Very few collections of letters have inspired me for the simple reason that most writers, perhaps, do not communicate with their correspondents but with something else in mind. Maybe it is the social scientists or the historians as the main target.
There is hardly a semblance of Ghalib's or Safia Akhtar's or Faiz Ahmed Faiz's letters to Alys in most of the collections of letters published so far. In fact they are a world apart. I leave this observation for the probing of my readers.
Muhammad Asadullah's reprint of collection of letters written to him under the title "Khutoot-e-Hama Rang" belongs to a different category.
Excepting two or three correspondents such as Bertrand Russell, Rajni Palme Dutt, Dr Jan Marek, Maurice Conforth and a few others, M. Asadullah's correspondents are, as a rule, very friendly to him and hence they seem to be sharing a great deal of their family affairs and views on different issues with him. M. Asadullah, being a progressive writer living since long in Berlin with his German wife, one son and one daughter, is known for his book on Saadat Hasan Manto entitled "Manto - Mera Dost" and life-long devotion to the Left politics.
There are two sections of the book: Urdu and English. In the section letters for 77 writers, all of them famous and well known and 35 correspondents have used English for the purpose of communication. Interestingly, Krishan Chander and Salma Krishan Chander's letters are in English. Krishan Chender's Urdu letters also form part of this treasury.
I believe that most of the Urdu letters have been written by close friends and companions. Majority of them being progressive, this book has acquired a historical significance in the sense that no one could work on Sajjad Zaheer, Ali Sardar Jafri, Sibte Hasan, Makhdoom Mohyuddin, Abdullah Malik, Ashfaq Mirza, Akhtarul Iman, Ahmed Nadeem Qasmi, Kkwaja Ahmed Farooqi, Rasheed Hasan Khan, Surendra Prakash, Sikandar Ali Wajd, Suliman Araib, Rashid Azar, Abid Hasan Minto, Abid Ali Khan, Ismat Chughtai, Farigh Bukhari, Firaq Gorakhpuri, Majrooh Sultanpuri, Mumtaz Husain, Mirza Adeeb, Viqar Azeem, Yunus Tanwir and Kaifi Azmi without studying them.
The reason is quite simple. Each one of these correspondents has shared some aspect of his life which could only be shared when the correspondent is very close to his correspondent.
One may came across letters written by Parwin Shakir, Kishwer Naheed, Saqi Farooqi, Raj Bahadur Gaur's daughter, Abdur Rahman Chughtai, Enver Sajjad, Munir Ahmed Shaikh, Mansoor Qaiser and Jitinder Billo among others. I have grouped them all with a view to impressing upon my readers that M. Asadullah has a vast circle of friends and acquaintenances. He is known to be an amiable person and all of his correspondents are found sharing with him something - maybe also requesting for some help - and the letters show that a great deal of confidence has been reposed in him.
One thing is certain about these letters. They have not been written to someone who wanted his friends to write something about them. The correspondents appear to have known him quite well or have come to know that M. Asadullah, on the mention of any one of his close friends, would respond to them without the slightest hesitation on his part. Such letters, which seek his intervention, are not many but they help to convey the impression as to what kind of interesting person M. Asadullah is.
As for someone who would like to know the most intimate aspects of progressive writers' frank views about some important issues such as Cold War, Socialism, Plight of the Third World, Machinations of the Capitalistic West etc. One will find oneself enriched with this collection which is a reservoir of frank exchange of views.
The importance of these letters is that from the times when the Eastern Bloc was in the ascendant to the times when it is in complete disarray, most of the writers' letter show that have not dropped 'their' shoulders or lapsed into despair or depression there appears to be a veneer of considered conviction that all that which happened, was not history. The people's destiny was not a mad man's dream.
It was a retreat and like all retreats it could be imagined that the forces of history could bounce back. No regime could disassociate itself from the problems of the masses. The weak will not allow to accept a destiny which should keep them weak for ever. They will like to dream about a Protean rise from the ashes.
Well, the content of some 'letters' could be considered as something out of tune with the popular rhapsody of today.
But the annual meetings of the World Social Forum and the growing poverty of the working classes in the West is bound to trigger off a backlash which would resurrect the ideal of the greatest good for the greatest number. Ali Sardar Jafri's Nazm Al-Wida sums up the entire rationale for this expectation.
The letters of Sajjad Zaheer, Ali Sardar Jafri, Sibte Hasasn, Raj Bahadur Gaur, Faiz Ahmed Faiz, Hameed Akhtar, Zoe Ansari, Justice Vijandra Jan, K S Duggal, Hamza Alavi and Mazhar Ali Khan etc etc, are particularly, interesting and revealing.
Another important feature of the book is a good number of valuable pictures of celebrities. I think that M. Asadullah's piece, towards the end of the Urdu section, under the title "Kuch Apne Bare Main" is worth discussing.
M. Asadullah writes that it is under compulsion of the publisher that he wants to write about himself. He writes and I am condensing it for the reason of space. He was born in Hyderabad. He says that Krishan Chander's short stories and Telegana struggle had prepared him the future roadmap. Professor Alam Khundmir's books helped him a great deal. He found a riddle to the exploitation of man by man. At the age of 19 he went to London. Iqbal Singh, the well-known writer, helped him a lot. Rajni Palme Dutt's India Today became M. Asadullah's bible. He became a close lieutenant of Rajni Palme Dutt. Very soon he became a dear friend of Sajjad Zaheer, Ali Sardar Jafri, Faiz Ahmed Faiz, Makhdum Mohyuddin, Sikandar Ali Wajid and Sulaiman Araib.
He describes quite woefully the fall of Russia and its consequences. Yet his promise to himself: Never give up the hope of seeing the triumph of commonsense as the world of today looked upon globalisation as a bleak future for the Third World. Published by Nigarshat, Zakir Nagar, New Delhi, the book is quite voluminous and exquisitely printed.
In a recent article which he wrote in a newspaper, M. Asadullah says that the triumph of the Socialists in German elections in September this year was a good sign. The Socialists securing 44 seats for the first time even in areas which were not traditionally Socialist, has a great hope for him. No European government could turn the wheel of time back. The welfare policies of the previous governments could not be undone.
He writes in that article that the globalisation couldn't suppress the hopes and aspirations of the common masses of the world and all that is being considered as a unipolar world was nothing but a mirage. One may differ from M. Asadullah as much one wishes but no one shouldn't deny to oneself the Voice of a Sage who fervently thinks that he has an appointment with Destiny.
Comments
Comments are closed.