Review: 'Yaadon Kay Dareechay' documents the many lives of Azmat Ansari
He begins his career as a journalist and broadcaster, who turns into a daring military spokesperson
KARACHI:
I can recall the first time I saw Azmat Ansari playing a rather brief role in one of PTV’s famous serials. It was then his cultured, well-modulated voice that had grabbed my attention. I didn’t know his name but I immediately recognised him when I saw him at least 25 years later, coming out of a college – where he probably gave lectures – and getting into a white car.
He had an abstracted look. Wearing an immaculate black suit, he looked as trim as he had appeared on the TV screen over two decades back. “An educated, cultured man,” I thought.
However, when I read Azmat Ansari’s autobiography Yaadon Kay Dareechay I feel that it is more of an internal culture that Ansari has shown throughout his life – an internal culture that has enabled him to change the venom of existence into the elixir of life
Ansari has a chequered personal history. He begins his career as a journalist and broadcaster, who turns into a daring military spokesperson later to land in an Indian jail as a rebellious prisoner of war.
This prisoner of war returns to his country, resumes his duties as an air force officer in Peshawar and ties the knot. However, a man who was not shaken by the devastations of war and solitary confinements in the enemy’s land was heartbroken after the collapse of his first marriage.
The young officer not only resigns from the PAF but also leaves the country for the United States. On his return, he falls back on his old profession – journalism now including documentary-making – while also dabbling with acting and teaching every now and then.
The above synopsis of his life history is, however, rather misleading. For behind the diversity of his activities and initiatives, there has always been a single spirit – the spirit to discover the unknown.
So despite being not a professional archeologist and explorer, Ansari has to his credit both archeological and geographical discoveries. Since his early youth, he has been an ardent traveller who traversed difficult terrains and ventured on expeditions few people would attempt.
But this autobiography is not just an account of his rather adventurous life. It also sheds some new light on the lives of a number of celebrities – including Faiz Ahmed Faiz, Manto, Siddiq Salik, Sheikh Mujeebur Rehman, Waheed Murad, and Dildar Pervez Bhatti – people who Ansari met during various phases of life.
Yaadon Kay Dareechay also gives a glimpse of the turmoil of partition in 1947 and the sad disintegration of Pakistan in 1971. It is the story of man who has made the most of his life, the story of a life well-lived.
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I can recall the first time I saw Azmat Ansari playing a rather brief role in one of PTV’s famous serials. It was then his cultured, well-modulated voice that had grabbed my attention. I didn’t know his name but I immediately recognised him when I saw him at least 25 years later, coming out of a college – where he probably gave lectures – and getting into a white car.
He had an abstracted look. Wearing an immaculate black suit, he looked as trim as he had appeared on the TV screen over two decades back. “An educated, cultured man,” I thought.
However, when I read Azmat Ansari’s autobiography Yaadon Kay Dareechay I feel that it is more of an internal culture that Ansari has shown throughout his life – an internal culture that has enabled him to change the venom of existence into the elixir of life
Ansari has a chequered personal history. He begins his career as a journalist and broadcaster, who turns into a daring military spokesperson later to land in an Indian jail as a rebellious prisoner of war.
This prisoner of war returns to his country, resumes his duties as an air force officer in Peshawar and ties the knot. However, a man who was not shaken by the devastations of war and solitary confinements in the enemy’s land was heartbroken after the collapse of his first marriage.
The young officer not only resigns from the PAF but also leaves the country for the United States. On his return, he falls back on his old profession – journalism now including documentary-making – while also dabbling with acting and teaching every now and then.
The above synopsis of his life history is, however, rather misleading. For behind the diversity of his activities and initiatives, there has always been a single spirit – the spirit to discover the unknown.
So despite being not a professional archeologist and explorer, Ansari has to his credit both archeological and geographical discoveries. Since his early youth, he has been an ardent traveller who traversed difficult terrains and ventured on expeditions few people would attempt.
But this autobiography is not just an account of his rather adventurous life. It also sheds some new light on the lives of a number of celebrities – including Faiz Ahmed Faiz, Manto, Siddiq Salik, Sheikh Mujeebur Rehman, Waheed Murad, and Dildar Pervez Bhatti – people who Ansari met during various phases of life.
Yaadon Kay Dareechay also gives a glimpse of the turmoil of partition in 1947 and the sad disintegration of Pakistan in 1971. It is the story of man who has made the most of his life, the story of a life well-lived.
Have something to add to the story? Share it in the comments below