|
The Friday
Times: Pakistan's First Independent Weekly Paper Jan 06-12 2006
By Raza Rumi
 Citizen
of the world
The launch of a
comprehensive website on Patras Bokhari marks a reinvigoration of the
great writer and diplomat's memory.
|
He wanted
variety and could not confine himself to a uni-dimensional
career or vocation. Other than being a rare blend of East
and West, Patras exemplified the modern man – searching for
new meanings in life and experimenting with experiences
|
This December witnessed a literary landmark of post-internet Pakistan.
A dedicated website –
www.patrasbokhari.com – on Patras Bokhari, a towering literary
figure, was launched at the Government College University, Lahore. It is
well-known that the GC produced world-famous personalities while it was
the leading educational institution in this part of the subcontinent,
but its stature as a hub of education, culture and literary regeneration
declined over the years. Some observers hold, however, that the recently
increased autonomy and elevation of GC to the status of a university
will reverse the decline. It was the glorious tradition of this
institution that produced giants such as Patras, Faiz and Iqbal, amongst
many others.
Prof Syed Ahmed Shah Bokhari (1898-1958) is most famous through his
penname "Patras" Bokhari. While he was a first-rate educationist,
broadcaster and diplomat, perhaps his lasting fame is the result of his
stature as an inimitable essayist and humourist – a rare trait amongst
the mourning and elegy-prone South Asian creed. Patras Ke Mazameen ,
immortal as they are, set the standard for high quality, incisive satire
and humour. Unlike the medieval mores of literature being the preserve
of the courts and its courtiers, these essays reach out to everyone,
encompassing a modern sensibility that makes them pertinent and
attractive even today. There is a distinct universality in these
writings that perhaps had to do with the humane and cosmopolitan side of
Patras himself. The compelling evidence of this aspect was his huge
success as a diplomat when he served as Pakistan's permanent envoy at
the United Nations in the early 1950s, enabling him to be titled 'a
citizen of the world.'
Patras has, however, been criticised for being a man without a vocation
and one who did not adequately focus on his literary genius. Lionel
Fielden, who facilitated Patras' career shift from teaching to
broadcasting, remarked: "He was much more the don than the impresario,
and broadcasting needs the impresario, which his brother was. I did not
really want Ahmed Shah to succeed me when my contract finished because I
thought, despite his brilliance, he was the wrong man for the radio."
Allama Iqbal is purported to have composed the poem Aik Falsafazada
Syedzaday Kay Naam on his disappointment after meeting Patras upon the
latter's return from Cambridge – Iqbal had earlier provided Patras with
references to Cambridge. Others complained that he did not focus on
literature: "He was a majlasi aadmi and loved to be with people. Perhaps
the lonesome existence of a scholar was not in keeping with his
temperament."
Noon Meem Rashed, a student, lamented that Patras was ".. . a great man
who missed the bus. The buses passed by one after the other, while he
kept looking under his feet. For example, writing was his forte and
among his countrymen he will always be remembered and respected as a
writer, rather than as an administrator or diplomat; but he did very
little to apply himself seriously to writing and once he sold his soul
to the demons of administration and diplomacy, so to say, he found it
even harder to satisfy his urge to write."
These subjective evaluations seem to be unfair to such a diverse soul as
Patras Bokhari. During his short life, he seems to have been the figure
around whom rallied luminaries such as Taseer, Chiragh Hasan Hasrat,
Ghulam Mustafa Tabassum, Noon Meem Rashed, Faiz Ahmed Faiz and many
others. Patras provided critical and creative encouragement to so many
who touched his life. He wanted variety and could not confine himself to
a uni-dimensional career or vocation. This is what makes Patras
different from so many of his contemporaries.
Other than being a rare blend of East and West, Patras exemplified the
modern man – searching for new meanings in life and experimenting with
experiences. His Mazameen are a rare gift to posterity and no wonder
they remain as popular as they were when published decades ago. Lahore
ka Jugraphya and Mable aur Mein are evergreen classics in their own
right. In true South Asian tradition, we are averse to change; the many
shifts in Patras' career must have irked his more traditional
contemporaries. Nevertheless, he shone within his country and abroad and
brought much honour to Pakistan.
Professor Anwar Dil's collection of Bokhari's speeches and writings On
This Earth Together, Ahmed S Bokhari at UN 1950-58 is a valuable
contribution to understanding the prolific figure. Dil's laborious task
of compiling scattered papers pieces together a varied man. To date, it
is the only book of its kind.
Journalist Khalid Hasan once commented that "Bokhari was a highbrow." At
the UN, he returned a poem sent for a campaign by Robert Frost, as he
did not think 'it was up to par.' In his book Diary of a Diplomat
published in 1986, Afzal Iqbal records several real-life anecdotes that
testify to Patras' 'pure humour,' the freshness of which prompted Gilani
Kamran to say that Bokhari's voice and style was something new in our
literary tradition.
While talking of Patras, one cannot but mention KK Aziz, the eminent
historian who was a student of Patras. In his love for his teacher, Aziz
established the Bokhari English Prize at Cambridge University, awarded
annually to the best student of English at Emmanuel College (making him
the first Asian in whose name an endowment fund has been established at
Cambridge). I remember reading an account of Aziz being overjoyed to
discover Patras' photos at the library of Emmanuel College. KK Aziz has
been working on a seminal biography of Patras and we all await its
completion.
