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HYDERABAD: Literary personalities are often endowed with recognition for their contributions posthumously, but Sindhi literary legend, Muhammad Ibrahim Joyo, has been lucky. In the hundredth year of his life, marked by literary activism, his heyday has yet to come to an end.
"Sindh University (SU) has bestowed on me this great honour while I am still alive," said Joyo, while cutting a ribbon to inaugurate the corner named after him at SU’s Institute of Sindhology on Wednesday. A photo exhibition, featuring his pictures, at the arts faculty and a daylong conference were also organised to pay tribute to him, according to a SU press release.
The Sindhi literary genius has already declared that they will mark the whole year, till August 13, when Joyo will attain the age of 100 years, by organising events in his honour.
"He is the voice of 100 years of Sindh's history," remarked MPA Mehtab Akbar Rashdi addressing the conference. "Sindh is his first and last love and this is glaringly manifested in his writings."
Joyo has 52 books to his credit and as many works of editing. Some of them are the translated works of Rousseau, Voltaire, Plutarch, Paulo Freire, TS Elliot, Shelley, Stefan Zweif, Francis Bacon and Rabindranath Tagore. The subjects of his own writings include history, politics, women, Sufi saints, peasants, language, religion, folk stories and drama.
His pre-independence writings indicated that economic imbalances and poverty, rather than communal rivalry, created problems among the people of Sindh.
"It is the responsibility of academic institutions to bring people such as Joyo, who are pivotal for the building of the nation, on the map," said Jami Chandio, executive of the non-profit Centre for Peace and Civil Society. He said that the iconic Sindhi and Urdu poet, the late Shaikh Ayaz, would always give his books to Joyo, for a final reading, before they were sent for publication.
Chandio also highlighted the significance of Joyo's translation work, saying, by doing so, Joyo introduced Western literature and thought to the people of Sindh, to whom those languages were unfamiliar.
The Urdu writer, Mazhar Jameel, who has written an 800-page biography of Joyo, advocated the introduction of a PhD research on the centenarian. "This research will greatly help in the transition of Sindhi literature from the 20th to the 21st century."Jameel also advised that Joyo's life and contributions should also be added to the curriculum in schools as well as at the highest level of education.
Writer Dr Saleem Memon said that he has a collection of around 4,000 letters written by Joyo. Another 1,100 are with his son Mohsin Joyo. "They contain a wealth of literature, history and discourse on contemporary issues," he said and suggested that the letters should be published.
Published in The Express Tribune, May 30th, 2015.
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