REMEMBERING SOM NATH ZUTSHI KASHMIRI SHORT STORY WRITER , DRAMATIST AND TRANSLATOR

                                                                                

                               

(Writers Navtej Singh, Khwaja Ahmed Abbas, Rajinder Singh Bedi, Som Nath Zutshi and others in Srinagar, 1947.)

 

 SOM NATH ZUTSHI ( 1923-1996)

“Som Nath Zutshi, 1923 – Eternity, Humble. Calm. Serene. A distant traveller in thoughts. A lovable person. His wings took him to where he belonged. To the verdant meadows and blue skies, the colourful valleys and vibrant rivers. To the people, he loved and shared their pains and pleasures. A newfound joy gave birth to his dreams that took him to a world of his own. “

Publisher note on his book ‘When The Day Dawned “

Born at Habba Kadal (near Raghu Nath Mandir) in Srinagar city, Som Nath Zutshi started writing in Urdu and later shifted to Kashmiri. He did his BA with English literature and Urdu as his main subjects. At the young age of 20 years, he joined 'Anjuman e Arbab e Shauq'. Som Nath Zutshi started writing in Urdu before the partition of the country but shifted to Kashmiri. For some time, he also acted as Secretary of the Progressive Writers Association (Kashmir). Some people believe him to be the writer of the first short story in Kashmiri. However, it is a fact that Nadim’s “Jawaabi Card” and Zutshi’s short story “Yeli Phol Gaash” appeared at the same time in 1950 in Kong Posh (the Saffron Flower), the official cultural organ of the Kashmiri Progressive Writers Front. It is believed that while Nadim wrote his story in 1948 and it was broadcast the same year, Zutshi wrote his story in February 1949. Apart from writing short stories and plays, Zutshi also translated 'The Inspector General'   (Nicolai Gogol), Wild Duck (Henrik Isben) and Trial (Franz Kafka) into Kashmiri. For the translation of ’The Inspector General’, he was awarded the Soviet Land Nehru Award in 1974. Considered the high point of Gogol's stagecraft and a masterpiece of dramatic satire, the Inspector General lampoons the stupidity and greed of provincial Russian officials. An ironic play by Henrik Ibsen, The Wild Duck tells the story of a misguided idealist whose compulsion to tell the whole truth brings disaster to a family. The trial is Kafka's gripping novel, a psychological trip into the life of one Joseph K, an ordinary man who wakes up one day to find himself accused of a crime he did not commit, a crime whose nature is never revealed to him. Once arrested, he is released but must report to court regularly, an event that proves maddening, as nothing is ever resolved. As he grows more uncertain of his fate, his personal life, including work at a bank and his relations with his landlady and a young woman who lives next door, becomes increasingly unpredictable.

Som Nath Zutshi was a friend of Rajinder Singh Bedi, Navtej Singh editor Preet-Lari, a friend of K A Abbas, Ali Sardar Jafri and many more stalwarts of the Progressive Writers Association of the country. It was around 1947-48, when, Rajinder Singh Bedi, Dr Mulk Raj Anand, Khwaja Ahmed Abbas, Balraj Sahni, S H Raza, Devinder Satyarthi and many other progressive writers, poets and painters were frequent visitors to Kashmir acting as catalytic agents for creative activity in the valley. They held regular meetings with local artists and writers. These meetings were attended by men like Dina Nath Nadim, Som Nath Zutshi, Som Nath Butt (artist), Pran Kishore, P N Kachru (artist), Aziz Haroon, Noor Mohammad Roshan, Mirza Arif, Akhtar Mohi ud din, Ali Mohammad Lone and many more budding artists and writers from the valley.  Akhtar Mohiuddin the noted writer once said this to this author:-

“How can I repay the debt to Som Nath Zutshi’s wife, a goddess and for me, a real sister in need? Do you know she single-handedly did all the post-delivery care of my wife once? Do you understand the word 'Phott' in Kashmiri? It means post-delivery care. Where in this life can this debt be repaid?”

