LAHORE: Political leaders, statesmen, diplomats, even rock stars have indulged in writing autobiographies throughout history. There is demand for it after all. People want a peek into the lives of these people.
But these are not the only people to write books, or even good books. There have are many others who write books, good books, but don’t belong to the category of people usually considered having good experiences to draw from for writing a book. Teachers, for example, can write excellent books with their lifelong experiences and an unusually high affinity for literature.
However, stereotyping of such ambition has made an entire literary genre disputed. The memoirs and creative creations of people writing seriously (and for publication) after retirement have a rich tradition. These people, who would otherwise be busy in their callings, now have the time and leisure to turn to a higher calling.
The resulting works are rarely masterpieces. The language, for sure, will be correctly constructed and the information contained will mostly be right, but it is never really deeply profound or middle tier literature, let alone upper tier.
One recent work that hits all the right notes as a part of this particular genre of writing is Miti Ki Mehak by Muhammad Siddiq Saqib, a former high school teacher from Haveli Lakha in Okara district. Miti Ki Mehak is not M S Saqib’s first published work. However, it is very much a labour of love.
A great mix of fiction, philosophy, and fascinating local flavor, it is a raw work from the tip of the literary critic’s pen. Reading it, one feels the influence of the afsana in the work but it also turns into a particularly sardonic commentary on very Pakistani problems. M S Saqib has not only put into words the realities of life as he has seen it, but also the philosophy of life that has shaped each and every experience detailed in the book. The way he is connected with his characters, their environment and their experiences makes it alive and real for us all. One might even go so far as to call it crude, but they would then be ignoring the undeniable charm of Miti Ki Mehak, and that of the author’s.
“I have no writer who has inspired me,” he tells Pakistan Today in an interview.
“I have read many authors. I have written a collection of poetry before this and I am an avid consumer of all things written, but that is a passion separate from reading. I read because I like it and I write because I feel compelled to write.”
Over the phone, M S Saqib’s fine Urdu is something that takes me by surprise. It is, indeed, rather intimidating. Poised and eloquent, Saqib sounds much like he writes: not a rattling poet but a practised linguist with an understanding of the language he is writing.
“This work is one about the world around us. It is about our geography and the different languages people speak and how they come together in such a multi-cultural world,” he says and I couldn’t agree more.
Indeed, Miti Ki Mehak has a surprisingly diverse narrative voice and meaning, and at the centre of it is the writer’s belief in universality. It is a work of social and cultural exchanges, daily life, its minutiae and cultural history. Reading the book one is also reminded of the art of storytelling: a work of substance and one that the reader cannot help but be charmed by.
Mitti Ki Mehak
Written by: M S Saqib
Published by: Faizullah Academy
Pages: 440; Price: Rs600/-