Some amongst us who have not read Urdu have certainly missed something lovely in
the world of literature . This rule equally applies to
those who have not read Hindi . To understand the Soul of India’s literary ethos , one has to read literature created
by both the languages . I also want the lovely poetry , short
stories , novels and essays created in
both the languages to be read by all of us to have a feel of and get a peep into our shared and composite existence and the issues that it spins forth .
Above thoughts again
visited me today when I read some short stories
of Virender
Patwari ( born 1940 in Kashmir )appearing in his Urdu Book Lalla Rukh Published by Modern Publishing
House, Daryaganj Delhi in 2013 and priced Rs350/=. My special Thanks to Patwari sahib
for sending a copy to me absolutely free.
The book has 50 short stories . I read 12 but shall keep my promise to finish all the fifty
.My first reaction after reading these stories is that Mr. Patwari should have
also published the book in Devnagri for a vast section of readers who are otherwise ignorant about this
great piece of literature that he has created. The stories remind me of Anton Chekhov. Every thought, every
line and every paragraph represents evolved mind and wonderful reflections from
the writer. Every story is representative
of the present scenario especially the issues
that this Runaway Technology seems to be imposing on Human existence .
My opinion is that the writer is an authority on child
Psychology which is evident from stories like
DARPOK ( fearful ) . Fears and thoughts muffled in the mind of a child have
been aptly dealt with in this story .
The child who is made to sleep alone in
his room turns happy one day when his
parent quarrel .He possibly thinks that he has not to sleep alone at least for
that day as his mother shall surely come and sleep with him.
Alas ! It does not happen so .I shall not elaborate further . I would like
every one to read the story.
In another story DUSHMAN ( Enemy ), We find the most
powerful man on the earth afraid of a barking dog. The man who can order the Bomb
laden missiles to fly .The man who can bring planes crashing down runs away at the sight of a barking dog. The dog is finally killed with a sharp
stone and the man enters a cave. Inside the cave he finds another
man from ancient times smiling at him possibly because his enemies were also wild beasts and
not men. And he would not use Bombs but stones to save himself from these wild beasts . To know more read the story .
Another story that I would like to mention is JAWAAB ( reply
). A wonderful interaction between an elderly man and his
two grand children over watching TV channels .The grandfather wants to shift to
News channel while the children want cartoon channel.. Then one day the children
enter the room of their grandfather
and find him busy watching the news channel. To their grandfather’s surprise both the boys
start watching the news with interest while
their grandfather tries to divert their attention by telling them stories of
Columbus and Vasco De Gama . After listening the news the children ask some
question to their grandfather and seek reply
‘ Grandfather ! Are we hindus or muslims ?”
“ Are we Brahmis or Harijans ? ’
“ Grandfather, Are we Iraqis or Americans ? ’
“Grandfather ,Are we cruel or oppressed ? ’
“Grandfather Can He-Man
come to our rescue ”
“ Grandfather , if someone kidnaps us and seeks a ransom of
one crore , you should give immediately else we shall be killed ”
The grandfather turns serious and is unable to reply any question that these
children ask .He switches over the cartoon channel. The elder
child comes closer to him . Embraces his grand father , kisses him and says
“ Grandfather , are you angry with us. ? ”
Their grandfather is unable to reply this question even .
Through his stories
that I read , Veerinder Patwari has proved Anton Chekhov’s words that “The
paramount duty of a writer is to put forth question. To give replies is none of his business .” Wonderful Patwari
sahib. Great piece of prose with contemporary
and modern sensibilities .
“Tum Jiyo
Hazaaron saal” to create such good stories .
( Autar Mota …05.05.2013 Time 11.55
PM … Good Night )
CHINAR SHADE by Autarmota is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 2.5 India License.Based on a work at http:\\autarmota.blogspot.com\.
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