One could sense a note of dejection in the voice of Ahmed Shah, president of the Arts Council of Pakistan, Karachi, when, at the press conference to talk about the programme for the 13th International Urdu Conference, he told the media that this time round the event would be organised largely online because of the Covid-19 situation in the country. It was understandable.

The conference in the last 12 years had attracted large crowds — for multiple reasons and not necessarily for the love of the Urdu language — especially on its opening and closing days. To be honest, when Indian scholar Professor Shamim Hanfi and Pakistani poet Yasmeen Hameed (whom one had seen in the flesh at some of the earlier editions of the very conference) delivered their keynote addresses on the inaugural day via video link from Delhi and Lahore, it felt a bit strange.

Perhaps this was the ‘new normal’ that has been bandied about as a term for almost a year now. Indian literary scholar and critic Gopi Chand Narang was the first keynote speaker, but he had never in person attended the event before.

So, what was the good thing about the 13th edition, which lasted for four days (Dec 3-Dec 6)? Well, despite the restrictions and standards of procedure imposed by the government to remain safe from the pandemic, the spirit of scholarship with which poets, writers and critics take part in the moot was intact. This was because the format of the sessions held was hybrid, and a majority of speakers were physically present on the Council’s premises, while others joined in over the internet. It was nice to see writers such as Wajahat Masood, Yousuf Khushk and Amjad Tufail making the effort to come down to Karachi from other parts of the country.

Despite shifting online and the lack of physical crowds at the 13th International Urdu Conference, the spirit of scholarship with which poets, writers and critics take part in the moot remained intact

This year’s theme was 100 years of Urdu — literature, music, art, film, etc — from 1920 to 2020. While it is a good idea in terms of widening the scope of topics, one felt that it bordered on repetition of previous conferences because, after all, no previous gathering went by without discussing the likes of Faiz Ahmed Faiz, Noon Meem Rashid, Josh Malihabadi, Altaf Hussain Hali, Saadat Hasan Manto and Shibli Nomani — their works came to prominence within the last 100 years. Still, the theme allowed the participating scholars to present their ideas in relative detail.

It was thoughtful of the organisers to keep a session in memory of critic and writer Asif Farrukhi — who passed away on June 1 this year — immediately after the inaugural session. Anchored by Harris Khalique, participants in the segment were Shamim Hanfi, Iftikhar Arif, Afzal Syed, Wajahat Masood, Mubin Mirza, Fatima Hassan, Azra Abbas, Ghazal Asif Farrukhi (the late writer’s daughter) and Ameena Saiyid. All paid rich tributes to the late man of letters, especially to his extraordinary ability to multitask as a writer, publisher, translator and organiser of literature festivals. Farrukhi was a regular participant of the annual event all these years, and it was painful not having him amidst his friends and admirers.

As usual, the event had a variety of items on its programme list, from panel discussions to book launches, and from mushairas to distinguished artist Zia Mohyeddin’s reading from humorous Urdu texts. The most important of them all, arguably, was the launch of the book Kulliyat-i-Josh [The Complete Works of Josh] compiled by Dr Hilal Naqvi. On the occasion, Dr Naqvi — who is an under-discussed researcher and needs to be given the recognition that he merits — said the book had come out after 100 years, in the sense that it was in 1920 that Josh sahib’s first collection of poems, Rooh-i-Adab [The Soul of Literature] was published. Back then (in 1920) the world was trying to come to terms with a pandemic and, a century later, a similar situation confronts us.

Commenting on the subject, Iftikhar Arif, via video link from Islamabad, congratulated the Urdu duniya [world] and thanked Dr Naqvi for doing a monumental job. He said familiarity with Josh’s poetry had passed through many a stage and his position and stature in Urdu literature couldn’t be fixed. Very few people in the last 50 years have been able to write on Josh, but the kind of work that Dr Naqvi has done is a feat that has never been achieved before — with the exception of works done on Allama Muhammad Iqbal.

This year’s theme was 100 years of Urdu — literature, music, art, film, etc — from 1920 to 2020. While it is a good idea in terms of widening the scope of topics, one felt that it bordered on repetition. Still, the theme allowed the participating scholars to present their ideas in relative detail.

Another noteworthy item was the dramatised reading of an Urdu short story authored by novelist and short story writer Aamer Hussein. It was interesting because Hussein is a contemporary writer who is generally known for his English fiction. The segment added a nice little flavour to the otherwise predictable line-up of guests and topics. Shama Askari and Fawad Khan of Zambeel Dramatic Readings did justice to the story.

The main thrust of the programme — as has always been the case — was research papers read on Urdu fiction (novel and short story), poetry (ghazal and nazm) and criticism. Of course, the framework was the last 100 years. In one of the sessions on the Urdu novel, critic Dr Ziaul Hassan, online from Lahore, raised a very interesting point which might ignite a debate among scholars and writers in times to come.

He did not look at Urdu novelists approvingly. He asserted that we have not been able to produce novels as important as Western writers such as Fyodor Dostoevsky have been able to write, and he put that down to the fact that the West was able to crack that secret by exploring the vastness of an individual’s existence.

At the closing ceremony — prior to the unanimous passing of a resolution urging the government to, among other things, tackle the second wave of coronavirus effectively — the event was turned into a bit of a showbiz gala as actors Humayun Saeed and Sohail Ahmed were brought in for conversations with director Nadeem Baig and actor Yasir Hussain respectively.

One understands the need to add the glamour quotient to the scheme of things, and Saeed and Ahmed work in Urdu plays, so it was not totally unrelated. That being said, the quotient does dilute, a little, the impact of the extremely thought-provoking theses presented during the conference. The Arts Council has the clout to invite television and film stars on a separate platform.

The writer is a member of staff

Published in Dawn, Books & Authors, December 13th, 2020