On the Ayaz Melo

The Ayaz Melo is a fine example of how the power of two women – Amar Sindhu and Arfana Mallah – can transform a nearly barren intellectual landscape into a fertile ground for ideas to blossom. Add three more outstanding personalities – Haseen Musarrat, Imdad Chandio and Taj Joyo – and you have a perfect mix to stir a celebration commemorating one of Pakistan’s finest poets and arguably the best Sindhi poet of the 20th century, Sheikh Ayaz.

From Dec 21 to 25, Hyderabad celebrated the seventh Ayaz Melo which had a lot to offer. In the previous six iterations of this festival, most of the sessions discussed and dissected Sheikh Ayaz’s creative writings; this time, Amar and Arfana decided that they needed to expand the scope of discussions, and they did it so well. Both are faculty members at Sindh University and command an ardent set of followers among young people and seniors alike. They are also writers of considerable merit and have produced commendable creative work.

Amar Sindhu was the brain behind the Khanabadosh Writers Cafe in Hyderabad. She envisioned it as a space for creative minds and intellectuals in Sindh to come together for debates and discussions. The PPP-led provincial government and its cultural department were generous enough to allow the use of a couple of rooms as an extension of the premises at Sindh Museum in Hyderabad. This cafe is now nearly eight years old and has played a significant role in the revival of intellectual activities and served as a peg to hold the Ayaz Melo for the past seven years.

The seventh Ayaz Melo was a five-day festival that not only highlighted the ideology and works of Ayaz but also brought together people from various walks of life. Perhaps the best aspect of the festival was that there was no overwhelming presence of retired and serving bureaucrats that has become a feature of some other literary festivals. Nor were there any foreign ambassadors ‘gracing’ the occasion with their seats on stage. One must appreciate Sindh Minister for Culture Sardar Ali Shah for offering financial help for the festival without any preconditions or any imposing presence of PPP leaders or members.

This festival has now become an identity of Hyderabad, and both Amar and Arfana have been doing a tremendous job by contributing towards an enlightening discourse in Sindh, which is conspicuously absent in other provinces. They do have some intellectual activities but not at the level at which young people of Balochistan and Sindh carry it. To create awareness among the people, such festivals play a pretty significant role, and perhaps that is the reason the state is not keen on allowing such discourse in Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, where the ruling party is serving its purpose by being on the ‘same page’.

Another appreciable characteristic of the Ayaz Melo is its multilingual approach which offered discussions in a mix of languages – English, Saraiki, Sindhi and Urdu. There were also Baloch poets and writers who travelled from Balochistan and Karachi to participate in discussions and recite their poetry. Nearly 80 speakers discussed issues related to education, literature and media. The event also introduced eight new books by various authors. Live theatre was another feather in the festival’s cap. The presidential address by Sardar Ali Shah was enlightening and not a usual regurgitation most ministers do in Pakistan.

Renowned Sindh intellectual and poet Taj Joyo in his welcome address set the tone for the keynote speaker, Harris Khalique who combines in himself an activist and intellectual, and this combination reflects in his speech and writings. His keynote address was wide-ranging and touched upon multiple issues that Pakistani society is facing – from human rights and environmental degradation to freedoms of assembly and expression. Khalique’s poetry collection ‘Hairaan Sare Bazaar’ became an instant hit at the festival after his reading that moved the audience. His poem about the missing people is a masterpiece.

The session, on the role of intellectuals in a post-colonial society, that Junaid Ansari moderated was particularly relevant. Dr Jaffer Ahmed opined that decolonisation did not take place in Pakistan, and that is one reason the country has been acutely suffering from intellectual backwardness. Ghazi Salahuddin suggested that campuses should have been battlegrounds of intellectual activities in a postcolonial country, but that was not the case in Pakistan. He agreed with the observation that Pakistan was a country ‘insufficiently imagined’. “We need intellectuals to teach us how to imagine and dream.”

Dr Sahar Gul Bhatti – a columnist and educationist – stressed upon the need for public discourse so that literature and poetry become part of everyday life, as it is in most educated societies. She lamented the fact that there has been a state-sponsored de-intellectualisation of Pakistani society which became rife with ethnic conflicts in the absence of public discourse. She also talked about coercion by state terrorism and how society is killing women in the name of honour. She observed that a gendered, feminist, and secular discourse may lead to some improvement in the way our youth behave and think.

Dr Zafar Junejo – an activist and writer – was of the opinion that Pakistani society has moved from individual fear to collective scare, and it was the responsibility of intellectuals in postcolonial societies to guide people out of it. “Intellectuals such as G M Syed, Ibrahim Joyo and Rasul Bukhsh B Palijo tried to do the same and left an indelible mark at least in Sindh, if not in the rest of Pakistan.” Zafar Junejo explained that the most significant role an intellectual can play was to expose lies, and that too by establishing the context in which such lies take roots.

Another book that received appreciation at one of the sessions was ‘Raqs Nama’ by Jeem Abbasi. Rafaqat Hayat, a fine storyteller in his own right, reviewed the book with glowing tributes. Jeem Abbasi has recently emerged as a young writer who has complete command of the craft of novel and short-story writing. He places his characters mostly in the Sindhi backdrop and creates a plot that is gripping and entertaining at the same time. ‘Raqs Nama’ is an excellent addition to the colourful literary scene in Pakistan.

Dr Fahmida Hussain’s autobiography and Arfana Mallah’s ‘Camp Kahanian’ were also introduced at the festival. Fahmida Hussain is a well-known author and intellectual with at least a dozen books to her credit. Her autobiography is a no-holds-barred account of her personal and professional life that reveals the intricacies of society in Sindh. Anyone interested in understanding the life and times of Fahmida Hussain must get a copy of the book which is in Sindhi but deserves translation into English and Urdu.

Arfana Mallah’s book is a collection of her columns she wrote for a Sindhi newspaper as a diary of the miseries, unfolding in the aftermath of the devastating floods in 2010. Originally, it was in Sindhi but then Attiya Dawood translated it into Urdu, and Dr Jaffer Ahmed published it for the benefit of a wider audience. These stories of the families who had to leave their homes in the face of surging waters are an excellent account of the tragedy that we have mostly forgotten now. This book deserves a separate treatment that I will try to do some other time.

The seventh Ayaz Melo was a resounding success and the credit for it goes to the entire team, including dozens of young volunteers who worked tirelessly for weeks to make it an enviable feat.

The writer holds a PhD from the University of Birmingham, UK and works in Islamabad. He be reached at: mnazir1964@yahoo.co.uk