Nazir Jahangir
“Tcheta Bota ‘Lota Baba’, Anyot Te Bushkaaba..!”
(You , me are sorry lots , lid and pot)
This is a Kashmiri proverb which means, “two of us share a unique and exclusive connection, being quite similar to each other.”
Anyway, as usual let me in the onset apologize for bringing this topic into a debate as I suppose some people may find some of my words unpalatable though my intent is sincere.
Let us be honest and accept that our writers took themes, premises, issues, and even content and style, from Urdu and English fiction. Then they employed the same pattern in their works merely with slight changes in words and grammar. We discover most of the short stories of our known writers comprise stereotypical phrases. As a consequence, the works of our fiction writers lack that amount of freshness which could evoke attention and interest. This is the main reason why Kashmiri fiction doesn’t find a reader and our writer always seeks “mercy” from the government in terms of help and aid. Had the Kashmiri writers innovated some distinctive style and fresh ideas and displayed high imagination in their creative works then our fiction too would generate interest among the masses. But unfortunately our short stories fail to evince interest and satisfaction and Kashmir couldn’t produce writers of world-class standards.
I hold everyone, who is anyone in literary terms, in high regard but in reality, I confess, I do not consider anyone a genuine writer. I believe that any work of any fiction writer here is no novelty nor carries a vision of insight, let alone intuition. I see a sight in our writers but not a flight of insight, they are governed by tuition not inspired by intuition. So our writers lack lofty ideas and high imagination. All are mediocre, ila Mashallah (Where God has Willed).
In our little pond, I don’t see any big fish. Though, many writers suffer from vain hopes of being excellent fiction writers. Their self-excitement gets impetus by exaggerated flattery by some sycophants. This is called useless intellectualization. The genuine fiction writer is determined by the genuine critique, reasonable analysis and evaluation. In this sense, all are sailing here in a boat like “tcheta botta ‘Luta Baba’, Anyot tah bashkaaba”, ila Mashallah. ..!!
I see some friends are fret over my critique and write-ups. I sincerely suggest them that Instead of raising your voice, try to improve your argument.
In my previous article, I discussed how Amin Kamil’s fables, such as “Kakar Jung,” feature photography of everyday events. Similarly, writers like Akhtar and other fiction writers have also captured ordinary events or events from the past using their literary craft. These writers do not rely on their imagination to create stories, but instead use their skills to describe real events as they occurred. For instance, Akhtar’s novel “…Panan Panan Nar” and the fiction of “Main Kya Karoon Ram, Moje…” are both examples of this style. This very approach is evident in the works of Hari Krishen Kaul and other Kashmiri fiction writers also. I find the same type of subject matter, resembling style, plagiarized ideas and themes in other works of Kashmiri writers.
There is a Kashmiri proverb:
HALEN BANAN VUKER THAAND, HIVEN HIVY SAMKHAAN
(Twisted covers for twisted vessels).
Nevertheless, we find a great craft of orchestration and excellent coherence in the story road map and narrative and arrangement of sequences in Kamil’s, Akhtar’s, Koul’s, Bharati’s short stories. Of course, one finds manifestation of natural and realistic sequences in the fiction writings of Kamil, Akhtar, Koul and Bharati, and nothing like abstract or nonsensical is in their stories.
It merits a mention here that people having value, credibility and status are deemed worthy to quote and their works deserve evaluation, otherwise persons like me keep coming and going, no one takes on such people. Akhtar, Kamil and Kaul have their own credibility so one feel proud to critique their art.
PS: Yes, I agree we could produce bundles of “Ladishahs”. Toeing the line of our “Kashmiriyat” or what we call it our “traditional generosity” we gave them appellation “writers and poets”. Our big Ladishahs appointed small Ladishahs judges and entrusted them the job to identify other Ladishahs for literary awards and state honors. So they kept on recommending Ladishahs only for all awards.
Let it be on record that I hold Ladishahs also in high regards because they too are storytellers telling stories in rhythmic form and they too entertain people. One question arises:
How do we identify a writer or poet?
A billion dollar question!
Simply by its qualification.
The second question gives a rise:
What is the quality criteria we set for a writer?
If any Tom, Dick and Harry is able to write anything, be that sensible or nonsensical but earned a term “Yes-man” with its name and has an art of flattery he or she is deemed suitable for any sort of award in our land. This is the criteria set for the writing standards by our critics, judges and people at helm. So our Ladishah are known for these qualities.
Nazir Jahangir is a noted journalist
