In memoriam: ‘Forgotten’ writer remembered

Dramatic performance staged at Alhamra

LAHORE: A dramatic performance was staged on Thursday by the Tehreek-i-Niswan at Alhamra on The Mall to remember late Urdu novelist and short story writer Jamila Hashmi.

The performance was premised on Sherry—a short story by the author. Celebrated dancer Sheema Kirmani led the performance.

Delivering an introductory note, Ayesha Siddiqa—Hashmi’s daughter—said her mother’s work had remained prominent for only a short while following her demise. She said it was ultimately jettisoned by literary circles. Siddiqa said her mother’s work had suffered due to the “digital and literary festival divide.” She said there was a need to fill this lacuna by presenting literature through the medium of visual arts.

“Writers who are not remembered or invited to participate in such events are ultimately forgotten and this is the case with Hashmi’s work,” Siddiqa said. She said there was a need to rehabilitate writers of her ilk as their contribution to Urdu literature was virtually as significant as that of any other mainstream authors.

Siddiqa said Sherry was first narrated by Hashmi at Shab-i-Afsana (Story Night) in 1986. She said this was a once-in-a-year event where writers would collect to read new short stories authored by them. “Sherry follows the story of a woman’s struggle to reconcile her feminist ideals with her longing for unconditional love,” Siddiqa said. She elucidated that the theme for the aforementioned year’s shab-i-afsana was love.

Poet Fahmida Riaz spoke at length about Hashmi’s work and underlying feminism. “I consider her to be a contemporary of writers like Qurratulain Hyder, Intezar Hussain and Khadija Mastoor.  “Hashmi’s work is unique as it portrays breathtaking atmospherics from south Punjab and its culture. This is rare in Urdu literature to date,” she said. Riaz said Hashmi had gotten married in 1958 to Sardar Ahmed Owaisi who hailed from a noted Sufi family of Bahawalpur. She said this had brought her into close proximity with the culture of the region.

“Her noted works such as Dasht-i-Soos, Aatish-i-Rafta and Rohi speak volumes regarding her enduring feminist ideals and her struggle against patriarchy,” Riaz said. She said her work had started disappearing from the literary scene following her demise in 1989. Riaz said obscurity had soon followed, a fate that she never deserved.

Published in The Express Tribune, February 13^th, 2016.