Q: What are you currently reading?

A: I am reading Raja Gidh by Bano Qudsia, and enjoying that a lot. Although I have read the book before, I started it again because I was translating it to English.

Bano’s work has inspired me a lot. I got permission from Bano Qudsia and we planned to give it the same name. I have read English translations of Urdu work by Pakistani authors by Indian writers, but the translations did not represent the writers’ thoughts accurately, so I decided to translate some Urdu work by writers I knew well.

Bano Qudsia’s style is very unique and she captured the reader’s attention so s/he would finish a book in one sitting. Bano’s narration of situations forced readers to visualise the movements and facial expressions of the characters.

Q: Is there any book or author you read recently that you particularly enjoyed?

A: George Eliot and Oscar Wilde are my favourites in English literature. George Eliot is the best to learn about Victorian society, as she explained the daily life of the common man, how they lived and the thoughts of people in that age. I often read Oscar Wilde’s work out of love for the language.

Q: Is there anything you want to read about that you feel is underrepresented?

A: I want to know more about the lifestyles of women in the past. We have the history of kings and queens, but not common women, what she did in her house and her role in society and her thoughts about that era.

In English classics, one can see this in works such as Pride and Prejudice, but we cannot find such things for the women of South Asia.

We hear about Chand Bibi, Razia Sultan, Noor Jehan, but they are all queens. Umrao Jan is there is Urdu literature to tell us about the culture of the kotha but the housewife and young girl are missing.

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

A: I have read classics in Urdu and in English, but I wanted to read the work of Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel and Friedrich Nietzsche. As a working woman, I did not have as much time to read books that require one’s full attention. I have read some of these philosophers’ works, but now I am developing the urge to read them carefully.

Fiction and poetry can be enjoyed in a car or on a plane, but philosophy cannot be read without attention and concentration; you have to read it carefully to understand what the writer wanted to say.

Q: Do you think there is a great Pakistani novel?

A: In Urdu, Qudratullah Shahab’s Shahab Nama – especially the chapters ‘Chota Moon Bari Baat’, ‘Maan Ji’ and ‘Aifat Mar Gi’ are my favourites, and I wanted to translate these to English so the new generation will understand it completely, as most do not read Urdu literature because they cannot understand it.

Khateeja Mastoor’s Aangan is also one of the best, in which she described the society of the Indian subcontinent, as are Mumtaz Mufti’s novels and short stories and Mukhtar Masood’s Loh-i-Ayyam­.

Q: What are you planning to read next?

A: I wanted to read the Holy Quran and understand it. Allama Iqbal’s poetry and philosophy are also on the list.

I am planning to read those with concentration; Iqbal’s poetry is not simple poetry, as he wanted to educate people about their rights and duties assigned by God.

Published in Dawn, March 29th, 2017