' BOOK RELEASE '.
" Are you going to the book
release function today?"
"Yes, Behosh
Sahib has spoken to me at least thirty times. I will have to show my face
just for ten minutes. He needs to create
a gathering. Although I don't understand poetry yet going to such functions is
good for a change. You meet many people. And
then I will get my book free even if I don't open it later."
" Who is the chief guest
?"
" Behosh Sahib had asked noted
scholar Dr. Kokroo to grace the function. Dr.Kokroo asked for a copy of the
book before conveying his yes. After he read the book, he declined."
"Why? What happened?"
" Some people say that Dr..Kokroo told the author to do
social service instead of writing poetry. Possibly he found no purpose in what
Behosh Sahib had written. He felt it a sheer wastage of time. Dr.Kokroo refused to write the foreword to
another book sometime back. He told the author to smoke Hookah instead of
writing poetry. People generally don't go to him now for writing forewords
to their books. They say he is dry. "
" What purpose was Dr. Kokroo looking for?"
" Purpose! I don't know. But when ex-minister Shastar Sahib was contacted, he readily
agreed to chair the event. Shastar Sahib assured Behosh Sahib that he will
bring about 25 party workers as the audience. These workers are now taken by
him to many literary events where Shastar Sahib is invited as chief guest. They
relish sumptuous tea and snacks. It is always a high tea event if Shastar Sahib
is the chief guest. These workers make a
good audience for media coverage although they know nothing about the event or
the other participants or the purpose of the function. They come for clapping
and crying Zindabaad. Now that
Shastar Sahib is coming, the menu for tea has been upgraded. You will have
Paneer Pakoda, pastry, and patties with the tea. For Dr.Kokroo, the menu was
simple tea and Tiger brand biscuits."
" What is Shastar, caste or surname ?"
" Neither caste nor surname, It is a Kashmiri word
meaning iron that is tough and useful. Neither
Hindus nor Muslims can live without iron. So it is secular. Shastar Sahib was
toying with the idea of using Traam (copper) or Sartal (brass) or Loi (bronze ) as his pseudonym but then Abdul Aziz and Mohan
Kishen clarified to him that these metals were not secular. They also advised
him against Sonn ( gold) or Roff(silver) as these metals don't get identified
with his vote bank. Shastar Sahib was also writing poetry when he was idle.
That is why he adopted " Shastar" as his pseudonym. After his first
innings as minister of state for forests, he forgot poetry but he continued
using Shastar with his name. "
" What is the price of the book ?"
" Price is fixed for things that actually sell in the market.
Who buys headache ? Now only
day-dreamers publish their poetry books spending their own hard-earned money.
When Rehman 'Kazaaakhteer' published
his first poetry book titled "
Gagur Ta Gagraai ", he raised a GP fund loan of 15000. He was
expecting to recover his cost at least but unfortunately, not a single book
could be sold. Roshan Gulab wrote a
highly recommendatory review for 'Gagur ta Gagrai' in Sunday edition of the 'Daily World ' newspaper but it didn't
help at all. He distributed 50 books free in his book release function. Out of
these 50, about 40 were found lying on the chairs when the book release
function was over and the audience had left. The security guards found these
abandoned books when they closed the doors of the hall where the function was
held. They felt helpless in dealing with these books . The residual two hundred
fifty books were sold by his wife to a Kabaadi
( scrap dealer ) for 100 rupees. From
this money, she purchased some snuff or Naswar (Naas in Kashmiri ) and threw
the packet on Kazaaakhteer' s face saying:
'"Put this snuff in your
nostrils. They are blocked. Now that you have finished your GP fund and can not
publish another poetry book, this snuff will help in releasing residual poetry from your nose."
Rehman Kazaakhteer's friend Omkar Nath
'Vasvaas' also could not sell a single book of his poetic collection ' Nar Ta Narparistaan'. He had invested
rupees16000 in printing 300 copies of 'Nar Ta Narparistaan'. The money had been
received by him as part payment of his money back LIC Policy. Finally, his wife
threw all these books into the big household garbage bin kept by municipality
near their house and told her husband:-
" Better you put on a female
dress and dance as Bacha in marriage functions. You will earn better. This is
the only way to recover sixteen thousands that you wasted."
Reading about many
book release events in the newspapers , Pragaash Kashmiri also desired to organize a grand function for
his forthcoming debut poetic collection “Tang Ta Tangdaar”. He approached Kanwal Kashmiri with his manuscript .
