Q: What are you currently reading?

A: I am reading Mein Nay Yeh Jaana by Tariq Hanif and enjoying that a lot. The preface to the book is written by Dr Aziz Ibnul Hassan and it is a masterpiece.

The book is about how to lead a good life, and the writer tries to educate the reader about the difficulties of life and how to handle difficult situations using his experiences.

Two things are important while reading a book: what the writer is saying and how he or she is presenting the subject.

In this, the writer handles both things well; the writing style and subject grab the reader’s attention, and one can finish the book in a sitting.

The writing style is unique in that, while reading the book it feels as if the writer is sitting beside and talking to the reader, and narrating various situations.

Q: Are there any books or authors you have particularly enjoyed reading?

A: I have been reading the Persian poet Farrokhzad, a modernist poet from Iran. She had many things in common with Parveen Shakir; she left her husband to pursue poetry, he died in an accident and left behind a son.

Interestingly, Farrokhzad’s son’s name, Kamyar, and Parveen Shakir’s son’s name, Murad, both mean ‘successful’.

Farrokhzad worked to present the female perspective in her poetry, and I consider her work to be the best structured poems in Persian. She wrote many poems, and her published work has been compiled in several books, such as Deewar and Aazeeyan.

I started teaching Persian in 1962 and I retired from a government college in 1996. I mostly read books in Persian, and I like Farrokhzad compared to other modern Persian poets.

Farrokhzad wanted her work to be remembered like Hafiz Shirazi of Iran. She brought the female perspective in her poetry, which was not mentioned in poetry before this.

I also recently completed the translation of Saiful Mulk by Mian Mohammad Baksh from Punjabi to Urdu. Mian Mohammad Baksh is as great a writer as the mystic poet Maulana Rumi, and he used simple language to describe big messages.

While working on the translation, I read Mian Mohammad Baksh’s work thoroughly and was amazed to read his thoughts in his poetry. His work had a message of courage, strength and positive thinking for others.

Q: Are there any classics you couldn’t get through?

A: I always wanted to complete Maulana Rumi’s Masnavi. Although I have only given it a cursory look so far, I hope to be reading it thoroughly in the coming days.

I read newspapers thoroughly and that is also time consuming since you can find something on politics, trade, culture, art, literature and every other subject and it takes time to read thoroughly. At my age, health problems have also forced me to manage time for reading.

Q: What do you think about current Pakistani writers?

A: There are many great novels and writers in the country. I am not a fiction reader, and my interest is in poetry.

I have read some fiction, and found Mumtaz Mufti’s Alkh Nagri and Laibak to be good.

Mufti’s style keeps your attention on the book and you can continue reading without any breaks.

Prof Tahira Iqbal, who taught literature in Faisalabad, wrote short stories in Urdu and her work always attracted me. My interest is in Persian, Urdu and Punjab, but I try to read the work of all writers.

I have found Pakistani writers to be better than Indian poets – particularly when it comes to humorous writing.

I went to Delhi recently and found that the quality of humorous poetry in India was not good. In Pakistan, Sayed Zameer Jafri was the best; in humorous fiction, Mushtaq Yousafi had no comparison.

Q: What are you planning to read next?

A: I am planning to read the works of the French philosopher Jean-Paul Sartre; I always go to the bookshop to get his books, but return with others instead. His philosophic work is something to read and understand, and everyone should read it. The second book I want to read in Wasteland, a long poem by T.S. Eliot.

Published in Dawn January 4th, 2017