musaafir-e dasht

Life, Literature and Nostalgia By Naeema Akram This is love: to fly toward a secret sky, to cause a hundred veils to fall each moment. First to let go of life. Finally, to take a step without feet. -           Rumi Long ago, in my childhood, that is, I remember an elderly man telling me an inspiring tale about Saladin (Salahuddin Ayyubi), the famous Muslim hero. I was told that Saladin had memorised diwaans and diwaans of Arabic poetry. This piece of information got the precocious child in me thinking. I wondered how was that possible? Saladin – the great Muslim general who I had admired because of the stories I had read and heard about his bravery and kindness in my childhood – and poetry seemed like two worlds apart at that point in time. I was precocious, but some questions take their due time before we are blessed with their life-changing answers… I was a science student all my life. Racking my brains with Physics, Chemi...

I remember Dr I.S. once saying that the words we read are not mere words. They are rather the marks on the heart... I was reminded of this thought just a while ago when I had finished reading a short story by a very famous Pakistani writer who was an eminent figure in the "Progressive Writers" alliance. I won't name the writer of the title of the story here for various reasons that I prefer keeping to myself. What I wish to share in this post is my response to that particular work. There are some works of literature after reading which you feel like throwing up. It was one of that kind. I know it is a very layman-kind-of a response coming from a student of literature! At times such simplistic remarks help us figure out our own condition of the heart after reading something. Literature, as it was pointed out, is 'marks on heart'. Despite all their art and craft, some works simply make one palpably feel their hearts being plunged into darkness... A sense of great ...