 Som Nath Zutshi wrote dramas in Kashmiri as well. His Radio drama 'Viji Vaav' was awarded first prize in the All India Radio Drama competition of 1955. His other popular radio dramas are ,  ‘yeli sangar phael’, ‘gulnaar’, ‘sankraat’ ,’ path kyah roodh’   ‘vyath rooz pakaan’ , ‘vethi hindh baeth’ , ‘tooer ta soordagh’ , ‘nov makaan’ and ‘amaanat’ .

 Zutshi’s Rasul, a character that he created for his short story “ Yeli Phol Gaash “ was inspired by short stories of the progressive genre that were appearing in the country during that period. This short story has been translated into English as, "When the Light Dawned" and included in Neerja Mattoo's book," The Greatest Kashmiri Short Stories Ever Told". In 2010, Sahitya Akademi published a Hindi translation of his work, "Yeli Gaash Phol". His other Kashmiri short stories that became quite popular are, ‘ Yim Kam Duryodhan ‘ , ‘Jasudaai hundh thaeni-tsoor’ , ‘Akki Raatch hundh mehmaan’, ‘Chhuk chhuk chhataak’, ‘tas sundh sopun’, ‘kath akki tasveeritch’ etc.

 In 2010, Sahitya Akademi published a Hindi translation of his short stories in a book titled," Jab Ujaala Huva ".Another collection titled," When the Day Dawned " was published in English recently. The stories were translated into English by Prof Shafi Shauq. About the short stories included in the collection, 'When the Day Dawned', Prof Shafi Shauq writes this:-

 "When the Day Dawned is a remarkable collection of short stories by Som Nath Zutshi, the pioneer of the short story form in Kashmiri literature. His work captures the spirit of the valley with a sincerity and purity that transcends time. In each tale, Zutshi conveys the beauty and authenticity of his homeland through characters that continue to resonate with readers today. Lauded by literary giants such as Padma-Shri Rehman Rahi and Padma-Shri Pran Kishore Kaul, this collection is an invaluable treasure in Kashmiri literature, preserving a legacy that will endure for generations.”

 Prof Rehman Rahi Gyanpeeth awardee Kashmiri poet had this to say:-

 “Zutshi Sahab was virtuous and straightforward. I was many a time overwhelmed by the aura of his innocence, immaculate character, and pure conscience. These excellent stories of his comprise one of our invaluable contributions to our heritage, and are a unique gift to the world of Kashmiri literature.”

 Padama-shri Pran Kishore Kaul had this to say:-

 “Zutshi Sahab has written his stories with great honesty. The character of the then compositions remains relevant even today. He has used natural language that has the fragrance of Kashmir. All these make the stories spontaneous, and give them a special place in Kashmiri literature.”

I also came to know that he helped the Doordarshan newsroom to start its news telecast services Jammu after 1990s when armed terrorist threatened the news readers in the Kashmir valley. Pyare Hatash told me this:-

“He was a great man. We worked together for three years (1990-1993) in Jammu Doordarshan’s newsroom. He did a great jonb in setting up systems and procedures for transmission of news from Jammu in view of militancy in the Kashmir valley. He was disturbed by the migration of the people from the Kashmir valley. He was honest and well informed. He also visited my house in Jammu once alongwith M Y Taing and Nilamber Dev Sharma.”

 The noted producer and theatre personality Bihari kak had this to say about Som Nath Zutshi:-

 “Som Nath Zutshi was an elegant personality. A very well-read and well-informed person. He would read 3 newspapers every day that he carried with him. Once, I was commissioned by Doordarshan to make telefilm of radio play,’Ta Vyaath Rooz Pakaan’. ‘Ta Vyaath Rooz Pakaan’ was a series of 3 radio dramas written by Som Nath Zutshi, Ali Mohammad Lone and Akhtar Mohiuddin and directed by Padam-shri Pran Kishore Kaul. To begin with, I started with the telefilm of the part written by Ali Mohammad Lone. It was followed by Zutshi Sahib’s part. Zutshi Sahib asked me to show him how I had made Ali Mohammad Lone’s part of ‘Ta Yyath Rooz Pakaan'. Once he saw the film, he gave me the ahead. I engaged the best possible actors for the telefilm. I mean artists like M L Saraf, Jai Kishori, and Bansi Mattoo. I also acted in the telefilm. Makhan Lal Saraf wrote the screenplay for the 6-episode telefilm from the original radio play of Zutshi Sahib. And by the time my film of Zutshi Sahib’s part was completed, he didn’t live to see it. I gave a copy to Asok Zutshi his son later. This film of 6 episodes was aired by Doordarshan Kendra, Srinagar. I had also shown the telefilm of Ali Mohammad Lone’s part to Akhtar Mohiuddin and he also gave me a go-ahead. Alas! Akhtar Mohiuddin didn’t live to get his part materialised. So that was dropped.”                                     

