He ‘sings because (he) has a song’
The author is a self-made person. He does not feel shy of telling his readers about his humble beginnings, the adversity of circumstances, a sustained struggle against heavy odds, his chequered educational career, his manful graduation from humble to material careers
Talking Points
Author: M. Aamer Sarfraz
Published by: Mavra Publishers, 60-Shahrah-e-Quaid-e-Azam, Lahore
Price: Rs500; Pages: 125
The Art of War
Author: Sun Tzu
Published by: Readings, 12-K, Main Boulevard, Gulberg 2, Lahore
Price: Rs.125; Pages: 66
MusafataiN Kya Kya (Khudnawisht)
Author: Asghar Ali Tabassum
Published by: Ekai Publishers, Faisalabad
Price: Rs1200; Pages: 912
Veteran educationist, psychiatrist, and now author and columnist M. Aamer Sarfraz thinks that (when it comes to writing articles) he is ‘a composer — of ideas and words scattered around the world’, for whom life is ‘a constant state of déjà vu’. His Talking Points illustrates his philosophy of living and writing. Sun Tzu (544-496 BC), a Chinese military strategist wrote The Art of War, a unique treatise on military strategy valid to this day — another archetype of ‘talking pints’ scattered around the globe. And Asghar Ali Tabassum’s autobiography further validates the alchemy of ‘talking points’ with regard to the perseverant struggle of a common but determined individual in the face of heavy odds. All three of these publications form the subject of this review.
Talking Points
The author is an expat serving as consultant psychiatrist and director of medical education in the UK. He seems to be ‘home-sickly’ focused on themes ‘maternal’ which is a non-ambiguous equivalent of ‘indigenous’. This book has thirteen articles of varying length. The quality of prose is verily poetic. This reviewer has had the privilege to have known him since his formative days when back in the early 1990’s, he was struggling with his inner voice pronouncing whether to be an educator or a professional. He pioneered and successfully ran a reputed model public school in Faisalabad (that he nostalgically calls Lyallpur!) for a short span of nearly three years, and then he decided to re-link himself to his profession viz., medicine, and immigrated to the UK. Amazingly, he would not allow the litterateur in him to give up the ghost. So he ‘sings because (he) has a song’.
The book rivets on as many as thirteen random topics embracing the pristine purity (and density, too) of filial love, a book review, profiles of crooner Tahira Syed, feminist Tehmina Durrani, and cricketer Majid Khan, theorising on power and politics, reflections on political gimmicks, gender discrimination, ‘hijab’, self-amputation, humour in politics and social stakes, religious freedom, tolerance, and the rule of law, and the messiah concept (the pan-religious concept of a future saviour).
Over the years, Aamer Sarfraz has evolved a style of writing which derives its latent force and conviction from perspicacity, lucidity, a wide range of knowledge, an intimate awareness of the human psyche, and an adroit analytical ability to filter the truth. Some excerpts from the book would substantiate the observation:
Whenever I asked her (my mother) when she was born, she said that she only came into being on the day I was born — she did not exist before.(Mother O’ Mine)
Power in future will originate neither solely within individuals nor within established institutions, but generate within and between socio-economic and cultural systems whose all-pervasive influence defies intricate analysis.(Of Power and Politics)
As a matter of aesthetic conviction, people like Tahira Syed should not belong to any one person. They should be free of emotional attachments and remain in the joint custody of our collective unconscious. Just like nature and its manifestations (air, sunshine, fragrance and music made by birds and waves); it should be our fundamental right to have her free of ownership. (Dreaming Tahira Syed)
There is a need for the society to connect with what politics means as a fundamental part of the social capital, and how it embodies and sustains connectedness, equality and generosity. (Kindred Spirit)
The epilogue appended to the book would seem to consummate its convolute textual undertones in the broader context of the prevailing global scenario:
The Candle Flame
Shadows dancing on the wall/Looking small, then turning tall
The room aglow with ghostly light/Causing the half-awake children fright
Wax is forming in the glass/The candle flame diminishing fast!
