Qurat-ul-ain Haider Has Passed Away

Was Aag ka darya really a masterpiece? Going by the standards in Urdu language, it perhaps was. Compare that with the literature produced in other languages such as English French or Russian, the novel stands nowhere near the top. In over Four hundred years of history, Urdu language has produced just about four or five epics i.e. if you include Tilsame hoshrooba by Abdul Haleem Sharer. And they are nowhere near world class.

Most of the Urdu novels are actually novelettes or to be precise, just long-short stories presented as novels. Some of those long short stories were stretched by using the Nastaleeq script creatively. Put them through some word processor, those novels will become what they are long short stories.

Urdu had all the ingredients to produce the top class literature. First, it gathered steam under the Mughal patronage and then it became the voice of Muslim dissent in the British India. The two elements that could have been instrumental in producing world class literature.

Under the Mughal patronage, only three worthy poets Mir, Ghalib and Anees appeared on the scene. During the dissent, only Faiz reached the pinnacle.

Dissent in Russia produced some phenomenal novels, stories and some exceptional writers. Under the King’s patronage, one after another classic appeared in the English language by some top class poets and writers. Social upheavals in France produce some great writings.

Borrowing heavily from Farsi, Arabic and Hindi, Urdu had all the ingredients to allow authors to explore all possibilities but barely a handful did. Why?

One simple answer: The culture in the subcontinent did not encourage creativity. The subcontinent is an insipid society. There is a great depth in the land but the Indian culture does not encourage new ideas. It encourages followers and hates innovators.

No mater how big a social upheaval, the society encourages people to internalize the wounds. It encourages people to keep quiet, maintain a silence and as a whole the society just attempts to walk away from the problems instead of confronting them.

The literature produced in Urdu language reflects that.

HP:33
I hope you will excuse me not to enter into such a tangential dialogue at this hour.

In case this was missed what I wrote in my ilog & unplugged:


khir-e-Shab kay Hamsafar...
by echoboom on Aug 21, 2007 11:48:23 am
Qurat-al-Ain Hyder:

Cooler-of-Eyes Hyder
Solace-to-the-Eyes-Hyder

One was the Qurat-al-Ain in the nineteenth century of Iran from Quzvain..the most powerful Mullaani..who shunned her far less learned Mulla husband and joined hands with Mulla Mohammed Ali Baab. This woman, in full veil, thundered from the pulpit & wrote poetry so beautiful & enchanting that she & Ghalib are the only ones accorded the status, almost the highest, by Iqbal in Javed Naama in his heirarchy of individuals as the most creative and Independant of mind. Tahira, for that was the name of this Qurat-al-Ain was a champion of human rights and a female's station in a community [& not a "feminist"..UGLY word Western word..abhor it. condemn it]
and then there was:

Qurat-ul-Ain-Hyder, the one who graced this world in the 20th century was equally accomplished except that there was no Mulla Mohammed Ali Baab who could be her even a near-equal to be a consort. The intellect, courage, grace and an untainted geneology was not easy to come-by in an India ( Pakistan) where Dollar-dogs roam free with impunity and bricks &
stones embedded & cannot be loosened so that one could defend oneself against these dollar-dogs.

Just look at the name her father gave her..and how prophetic & inspiring. Not only it must have become part of her consiousness to follow Tahira's lead but also how much love is stirred & mingled in the name itself.

Solace (coolness) of the Eyes. Comfort to the Eyes. A delight to the eyes...many shades here [english language , a vulgar UNCULTURED LANGUAGE CAN NEVER EVER ATTAIN SUCH TEHZEEB, such class]

Ain: the word for Eyes is also the word for water-fountain or a natural-spring in the Oasis. Just imagine the value of this in a desert. Now because the eyes bubble with water so it is called a spring or well as well. From this is the word Ainak ( eyeglasses) and similarly in farsi it is adopted as Chashm ( Eye) and Chashma is used for a spring as well as for ainak.


I am one her thousands of lovers. Not admirers, but lovers ...aashiques. English language does not have the cultured-nuance of this powerful word.

I spoke to her in April this year and ever word she said would stay etched my mind , I hope, till my last day. She invited me to visit her and I was trying my best to loosen thew collar around my neck..the collar of being enslaved to the pursuit of prosperity, riches and Unhappiness.

