The enigma behind the man
Reviewed By Sarwat Ali,
Literat, The News on Sunday
01-09-2011
In her latest book, Bano Qudsia attempts to capture the essence of
Ashfaq Ahmed
After a selection from the writings of Ashfaq Ahmed, titled ‘BabaSahaba’, Bano Qudsia has now written on the lifetime spent with her husband Ashfaq Ahmed and called it ‘Rah e Rawan’.
In her life, Qudsia has placed Ahmed on a very high pedestal and does not shy away from attributing with him hidden qualities often associated with sages. Being fully aware of it, she does not even claim to understand the man she lived with for more than five decades, bearing many children in the process. So, an attempt at writing the biography of Ashfaq Ahmed took her beyond that ‘one person’— and she started to write about his ancestry, the family including his grandfather, father, uncles, brothers, sisters and their children so as to fully understand the enigma that was Ashfaq Ahmed.
Ashfaq Ahmed was a Momand Pathan whose family migrated to the subcontinent from Afghanistan and then settled in what is now Indian Punjab at a place called Makesar. They had to migrate again at the time of partition to the new country called Pakistan. Qudsia attributes much of the enigma and the multi-layered, complex personality of Ashfaq Ahmed to the various forms of migrations that they had to undertake.
The most difficult time for her, and also the most significant, was when she married Ashfaq Ahmed. She was a Jat, he was a Pathan, and in both families, the tradition of marrying outside the clan was non-existent. Possibly, all hell must have broken loose when she expressed her will to marry a college-fellow.She was resilient enough to not be cowered down by opposition from both the families — and the two apparently got married in defiance. In the days immediately after independence, marrying someone of one’s own choice was still a very rare occurrence and must have raised both eyebrows and hackles.
However, Qudsia’s steadfastness paid off. It proved to be a very good llmatch. Even after his death, she continues to be intrigued by his behaviour, his choices and his demeanour, while attempting to understand him through his family and the circumstances that they all went through in the last hundredyears or so.
In worldly terms too both were very successful. Both were very well-regarded writers and Ashfaq Ahmed was something of a cult figure. They also moved upwards socially. From humble surroundings they rose to a level which is considered an example of success in this society. In terms of posting and position and in terms of living style, they did show a remarkable upward mobility unlike many other writers and poets who only lose what they already have.
In the book, besides her own writings, Qudsia has added and collected a whole lot of writings of Ashfaq Ahmed and many of the contemporaries who were connected to them both on the various travails and the vicissitudes that both went through and how they were perceived and regarded by others.
This collection of material and biographical details can be most useful in placing the writings of Ashfaq Ahmed against a perspective. The 600 odd pages are written in a rambling style. Even the writings of Ashfaq Ahmed, edited and published posthumously by her, lacked a well-ordered design. BabaSahaba was not written with any meticulous pattern in mind, and appeared to meander through the various phases and experiences of his life. An autobiography of sorts written in the first-person was penned in the"hikayat" tradition, and there was hardly anyone who could match the genius of the Ashfaq Ahmed in this genre.
Gradually, with the passage of time, the very particular plot and character and its mutual development was abandoned for the allegorical style where symbols as subtext were supposed to offer a grid of meaning, otherwise lost to a lay reader. The magic of the style was enough to lure the reader into hundreds of pages, but then as one began to sit back, detach oneself and think about the content, the drift was not difficult to guess — because Ashfaq Ahmed was much exposed to the media, rather overexposed. What he said and believed was common knowledge among the literates of this society.
Nevertheless, as one probed deeper, it became clear that he was leading the reader to some area of experience that could not be shared or commonly experienced. The private space of the writer and that of the reader did not necessarily coincide.
As long as Ashfaq Ahmed developed his inimitable style and took the reader up the garden path of love, forgiveness and tolerance of diversity as he did in his earlier work like ‘Gadarya’ it was a palpable experience, its tangibility recognizable. But when he delved deeper into the esoteric and arcane area of mystical communion, the readers failed to go along with him, gradually falling by the wayside.
Bano Qudsia’s prose at times really shines and captivates the moment, the fragility of relationships, the shade of envy and the fickleness of human motion. There have been few writers who have laid bare the subjectivity of women, especially in a society where all avenue of independent expression are sealed off in the name of propriety, honour and tradition. The repressed woman’s sexual innuendoes and cryptic suggestiveness have being captured by her faithfully. It is only when she places these on a bigger canvas that artistic problems begin to arise. It is not a book that is very well-designed or planned— rather rambles through giving plenty of information, some more useful than the other.
