House of the pen: Salvaging culture, one wedding at a time

A local poet of Charsadda and a radio broadcaster, Hayat has been heading this literary society of Shabqadar for the past two years now. However, he has brought something new to the tolana; something that has not been seen in these parts for a long time. Under Hayat’s patronage, Qalam Koranai (literally: House of the pen) is slowly bringing back the practice of reciting poetry at Pukhtun weddings.

Once a festive, musical and literary affair, the Pukhtun wedding of today is mostly characterised by aerial firing and feasting on mutton.

So when Abdul Wahab decided to organise a mushaira at his cousin Naeem’s wedding, he knew who to approach. At first, Wahab’s decision raised a lot of eyebrows. Such a thing had not been heard of in the family before. It took a meeting with renowned poets such as Abaseen Yousafzai to make them change their minds. The mushaira ended up being a colourful event, with full participation by Naeem’s father and uncles; all of whom were particularly grateful to Wahab and, of course, Hayat Iqbal Hayat.

“The main idea is the promotion of peace in our society along with the revival of our language,” says the 45-year-old poet. “Pukhtuns have been perceived as warriors for long – the gun an obvious embellishment of their attire.”

This is led to their being viewed as terrorists, explains Hayat. The Pukhtuns are peace-loving people but there are forces at work which want to propagate this negative image, he claims.

“We must combat this perception and disown it with the help of the intellectuals of society,” says the poet.

According to Hayat, after the introduction of the Kalashnikov to local culture, aerial firing became a part of most weddings and contributed to numerous deaths and injuries.

Like other literary aficionados, Pashto poets were cast aside during Zia’s era, recalls Hayat. Due to the nationalist sentiments of most Pukhtuns, the state media also dealt with them heavy-handedly, he asserts. “The media is more open now and we want to spread our voice to our youth and beyond, through such gatherings,” says the hopeful poet.

Muhammad Siraj, another local poet affiliated with Qalam Koranai, illustrates with an anecdote how mushairas are bringing about cultural change, one wedding at a time. He narrates that a father and son were arguing over whether to have a religious event at a mosque or a musical affair at the hujra to mark the son’s wedding. Because it was not possible for them to have both events, Qalam Koranai organised a mushaira for them.

“The father was pleased because of our religious recitations, while we performed traditional folk songs for the son,” shares Siraj. “It brought them both to a mutual ground in a way which was not done before.”

Siraj says the response from residents has been fantastic. A large number of people have extended their support to the tolana, which has been receiving more and more requests with time.

Qalam Koranai has been encouraged by cultural personalities and religious folk alike to keep organising their gatherings, Siraj shares rather proudly.

“I believe only cultural activity can change our society now,” says the young poet. “Unfortunately we are either following the Arab culture or the western culture which has been adopted by our modern liberals, leaving our own culture to fall by the wayside.”

The Pukhtun youth needs to come forward and take ownership of their language and culture, appeals Siraj.