‘Tooti Hui Tanab Udher’ highlights history from below

Author discusses progressive ideas through writing during repressive times

LAHORE: The hardest times are often faced by the teachers, said Asghar Nadeem Syed while speaking at a book launch session titled “Tooti Hui Tanab Udher” at the Lahore Literary Festival (LLF) held in Alhamra Hall on Sunday.

The session was moderated by Nasir Abbas Nayyar.

Sharing his personal story, Asghar was speaking in reference to using the author’s voice to express his progressive ideas through writing during the repressive time of General Ziaul Haq’s martial law.

He stated that the period under discussion was very important in this regard. During the time, Asghar stated, he had faced questions on how an artist can play a role during such times. Moving the discussion forward, Nayyar asked for a comparison between contemporary dramas and dramas of those times while pointing towards dominance of drama writing for commercial purposes.

Asghar maintained that it is true that marketing, as a corporate tool, was used for promoting culture and arts for developing a consumer society. However, he added that it was a thorough collaborative art. He declared it mandatory for a drama to be relatable and convincing for becoming popular.

Nayyar pointed towards gap between artists and different genres of literature during present times as compared to old times. Speaking about his story writing, Asghar remarked that he considered ‘Toba Tek Singh’ by Saadat Hasan Manto among the best stories.

He said that there was a thought in his mind that the character of Toba Tek Singh had not died and still lived. He met with two such characters while on his visit to India. A host took him to a village of Chandigarh for an interaction with such a character. There was an old man who would tell the people that he wanted to meet someone from Pakistan before dying.

When they reached India and the host told the old man that guests from Pakistan had arrived, the old man who was in a very feeble state felt like he was rejuvenated, he shared. “He could clearly observe the energy in him. The old man told him about an incident when his acquaintance helped him board a train during the time of partition.

He commented that despite writings by figures like Manto, Baidi and Intazar Hussain who have been eyewitnesses, there was much left to be written about the partition.

Speaking about ‘Tooti Hui Tanab Udher’, Asghar elaborated that it seemed he tried to break the myth that only the educated knew about history.

He stated that while writing about cities, culture was very important. “A writer should consider culture while writing about cities.”

Asghar commented that old cities carried much history that had been ignored or neglected.

Published in The Express Tribune, February 24^th, 2020.