It is never easy to write about someone whom you know very intimately, especially after his or her death. To pen down memories spread over years in a few hundred words is not the only problem you confront – with each word you write, a sense of loss encompasses you. The void created in your life because of the absence of that single individual somehow becomes the greatest reality of the world and life loses all its meaning, at least temporarily, for you.
Writing renowned poet and literary scholar Salahuddin Mahmood’s obituary, who died August 22 this year, I experienced this problem. He was the third leading literary figure whom we lost last month after Safdar Mir (Zino) and Taufiq Rafat. With his inherent goodness of heart and sophistication of manners, Salahuddin Mahmood had made a distinguished place for himself in the hearts of all his acquaintances. It would not be wrong to say that you just had to meet him to experience his cultured demeanour, which reminded one of his Aligarh upbringing, and become one of his admirers.
In fact, the Aligarh influence on his personality was the first thing you noticed either while conversing with him or reading his poetry. Born in 1934, Salahuddin Mahmood belonged to a very educated family. Muhammad Umaruddin, his father, was a philosopher of international renown. He also remained the Head of the Department of Philosophy and Psychology and Dean, Faculty of Arts, Muslim University, Aligarh. His mother was also a highly educated woman and was also taught by Bertrand Russell when she went to England for higher education on a scholarship.
Salahuddin Mahmood had hardly turned 15 before he had completed the voluminous epic of Talism-e-Hoshruba, thanks to his maternal grandfather, Professor Khalil Ahmad, who was among the most shining students of Sir Syed Ahmad Khan. Though he was an engineer by profession, his interest in literature and love for books grew so much with time that for the last many years he owned the best, biggest and most well-kept library in Lahore.
Before moving on to his literary achievements, I would like to share a few personal memories with the readers. He was one of the closest friends of my father and I got acquainted with him at a very early age. But, my real relationship started with him after I started taking interest in literature. Thereafter, followed a unique association in which, I feel, he was always at the giving end.
His first gift to me was a set of three books by Latin American writer Jorge Louis Borges. After this, followed seven volumes of Talism-e-Hoshruba and the occasion was nothing but publication of one of my articles which he found quite interesting for my age. At the same time, he started sending me a copy of all his latest writings, which were mostly poems. Later, after I started doing translations, he motivated me to translate a complete book and also arranged a publisher for me. To add to all this were numerous cards on occasions like Eids and New Year. I am sure I was not the only one for whom he had done so much; he would have surely extended such favours to many.
Salahuddin Mahmood was a poet. It is unfortunate that he never published a collection of his poems, except for a thin leaflet, Kashf-e-Qarz Alwajood, which includes ten ghazals. Probably, this is also the major reason that he did not get the recognition he deserved as a poet. The other reason was that he never aligned himself with any literary group as he considered them crutches. “I have never felt the need to present myself before people by using the crutches of a literary group,” he had said during an interview.
Salahuddin Mahmood started writing poetry at a fairly young age. One of his poems found a place in Saqi, leading Urdu literary magazine of those days edited by Shahid Ahmad Delhivi, when he was just 14. But, it was only after 1963 that he people started knowing him as a poet. It was for the simple reason that before this he confined his poetry to himself.
Salahuddin Mahmood was one of those few people who did not choose poetry; it was poetry which chose him. He believed that good poetry could not be written by intention as it was a matter of inspiration. “The moment of inspiration is like a flashing of lighting which can be preserved only by someone having pure sensations,” he used to say. As far as his own poetry was concerned, it was purely inspirational in essence and revolved around a mythical innocence which he aimed to preserve as he felt it was fast departing us. He tried to recreate the first impression of his senses which had the greatest influence on him. It could be said that through his poetry, he sought his childhood spent at Aligarh and tried to immortalise it.
Salahuddin Mahmood also remained associated with Savera, which was perhaps one of the best Urdu literary magazines, as Editor for almost ten years. He edited some memorable issues of Savera in which some of the best modern Urdu literature was published. He used to give paintings to short story writers asking them to write whatever came to their mind after watching them. Many of the stories written in response were the best by those writers. The paintings were published along with the stories and added to the beauty of the magazine.
He was also a translator par excellence and rendered the works of many important Western writers and poets like Herman Hesse and Jorge Louis Borges into Urdu. For the last 30 years, he was busy translating the Holy Quran into Urdu and had completed about 50 percent of it. Hopefully, somebody would take the initiative and complete this venture. To the surprise of many, despite all his learning, he was a deeply religious person. His travelogue of Haj, Khak-i-Hijaz kay Nigehbaan, which gained immense popularity among the religious circles, bears testimony to this.
Salahuddin Mahmood also contributed a lot to the Urdu prose. He can be rated among one of the best contemporary prose writers of the language and his essays on Sir Syed Ahmad Khan and Muhammad Salim-ur-Rahman can be presented as a proof of this. Reading his prose is an unique experience as it has a poetic flavour. He was a genuine research scholar and Majmooah Rajinder Singh Bedi established him in this role.
The book of over 1,400 pages is a compilation of all the important works of Rajinder Singh Bedi. Every page of the book speaks of the devotion with which he undertook this gigantic task – it took him two years just to collect all the works of Bedi. It was followed by Majmooah Mirza Azeem Baig Chughtai, a similar work on the author in four volumes (Novel, Short Story, Novelette, Daastaan/ Mazmoon/ Drama). These works are surely more than enough to keep his name living in the Urdu literature. These days, he was busy compiling a similar book on the works of famous short story writer Rafiq Hussain.
Salahuddin Mahmood’s loss to Urdu literature may not be noticed in all its implications at present, but time will surely prove how important his presence was. In fact, such sensitive human beings and thorough gentlemen are the essence of every society, and a loss in their number hints at the ensuing decay. The only way to preserve them is through their writings.