Sindhi books of 2002: Changing trends
surreal_ravi
By Abbas Jalbani
Prior to the decade of the eighties, the market of Sindhi books used
to be dominated by literature of the (political) left. After the
demise of the Soviet "empire" and the end of the cold war, the entire
world has been witnessing the revival of religious sentiment and sufi
Sindh too has not been immune to this phenomenon. This is evident from
the unprecedented rise in the publication of religious books in the
Sindhi language since then.
The year of 2002 saw the publication of a number of religious books in
the language, including Muntakhib ahadis by Salimullah Soomro, Asan ja
aslaf by Maulana Shoaib Ahmed Khuhro, Nazaro noor jo by Noshad Junejo
and the translations of Shah Karim Bulriwaro's Biyanul arifeen,
Maulana Abul Kalam Azad's Amrul Quran, Imam Ghazali's Muaashiqatul
Quloob and Hazrat Ali's Nahjul Balagha.
Other books, which were translated into Sindhi last year, include
Freedom at midnight by Larry Collins and Dominique Lapierre,
translated by Nisar Hakro; H.T Sorely's Musa Pervagans, translated by
Atta Mohammad Bhanbhro; Goethe's Faust translated by Jethmal Parsram,
Noam Chomsky's What uncle Sam wants translated by Imtiaz Chandio, and
Dr Ali Shariati's Man and love.
Aurat, jins ayyen mazhab and Neeran gulan ji barsat are Guru Rajnesh's
lectures and essays, translated by Altaf Malkani and Sarmad Latif
respectively and Kolachi je kun khan Karachi tayeen is the translation
of Ehsan Alim's articles on the evolution of Karachi by Prof Zahid Ali
Magsi. Sindh ethas je aarsi men is the translation of different
articles on the history of Sindh, compiled by Prof Ejaz Qureshi and
published by Fiction House, Lahore. He has also translated Masood
Khaddarposh's report on the peasants of Sindh, which was published by
Lehran Adabi Board, Lahore.
Another feature of the Sindhi books of 2002 was the abundance of
non-fiction prose books, mainly biographies, memoirs and collections
of profiles of different outstanding personalities. Prominent among
those books are Khaimen men sham by Nasir Mirza, Najam Abbasi: fun
ayeen shakhsiyat and Oondah men sojhro by Yusuf Sindhi, Maan parado
sad jo by Naz Sanai, Dr Sandelo: hik mutalio by Dr Abdul Jabbar
Junejo, Andar rooh rahyam by Maqsood Gul, Amman Maryam by Memon
Mushtaq Ahmed Mithwani, Yaad ghar by Kausar Buriro, Moon men aheen
toon by Murshid Gilani, Jin saah dayee wesaah dino, by Zarqa Abbasi,
Khaksar Aitbar Ali Jagirani: shakhseeyat ayeen jidd-o-jihid, and
Manjhi murs mahan by Allah Warayo Behan.
Jin is a compilation of newspaper editorials and articles on the
Communist Party of Pakistan leader Nazeer Abbasi, who was tortured to
death by the military regime of Gen Ziaul Haq. Khaksar is the
biography of a Khaksar Tehrik leader from Sindh whereas Manjhi is the
biography of a Hur leader, Ghazi Faqir Jan Mohammad Leghari. The other
books, published on the Hur armed struggle against the British
colonial rule are Hur guerilla tehrik, by Aftab Nabi, Col Philip, Col
Visal Mohammad, Walidad Wali and Dr Nabi Bukhsh Khan Baloch, Hur
tehrik by Ustad Nizamani. These books clarify many misconceptions,
established by T.H. Lambrick's biased book on the same subject, titled
Terrorist. (The name says it all.)
Another book, worth mentioning, is the diary of a Sindh University
student, Jamshoro jo alwidayee bhakur, by Hay Khay. The writer refuses
to reveal his name because he reveals many (open) secrets about life
at Jamshoro campus between 1985 and 1990. Sapne khan suhni sabhian is
the collection of lectures and speeches by the late poet and critic,
Tanvir Abbasi, and Sindhi adab jo fikri pas manzar the PhD thesis of
Dr Ghafoor Memon, on the ideological background of Sindhi literature
of different ages. Tariq Aziz's Sindhi adab jo tanqidi ayeen tehqiqi
jaizo can be termed as a brief encyclopaedia of Sindhi literature.
The year also saw the publication of a number of Sindhi books on
scientific topics, especially on health issues. They include
Depression ayeen unjo elaj by Dr Palhak, Tunhje ridhne men tunhji
hospital by Seetal Das, Scienci jaan by Ajmal Huda, Tib zareeye asan
elaj by Hakim Qazi Shamsuddin Ahmed and a book on reading habits,
Parhayee keeyan kaje by Dr Karhandsaar. Hik rolak ji dairy is the
collection of columns by popular reporter Nisar Khokhar.
Hee bait he kinara is the 51st travelogue of Altaf Shaikh, through
which he takes the reader to different islands of the world. Iran jo
safarnamo is the travelogue of the neighbouring country by Manzoor
Hussain Leghari and Abdul Hayee Palijo's Uttar laga ayo pirin that of
some European countries . Lyrical poet Tajal Baiwas has also come up
with a travelogue of India, titled Adiyoon ri awhan chha ditho ho.
