Neelum Ahmad Basheer is a well-known Urdu writer and has a visible presence on the literary landscape. She has a sizable number of publications to her credit.

Her profile says that she is ‘a fiction writer, novelist, poet, travelogue writer, sketch writer, critic and researcher’. Her father, Ahmed Bashir, a respected figure, was an avant-garde filmmaker, journalist and writer. Creativity is in the family’s DNA. Her sisters are prominent in performing arts.

‘Mor Bolenda’ is Neelum’s debut novel in Punjabi, her mother language, published by Kitab Trinjan, Lahore. She has already published Punjabi translations of her Urdu stories. The title is borrowed from the famous lyrics of classical Punjabi poet Baba Bulleh Shah: ‘es ishq di jhangi vich mor bolenda (the peacock screams in this thicket of love)’.

The novel has a love story to tell. It begins in the colonial era and ends in post-Partition years in the region what is now Pakistan. It portrays the struggle of a successful female artist who marries a highly caring white man and has a daughter with him. In the aftermath of bloody Partition, the couple lands in Karachi. Her ordeal begins when her husband dies. She feels as if she has been abandoned in an indifferent world. Glamour and glitter of her former high profile life suddenly vanish into thin air, leaving her and her growing daughter at the mercy of the conditions beyond her control.

Being what she is, a charming woman, she carries an aura of artistic culture. A liberal Sindhi landlord, westernized and suave, woos her and finally marries her. All three go to the interior Sindh where they adopt a lifestyle altogether different from what is prevalent around in a rural landscape with their evening parties, drinks and music. It has the ambiance of what the wife, one of the protagonists, is quite familiar with because of her past life. Sons of the landlord’s first wife stalk the new family to get rid of it so that inheritance could be solely enjoyed. Suddenly, the husband dies and mother and daughter are left high and dry. Fearing life threats from the sons of her late husband from his first marriage, she decides to move to Karachi. Eventually, she dies and her young daughter is looked after by her caretaker, an old woman, devoted to the family.

The young protagonist moves to Lahore to make a fresh start. Then it’s the story of her struggle in a city that has the capacity to welcome the newcomers with its open and vibrant culture. Offering shelter to aliens has been the distinguishing mark of the city that contributed to making it the cultural capital of the northern part of the subcontinent.

The novel has a traditional structure; it employs descriptive narrative. But it moves at a natural pace and carries the reader with it effortlessly. The flowing language of the narrative allows the reader to peek into a world where females, however talented and creative, have to endlessly struggle to make their mark as creative individuals. It’s really an enjoyable read.

‘Geeton Bhara Registaan (Songs of the desert) is a wonderful book which takes us back into past that is still present in the Thar Desert, reflecting the continuity of life. The songs have been collected, compiled and translated into Urdu language by Bharomal Amrani with artistic care. The publisher is Muhammad Ibrahim Joyo Translation Bureau, Culture Department, Government of Sindh.

About the book, Wusatullah Khan rightly warns in its blurb that loss shall be yours if you don’t go through it. Bharomal, in his introduction, not only gives us the socio-cultural background of the songs but also skillfully presents a brief history of languages/dialects of his ancestral land. In his opinion Thar has three major languages/dialects; Sindhi Thari, Parkri and Dhaadki. He also points to the regions where these languages are spoken. Dhadki is the major language spoken and understood over a large area of Thar. He discreetly asserts that Thar and its culture, and languages though related with Sindh, Gujrat and Rajasthan have independent existence. Uniqueness of its society and history is shaped by its geography that sports its distinct flora and fauna, and a way of life.

The author has arranged the songs under different headings. He doesn’t tell us, perhaps he presupposes that we know, whether headings refer to genres or specific contents of the songs. Anyway, each category of songs is described in some detail to give the readers some idea of its background and the ambiance it carries.

In the deserts of the subcontinent, we observe certain common features created by its climate, changing seasons and topography. The desert is a humongous mass of sand with its white colour that continues to change its shape(s) round the year. To kill the drabness of sands people wear stunningly colourful clothes that can be glimpsed from miles. It’s a sign of efforts to bolster human presence in enervating environments. Herds, the mainstay of livelihood, always carry bells tied to their necks to create music in the deafening silence of the dunes. Guests would be awaited and affectionately looked after. A guest is a functional connect with the outside world and thus a harbinger of news and stories.

“Dear guest, welcome/what reception shall I accord you!” Two things play a big role to make life bearable; music and dance. These genres of creative expressions come handy. Not that they are ordinary but because they need minimum paraphernalia and trappings. The desert people, usually deprived of material possessions, have the comforts of certain significant things; voice of imagination, musical sound and their bodily movement. And this is all you need to make songs and dance, which the desert people are masters at. The cheerful activities rise to crescendo when sizzling summer changes into the rainy season; monsoon. Within days everything changes into its opposite; the arid desert becomes lush green. Bush, bramble and grass raise their head in a joyous verticality. Painful songs of separation turn into whisperings of blissful union.

Folk songs of Thar express all shades of moods ranging from unrequited love to pleasurable union, from prospect of starvation to having crops which would sustain the desert dwellers for the year. Well done Bharomal. Continue to collect sounds and songs of Thar that show us both sides of life; harsh and pleasurable. Yours is a simply delightful book that enriches us. — soofi01@hotmail.com

Published in Dawn, February 5th, 2024