We learned to laugh from Mushtaq Ahmed Yousufi and he learned how to make people laugh. Humour is the quality of being amusing or comic, especially as expressed in literature or speech. Mushtaq Ahmed Yousufi was humour's Lord and with his demise on 20th June the famous 'Yousufi era of humour' has come to an end. The 95-year-old Yousufi contracted pneumonia after which he was admitted to a hospital in Karachi but couldn't regain his health and passed away.
Although Yousufi Sahib was the most widely read Urdu writer of the twentieth century he wrote only five books during his entire literary career of more than 50 years. But as people love his style all of his books were republished to meet the demand of his fans.
His writings are a blend of humour and wit away from general concept of humour writings. Yousufi Sahib's first public appearance for me was in mid 90s at artist and sculptor Shahid Rassam's paintings exhibition where he talked about Shahid's work.
Like other fans of Yousufi I also enjoyed every page and derived delight from each sentence he wrote. I always wanted to meet him in person. Shahid Rassam turned my desire into a reality when he asked me to accompany him to Yousufi's residence last year. Yousufi Sahib received us warmly although his health had declined he was mentally fit.
I found Yousufi Sahib an extremely modest and sober person. Although he was a humourist and supposed to be talkative there were moments of subtle humour that still makes me smile. I kissed his hands to show deep respect and affection.
Of all the literary genres humour is the most difficult one as it exposes relatively quickly the evils of society. A humourist has to be very cautious about where the fine line lies between quality humour and indecent joke-making. Like Patras Bukhari, Yousufi Sahib was a natural and born humourist, who truly conquered the hearts and minds of readers.
His books are a recollection of events, encounters and discussions with many different people having totally different personalities and professions. His books offer evergreen linguistic twists with poetry and powerful description along with choice of words as sublime as ever which are the attributes of Yousufi Sahib. And of course digression, which has always been his hallmark.
He had always been careful about his prose which was always characterised by deep subtle elements of surprise. He was also meticulous about the usage and application of words that gave strength to his writings.
The fans of Mushtaq Ahmed Yousufi have been savouring his four celebrated books for the past several years until the iconic nonagenarian humour writer came up with a fifth book 'Shaam-i-Shaer-i-Yaraan' in 2014, a compilation of assorted speeches and addresses delivered to a variety of gatherings by him to add to 'Ahd-e-Yousufi' [the Yousufi era], which began in 1961 with his first book being published. This new book saw the light of the day after an interval of 24 years. While his book 'Charagh Talay' (1961) was a compilation of 12 humourous essays, 'Khakam Badahan' (1969) contained eight humourous essays, but 'Zarguzasht' (1976) was a fictional autobiography and 'Aab-e-Gum' (1990) contained delightful sketches and memoirs, penned in his inimitable style of writing about the pains and sufferings of Partition to which he was a key witness.
His first two books 'Charagh Talay' (1961) and 'Khakam Badahan' (1969) won Adamjee Prize, while 'Aab-e-Gum' (1990) got the Hijra Award as well as Pakistan Academy of Letters Award for the best book, 1990.
Mushtaq Ahmad Yousufi was the undisputed champion of Urdu satirical and humour writing. He was one of those lucky literary figures that have been appreciated before they died. He was awarded Sitara-i-Imtiaz in 1999 and Hilal-i-Imtiaz Award in 2002, the highest literary honours by the Government of Pakistan.
He was born in a learned family of Jaipur, Rajasthan on 4 September, 1923. His father Abdul Karim Khan Yousufi was chairman of the Jaipur Municipality, and later Speaker of the Jaipur Legislative Assembly. Yousufi completed his early education in Rajputana where he topped in Matriculation examination and his total numbers were the highest in the whole sub-continent that year. He earned B.A. degree from Agra University while acquired his M.A.
Philosophy and LLB degree from Aligarh University. After partition of India his family migrated to Karachi, Pakistan. Before migration he was Deputy Commissioner in India. He had also witnessed proceedings of court cases in which Quaid-e-Azam appeared as a lawyer. And he always remembered his meetings with Quaid-e-Azam, Gandhi and Nehru.
He has served on various key posts in the banking sector but made his name in an entirely different field. He became a humourist writer and highlighted diverse human complexities in a satirical way and earned world wide fame. Hence he had served Urdu literature through his life.
Yousufi Sahib also served as the head of several banks and other national and international governmental and financial institutions. He joined Muslim Commercial Bank (MCB) in 1950 and then he joined Allied Bank Ltd in 1965. In 1974 he became President of United Bank Ltd. In 1977 became Chairman of the Pakistan Banking Council. He was also awarded Quaid-i-Azam Memorial Medal for distinguished services in banking. He joined banking sector as a clerk and retired as a president of a bank. He was one of the founders of Allied Bank Limited (ABL).
His circle of friends comprised many poets and writers such as Jaun Elia, Shahid Ahmed Dehlvi, Zia Mohiuddin, Iftikhar Arif, Shakil Adil Zada, Zehra Nigah and Anwar Maqsood.
While belonging to the banking sector he wrote under the pseudonym of 'M Mushtaq'. His language standards were so high. India's Gulzar Sahib for example said, "When I don't understand which word to use in place of a word I read Yousufi Sahib's book for guidance."
Anwar Maqsood said on Yousufi Sahib's demise, "Pakistan had five provinces until the separation of one province [East Pakistan] but Mushtaq Ahmed Yousufi's five books are like five provinces for us."
His contemporaries also admired him and commented on his writings on various occasions. Ibn-i-Insha, who was himself a great Urdu satirist and humourist, wrote about Yousufi Sahib:...if ever we could give a name to the literary humour of our time, then the only name that comes to mind is that of Yousufi!
Another scholar, Dr Zaheer Fatehpuri, wrote:
We are living in the 'Yousufi era' of Urdu literary humour...
As Zamir Badayuni says in his artilcle on Yousufi:
Mushtaq Ahmed Yousufi is basically a humourist who plays with the language and paints a picture of man, decentralized and imperfect. He combines all the styles, pre-modern, modern and post-modern. Rasheed Ahmed Siddiqui is pre-modern; Pitras is modern and Yousufi is post-modern.
Some of his one-liners that are famous among his fans are:
-- "Mard ki ankh aur aurat ki zuban ka dum sab se akhir main nikalta hai."
-- "Marz ka naam maloom ho jai tu takleef tu dor nahin hoti uljhan dor ho jati hai."
-- "Kaman say nikla teer aur kamar say nikli tond kabi wapas nahi aati."
-- "Khoon, mushk, ishq aur najaiz dolat ki tarha omar bhi chupai nahi chupti."
-- "Tamashy main jan tamashai ki tali say parti hai madari ki dugdugi say nahi."