The award-giving ceremony of the Majlis-i-Farogh-i-Urdu Adab, Dubai and Doha, for two well-known writers from Pakistan and India - Mohammed Khalid Akhtar and Surendra Prakash - was a grand event, followed by mushairas in the two cities in which poets from all over the Urdu-speaking world participated.
In the background of continuing tension in South Asia, the atmosphere permeating the events was exemplary. The poets, scholars and fans, belonging to the subcontinent, as a whole, were oblivious to the eye-ball-to-eye-ball confrontation of the soldiers of the two countries on the borders. Some of the poets - Ahmad Nadim Qasmi, Jamiluddin Aali, Amjad Islam Amjad of Pakistan and Mairaj Faizabadi, Mauj Rampuri and Zafar Gorakhpuri of India - were exchanging pleasantries with each other as if they belonged to one family.
The two recipients of the annual awards for their overall service to Urdu had one point in common - none was awarded on this scale previously in spite of being very prominent in their fields.
Octogenarian Khalid Akhtar’s novel ‘Chakiwara Mein Wisal’ has already been much praised by Faiz Ahmad Faiz, Qurratulain Haider and the like. His book ‘Khoya Hua Ufaq’, which got the Writers’ Guild award in 1969 (Faiz was one of the judges), created history. About his style, Khalid writes in the preface to this book that he is greatly influenced by R. L. Stevenson. This had led writer Husn Zamani Alamgir to challenge the Guild award in a court of law on the plea that only an original writing could be considered for award, and got a stay order.
Faiz was also implicated as a member of the jury and had to attend the court regularly until the exemption from attendance was granted by the court. Jamiluddin Aali narrated this episode in the context of the Majlis awards which, he thought, were transparent.
Khalid Akhtar is highly witty. Be it fiction or travelogue or letters, he has emerged as a wonderful prose writer.
As for 73-year-old Surendra Prakash, born in Lyallpur (now Faisalabad), he is known for his short stories - ‘Doosre Aadmi Ka Drawingroom’ and ‘Bajooka’ the latter being a modern classic). Three collections of short stories - ‘Doosre Aadmi Ka Drawingroom,’ ‘Barf Per Makalma and Bazgoi’ - have been published and the fourth one is in the press. He could not come to Dubai because he had missed the plane.
The awards and mushaira festival had two other events worth mentioning. The first was the launching of ‘Duniya-i-Adab’s Jamiluddin Aali Number’ at Doha Club on January 8. It was quite an event. On the dais were, among others, Arif Kamal, Pakistan’s ambassador to Qatar, Dr Gopi Chand Narang, Mohammed Atiq, Ataul Haq Qasimi and Jamiluddin Aali himself. Amjad Islam Amjad and this scribe spoke on the occasion apart from the editor of the ‘Duniya-i-Adab,’ Auj-i-Kamal.
There is no doubt that it is the most-voluminous Number (1,140 pages) brought so far on any poet. Auj-i-Kamal announced that his next project was to bring out a Number on Ahmad Nadeem Qasimi in 2003.
The second big event was Jashn-i-Amjad Islam Amjad, the poet-playwright who has joined the ranks of celebrities with this honor. Amjad is well-known for his dramas and TV compering. He has many awards and honors in his bag.