The Academy of Letters provided a rare opportunity to discuss the Sindhi translation of Jean-Paul Sartre's novel, " The Nausea" in a book launching ceremony recently. Another work launched on this occasion was the uptodate Gazetteer of District Larkano, which the translator of Sartre's work also completed as a laudable project.
Dr Badruddin Ujjan, a senior civil servant, is perhaps is one of those writers who have a Ph.D dissertation to their credits. He did his Ph.D on a comparative aspects of the English / Sindhi literature.
His effort to update the gazetteer of Larkana should be emulated by other civil servants. I believe this is the first attempt of its kind in Sindh to update a district gazetteer which covers the latest development in a district.
Being someone who has been writing on Sindhi literature for the last 40 years. I think that there are very few Sindhi and Urdu writers who match his competence and brilliance. He translated a good deal of T.S. Eliot in Sindhi and his present work, "Ander Ji Uchal," is the translation of Sartre's work. It is the translation of Nausea which was first published in 1938 and became Srtre's first claim to fame.
Jean Paul Sartre is trully a great name in French literature and philosophy. Born in 1905, he grew up in his maternal grandfather's house who was uncle of Albert Schweitzer, a great German philosopher who became a phenomenologist. As we know this school believes in objective and unprejudiced description of feeling and expects the readers to deduce conclusions from the descriptive narration. This school doesn't expect writers to sit in judgement and pass verdicts. It is a philosophy which doesn't believe in defending any value system.
It is interesting that Dr Ujjan, who believes in social accountability of writers, felt a soft corner for T.S. Eliot and Sartre. This also shows Dr Ujjan's generosity ad catholicity of taste because it is always useful to study the formative phase of writers. Nausea is surely a work which doesn't lead us to subscribe to a theory of commitment and action. Rather it is a work which only rejects the burgcoise culture. It believes in a sensate or materialistic way of life. Dr Badruddin Ujjan's work, translated under the title "Ander Ji Uchal", is the first work of Jean-Paul Sartre in which he comes out to be a phenomenologist and not as a latter date existentialist who went on to be a communist intellectual as well. Dr Badruddin Ujjan's translation is authentic and creative at the same time. It is commendable that Taj Baloch, Editor SOJHRO, Karachi, serialised the translation in his weekly. I believe that such works coming from committed writers emphasise the importance of studying writers in totality.
Dr Ujjan has provided a very important note on Sartre's contribution to world intellectualism. He has remembered with gratitude some outstanding Sindhi intellectuals like Shaikh Ayaz, Rashidi Brothers and Sobho Gianchandani among others and he expects that Sindhi youth will be turning towards intellectuals of international stature to enforce their struggle against corrosive influences of the degenerate influences. The launching ceremony was addressed by Agha Noor Muhammad Pathan, Meher Husain Shah, a well-known jurist, resident in USA, Dr Zulfiqar Sial, Inam Shaikh, Anwar Peerzado, Taj Baloch and Urdu poet-critic Muslim Shamim. Anwar Peerzado spoke on the updating of Gazetteer of Larkano in which he is also a notable contributor.
Dr Hamida Khuhro, who was expected to preside over the function, could not attend because of some unavoidable circumstances and sent a message eulogising Dr Ujjan's effort.
The interesting part of the programme was Dr Badruddin Ujjan's speech. He said that only few a persons attend literary gatherings but the intellectual concerns of the society were best served by them.The majority of people are least interested in such pursuits but this indifference doesn't matter because the concerned citizenry matters most. He said that men of letters should be honoured and their works made known to the public so that the struggle to enrich the society with intellectual pursuits may continue.
Muslim Shamim, an Urdu writer of note, presided over this function and praised the writer's work. He said it is rare to see a scholar-civil servant in our midst who translates works of literature and updates a gazetteer of a district he served as its co-ordinating administrator. He demanded that Sindhi be declared a national language as well.
SINDHI WRITERS' DISCOURSE:
Thanks to a group of Hyderabad friends, we had a very pleasant opportunity of listening to some outstanding Sindhi writers' views on "globalisation and culture" at the Indus Hotel, Hyderabad, last week.
Names of some of the celebrities present in the meeting were Professor Qalandar Bakhsh Lakiari, Haider Ali Laghari, Amar Sindhu, Gul Muhammad Umrani, a senior civil servant and intellectual, Akbar Laghari, Shahnaz Shoro, Shoukat Shoro of the Institute of Sindhiology, Inam Shaikh, Secretary, Sindhi Adabi Board, Abdul Qadir Junejo, a well-known Sindhi dramatist and writer, Dr Shamsuddin Usrani, Dr Hasan Manzar, Dr Nasim Fatima, Dr Yasmin Fatima and some well-known pressmen. A lively debate ensued from my opening remarks on globalisation and culture. I had maintained that some languages and culture of the Third World were threatened by the all-embracing influence of English and there was a need for doing something to ensure that our languages and cultures were able to counter the pressures. In my opinion we are not teaching our languages well through our educational system.
It was quite interesting that some friends thought that the inevitable had to happen and efforts should be made to acquire proficiency in English to face up the challenge.
I believe that Sindhi men of letters are diligently working to reinforce the intellectual vigour of their great heritage and so long as it continues unimpeded, there is no need to panick. Such informal gatherings should continue in our urban centres to promote an active dialogue between the writers.
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