" Aakhir-e Shubb kay Hamsafar*, Faiz, najaanay kyaa huay
Jaanay kahaaN gaee Ssaba, subha kidhar nikal Gaee"
.................................................................... ...............FAIZ

*Title of her acclaimed novel

translation:
where did go the fellow-travellers, Faiz, who stayed till the dying dark nights

O where got lost the morning breeze, a herald of the Dawn in its wake.
____________________________________________________________________
Her e Listen to her reading one of her stories.

http://lcweb2.loc.gov /mbrs/master/salrp/00401.mp3

Echo, although I never read anything about qurat-ul-haider, whatever little I did read of Indian regional literature convinced me beyond any doubt that it was far superior to anything being produced by Indians in English. It's a completely different world, another level of sensitivity. Particularly, in poetry.

anything by qurat-ul-haider.....geez!

In the meantime breaking all tradition, Aini Apa’s Namaze Janaza was offered both by Sunnis and Shias twice following both the styles of Sunnis and Shias. People said that it was rare that people of both the sect have ever prayed for one person in their respective traditions.






Quratulain Haider’s death condoled across the country
By Khabrein Staff Correspondent,




New Delhi, August 22: Qurratulain Haider’s death is being mourned across the Subcontinent. The celebrated author and fiction writer who bid adieu to a life less ordinary yesterday after a long struggle for life in a Delhi Hospital is being remembered for her wonderful work.

Prime Minister, Dr. Manmohan Singh an Urdu aficionado himself condoled the death of Ainee aapa. In a condolence message, the Prime Minister said: “I am deeply grieved to learn about the sad demise of Smt. Qurratulain Hyder. She was a great teacher and scholar famous in India and abroad. She was one of the most celebrated and prolific writers of Urdu literature. Aag Ka Dariya, her magnum opus, is a landmark novel that explores the vast sweep of time and history. In her unfortunate passing away the country especially Urdu literature has lost a towering literary figure. She will be truly missed in literary circles in the country.”

Ghalib Institute organized a condolence meeting the same day Haider breathed her last. Condoling her death on the occasion Prof. Siddiqur Rahman Qidwai the secretary of Ghalib Institute said that her death has brought an end to the golden period of the Urdu language. He said that whenever the name of Urdu would be taken her name would be hard to miss. Shahid Mahilee, the director of the Institute said that she held a special place for the institute in her heart.

National Council for Promotion of Urdu Language (NCPUL) also organized a condolence meeting at its office in Delhi. While speaking on the occasion its director Ali Jawed said that her death seems to be an end of Urdu fiction. Makhmoor Saeedi also spoke highly of the renowned author.

Gulzar Zutshi Dehlawi while speaking at a condolence meeting held by Anjuman Tameere Urdu said that Aini Aapa was one of the greatest figures of Urdu fiction in the twenty first century.

Urdu Department of Delhi University also organized a condolence meeting. Ibne Kanwal, head of Urdu department said that she had a unique stature within the Urdu world, be it India, Pakistan, Middle East or America.

Gopi Chand Narang, the president of Sahitya Academy said in a press release that Qurratulain Haider’s death was a severe blow to the Urdu language. He said that such people are born once in centuries. Narang added that she would remain in the heart of Urdu lovers forever.

In the mIeantime breaking all tradition, Aini Apa’s Namaze Janaza was offered both by Sunnis and Shias twice following both the styles of Sunnis and Shias. People said that it was rare that people of both the sect have ever prayed for one person in their respective traditions.

She wrote a great deal more than "Aag Ka Darya"

A rare talent whose passing has been recognized

on both sides of the Indo-Pak border.

May she rest in peace.

Ras

http://www.outlookindia.com/images/qurratualalin_hyder_051007.jpg
Prashant Panjiar
Qurratulain Hyder (1927-2007)
APPRAISAL
Streams Of Flame
Aini Apa went from '40s college girl chic to an epic transaction with history ...
Sheela Reddy on Qurratulain Hyder
| e-mail | one page format | feedback: send - read |
The starry litworld may have seen and heard little of the feisty, flame-haired Qurratulain Hyder in recent years, but Aini Apa continued to play her role as the grande dame of Urdu literature with aplomb almost till the end, last Wednesday morning. Barely six months ago, she was at her passionate, erudite best, presiding over a Delhi conference on the Urdu novel. Her legion of admirers listened slack-jawed as the 81-year-old mother of modern Urdu literature launched into a marathon, asthmatic speech that lasted an incredible 90 minutes. Hovering behind her was her faithful maid—her only family besides a niece—carrying her one indispensable gadget: an inhaler.