Kanwal Sahib did neither write the foreword nor say a clear no to Pragaash
Kashmiri . Thereafter he approached Gulzar
Gambhir but he was told that Gulzar Gambhir had the reputation of a non-serious poet although he was using Gambhir
( serious ) as his Pseudonym. Finally,
he sought help from his friend Ramzaan Rimshi who owned " Culture, Agriculture and Literature Upliftment Society” a government registered NGO . Since the government had put embargo on
funding of NGOs , Rimshi had devised a new business activity. He was working as
all in one undertaker for book release functions. He would book auditorium in
the name of his NGO , arrange audience, arrange refreshments and bring some
persons who praised the book and its author. It was a package like affair for a
minimum fee of nine thousand nine
hundred ninety nine rupees. He saved about 5000 from every book release
function. The auditorium with PA system
was booked in the name of his NGO cum Society for rupees 1000 while tea and
Samosa would cost another 1000 rupees. About 3000 rupees were spent on expenses
connected with bouquets, guest speaker and some gifts for the Chief Guest and the
Guest of Honour. Ramzaan Rimshi was
always in the lookout of writers or
poets who wanted to have book release functions. He made good use of his PR and
his social networking for this new business.
Ramzaan Rimshi helped Pragaash Kashmiri to get a foreword written by Jan Sahitya awardee poet Farmaan Shahi.
Although Farmaan Shahi Sahib was well known to Ramzaan Rimshi yet he was
initially reluctant to write the foreword after he read ' Tang Ta Tangdaar". But then Ramzaan Rimshi prevailed upon
him and also assured Farmaan Shahi Sahib that he will get his cataract operated upon by Dr.Achh-Noor absolutely free. Dr, Achh-Noor
is a young ophthalmologist and a cousin of Ramzan Rimshi. Very reluctantly, Farmaan Shahi Sahib wrote the foreword.
This is what he wrote :
" I have been asked to write
the foreword for the poetic collection 'Tang Ta Tangdaar" and I shall do my duty
with all sincerity and truth . Many idle persons have suddenly moved towards the
literary arena these days. Some are retired employees while a large number of
them have come from the trade and service sector. They are naturally ignorant
about the poetic nuances, rhyme, rhythm, meter, and flow. They are ignorant
about the skill of writing blank verse. For them, writing is like throwing
color on canvas or playing on sophisticated musical instruments with naive
fingers. What they write looks like haphazard streams of water moving in
different directions incapable of flowing together with a focus to form a
river. Never shall these streams form a river to merge into the ocean of
literature. This is a fashion writing more drawn towards projecting their
personality rather than serving literature or the language that they chose to
express these random and irregular ideas.
Pragaash Kashmiri is a poet of this
genre. Taaham (But Still ), this effort
is not totally bad for a beginner and he has at least served his mother tongue
even in an insignificant way . "
When Pragaash Kashmiri read the foreword, he was
disappointed. He went to Ramzan Rimshi and expressed his displeasure. Ramazan
Rimshi asked him to focus on the last line of the foreword especially what was
written after the word Taaham.
According to him, all is well that ends well and the last line in the foreword
was worth preserving. Ramzaan Rimshi
didn’t want to lose this book release event of “ Tang Ta Tangdaar ” . This
function would bring him an earning of
five thousand rupees minimum apart from making some new contacts for business
promotion . Without informing Pragaash Kashmiri, Ramzan Rimshi went to Farmaan
Shahi Sahib and said:
" Sir, I came here with high hopes but unfortunately I
am disappointed. With your foreword, this collection is surely landing in the
trash bin . Kindly revise your foreword, for my sake, please Sir.."
To this Farman Shahi Sahib said:
" You better go to
Krishen Kashmiri or Shiben Taarukh or Hassan Kalwaal or Nazir Noor. They
also write forewords. They will write what you desire. Go to Gaffar Sangarmaal. Pay him three
hundred rupees and he will sign on the blank paper. You can easily fill up your
desired text for the foreword. A
foreword by Gaffar Sangarmaal will be ideal for this book. I have written what I
felt after I read " Tang Ta Tangdaar". This book will land where it
should be after it is published . I can't add wings to it by my foreword. I
don’t find any merit in forewords . Why
don’t you have your book release event
without this foreword formality ? You are a marketing man and you know all the
techniques. So many libraries buy books that are never opened. This can be
another such book. Forget my cataract surgery. Let my second eye also develop a
cataract so that I am never asked to read and review such books. "
(Avtar Mota)
PS
I am an admirer of good poetry in any language that I am
comfortable with. It makes me happy. It relaxes my mind. I respect poets and
writers. Poetry will continue to remain the finest form of human expression. I
have many friends who are steadfast in writing what they feel even in the face
of many constraints. I love them and have time and again come on my FB page
reviewing their work with all my sincerity.
At the same time, let us admit that poetry is presently
passing through a phase where it has lost major readership on account of so
many reasons. The most important being that our society has started
appreciating values of expediency and utility. We have started encouraging
mediocrity in literature as well. This story is based on my personal experience
after attending two book release functions recently. I don’t intend to present
a sarcasm but simply mirror what I have seen and found around me. I feel it my
profound duty to show where we have landed in the field of literature. Hence
this story. This is a work of fiction. The names mentioned have no linkage with
any person living or dead.
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\.
