The News on Sunday: Tell us about your early life?

Mirza Athar Baig: I was born in the small town of Sharaqpur. Books meant a lot to me in my childhood probably because of the book-friendly atmosphere at home. During my school days I got a chance to read books like Dastan-e-Ameer Hamza and the likes of it. My father had many books in his collection that I a chance to relish. I still remember finding a copy of Conan Doyle and relished every bit of it. My mother was also a school teacher. At that time, I was under the spell of science, literature and philosophy. But I knew I will have to join the academia.-- I was cut for this job. Later I had my frustrations too but that is an another story.

TNS: Why did you opt for Philosophy to do your Masters?

MAB: I studied science up till Intermediate. But it turned out to be total disappointment. It was uninspiring as it depended wholly on rote system. The love for philosophy was inborn. So I decided to sit for Masters exams as a private candidate. I got high first division. Later in 1978, I joined education department as a lecturer.

TNS: How did the idea of writing a novel take shape?

MAB: I started writing short stories in class 8. Later, I wrote stories and recited some of them in the meetings of Halqa Arbab-e-Zauq. Some of my stories got published in literary magazines like Auraq. But then I started writing scripts for PTV and wrote many drama serials. Nevertheless, I think my stint as a playwright greatly hurt my literary career. To write the novel Ghulam Bagh, I detached myself from TV. In 1992, I started work on my novel and finished it in 2002. The decision to stop writing for TV was beneficial for the novel because I could concentrate on it with full devotion. I needed time to write a 900 page novel.

TNS: Commercially speaking bulky novels do not attract many readers. Do you agree?

MAB: It's a purely literary novel. Commercialism has nothing to do with it. It is for people who like serious literature. It was so warmly received by the literary buffs that it immediately disappeared from the market. When I finished writing it in 2002, I knew that there would be great difficulty to get it published as I was not a part of the 'literary mafia'. So I started writing my second novel in the meantime. But later I got a publisher and Ghulam Bagh saw the light of the day. I am indebted to Nadeem Omar, Zahoor Ahmad, and Shafqatullah for their help in this regard.

TNS: Are you satisfied with the response?

MAB: Yes I am. Halqa as well as Majlis-e-Taraqqi Adab and other literary organisations appreciated it a lot. Even without a proper launch, this book is attracting lot of attention and is being discussed in literary sittings.

TNS: When you try to fuse philosophy in novel the reader finds it hard to comprehend. What is your take on this?

MAB: Literature and philosophy are connected. There are countless examples of philosophic novels in literature. Sartre wrote novels as well as plays. Ayn Rand wrote a novel Fountainhead in which he explained the philosophy of Objectivism. Irish Murdoch and even Umberto Eco also wrote on the same lines. It was a challenge for me as I knew that its philosophic tone might affect the readership. I have tried to maintain a balance so it's a quite readable. I have not deliberately fused philosophy in it. I have a strong feeling that it has been understood partially. This novel has many dimensions. At a certain level it is highly philosophic and common reader can not understand it. It had political undertones too. Similarly, I have also tried linguistic experiences in it.

TNS: There are only a few good novels in Urdu. Does this mean novel writing is an extraneous job?

MAB: Yes it is -- a long and nerve-wrecking process. It is a solitary vigil. While it is quite easy job to jot down short stories, you need a different temperament to write novel. These days people want to come into limelight in a jiffy. But I never tried to do it only for publicity. I wrote a novel for the sake of writing only.

TNS: How many books are in the pipeline?

MAB: My second novel is complete. But I will get it published after the publication of the second edition of Ghulam Bagh.The next novel would be less bulky. It focuses on the theme of criminology in human nature. There is also a book of short stories in the pipeline.

TNS: Who in your opinion are the great novelists in Urdu literature?

MAB: Well it is quite easy. In my view, Abdullah Hussein and Qurratulain Hyder are the top notch novelists of Urdu. Udaas Naslein and Aag Ka Darya are great novels. I believe other novels of Abdullah Hussein like Baagh and Qeid are also of immense importance.

TNS: Any plans to translate your novel into English?

MAB: A few people have suggested that but it will be a big project. I know it is voluminous and there might be a few other problems related to translation making it difficult. I may try to do it myself, so let's see.

TNS: Does a writer have a social responsibility?

