LAHORE: One day Ashfaq Sahib suggested I get a maid at home for cooking, and start writing but on a condition that I will write only at a specific time daily. I used to write from 11:30am to 2pm daily without writing anything the rest of the day.

This was stated by Bano Qudsia while speaking during the ‘Women Fiction Writers’ session on the second day of the Alhamra International Literary and Cultural Festival on Saturday.

She said she completed her magnum opus, Raja Gidh, in a month and 20 days by following the same routine.

“My last book, Rah-i-Rawan, is on Ashfaq Sahib, and I pray for every girl I meet that she get a husband like Ashfaq Sahib who pays more attention to support his wife instead of being a narcissist,” she said.

When a woman from the audience asked her to share something about the contribution of a wife to making a good husband, Qudsia rebutted, saying she (the questioner) was like a typical woman who wanted praise for herself also when her husband was applauded. She said she was influenced by Mumtaz Mufti, Qudratullah Shahab besides Ashfaq Ahmed.

“Mufti Sahib told me cooking was not worth it and that I should write. And my reply was always that I did not know how to write.”

When asked what the difference between inspiration for female and male writers was, Qudsia said the difference laid in their mental approach towards life.

Qudsia was brought to the stage on a wheelchair and due to her old age, she mistook Bushra Ejaz for actor Bushra Ansari.

Drama writer Hasina Moin said women writers in Pakistan looked different from their male counterparts because most of them wrote for digests and stories for digests could be written anywhere and were lengthy.

“The same stories are being turned into drama serials where subjects were limited to mother-in-law and daughter-in-law issues or extramarital affairs.”

She said language was being distorted on TV where editors were almost absent.

“Sometimes while watching TV, I feel so surprised how anyone can let such a dialogue be telecast on TV.”

Noorul Huda Shah said as a young writer she used to feel proud while writing bold short stories.

“I read the translation of a Sindhi short story once in Lahore and got applause from everybody present, however Bano Aapa kept quiet. Later that day, when I met her somewhere, she held my hand and said, ‘Whatever you write, write as a mother, be a mother of the murderer as well as of the murdered’, and that sentence changed my style of writing,” Noor said.

Neelam Ahmed Bashir said she was often asked why she wrote bold short stories, adding she just wrote the truth and how things were.

“That’s what I learnt from Mumtaz Mufti that a writer should write what he/she sees.”

Salma Awan, Amna Mufti and Bushra Ejaz also spoke.

Published in Dawn, December 13th, 2015