Ghulam Abbas (1909-1982) is considered to be one of the three pillars of the grand tradition of Urdu short story, which continues to mesmerise the readers to date. Manto, Rajinder Singh Bedi and Ghulam Abbas represent the golden era of Urdu literature with three different techniques and schools of thought. Each member of this triumvirate perceived life differently and traversed a literary path of his own.

Ghulam Abbas, without a doubt an amazing craftsman, belonged to the classical tradition of fiction which believed in storytelling, thus assigning centrality to the story. He practised it to great perfection. To me, he appears to be a low toned crooner who devotes all his energies in churning out serene and lilting ditties. He wasn’t loud and noisy. He told his stories in a detached way without trying to put his ideology in his characters’ mouths. Some of his stories helped him win accolades right in the time of giants like Manto and Bedi etc.

Kuliat-e Ghulam Abbas composed efficiently from different books and magazines by Asim Butt, is groundbreaking as it contains all the short and long pieces ever written by the maestro. The thick volume contains all his short stories, novelettes, poems, dramas and other miscellaneous works. It even contains the pieces he wrote for the popular children’s magazine, Phool, hence making it a must read for admirers of Urdu literature.

The anthology contains four collections of short stories: ‘Anandi’, ‘Jade Ki Chandni’, ‘Reenganay Waley’; two novellas Gondni Wala Takia, and Jazeera-e-Shukanwaran; a collection of poems for children Chand Taara, dramas and translations of stories.

He started his writing career as a translator and writer of children’s literature. Due to the financial conditions of his family, he had to start earning long before completing his formal education. One of his short stories,‘Anandi’, is based on a colony that was established for prostitutes in the outskirts of Delhi, one that he used to pass by almost daily. He gelled his personal experiences so well in his fiction that some of his stories continue to be considered classics till date.

Muhammad Hasan Askari said that Abbas’s mastership is reflected not in the idea itself but the building of the plot of the story that he does with graceful conviction and patience. as he shows in drawing a detailed picture of the construction of the colony and its population. The story has been translated into many different languages and has also been filmed and dramatised in Pakistan and abroad as well. ‘Anandi’-- an inevitable part of any list of great Urdu stories -- is perhaps one of the best stories ever written on the topic. Had he stopped writing after that, ‘Anandi’ would have surely kept his name alive in the annals of Urdu literature.

In the years of loud movements of progressive writers and Halqa-e Arbab-e Zauq, he, like Manto, refrained from being influenced by any patronising literary force and kept himself away from these developments. He didn’t believe in jumping on the bandwagon and was solely focused on his art. It wasn’t smooth sailing at a time when these movements were casting their shadows on the whole corpus of Urdu literature. Abbas, however, persisted in showing utmost commitment to his art and craft. He didn’t need any badge or insignia to show his inclination towards the downtrodden that most of his stories revolve around.

‘Katba’, one of his widely read stories, pithily chronicles the life of a common clerk who dreams of putting up a plaque on his front gate bearing his name. He is not able to fulfil his simple desire and finally, the plaque gets erected on his grave!

Kulliat-e Ghulam Abbas is a major event on the literary calendar as it will help us understand the genius that was Ghulam Abbas. Short story writer and translator Muhammad Asim Butt has done a marvellous job in this regard.

Kulliat-e Ghulam Abbas
Author: Compiled by Muhammad Asim Butt
Publisher: Alhamd Publications, Lake Road Lahore
Pages: 796
Price: Rs1,200