• Resolution pledges support for Palestine, Kashmir
• Concluding session draws big crowds
• Four-day event termed rejuvenating experience

KARACHI: Big and bad bouncers are for keeping guard outside private parties or nightclubs, which being nice and decent Pakistanis, we have rarely seen in real life and usually get to see in the movies, but at the 16th Urdu Conference at the Arts Council of Pakistan, one, correction, the masses came face to face with the meanest, thick-skinned bouncers keeping guard outside the auditoriums.

Mind you, there was no cabaret or anything of the sort taking place inside. They were keeping people from attending literary sessions. Their reason: “House full hai!”

On Sunday, the final day of the conference, there was a stampede-like situation outside Auditorium No. 1 when folks with programme booklets in hand just were refrained from entering the hall to listen to the great Indian poet, lyricist, screenwriter and author Gulzar Sahab.

No amount of reasoning was having any effect with the tall and balding bouncer, who was simply refusing to budge from the entrance. The queues turned into a crowd and then into something resembling an angry mob. But he would not open the doors for anyone.

And when one session was over, he wouldn’t allow the people inside to come out as his response to them was to use the exits near the stage, which was jam-packed as well.

In addition to this traffic jam was the problem of the programmes getting mixed up. And on top of that was the height of tragedy that Gulzar Sahab, for whom the entire city seemed to have turned up at the Arts Council, could not join online. He was to have a dialogue with the witty Anwar Maqsood, who was there even before time.

Unfortunately, even though the President of the Arts Council and the new Minister for Information, Minority Affairs and Social Protection Ahmed Shah had successfully spoken to him on phone just half an hour before the session, the online Zoom connection could not happen despite repeated tries.

Not one to be cowed down by such things, the greatest showman of the Urdu world, Anwar Maqsood, engaged in a monologue, which included Gulzar Sahab and his beautiful verses, and also his predicament of trying to engage with Pakistani audiences from India.

Meanwhile, the launch of Indian author and screenwriter Javed Siddiqui’s book of pen sketches or profiles Ujalay, published by the Arts Council of Pakistan, which was to take place on Friday, according to the published programme, took place on Sunday. Reflecting on his collection, the author, in conversation with poets Fatima Hasan and Iftikhar Arif, said that profiles of people were written after observing them closely several times. “I also look at what sets them apart from others,” he pointed out.

The concluding session with all the senior writers, poets, critiques and academics taking stage ended with the traditional reading of resolutions by the Arts Council President. But before that the respected literati also took the microphone to reflect on the Conference.

The guest from Lahore, writer Mustansar Hussain Tarar, who had the centre chair of honour on stage, spoke of Sir Henry Rider Haggard’s character ‘She’, who steps into fire to become young again. “Similarly, every year, we come here to attend the Urdu Conference to refresh our souls and feel young again,” he said.

Pashto poet and writer Prof Dr Abaseen Yousafzai said that the conference added to the beauty of December every year. “December with its chilly winds is a romantic month for us poets and the Urdu Conference adds manifolds to it,” he said.

Urdu and Punjabi poet and translator Sarwat Mohiuddin said that she enjoyed the diversity of the Conference. “It may be called the Urdu Conference but we also get to hear so much of Punjabi, Sindhi, Pashto and Balochi along with other regional languages of Pakistan here. It is a melting pot of all languages and we get to learn so much about each other’s language and customs here,” she said.

Poet and scholar Prof Dr Peerzada Qasim, Sindhi dramatist Noorul Huda Shah and Dr Huma Mir of the Arts Council also spoke on the occasion.

Finally, the resolutions were read out in which Arts Council President Ahmed Shah highlighted the atrocities in Palestine, especially in Gaza and the Kashmir issue on top. “We are with the people of Palestine,” he said while also reminding of another tragedy in India-occupied Kashmir where Muslims are also being targeted.

He also asked the government to increase the education budget and set up language centres in universities so that the learned folks also learn to respect each others’ cultures. He said that the trade of books between countries should be open and the costs of books should also be brought down so that the masses may enjoy them.

“There should be a subsidy on paper for book publishing,” he said, while also reminding the government to look into the care and maintenance of old books in libraries and the building of more libraries. Finally, he said that Pakistan should worry about publishing more books, not currency notes.

The evening came to its conclusion with a classical dance performance by Amna Mawaz titled Iss Paar Ya Uss Paar [This side or that side].

But this write-up will not be complete with mention of the Conference audiences who thoroughly enjoy all sessions and have been making this annual Urdu Conference a success year after year. No matter who sat next to you on the seats or the aisle steps, Tom, Dick or Harriet, they would turn to them to share their two bits upon hearing anything which they found delightful.

And soon the person seated next to them, however introverted, would also open up and share his or her understanding of what they saw or heard on stage. That’s how the four days of literary gatherings including poetry reading sessions, critiquing sessions, talks and book launches ended too soon.

Published in Dawn, December 4th, 2023