“I am a born romanticist. Girls, trees, flowers and rains have always fascinated me,” claims 70-year old A Hameed adding with pride that “even before doing my matriculation, I thrice ran away from my home to explore nature’s beauty. I went to Rangoon, Colombo, Bengal, Madras and Bombay all alone without my parents’ consent. Memories of those days are still fresh in my mind and now I am living on them.”
It was not an easy job to profile a moody person like A Hameed. Being an introvert, it’s not very often that he agrees for an interview or a profile, but once he gets tuned up he even shares the account of his most vivid youthful romances with you. One feels that while relating them, he extracts a pleasure out of them. During our couple of hours long rendezvous in his study room, full of neatly arranged books on wide ranging subjects, I had a wonderful experience of peeping at the restless soul in him.
He was born to a Kashmiri family residing at Amritsar. He was named Abdul Hameed, but changed it to A Hameed in line with the tradition of those days. His mother wanted him to get education while his father had pinned his hopes on making him a wrestler, being one himself, allowing him to study only Persian. He wasn’t interested in both. Although admitted to school, A Hameed spent most of his time at Amritsar’s famous Company Bagh where he had his first encounter with nature. Meanwhile, he was taking regular lessons of Persian so that he can read out Sheikh Saadi’s Hikayat-i-Gulistan and Hikayat-i-Bostan to his father.
He took three extra years to do his matriculation, the end of formal education for him. It wasn’t due to his failure in exams but because once in eight standard and twice in ninth standard he ran away from his home. “I don’t remember what I used to do away from home. As I had no money, often I had to sleep hungry. People used to take pity on me and give me food and shelter,” he tells. “My English improved a lot while living in international cities like Colombo and Rangoon. I started reading romantic literature of the 19th century which has the greatest influence on my writings.”
Is literature his only love? The answer is no. “I try to extract nature’s beauty from all forms of art. A stroke of painter’s brush fills my heart with joy. I also take fancy to listening music especially Rabindra Sangeet (Rabindranath Tagore’s poems whole tunes are composed by himself) as it reminds me of the coconut trees, rivers, flowers and fragrances of Bengal. I listen spellbound to it.”
Comparing Wordsworth, Shelley and Keats, he comments that “Wordsworth is more close to nature but I like Shelley more as his poetry has more thought and he expressed feeling in a new style. On the other hand, Keats expressed human feelings and passion in a much better way although his poetry lacks thought.” Among novelists, Gorki and Chekov are his favourites.
“Rajindher Singh Bedi is the best Urdu short story writer in my view. He has Gorki’s affliction and Chekov’s realism, and can only be compared with Prem Chand. Personally, I like Krishan Chander the most and try to imitate him as he was also a great romanticist,” he confesses.
At the time of the Partition of the subcontinent, he was in Colombo. Soon after, he migrated with his family to Lahore where some of his relatives already resided. He wrote his first story Manzil Manzil in December 1947. “I used to write my diary, but had not written a story before. My friends Ahmad Rahi and Arif Abdul Matin, editors of Urdu literary magazine Adb-i-Lateef, convinced me that I can write one. Manzil Manzil, a true account of my romance with a girl from Lahore, was published in Adb-i-Lateef’s special issue of 1948.”
From then onward, writing became his only source of income. He wrote extensively for literary magazines like Savera, Naqoosh and Adb-i-Lateef. Within few years, he became a well-acclaimed author with many books to his credit. He also remained associated with the Progressive Movement. “Those were the golden days of my life. Lahore was the centre of culture and literary activities. In company of other literary giants of that era, I used to roam around all day. My final romance which ended successfully with my marriage in 1952 was also at its peak in those days,” he recalls passionately.
He attributes his success as a writer to the optimism in his works. “After the publication of my short story Aik Raat in Savera, its founder editor Chaudhry Nazir Ahmad told me that I gained popularity because people having fresh memories of clashes and riots find relief in my stories.” His first collection of short stories, Manzil Manzil, was followed by a novel Darbay. Next in line was a novelette Zard Gulab. Dhoop aur Shagoofay, another novel, followed pretty soon and further established him in the role of a novelist.
A Hameed wrote extensively during that period although he disowns most of it now. “I wrote all sorts of cheap romantic novels for fast and easy money. Now I regret that decision and consider it as the biggest mistake of my life,” he concedes. Since the 1970s, he has devoted most of his time to writing for children. More than 300 books of his popular Amber, Naag, Maria Series have already been published. He also wrote a series of adventurous novels popularly known as Commando Series. “It doesn’t mater whether it (Commando Series) has any literary importance or not, at least if offers something interesting to the readers. My literature for children not only carries a message, but also educates them,” he defends himself.
A Hameed writes his memoirs for an Urdu daily. The way he manages to recall and portray all the places and characters to perfection is remarkable. “God has gifted me with a wonderful memory. Whatever I plan to write comes before my eyes. Most of what I write is inspirational,” he claims.
A very humble reply came when asked about the achievement of his life: “My only achievement is that I have made an attempt to portray nature. I have tried to give a new dimension to it. Only time will determine my status among the romantics.” He dispels the impression that he is a narcissist: “I never rate my works very highly. People have created this false impression about me as I avoid meeting with them considering it a waste of time. Trees are my friends, every morning I spend some time in their company.”
“I know about my limitations. I know that how can I express myself in a better way. Why should I attempt at writing something of which I have no experience? Nor can I lie to my readers neither indulge in literary dishonesty,” came the sharp reply from A Hameed when asked hasn’t he restricted himself only to the account of his nostalgic experiences.
One may ask what is A Hameed? If I am to answer this question, I would say that he is a restless wandering soul. He wants to become a part of every particle of this universe. He loves every scene, every season and every manifestation of this universe. In his writings, this love shoots out like a spring flowing in mildly. His theme seems to be “to praise creation is to praise the creator.”