The Art of War
It is an ancient Chinese ‘military treatise’ with thirteen chapters devoted to different aspects of warfare. The work seems to have not only influenced the world military thinking but also business tactics, legal strategy et al. It was first translated into French in the latter part of the 18th century and then into English in 1910. The book has long enjoyed favour with major military commanders and strategists in both hemispheres of the globe besides theorists and practitioners of other domains of art and science.
The self-explanatory contents are listed as laying plans (detailed assessment and planning), waging war, attack by stratagem (strategic attack), tactical dispositions (disposition of the army), energy (forces), weak points and strong, maneuvering (military maneuvers), variation in tactics (variations and adaptability), the army on the march (movement and development of troops), terrain, the nine situations (of battlegrounds), the attack by fire, and the use of spies (intelligence and espionage).
It is a well-written document, the secret of its survival being the concrete knowledge, wisdom, foresight, and practicality proverbially deemed to be the essence of military craft. Many of the rules and observations adumbrated in it could be gainfully extended to other fields of human knowledge and experience such as economics, commerce, industry, statecraft, general administration, and scientific pursuits.
MusafataiN Kya Kya
It is a voluminous publication featuring the life and work of noted writer, poet and journalist Asghar Ali Tabassum. Autobiographies of men and women of eminence are often read with keen interest ostensibly because of the romance and glamour associated with their person and deeds. The instant book is claimed to be the tale of a commoner who has had to wade through an ordeal of trials and tribulations spanning his childhood, adolescence, youth, middle and advanced age.
The book carries comments and forewords by a cross-section of distinguished persons including educationists, journalists, writers and scholars, and corporate executives like Prof Dr Muhammad Qasim Bughio, Chairman, Pakistan Academy of Letters, Mujib-ur-Rahman Shami, Ata-ul-Haq Qasmi, Prof Dr Riaz Majeed, Prof Dr Jibreel Asghar of King Abdul Aziz University, Jeddah, Muhammad Baqaullah Khan Burki, Prof Dr Manzoor Ahmad Tahir, Prof Riaz Ahmad Qadri, Haji Muhammad Aslam, Maqbool Ahmad Lodhi, Mian Riffat Javed Qadri, Syed Shahid Hussain, Muhammad Iqbal Chaudhry, Ali Akhtar Chaudhry, Ikhlaq Ahmad Moghul, Rai Ali Sajjad Raza, Palmist M. H. Malik, Prof Yaqoob Mazhar Gill, Prof Dr Shabbir Ahmad Qadri, and writer, poet Shahzad Beg of Ekai Publishers. All of them have commended the author for his hard work, honesty, commitment, strength of character, and other qualities of head and heart.
The author is a self-made person. He does not feel shy of telling his readers about his humble beginnings, the adversity of circumstances, a sustained struggle against heavy odds, his chequered educational career, his manful graduation from humble to material careers, his wide social and political interaction, his eventful matrimonial life and progeny, some engaging personal anecdotes, the September 1965 war with India, political events in 1960s and ‘70s, a visit to Switzerland, a miscellany of his newspaper columns, memoirs, portraits of men from business and journalism, reflections on some politicians and military rulers, a selection of the author’s verses, formation of the Faisalabad Editors’ Council, launch of daily Nia Ujala (2000), a profile of Syeda Abida Hussain, a meeting with President of Pakistan, Gen Ziaul Haq, and the auhtor’s link with Toba Tek Singh and Lyallpur (now Faisalabad).
Apart from the extant 912 pages of the book, it contains a picture gallery spread over some 184 additional pages which supplements the authenticity of the narrative. All said, the autobiography will surely inspire the readers who wish to learn from the lives of not merely great men but also those who starting from the scratch rose to sustainable socio-economic heights by the strength of their faith, devotion to work, and perseverance. However, to make it more readable, the bulk of the volume could have been reasonably downsized with a careful re-reading and editing of the manuscript, and likewise the photographs!