Despite his status of being nearly a household name in Pakistan, by all
accounts, work and research on Patras remains limited. We are not known
as a nation that preserves its heritage or passes it on to the younger
generations through accessible routes. Patras' grandson Ayaz Bokhari and
his associates have done a tremendous job in constructing the website
and, in so doing, breaking the near silence on Patras.
The well-designed, user-friendly website was officially launched at the
GC University on December 24, 2005. Thankfully, the links open with
relative ease and the handiwork of Pakistan Data Management Services
appears to be of a professional quality. There are some great
photographs and features on the site. At the launch, Ayaz Bokhari
rightfully commented that "access to knowledge (in Pakistan) remains
limited and restricted. I decided to set up a website comprising the
works and life of Patras Bokhari, to try and collate as much as possible
in one location for free access to all, with the hope that the children
of our society do not face such a difficulty, and that this might
stimulate more work of such nature by others."
The evolution of this website is also interesting. Emanating from the
school projects of Ayaz Bokhari's children, the idea became bigger and
eventually led to a full-fledged web resource – perhaps the only one of
such a comprehensive nature, on any contemporary Pakistani literary
figure.
In the words of Ayaz Bokhari, "the question before us is: what are we,
as Pakistani society, doing to communicate the works of our
intellectuals, scholars, men of letters, our luminaries in various
fields? Are we, as a society, making a fast enough transition from word
of mouth or print to the electronic media? I fear not. I sincerely hope
that this will prompt the development of more websites to capture and
present the works of our luminaries for easy, free and ready access by
all."
Patras' grandson has shown the way to many others by setting a standard
for many of the real and imagined successors of our great literary and
cultural figures. The internet and its related tools can be powerful
sources of the transfer of knowledge to Pakistan's future generations.
We have already reduced the size of our libraries, while printing and
publishing is an endangered business. Whether we like it or not, more
and younger Pakistanis will be hooked onto the Internet – the number of
users has already crossed 20 million.
This winter has reinvigorated Patras' memory. While I am confident that
the website will be well-received, it must grow beyond its present
limits. Patras' rich life has many facets waiting to be brought into the
public domain. EM Forster summed it up very well: "Many can shine in the
universe but only few can shine from the darkest of eclipses, and
Bokhari is one of them."
Treading the halls
of diplomacy
Born in 1898, Syed Ahmed Shah 'Patras' Bokhari was a
distinguished student at Lahore's Government College (GC). He made his
mark on the institution's dramatics scene – including playing Hamlet in
what was arguably the best effort of the college's dramatic club – and
by editing the college magazine The Ravi . He stood first in his year
for the MA English examination and later taught English as a lecturer,
juggling alongside a flourishing acting career.
In 1927, Patras started a degree at Cambridge University, from where he
earned a First in his Tripos – in itself is a rare distinction. On his
return from Cambridge, he started teaching at the Government College as
a full professor. Patras' career did not remain restricted to teaching;
before long, he named and became involved with the All India Radio
(AIR). His distinguished brother Zulfikar Bokhari was selected as the
Station Director, while Patras was appointed the Deputy Director General
of AIR. In time, Patras Bokhari became the Director General of AIR, when
he identified and promoted several talents such as Noon Meem Rashed,
Manto and Pran Chopra amongst others. In 1947, Patras – reportedly
reluctantly – joined the Government College as principal, just as
partition riots were breaking out. He remained at this post till 1950,
inspiring a multitude of his pupils at GC.
When Prime Minister Liaquat Ali Khan went on a tour of the US in 1950,
he took Patras along as his speech-writer. The speeches were later
published by Harvard Press in the form of a book and were greatly
appreciated for their quality.
In 1951, Patras was appointed as the Permanent Representative of
Pakistan at the United Nations for his unique gift of being fluent in
the worlds of the East and the West, in addition to his skills as an
orator – a crucial requirement for diplomats. For the next four years,
Patras represented Pakistan and established the tradition in the Pak-UN
mission of advancing the cause of Muslim countries and peoples. His
historical speech on Tunisia in the Security Council, against the
Anglo-French veto on the discussion of Tunisia's freedom, is a legendary
defence of the emerging nation. Later, Tunisians named a road after
Patras Bokhari. Another memorable address that Patras delivered, in the
The New York Herald Tribune in 1952 on the problems of underdeveloped
countries, is still a valid argument for the transfer of technology to
underdeveloped countries.
His landmark speech at the UN General Assembly, welcoming the new
secretary-general Dag Hammarskjold in 1953, led to another rise in his
UN career. In 1955, the Secretary General appointed him the
Under-Secretary-General in charge of public information. A glowing
tribute came from Ralphe Bunche, Nobel Laureate, also an
Under-Secretary-General at the UN: "He was in fact a leader and a
philosopher, a savant, indeed, even though not old in years, a sort of
elder statesman. His true field of influence and impact was the entire
complex of the United Nations family."
Other than his UN successes, Patras Bokhari was a sought-after speaker
in New York and his articles in The New York Times provided him with
increased stature, especially as the newspaper extolled his intimacy
with Persian, Urdu and English, his extraordinary conversation skills as
well as his lifestyle.
Diabetes, however, was progressively weakening Patras Bokhari's heart
and his health grew frailer. His career, still short of its peak, was
cut short by his death in December 1958. He is buried in New York, and
his epitaph – lines written earlier in his honour by Robert Frost –
reads:
"Nature within her inmost self divides
To trouble men with having to take sides."
– RR
|