MAB: The writer should assimilate in his work the universal experiences of man. A great novel lends its hand to understand the society. But I am averse to the idea of sloganeering. A writer must not give solutions. He is not a preacher. I strongly believe that a novel should have a universal as well as particular appeal. So it must be for a few people as well for all the people.

TNS: Do you think Urdu literature is at par with world literature?

MAB: Globalisation has done a lot of harm to Urdu. There is a dearth of good translations of Urdu novels and short stories. India is way ahead of us; over there literature of all the regions is being translated into English. I think there are a few short stories in Urdu that can be said to be of international standard. As far as Urdu novel is concerned, I can not say anything about it. I am also writing a semi-autobiographical novel in English. It will sum up my strange experiences of teaching Philosophy in a country like Pakistan.

TNS: Any other literary plans?.

MAB: I am also writing a novel in Punjabi. It will hit the market soon. I don't plan to write in Urdu in the future. I will either write in English or in Punjabi.

Savera, July-August 2007

Qausain, Lahore

Pages: 408

Price: Rs 300

Editors: Riaz Ahmad Chaudhary and Muhammad Salimur Rahman

The recently published eighty fifth edition of Savera underscores the fact that a magazine with solid literary credentials can be published on a regular basis. The last sixty odd years have been a creditable achievement for the editorial and management team, for it has not really been easy to publish quality literary journals and even more difficult to sustain the regularity of their publication and quality in Pakistan. Many high quality magazines which were eagerly read by the literati have either disappeared from the scene or appear so irregularly that their impact is lost.

The first issue of Savera came out in 1945, edited by Chaudhary Nazir Ahmad. He must have been inspired by other members of the family like Chaudhary Barkat Ali who had been publishing Adb-e-Lateef since 1935. The family too had been involved with a number of publishing houses like Nia Idara, Maktabai Jadeed and Maktaba Urdu for the past so many decades, publishing some of the quality Urdu literature in this period.

A literary journal is the product of its environment and mostly fed by the political and social environment of the times. The literary debates generated by this cross fertilisation then find a platform that not only becomes the conduit for expression, but also organises all these intellectual debates on a more formal level. Such debates have been generated from the platform of Savera under the editorship of such luminaries as Sahir Ludhianvi, Ahmed Nadeem Qasmi, Ahmed Rahi, Hanif Ramay, Salahuddin Mahmood and its current editors -- Muhammad Salimur Rahman and Riaz Ahmad Chaudhary.

Usually it is said that the world nowadays has become 'aideologised' (if such an expression can be used). And it appears so after the great debates of the left and right during the greater part of the century seemed to have been exhausted; though the debate and divide between the right and left lingers on in altered forms, the definite contours have become part of history. In this age of post-modernism it is diffident to use the word ideology for it and call it the ruling ideology of the age.

Where is a literary magazine supposed to find itself in such an environment? The debate about two or more points of view continues the armory and the battleground changes. Magazines continue to offer the platform for debate, and if possible continue to push for a line that consciously establishes a link and continuity with the debates of the past. Savera's latest edition has many articles that belong to the era that one is referring to. The dialogue between Muzaffar Ali Syed, Hasan Askari and Suhail Ahmad Khan usually revolves round the question of the changes that have taken place in our literary criticism since the time of Hali. By making Hali a reference point the three trace down the history of the critical literary standards and intrinsically express their point of view.

The interview of Intezar Hussain by Asif Farukkhi too is about a novel that he wrote about thirty years ago when the lines were sharpened by the ideological positions. The interview is recent and revisits the novel. Intezar Hussain of course has been occupied by burden of the immense sacrifice involved in creating a new country -- the spiritual and emotional cost that it entailed other than the sheer material one. The separation of East Pakistan and the process of balkanisation of political and territorial units ever since based on ever narrower causes have always bothered him. In retrospect he fails to see partition as a solution to this problem.

In the twentieth century many debates have lighted up the landscape of literature where artistic armies from opposing camps have battled it out in full knowledge of the grounds they were holding. If the Progressive Writers made a great breakthrough and went charging ahead in the third decade of the century, the other movements inspired by the advancements in psychology and the physical sciences too caught up later and kept the race going at a good pace.

There is also an article on Hanif Ramay by Zulfiqar Ahmad Tabish which is more of a biographical nature and seems to be part of a series that he intends to write on his person who combined, though uneasily at times, the role of an artist, a thinker and an active politician.

