Tisara karaan Giaaan is the second part of Dr Manzur Ejaz’s autobiography. The title of first part of his autobiography was taken from Shah Hussain’s kafi; the second part’s title is from Baba Guru Nanak s’ famous Var, Babar di Bani.

Ejaz is a prolific writer and has written some of the landmark books in Punjabi over a very short span of time. Apart from his magnum opus in five volumes, Waris Nama – wherein he explains, interprets and analyses Waris Shah’s Heer — he has also produced two excellent books in Punjabi, The Peoples’ History of Punjab and History of Philosophy. If this was not enough, he wrote a book about linguistics in English, Linguistic Follies of the Subcontinent. He also wrote five books of poetry in one go, including translations of poetry from China and Japan. His other works include a book about Bullah Shah. His latest project is the first online Punjabi University, Meluha Punjabi University, that he has registered in Virginia, USA, where he has been living for the last four decades or so.

It started with the first part of his autobiography in 2018. The book can broadly be divided into three parts. The story of his childhood, schooling in a village and college education till BA in Sahiwal. The second part is about his cultural and political activities in Lahore from 1968 to 1979, and the third part is based on his life and struggles in the USA. His latest volume follows the same pattern. The only difference is that he has added some more details about people and events discussed in the first volume.

Not many Marxists in Pakistan have written autobiographies. Notable exceptions include Abdual Rauf Malik’s Surakh siasat, kitaab zisat ke chand katt phatte aurak, recorded and edited by Aamir Riaz , Ch Fatah Mohammad’s Jo ham pe guzari, Chaudhry Fatah Mohammad’s Jo ham pe guzari, BM Cutty’s Khud ikhtiar karda jilavatani and Saif Khalid’s Jab ankh hi se na tapka written by Ahmad Saleem. Shafqat Tanveer Mirza once said: “Had Masood Khaderposh written his autobiography, it would have been the most popular.” Most of the seniors when asked to write their story, promptly reply, “People will get angry”.

Ejaz is very fond of telling the story of his early life in the village and provides many details. He has extensively written about the changes taking place in village life using all the tools available to a social scientist. At one place he writes: “Every village was a separate world as everything was built in the village by a kammi (artisan). The self-sufficient foundations of a village were laid in the 2nd or the 3rd Century during the Mauryan Empire. Whenever they sanctioned a village, there would be eight to 16 kammis [allocated to do the work]. This system continued until the arrival of British colonialists. When canals were dug and bars were inhabited, open streets were built like cities and in every new village, there was a separate street for kammis. Most of the kammis were also allotted some land.” His main thesis is that the centuries old village life changed in the 1970s with the arrival of technology - tractors, threshing machines, radios, sewing machines, loudspeakers, motor cycles and cars etc.

...it was the forming of Sangat (49-Jail road, Lahore) and founding of Punjabi Adabi Markaz that transformed him and made him a lifelong worker of the Punjabi language and movement. 

Ejaz describes in detail the literary scene of Sahiwal when he was enrolled at the Sahiwal College in 1964. According to him, Majeed Amjad was the heart and soul of the rich literary scene of the city. It appears that the literary environment and Majeed Amjad’s company helped groom his talent and inculcate in him a rich taste for literature. He also mentions writers like Faheem Jozi, Sajjad Meer and Saadat Saeed as his influences. He praises Mazhar Tirmazi, who was a powerful writer of Urdu poetry but then decided to write in Punjabi and never looked back.

The most powerful part of the book is about Ejaz’s life at Punjab University and founding the National Students Organization (NSO). If you were a student at Punjab University in 1968, you were bound to be either a socialist or a revolutionary. A popular revolutionary movement was going on across the world. In Pakistan, an anti-Ayub Khan Movement was starting. Ejaz was a part of it. He recalls meeting two famous socialist leaders: Prof Aziz Ud Din and Dr Aziz Ul Haq. While Dr Haq was more inclined towards existentialism and supported those raising the question of nationality, Prof Aziz Ud Din came to socialism via logical positivism. They finally fell apart over military action in East Pakistan in 1970. Prof Aziz Ud Din was in favour of military operation in East Pakistan whereas Dr Haq was against it. The great debate was held at the home of Mian Ijaz Ul Hassan in Gulberg. Ejaz mentions many comrades including Shuja Ul Haq, Raja Arif, Javeed Ali Khan, Jehangir Bader, Iftikar Jalib and Shahid Mahmood Nadeem in his book. After his expulsion from the NSO, Ejaz joined the Young Peoples’ Front. This happened after the murder of Aziz Ul Haq in 1973.

An important memoir, Rut Leekha, was published in an avant garde Punjabi magazine managed by him and Azmat Kadir. But it was the forming of Sangat (49-Jail Road, Lahore) and founding of Punjabi Adabi Markaz that transformed him and made him a lifelong worker of the Punjabi language and movement. He writes: “Sangat was formed with his NSO and YPF friends. They were its real founders and had come round to espouse the cause after being disappointed in the politics of the Left. They were looking for a new way. It was not merely a literary meeting, rather a political action. The main idea was that you could not have any revolutionary movement without understanding the history of your culture and the structure of your society.” The Sangat is still functional and has played a vital role in teaching classical poetry to the youth under Najm Hosain Syed.

His forming of the first Punjabi book shop, Punjabi Adabi Maraz, at the Mozang Chungi didn’t work out, though a lot of Punjabi books were published during its short life (from 1974 to 1978). Muneer Din Khalid, a forgotten worker of Punjabi movement, helped him during this time. He would cycle around Lahore, distributing the books. Later Khalid worked for Maan Boli and Uddam Publishers.

After the failure of Punjabi Adabi Markaz and the coming of Zia’s military editorship, Ejaz departed for the USA. His first love remains the advancement of the Punjabi language.

Tisara karaan Giaan

Author: Manzur Ejaz

Publisher: Kitab Trinjan, 3, Temple Road, Lahore

Pages:142

Price: 300

The writer is a Lahore-based Punjabi poet and academic