August 14, 2009

A Collage of Thought-Provoking Write-ups

 

Prof. Shamim Aleem, a prolific writer in both English and Urdu, has just published her fourth book in Urdu titled “Mera Paigham Mohabbat Hai”. It is a collage of forty-seven perceptive essays on several societal issues affecting South Asians at home or abroad, short stories highlighting the anguish many have to suffer for the folly of others, and pen pictures of some of her writer friends. A very informative and interesting sketch in this category is her own profile - zindagi kay auraq say - that carries a liberal sprinkling of humor to add to its vivacity.

Although she commenced writing in Urdu after retirement and her shift to the US to be with her children, she has already made her mark, despite this late start, as a worthwhile writer whose creations have much literary merit, and above everything else, each piece conveys a forceful message. She makes this point clear contending, “Every thing that I have written conveys a message - a message of love, sincerity, honesty, and of a constant struggle for your rights.” She is a strong believer that all creative writings must contribute to the enhancement of the quality of life: art for art’s sake, holds little significance for her. I have had the advantage of reading all her works in Urdu and I found that she is invariably pointing her finger towards some problem of South Asian community in the US or back home. Yet, her writings carry much literary merit, instead of becoming prosaic pieces on social issues.

Her aversion to terrorist violence and the resultant death and destruction of innocent persons along with their dreams, is reflected in the first four highly moving pieces in the book under review. The theme keeps recurring in other articles too. She is truly disgusted by the inhumanity unleashed by acts of terrorism, hence her reversion to the theme many a time. Her writings may not be as impacting as those of Manto, Khashwant Singh, Baidi or many others on the tragedies in the wake of partition, but they do constitute, nevertheless, a worthwhile addition to the literature on the anguish and pathos in the wake of terrorism.

The next two articles portray the step-motherly treatment meted out to Urdu not only by biased policy makers but also by those whose mother tongue it is. Their proclivity for material gains made them concentrate on teaching English to their wards; for it is the official language, and the language of business and higher learning, apart from being the international language.

“Certain biased political parties”, she maintains, “have always endeavored to deprive Muslims of political power and the easiest way to achieve that purpose was to suffocate their language.”

Dr. Aleem’s next half a dozen write-ups are essays on various topics of interest for the community. They may not be weighty like those of Sir Syed, or entertaining like those of Mirza Farhatullah Baig, but they certainly carry clear messages in a literary diction, make piquant reading and hold readers’ attention being brief, witty and informative.

The next several write-ups fall in the category of short stories. Each story conveys a subtle message. Fore instance, her narrative about a husband who was three times given the ‘Best Husband” award, was seen by his wife as just the opposite of what the award made him out to be. The two-page story presents him in a subtle manner as a husband given to monopolizing his wife to the extent it destroys her ego, her self-esteem, and her individualism. Such an egoist can hardly be an ideal husband; he would instead be the source of a constant pain in the neck. The story conveys a strong message particularly to young married couples.

The next story “Bricks of Gold” too is on the same theme: What a South Asian woman needs and appreciates most is support for her individualism instead of an abundant supply of material things, even bricks of gold. The treatment that a South Asian woman receives as a devalued and discounted human being makes Prof. Aleem’s message quite poignant. The changing world scenario under the impact of the fast means of communication is having a tremendous impact on the social values and norms. But for the areas under the domination of Taliban and other extremists, educated women in economically emerging societies have become more assertive in claiming their rightful place in society. Sometimes this militates against the expectations of young men in a male-dominated society and takes the ugly turn of separation and divorce. One hopes that equilibrium will soon emerge leading to a downward trend in the rate of divorce.

Prof. Aleem has devoted several of her stories to the problems confronting the South Asian youth born and brought up in the West. She has touched on the disruptions that parents’ color and racial prejudices cause in the lives of young couples in love. In a similar vein she has weaved story after story underlining the evils of caste system, religious prejudices, joint family system, dowry, and other anachronistic customs.

In her short stories, she lets the characters portray through their actions the irrationality of a situation. If she elects to emphasize the point, she adds a punch line in the final para of her story in the style of O’Henry.

Almost all her stories are in the third person narrative form. Her sketches of the characters make them come alive, but they hardly talk – dialogues would add to the overall impacts of her stories.

In the last portion of the book are her pen portraits of herself, Mujtaba Husain, Hasan Chistie, Zinat Sajidda, and Shafiqa Farhat, her elder sister.

She is a bit critical, though in a pleasant and non-offensive manner, of the string of celebratory functions here in the United States to mark the award of Padma Shri to Mujtaba Husain, and of proclivity of Hasan Chisti to burst into tears on the slightest pretext. Mujtaba is my favorite humor writer in Urdu. And, I do feel sincerely that he deserves a much higher award. I have met him several times here and in Hyderabad, and every time my admiration for him has gone up as I discovered some new facet of his nobility apart from his writing prowess. The humility, sincerity and helpfulness of Hasan Chishti are exemplary. Zeenat Sajida was my contemporary in Osmania. I did not have the pleasure of meeting her, as she observed purdah those days. She married my friend and class fellow, Ahmad Hussaini Shahid. On arrival in Hyderabad some ten years back, I enquired about him to be informed that he had died a few years earlier. All these persons have made a mark in their respective fields. Prof. Aleem was well-advised to write about them though in a lighter and entertaining vein.

arifhussaini@hotmail.com