By Mustafa Nazir Ahmad
It was not an easy job to profile a moody person like A Hameed. Being an introvert, it’s not very often that he agrees for an interview or a profile, but once he gets tuned up he even shares the account of his most vivid youthful romances with you. One feels that while relating them, he extracts a pleasure out of them. During our couple of hours long rendezvous in his study room, full of neatly arranged books on wide ranging subjects, I had a wonderful experience of peeping at the restless soul in him.
He was born to a Kashmiri family residing at Amritsar. He was named Abdul Hameed, but changed it to A Hameed in line with the tradition of those days. His mother wanted him to get education while his father had pinned his hopes on making him a wrestler, being one himself, allowing him to study only Persian. He wasn’t interested in both. Although admitted to school, A Hameed spent most of his time at Amritsar’s famous Company Bagh where he had his first encounter with nature. Meanwhile, he was taking regular lessons of Persian so that he can read out Sheikh Saadi’s Hikayat-i-Gulistan and Hikayat-i-Bostan to his father.
He took three extra years to do his matriculation, the end of formal education for him. It wasn’t due to his failure in exams but because once in eight standard and twice in ninth standard he ran away from his home. “I don’t remember what I used to do away from home. As I had no money, often I had to sleep hungry. People used to take pity on me and give me food and shelter,” he tells. “My English improved a lot while living in international cities like Colombo and Rangoon. I started reading romantic literature of the 19th century which has the greatest influence on my writings.”
Is literature his only love? The answer is no. “I try to extract nature’s beauty from all forms of art. A stroke of painter’s brush fills my heart with joy. I also take fancy to listening music especially Rabindra Sangeet (Rabindranath Tagore’s poems whole tunes are composed by himself) as it reminds me of the coconut trees, rivers, flowers and fragrances of Bengal. I listen spellbound to it.”
Comparing Wordsworth, Shelley and Keats, he comments that “Wordsworth is more close to nature but I like Shelley more as his poetry has more thought and he expressed feeling in a new style. On the other hand, Keats expressed human feelings and passion in a much better way although his poetry lacks thought.” Among novelists, Gorki and Chekov are his favourites.
“Rajindher Singh Bedi is the best Urdu short story writer in my view. He has Gorki’s affliction and Chekov’s realism, and can only be compared with Prem Chand. Personally, I like Krishan Chander the most and try to imitate him as he was also a great romanticist,” he confesses.
At the time of the Partition of the subcontinent, he was in Colombo. Soon after, he migrated with his family to Lahore where some of his relatives already resided. He wrote his first story Manzil Manzil in December 1947. “I used to write my diary, but had not written a story before. My friends Ahmad Rahi and Arif Abdul Matin, editors of Urdu literary magazine Adb-i-Lateef, convinced me that I can write one. Manzil Manzil, a true account of my romance with a girl from Lahore, was published in Adb-i-Lateef’s special issue of 1948.”
From then onward, writing became his only source of income. He wrote extensively for literary magazines like Savera, Naqoosh and Adb-i-Lateef. Within few years, he became a well-acclaimed author with many books to his credit. He also remained associated with the Progressive Movement. “Those were the golden days of my life. Lahore was the centre of culture and literary activities. In company of other literary giants of that era, I used to roam around all day. My final romance which ended successfully with my marriage in 1952 was also at its peak in those days,” he recalls passionately.
He attributes his success as a writer to the optimism in his works. “After the publication of my short story Aik Raat in Savera, its founder editor Chaudhry Nazir Ahmad told me that I gained popularity because people having fresh memories of clashes and riots find relief in my stories.” His first collection of short stories, Manzil Manzil, was followed by a novel Darbay. Next in line was a novelette Zard Gulab. Dhoop aur Shagoofay, another novel, followed pretty soon and further established him in the role of a novelist.
A Hameed wrote extensively during that period although he disowns most of it now. “I wrote all sorts of cheap romantic novels for fast and easy money. Now I regret that decision and consider it as the biggest mistake of my life,” he concedes. Since the 1970s, he has devoted most of his time to writing for children. More than 300 books of his popular Amber, Naag, Maria Series have already been published. He also wrote a series of adventurous novels popularly known as Commando Series. “It doesn’t mater whether it (Commando Series) has any literary importance or not, at least if offers something interesting to the readers. My literature for children not only carries a message, but also educates them,” he defends himself.
A Hameed writes his memoirs for an Urdu daily. The way he manages to recall and portray all the places and characters to perfection is remarkable. “God has gifted me with a wonderful memory. Whatever I plan to write comes before my eyes. Most of what I write is inspirational,” he claims.
A very humble reply came when asked about the achievement of his life: “My only achievement is that I have made an attempt to portray nature. I have tried to give a new dimension to it. Only time will determine my status among the romantics.” He dispels the impression that he is a narcissist: “I never rate my works very highly. People have created this false impression about me as I avoid meeting with them considering it a waste of time. Trees are my friends, every morning I spend some time in their company.”
“I know about my limitations. I know that how can I express myself in a better way. Why should I attempt at writing something of which I have no experience? Nor can I lie to my readers neither indulge in literary dishonesty,” came the sharp reply from A Hameed when asked hasn’t he restricted himself only to the account of his nostalgic experiences.
One may ask what is A Hameed? If I am to answer this question, I would say that he is a restless wandering soul. He wants to become a part of every particle of this universe. He loves every scene, every season and every manifestation of this universe. In his writings, this love shoots out like a spring flowing in mildly. His theme seems to be “to praise creation is to praise the creator.”
By Mustafa Nazir Ahmad
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