Celebrating Suboohi’s ‘quaint charm’ with story-telling

Zambeel presents two short stories with royal backdrops.

KARACHI: Late author Ashraf Suboohi Dehlvi creates magic with his character sketching. While some may say it’s a difficult task, this author describes his characters with intensity and passion. From details including personality, looks, and attitude to usage of rich vocabulary, dialogue delivery style and emotional background, Suboohi leaves the reader with a complete image.

With a room full of listeners, Zambeel Dramatic Readings won its audience’s hearts with its art of story-telling on Wednesday evening at The Second Floor (T2F). Celebrating the work of Suboohi, Zambeel presented two short stories titled Sahib Aalam and Deevani Aapa.

Born to an elite Muslim family in Delhi, Suboohi’s real name was Syed Wali Ashraf. As a child, he was among people who were related to the royal families and would tell him stories from that era. As his fascination grew, Suboohi started out with his own stories with reflections of royal customs and culture. He migrated to Pakistan in 1947, and lived here until his death in 1990.

Zambeel’s Asma Mundrawala feels that Suboohi’s stories have a simple and innocent feel to them. PHOTO: ATHAR KHAN/EXPRESS

Sahib Aalam

Mughlai nani narrates the tale of Sahib Aalam and his companion Bankay Mian to her grandson. During a royal wedding, Sahib Aalam, with the intention of saving the honour of an unknown woman, cuts off the hem of her gold-embroidered dupatta. When he looks at her henna-decorated feet, Sahib Aalam falls in love with her. Being very careful, Sahib Aalam discloses his secret only to Bankay Mian, who promises to bring her within 30 days. While looking for the mystery woman, strange and dangerous incidents take place.

Deevani Aapa

Deevani Aapa is a tragic tale. The main character, Deevani aapa, awaits her groom to marry her. As a 60-year-old woman, with a wrinkled face, she still dresses up like a young bride and wanders the streets of Delhi, looking for her companion.

In her youthful years, Deevani aapa was loved by everyone. Her prayers were always answered by God. From shunning the rain and moving the clouds to calling for rain again, she was known to have a mystical value to her prayers.

While she was all set to marry the young, noble man she had always hoped for, things took a different toll and left her in misery. On the day of her extravagant royal wedding, Deevani aapa’s groom died of a snake bite. Two days later, aapa’s own mother passed away. With lost love and a grieving heart, Deevani aapa was never the same.

The performers

Asma Mundrawala and Mahvash Faruqi did full justice to the reading session. Mundrawala attributed their sense of knowing correct usage of Urdu words and their pronunciations to the teachings of Asif Farrukhi.

“His stories lend themselves to the story-telling tradition with great ease,” said Mundrawala. “He preferred to tell stories about common people who belonged to all walks of life.”

She also said that his details on household discussions were so precise that he was often mistaken to be a female writer.

“We considered these stories because of their storytelling characteristics,” said Mundrawala. “These stories have an innocent appeal and a quaint charm.”

Published in The Express Tribune, June 21^st, 2013.

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