                                       

                                                                  ( Som Nath Zutshi )

                                                                          

                                                               

 From Raghu Nath Mandir locality of Habba Kadal, he had shifted to Jawahar Nagar, Srinagar. After 1990, he stayed in Jammu for sometime but later moved to Delhi and finally to Bangaluru . He breathed his last in Banglore in 1996. He is survived by two daughters and a son. One of his daughters is married to the son of Padam-shri Pran Kishore Kaul. He was a bureaucrat who served the State government in many capacities. For sometime, he also served as   Deputy Secretaty in the civil Secretariat. He also served as Private Secretary to G M Sadiq., former CM of J&K state.  Neither the establishment nor many amongst us paid him his due for the contribution to the corpus of Kashmiri literature and he died unsung and unknown in exile.This is what  P N Kachru co-founder of Progressive Artists Association (Kashmir) wrote about  Som Nath Zutshi on his death :-

 “With Shri Zutshi's passing away we have lost the oldest living writer of the modern literary history of Kashmir. As back as the year 1941 I happened to see Shri Zutshi in a meeting at the house of reputed short story writer late Shri Prem Nath Pardesi. It was at the insistence of my close friend and great freedom fighter, late Shri Somnath Bira that we went and came to know that founding of the Kashmir unit of progressive writers' Association was to take place. The meeting was initiated by Shri Ramanand Sagar; of which the participating and founding members, besides Shri Sagar' were late Shri Premnath 'Pardesi', Mr. Shahid, Shri Veer Visheshwar and Shri Somnath Zuthsi.So, it was in the year 1941 that I met Shri Zutshi, and happened to know him then as short story writer. In his literary activity he happened to be a close as- sociate of late Premnath 'Pardesi', as then both of them happened to be the employees of same department. Next I met him in April 1948 when again late Shri Pardesi' brought him in National Cultural Front-the founding organisation of the modern cultural movement which was established in late November, 1947 when we were regimenting ourselves against the first Pakistani onslaught against our freedom. Since then we ceaselessly continued to be the fel- low-travellers on the path of art and culture. While in the Front, Shri Zutshi not only remained content with his story writing but also was enthused in to the theatre and musicals. His active participation alongwith Shri Pushkar Bhan, Noor Mohammad 'Roshan' and Shri Pran Kishore, in the first shadow play "Naya Kashmir-Ki-Rah-Par", directed by Ms Sheila Bhatia, was a significant display of Shri Zutshi's variegated talent.

On the occasion of re-vitalising the movement and re-naming the Front as National Cultural Congress, a two day mammoth conference took place on 3rd and 4th July, 1949, bringing together the three autonomous units of Progressive Writers, Theatre Association and Progressive Artists' Association Shri Somnath Zutshi took over as the Secretary of Writers Association and continued ceaselessly work- ing for the movement-Shri Zutshi devotedly continued on the post through the second Conference held in November, 1950 when it became imperative for the movement to extend the tentacles of cultural by actively writing, composing and creating for the World Peace Movement. Although due to constraints of personal and family life he had to devote considerable time for his employment, he continued to remain as a prolific writer to the end of his existence.

We met and prayed for the departed soul who happened to be the oldest living writer who, in the words of Shri Hridai Kaul Bharti, died six years before when he was exiled and uprooted from the soil of his motherland. May Almighty shower peace to the departed soul…..P N Kachru   (Artist) 13th Sept, 96……..”

 (Avtar Mota)

 

PS

There was another Kolkata-based Som Nath Zutshi,  a psychoanalyst by training, who wrote on cinema. He translated works by Banaphool, Mrinal Sen, and Somnath Hore.

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