Aini, or to her friends, simply Annie, was born with a literary spoon: her father, Sajjad Hyder, was a civil servant who wrote romantic fiction under the pen name, Yildirim (Thunderbolt). Her mother, too, dabbled in Urdu fiction. Her own first story, Bi-Chuhiya (Little Miss Mouse), was published in children's magazine Phool when she was eleven. But there was nothing mousy about the child named by her unconventional, aristocratic parents after an early 19th century Persian poet, Qurratulain Tahir, executed for his non-conformism. Thanks to her father's job, she grew up all over India, including Dehradun and Port Blair in the Andamans. By the time she reached Lucknow's famed Isabella Thoburn College, and later, Lucknow University, she was already something of a celebrity with her bobbed hair and chiffon saris, "the modern college girl" from a liberal Muslim family that other students gawked at from a distance.

Unsurprisingly, her early stories were about this clash between crumbling Lucknowi tehzeeb and anglicised modernity. She introduced the "modern college girl factor into Urdu fiction", as she once put it self-deprecatingly, earning for herself the memorable nickname of "Pom Pom Darling". Then, at 21, everything changed. Her family moved to Pakistan, and she with them. The experience was unsettling, but she produced three novels in succession—Mere Bhi Sanam Khane (1949), Safina-e-Gham-e-Dil (1952) and Aag Ka Dariya (1959)—which established her literary career.

In terms of historical canvas (4th century BC to post-Independence Indo-Pak), craft (a single character traversing the entire span of history), sheer range (covering everything from tradition, culture, history, religion to modern politics), Aag ka Dariya—or River of Fire—was a phenomenal book in any language. In Urdu, it had the added power of being the first substantial novel in a language that had so far focused mostly on poetry. At 33, Qurratulain found herself crowned the sovereign of Urdu literature.

Fame had its drawbacks: "Aag Ka Dariya raised important questions about Partition and rejected the two-nation theory," explains Urdu writer and professor Anwar Alam. "It was this more than anything else that made it impossible for her to continue in Pakistan." Qurratulain escaped first to London, where she worked as Pakistani press attache, and then as a "sari-reporter" on Fleet Street and BBC.

Fame also played cupid—for a bit. K.A. Abbas, journalist, author, film producer, began to correspond with the London-based novelist. Love happened, and a tryst. But it was a disaster. Abbas, the story goes, turned up in a bright blue suit. Qurratulain, always particular about appearances, took an instant dislike to the suit, and the man. "I can't marry a man who doesn't know how to dress," was her now legendary response. But if Abbas failed, India still beckoned her, and in 1961, she returned home, not to Karachi, but to Bombay.

For the next 15 years, Qurratulain was at her peak: with a day job, first as editor of Imprint and later assistant editor in The Illustrated Weekly, and evenings of mushairas with Sardar Ali Jafri and Kaifi Azmi—and, of course, writing.Despite the full social calendar, Qurratulain still managed to produce a formidable body of work while still in Bombay. Patjhar Ki Awaz (The Voice of Autumn) came out in 1965, and won the Sahitya Akademi Award two years later. Chai ke Bagh, one of four novellas including Dilruba, Sita Haran, Agle Janam Mohe Bitiya Na Kijo, exploring gender injustice, came out in the same year. More novels, novellas, a three-volume autobiography, several collections of short stories followed in the years after she moved to Delhi (in all, 12 novels/novellas, nine collections, half a dozen translations, four books of reportage). And more awards—the Jnanpith, Padma Shri, Padma Bhushan. Not a bad innings for any novelist of worth, and yet, for Aini's many admirers, her life's work was done with Aag Ka Dariya. All the rest was icing on the cake.
| e-mail | one page format | feedback: send - read |
More Stories: Sheela Reddy Qurratulain Hyder
More in Portraits


ALSO

Now this is a tribute

http://www.dawn.com/weekly/books/books10.htm

I am ashamed to admit that I have not read any of Qurratulain's works. I learnt about her death from a forwarded email from Tarek Fatah who lumped her with Sahir Ludhyanvi as someone who realised early the direction into which Pakistan was headed and decided to live and die in India. I don't think that the comparison was quite valid. Sahir did not stay in Pakistan for any length of time, was quite unhappy in Pakistan for not being able to interact with anyone except Muslims and the views he expressed were unpopular. It seems however that Annie was quite successful in Pakistan.

A lot has been said about Aag ka Darya spanning several centuries. I do remember a series of novels by a Hindi writer, Guru Dutt, back in early 50s along the same lines. If I remember correctly, the names of some of those novels were Pathik, Swadheen-ta kay path par and Swatantrata-daan. Each of these novels was a tome of 5-600 pages and the same hero kept coming back as a reborn character.