This brings us to poetry. The anthologies, which appeared at the
bookshops last year, include Ak joon phulryoon bhej bhini by Shaikh
Ayaz, Ghirya se charhiya by Ustad Bukhari, Dil jazeero udas sapnan jo
by Taj Baloch, Are shehr-i-Janan by Halim Baghi, Gulaban jo kafan by
Ayub Khoso, Lal Kana Luqman ja by Luqman Khokhar, Sapne jo sapno by
Amar Gul, Umas men be sojhro by Mukhtar Malik, Gulabi gulabi geet by
Azad Qazi, Sheher sheher zakhmi by Zakhmi Chandio, Chand kakar ji oat
by Fayyaz Latif, Sapno Sindhu des jo by Bakhshal Baghi, Vikhryal
Vujood by Nazar Maulai, Akhin je sheher men by Janib Naz Ghauri, and
Sapna sagi mund ja, the compilation of the selected work of some poets
of Nawabshah.
As compared to the plentiful poetry works, few works of fiction were
published last year. They include Dardvandi jo des by Hameed Sindhi,
Gallery man kiryal wujood by Raz Shar, Kojhey chand jo gham by
Sikandar Abbasi, Ibratkada, a collection of true stories by Dr Ibrahim
Khalil and Kahaniyoon of different storytellers, compiled by Adal
Soomro and published by the Sindhi Adabi Sangat.
On the other hand, not a single Sindhi novel was published during the
year. Similarly only one humorous book, Aino ayeen tasveer by Ghulam
Rasool Kalhoro, and a handful of books for children were published.
The latter include story books, Daha bhair, Janwaran jo badshah and
Dilair Sultana, and religious books Qurani qissa, Nabvi naseehatoon,
Akhlaq namo, by Mohammad Qasim Soomro.
The travelogue writer, Altaf Shaikh, has also tried his hand at
translation. His Galhiyoon Japan joon is the translation of Japanese
folk literature for children.
No list of Sindhi books can be complete without taking note of books
on Shah Abdul Latif Bhitai and the other sufi poets of yore. The year
2002 saw the umpteenth edition of Shah jo risalo, compiled by Kalyan
Adwani, and the second volume of the Risalo, compiled by Banhon Khan
Shaikh, besides critic Taj Joyo's Shah Latif: hik taharruk, hik
tehrik, which presents the sufi muse as a revolutionary poet. The year
also saw the revival of interest in the almost forgotten Hindu sufi
poet, Sami, with the re-publication his anthology Sami ja sulook and
the publication of Sami vais sulookra by Shaikh Ayaz, Sami te hik
nayeen nazar by Taj Joyo and Sami sagar boond men, compiled by Taj
Joyo. The book by Ayaz not only contains his thoughts on the poetry of
one of the three greatest Sindhi poets but also verses, written in the
tradition set by him. Baidal is a collection of essays on the 18th
century sufi poet.
Kabir joon sufiyaniyoon sarmastyoon is the translation of Bhagat
Kabir's selected poetry and Miran that of Mira.
Prominent researcher Dr Nabi Bukhsh Khan Baloch came up with the
second volume of Roshni, a dictionary of the archaic words, used by
Shah Latif. Jeem Ain Manghani's Chappar keena dey focuses on the
meaning of the Shah's sur sassui, particularly the baits having
Balochi words. They are very remarkable contributions toward
Latifology since the urbanized Sindhi youth of today find it difficult
to understand Shah, who is unanimously considered to be the
ideological guide of the Sindhi people. Sindhika Academy has added
Sindhika school dictionary, to its earlier list of brief pictorial
encyclopaedias on different subjects. Lahore's Oriental Book Society
has published an English to English-Sindhi dictionary called New age
dictionary. Engineer Abdul Wahab Sahto's Chawanyoon ayeen pahaka is
the compilation of Sindhi idioms and proverbs.
A number of standard publications of yore went into their second and
third editions. The reprinted books included literary criticism,
Sindhi adab jo tareekhi jaizo by Memon Abdul Majid Sindhi; memoirs Uhe
deenh uhe sheenh and Hoo dothi hoo deenh by Pir Hussamuddin Rashdi,
and Bukh, ishq ayeen adab by Mohan Kalapna; novel Hama oost by Agha
Salim; anthologies Walwalo ayeen woak and Pair na hatan poyte by Ustad
Bukhari and Keeyan rahan jilawatan by Akash Ansari; and history Sindhi
Hindun jee tarikh by Kako Bheromal.
Last but not least is the deplorable fact that the two major
government institutions, Sindhi Adabi Board and Sindhi Language
Authority published only five books in 2002, two of which are in Urdu.
As compared to them, the private publishing houses, Sindhika Academy
and Roshni Kitab Ghar, have produced 13 books each and a smaller
concern, Sindhi Sahat Ghar, has printed eight books. This speaks
volumes about the role being played by the government institutions in
the promotion of Sindhi language and literature.