KARACHI: Two more important pre-lunch sessions on the third day of the 13th International Urdu Conference on Saturday at the Arts Council had the audience’s undivided attention.

The first one, moderated by Akhtar Saeedi, was on the 100 years of the short story written in Urdu. Iqbal Khursheed was the first speaker. He read out a paper on the short story in relation to terrorism. He said since each man is a story unto himself, someone who commits suicide bombing too, like anyone else, has a family, and is a story unto himself. It’s a complex issue, so when a writer tries to write on it s/he should try and steer clear of emotionalism.

Zaib Azkaar Husain traced the background of the Urdu short story with reference to the region’s political history. He said after 1857, fiction writing began to change its form. In 1936 the Progressive Writers Movement came about and stories signifying resistance surfaced. They may be lesser in terms of characterisation, but in terms of ideological rebellion pointed to an important reality.

Urdu short story and ghazal discussed on third day at Urdu Conference

He mentioned the name Sajjad Zaheer and then pointed out that writers such as Krishan Chander, Hayat Ansari, Saadat Hasan Manto, Khwaja Ahmed Abbas and Khadija Mastoor wrote with a relatively new social awareness. In the latter part of his thesis he touched upon the dictatorial era in which writers such as Anwar Sajjad had to face a difficult time.

Akhlaq Ahmed said the short story is linked to society in a way that it reflects our tears and sense of deprivation. It has a stronger bond with society because things such as family values and festive occasions still exist in it. In the last 100 years, the idea of freedom and economic challenges introduced the genre to a unique awareness. Ninety years ago, a collection of short pieces Angarey was published and after that whatever came out appears to be a reaction to it. Today technology has brought about a new set of cultural challenges.

Dr Nasir Abbas Nayyar, who spoke via video link from Lahore and was given the topic of elements of resistance in the short story, said not all stories carry that element; a select lot does. There have been two kinds of attitudes associated with the genre in the historic context: one, there was a group of writers and thinkers such as Ezra Pound and Martin Heidegger, who sided with fascism; and, two, who resisted. In our region, there were a group of writers who in 1857 took the side of the colonial power; but there were those as well who resisted it. He called the literature of resistance ‘problematic’.

Amjad Tufail said no creative individual can create literature unless s/he is rooted in his/her culture.

Saba Ikram talked about the stylistic progression in the genre.

Zaheda Hina said our short story writers have revealed various layers of life through their work.

Nasira Zuberi moderated the second session which was about the progress of Urdu ghazal in the last century. Ambreen Haseeb Ambar read out a paper on ghazal in the postmodern era. She said in this era the transfer from a human-centric world to a machine-centric one has taken place. We are moving towards a technical life which is causing alienation among poets. She quoted many couplets to back up her argument one of which was by Jaun Elia:

Zindagi kis tarha basar ho gi

Dil nahin lag raha muhabbat mein

[Life has become a burden Love doesn’t satisfy anymore]

Rukhsana Saba said ghazal has the capacity to absorb modern sensibilities. The one subject that has come up frequently in it is solitude (tanhai). Ghalib grappled with it but kept on going. From the time Altaf Husain Hali came into prominence humanism replaced love (ishq). And Allama Iqbal’s book Baal-i-Jibril made everybody realise that the genre of ghazal could easily adapt to change.

Fahim Shanas Kazmi said ghazal was the pride of our culture.

Shadab Ehsani went back in time to give a comprehensive perspective of the genre with reference to the evolution of the Urdu language. He argued that Urdu was a language that helped eliminate prejudice in the region but today there are people off and on who prove their prejudice against it. Urdu came into India from Persian tradition, but when ghazal arrived here it attached itself to the local culture. He claimed ghazal is a more difficult genre to write than nazm.

Ziaul Hasan said the modern ghazal tends to incline more towards experimentation. However, it didn’t get influenced by modern trends the way Urdu prose has.

Published in Dawn, December 6th, 2020