In life, in literature: the Siamese twins
Reviewed By Humair Ishtiaq |InpaperMagzine April 10, 2011
BETWEEN the two of them, there happen to be well over 60 titles, innumerable television plays and countless radio scripts. It is well worth a shot to locate a more prolific writing couple in literature than Ashfaq Ahmed and Bano Qudsia, who are celebrated names and for reasons more than one.
The two have always been known for their specific thoughts on the many issues surrounding man’s existence and have a unique approach towards life in general. As such, they are not beyond the odd controversy that people with commitment face when they share their own ideology with the public.
But that is not important… it is just not important. The “respect” factor remains unhurt for the work they have produced, which they have done with literary finesse in terms of language, expression and story-craft, and with remarkable awareness of the different vehicles of expression they used, such as short stories, novels, television drama, radio features and so on.
In their public life, Ahmed and Qudsia remain an inseparable unit. It is difficult to imagine one without something of the other creeping into the picture. They represent one school of thought — ‘old’, but by no means dated — and share a remarkable sense of unity in managing their image in public.
Just as the two lives are inseparable, the books in hand — Baba Saheba and Rah-i-Rawaan — are just as much the proverbial Siamese twins. Though each has enough material to be appreciated as a stand-alone title, they are more like companion volumes to each other.
The initial half of Baba Saheba, an account of Ahmed’s time spent teaching and in broadcasting assignments in Italy, which has been published posthumously, was written by Ahmed himself, while the latter half was compiled with the help of his extended notes by Bano Qudsia.Naturally, there is a marked difference in the pace and texture of the two halves.
The part that was given the finishing touches by the writer himself carries all the characteristics of Ahmed’s prose — gripping, thought-provoking, lucid and utterly spellbinding. The second half stutters a bit though it has enough energy in its contents to keep the reader interested. But the intense feeling while going through the latter half is that of sorrow.
The reader is conscious that the book would have been different if Ahmed had time to complete it. In his hands, the contents would have been delivered with the punch that isso visible in the first half.
Ahmed’s close observation of the life abroad and of the various characters that he comes across — from Rosetta, Dr Velonica, Professor Angaretti and ProfessorFerracotti to celebrities such as Sir Alexander Fleming, Charlie Chaplin, Jacqueline Kennedy and others — are fascinating.
The contrast he has then generated with our local input is remarkable, but even more remarkable are the commonalities and similarity of thought and attitude to which he has pointed in a rather indirect, inoffensive manner. The latter half of the book is more focused on the wisdom of the East.
Rah-i-Rawaan,penned by Bano Qudsia, is a biographical sketch of the two lives — one from atraditionally conservative tribe of Mehmund Pathans and the other from aforward-looking, easygoing family of Jat Punjabis. The former was a patriarchalsetup, while the entire decision-making in the other was led by a woman who wasa senior official in the education setup, but, more than that, she had to leadfrom the front as her husband had died early.
The two met at the famed Government College in Lahore and there began a story that is worth many a novel. Ashfaq Ahmed’s marriage with Bano Qudsia was the first such rebellion in the Mehmund household and the couple had to pay the price till others in the family followed in their footsteps.
Though the marriage was unconventional, what followed was not quite as unusual. The woman had beena sportsperson, a drama fan who was not averse to the idea of acting on stage,a music lover who took lessons in singing and dancing, and a social personality who loved to go out to parties with all the glitter and gold. All this started changing after marriage. Was it for the better or worse is something people can have their opinion on, but it happened, and happened with the absolute and voluntary consent of the woman in question.
The unusual partin the story is that Bano Qudisa started transforming herself even though therewas no pressure from Ahmed and has no regrets that it happened that way.
It was only by doing away with all the distractions in life that she was able to locate the writer in herself. After more than 30 titles to her credit and all the fame, glory and, indeed, respect from a life in public, she hardly has a reason to regret the way it all materialised. In fact, the whole narrative in Rah-i-Rawaan is laced with gratitude towards Ahmed for not just initiating the transformation, but for doing it in a way that Qudisa thought she was doing itall herself.
And it is here that the reader may find something slightly off-putting because the narrative is not just self-effacing; it is downright self-deprecating. It will be hugely unfair to label it as fake, but Qudsia could have so easily avoided running herself down so repeatedly and with such an air of fatality about it.
This aside, the two volumes are highly readable both in terms of content and expression. Though they have been priced slightly on the higher side, once you finish reading, you will not mind having dished out so much for such worthy stuff.
Baba Saheba
(MEMOIRS)
Rah-i-Rawaan
(AUTOBIOGRAPHY)
