nawabzada Liaquat Ali Khan used to offer Juma prayers at Masjid-i-Khizra without any protocol or security whatsoever. Once when Kashfi Sahib got late for Juma prayers and rushed to the mosque he found the prime minister offering prayers in the same row with common people. This nostalgia haunts Kashfi Sahib often and with him the readers too are lost in the thoughts of an era gone by and hear themselves saying unto themselves “those were the days!”