Then there are articles which a literary magazine ought to carry for being pure scholarly works without being cast in a contemporary hue. The longish article on the Arabic poetry by Khursheed Rizvi on Umrao bin Kulsoom, a famous poet before the advent of Islam seems to be an ongoing research/critical work which is appearing in serial form.

Savera is not limited to poetry, fiction or criticism -- it includes all the genres so much so that the current edition also has a whole novel Madfan by Najamuddin Ahmed included in it. The prose includes short stories, critical articles, novel and also autobiographical pieces, interviews and a conversation that was held many years ago but unpublished. It also has book reviews and writings on topics which are necessarily non literary. And it also includes a play Nai Zindagi by Basir Sultan Kazmi.

Cambridge University's Lucasian Professor of Mathematics, the 65 year old, Stephen Hawking is one of the greatest scientists of our time. Like one of his predecessors, Sir Isaac Newton, Hawking's fame has reached beyond academic circles. He is not unknown even in our corner of the globe. His best known book A History of Time has been translated into Urdu and published by the Mashal Books of Lahore few years ago.

Stephen Hawking is an astrophysicist and is particularly interested in theoretical cosmology as well as quantum gravity. The interest led him to write about Big Bang theory and black holes. Disillusioned with the future of mankind on our planet during the past many years.he has come to the conclusion that many factors, including global warming, nuclear war and some sort of asteroid collision, have darkened man's future on Earth. "I think", he was recently reported saying, "the human race doesn't have a future if we don't go into space. We need to expand our horizon beyond planet Earth."

Hawking seems to render that earth is not man's permanent abode. Even if God wanted us to keep ourselves within the limits of this planet, we have divested it of its resources that support and maintain life. We have spoiled its natural environment and invented weapons that can destroy life on it. It is, therefore, imperative to see ways and means to venture into space and explore new places for mankind.

Not satisfied with his contemporaries, Hawking is now concentrating on the young generation. He says it is easier to explain things to the young people "because they have open minds and are eager to learn." He has planned a trilogy for making the young people appreciate the need to expand our horizon beyond Earth.

The distinguished scientist's forthcoming writings will supposedly not be dull and dry volumes. He intends to explain scientific theories in a fictional form with the help of a set of young heroes.

The first book of the planned trilogy came to the bookstands in September. Published under the title George's Secret Key to the Universe.it is available in many countries in English and French languages. Hawking says he has tried to make "science as exciting as science fiction."

Ghalib's attraction to readers, critics and researchers has not diminished with time. Dozens of books have been published about his life and poetry during the past hundred and fifty years and the process has not stopped. It goes without saying that more is written about Iqbal than Ghalib but there are understandable reasons for it. Allama Iqbal is not merely a poet. He is also a national hero and a great religious thinker. Moreover, he has the official patronage and most of the books written on him are brought out by the state-run institutions established for the purpose of disseminating his message and poetry. Ghalib does not enjoy such patronage. His own poetry and personality have kept him alive.

The latest book on Ghalib published in Pakistan has come from the most unexpected and far-flung corner of the country -- Choti Zereen in D.G.Khan, also the hometown of the former president Farooq Leghari. Mohammad Abbas Birmani's book titled Ghalib key Zamanay ki Dilli has been published by Sang-e-Meel Publications of Lahore. It narrates the story of the city of Delhi in the nineteenth century. Birmani has collected information about the city of Ghalib's time from various sources and compiled it in the book. The details about the gardens, bazaars, historical buildings, mushairas, poets, painters, sufis and scholars of the city have been presented in separate chapters. There are also chapters on Bahadur Shah Zafar, the last king of Delhi and Ghalib's contemporary, as well as on those Englishmen who were on friendly terms with Ghalib. An interesting book, it tells us many things about the capital city of the Mughals. It also greatly helps us in understanding the life and personality of Ghalib whom Allama Iqbal once described as the most honourable resident of Dilli.

The third death anniversary of Ashfaq Ahmad was observed in Lahore recently. It was pleasant to see that his readers and admirers have not let him slip into oblivion. Many of them gathered at his Model Town residence to pay tribute to him. The occasion was attended by Amjad Islam Amjad, Mustansar Hussain Tarar, Dr.Anis Nagi, Siddiqa Begum, Yahya Khan and Tanveer Saghar.

Bano Apa told us on the occasion that nowadays she is busy editing and giving final touches to the manuscripts her husband had left behind. These writings, she added, would soon be made available to readers.