Razia F. Ahmed’s Book Inauguration and Unforgettable Baitbazi
By Dr Mujahid Ghazi
Schuamburg: A large number of Urdu lovers gathered at one of the conference rooms at the Schaumburg Library recently where the Urdu Institute was having its monthly literary meeting. The event featured the launching of Razia Faseeh Ahmed’s new Urdu novel “Aik Sadee Ki Kahani” and an interesting ‘Bait Bazi’. For youngsters growing up here Bait Bazi is a literary competition in which two teams exchange Urdu couplets starting with the last alphabet of the couplet given by the other team.
In its “Jawan Johar” segment, young Syed Haseebur Rehman spoke about the negligence of Urdu in the private schools of Pakistan. In his opinion, Urdu is not given due share in the English medium schools. Though his observation was limited to the urban setting it reflected his love for the national language.
In the “ Aap Ki Nigarishat aur Takhleeqat” segment of the meeting, Dr. Saif Lateef, Abdur Raheem Talib, Dr. Muneeruz Zaman, Shahid Aleg, Dr. Khursheed Khizir, Ghousia Sultana, Hashmat Sohail, Wasif Molji, Razia Faseeh Ahmed, Niaz Gulbergvi and this scribe presented their poetry. Ms. Farzana Ejaz, who came all the way from Muscat, presented a ghazal and a short story “Dadee ki Faqeernian”.
The third session of the meeting was dedicated to the launching of Razia Faseeh Ahmed’s new novel “Aik Sadee ki Kahani”. Chicago has the honor of having distinguished Urdu writers, novelists and poet Razia Faseeh Ahmed has been residing here. The novel revolves around the stories which are not strange to the reader. He finds them around him in his neiborhood, relatives and the community. The characters and the story encompass issues faced by the community since the post-world war era.
She portrays three generations and their geo-political and social issues. Once one starts reading the novel, it becomes difficult to leave it before reading the last page. The reader feels it is his and his community’s biography. She has a simple and sweet way of writing and that’s why the reader doesn’t lose interest.
Amin Haider’s remarkable compeering was the highlight of the session. It started with a poetic dedication to the novel by Dr. Khursheed Khizir. This scribe introduced Razia Faseeh Ahmed and spoke about her new novel a little bit. Mohtarram Niaz Gulbergvi did a detailed review of the novel and also inaugurated it. Lastly, Razia read excerpts from the novel.
The last session of the meeting started with the recreation of the famous Bait Bazi from Hyderabad Deccan. Wasif Molji with his brilliant memory replayed the whole BB session by giving couplets from both sides. Later, the whole audience was divided into two teams. Team Ghalib was led by Hashmat Sohail and Team Zauq led by Wasif Molji. This interesting session continued for more than 30 minutes and had to be terminated due to lack of time. In the freezing Chicago temperature the meeting furnished literary warmth to the audience.
