Amidst this cursed soil I stand apart

Ghani Khan’s grandson talks about the poet’s marvelous artwork that has been away from the public eye

CHARSADDA:

In this gray desert, a flamboyant flame of divine light am I am beauty’s silent song, a miracle from the sky 
In your garden, there are thousands of flowers like me , a nameless droplet in a nameless sea 

You too, in your desert, don’t feel forlorn, to behold you at last shall come a sore Ghani Khan.

This excerpt from Ghani Khan’s poem Reidi Gul expresses his signature sense of hope amidst the misery that surrounds him; misery that still haunts the province of Khyber-Pakhtunkwa and pashtoons with only hope that keeps them going.

Unfortunately, his centenary celebrations in 2014 haven’t moved beyond a handful of conferences and one exhibition of his paintings. The public is yet to see the genius of this artist, sculptor and ‘mad poet’, who popularized the idea of a rebellion against the status quo in Pashto literature.

The public is yet to see the genius of this artist, sculptor, who popularized the idea of a rebellion against the status quo in Pashto literature. PHOTO: EXPRESS

“Besides sculpture, poetry and paintings, Ghani had also designed his own house,” Mashal Khan, his grandson told The Express Tribune. A perfect symbol of Pashtoon culture, the arched verandas and rooms of the house are adorned by paintings and pictures.  The Hujra inside the house is the place where his works and personal belongings are stored.

“We only have 200 paintings left now, all others paintings were given by Ghani to his friends and those who visited him,” said his grandson, who now lives in the same house that Ghani constructed in 1944.

Most of the paintings are an abstract in which Ghani depicts the faces of people the way he saw them, not how they looked. “He never painted faces, but painted what he imagined about that person,” said Mashal.



Most of his artwork was made with burned wood as painting material was not easily available back in the day.  Among the popular masterpieces is his painting of Rahman Baba, the great Sufi poet, who Ghani chose to depict with a black beard and hair instead of their original white colour.

Last but not the least are the paintings of Ghan’s children Shandana, Faridun Khan, and Zarin Bibi. Zarin among them is the only one alive and lives in India.

Another section of the house has a huge collection of books among which around, 2000 books belonged to Ghani’s wife Roshan, who bought them herself, while she was married to Ghani.



Mashal recalled that Ghani loved to read everything and anything, “He was fascinated by science fiction and read loads of comic books and watched many sci-fi movies”.

Ghani used bricks from his own brick klin to construct his house with each brick being stamped with his name ‘Ghani’. There is also a small pool of water that Ghani made for himself, which has dried out by now since no one  has used it since Ghani’s passing.

Musical instruments and sculptures also fascinated the great poet but out of his vast collection, only one sitar and four sculptures have survived. One of them is a sculpture of his younger brother Ghaffar Khan.

“Although music and statues are both hated in Pashtoon society Ghani never feared any social repercussions and celebrated his love for the arts to the fullest,” added Mashal.

These days, Mashal is working on a plan to create the ‘Ghani Khan Memorial trust’ where he would not only give archive accurate information about the poet’s life and work but will also put his all available art work on display.

Here’s hoping that a day would come when all who hum Ghani’s poetry in the form of popular melodies are able to see the hidden works of the philosopher. Or else, he would literally end up being a “a nameless droplet in a nameless sea”.

Published in The Express Tribune, November 7^th, 2014.

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