The readership of Punjabi poetry being written across the Ravi is gradually expanding now. In the beginning, the difference of script had created a different kind of wall between the two Punjabs. In 1974, for the first time, Dr. Jagtar and Dr. Atar Singh edited the poetry anthology “Dukh Daryaon Paar De.” The poets included in it gained significant recognition in East Punjab. There had been one or two attempts even before that, but they could not leave a deep mark. Owing to the efforts of Dr. Karnail Singh Thind, Guru Nanak Dev University, Amritsar, introduced a full paper on Pakistani Punjabi literature in the M.A. Punjabi syllabus. That paper, too, helped create a very wide readership.
The publication of Najm Hosain Syed’s creative and critical writings in Gurmukhi script taught the Punjabi literary world a new way of reading and evaluating literature. Najm Hosain Syed’s ancestors had migrated to Pakistan from Batala in 1947. I know very well that it was not necessary to mention where he was born, but what can I do, saluting those born of Batala’s soil has become part of my nature. Among the poetic voices living in Pakistan, we grew up reading and listening to Ustad Chiragh Din Daaman, Babu Firozuddin Sharaf, Ahmad Rahi, Habib Jalib, Prof. Sharif Kunjahi, Prof. Sharab Ansari, Tanvir Bukhari, Zafar Iqbal, and a few others.
For the last three or four decades, reading and hearing poets such as Nazir Qaiser, Baba Najmi, Dr. Khalid Javed Jan, lyricist S. M. Sadiq, singer and lyricist Shaukat Ali Sahib, Sarwat Mohiuddin, Mazhar Tirmazi, Baba Ghulam Hussain Nadeem, Iqbal Qaiser, Kanwal Mushtaq, Tariq Gujjar, Tauqeer Chughtai, Sultan Kharvi, Afzal Sahir, Anjum Salimi, Dr. Sugra Sadaf, Dr. Poonam Noreen, Safia Hayat, Tajammal Kaleem, Sabir Ali Sabir, Irshad Sandhu, Tahira Sara, Bushra Ejaz, Bushra Naz, Ayesha Ghaffar, Manzoor Hussain Akhtar, Muhammad Asif Raza, Nadeem Afzal, Najma Shaheen, Parveen Sijjal, Sagir Tabassum, Dr. Saba Imran, Sania Sheikh, Munir Hoshiarpuria, and many others brings a sense of freshness.
“Main Pooni Katti Ishq Di” is the fresh poetry collection of Bushra Ejaz of Sargodha/Lahore. It was formally released about three years ago at the World Punjabi Conference in Lahore, Pakistan, by Janab Fakhar Zaman, Dr. Deepak Manmohan, Sahajpreet Singh Mangat, and me.
Bushra Ejaz had come to the World Punjabi Conference held in Patiala about 25-26 years ago. Through her writing, grace, and a life-conduct marked by quiet speech, she left a very fine impression on everyone. Gurmukhi transliterations of her writings were also published on this side. Then came a long gap. I brought this poetry book over here, and my gracious elder S. Gurdev Singh Pandher rendered it into Gurmukhi script. At my request, he had earlier also prepared the Gurmukhi version of “Boldi Mitti,” the rich anthology of folk sayings edited by Tahira Sara, which has been published by Lahore Book Shop.
Before speaking about this book by Bushra Ejaz, I feel it necessary to share some basic information about her.
Bushra Ejaz was born on 18 June 1959 in village Kot Fazal, Sargodha, Pakistan. Bushra Ejaz is a noted Punjabi and Urdu writer of Pakistan. She is a poet, fiction writer, and columnist for the daily newspaper “Nai Baat.” She is one of the emerging and important voices in Pakistani Punjabi literature who, in a relatively short span of time, has drawn the attention of readers and critics in East Punjab. Originally, she was a writer in Urdu, but opportunities to participate in international Punjabi conferences held for literary exchange between East and West Punjab inspired her to turn from Urdu toward Punjabi. She was married at the age of twelve, while still studying in the seventh grade, to Chaudhry Ejaz Ahmad. Later, she moved to Lahore for her children’s education. Alongside, she resumed her own studies as well. She completed her matriculation while raising a child.
Bushra Ejaz began her literary journey around 1989-90 under the inspiration of the Punjabi writer Mustansar Hussain Tarar.
She began writing in Urdu. One of the decisive events of her life was being married off at a very young age and being separated from her mother.
That loneliness took her to the door of poetry. She says, “A mother’s love is the central theme of my writing.”
Bushra Ejaz’s major works include Arzi Haal, Aankhen Dekhti Rahti Hain, and Meri Hajj Yatra. In Punjabi, her poetry collections include Pabban Bhar, Bhulekha, Khwab To Zara Pehlan, Aakhon Ka Pehla Sooraj (Urdu), and the present collection Main Pooni Katti Raat Di.
Her short story collections include “Aaj Di Shehrzaad” transliterated by Dr. Anwar Chiragh, “Katran Ton Bani Aurat” transliterated by Muhammad Jameel and Rashid Rashid, and “Baraan Aaniyan Di Aurat” transliterated by Kuljit Kapoor. Her novel “Kaang” and novella “Imaan Di Kahani” are also notable. Her books Roohani Rahaan Da Musaafir (biography) and Tasavvuraat (prose) are important works.
Bushra Ejaz’s poetry collection “Main Pooni Katti Raat Di” is a translation of her own self. In truth, poetry is the melting of the writer’s self. Bushra Ejaz, in the way she has been shaped letter by letter, word by word in life, is her own example. The faith and graceful refinement given to her by her mother are her real capital. It is this very capital that she keeps using and spending, little by little, in her writings. In many places in her poetry, owing to an an untamed poetic intensity, Bushra Ejaz begins to take on the manner of Heer, daughter of the Siyals.
Tu kundeyan da baddha hoya
Rahiun dinge da dinga.
Ja ve ishqa lekhan pittiya
Teri zaat kuwalli.
Tainu aave kise di aayi
Maren shaala! teri rudhe kamaayi
Bhugte teri jaayi.
Bushra Ejaz has a very beautiful poem, “Asaan Tainu Nahin Visaariya.” In it, she understands and explains love like fragrance. She possesses an innocent, guileless, and unblemished mind, and the truth drawn through that mind becomes the essence of her poetry. She does not merely pick or shape words; she creates them, she gives birth to them. Her self is present throughout this poem as well.
Peedan jinniyan vando,
Jinniyan likho
Ghattdiyan ne.
Ve jaaniyaan
Asaan tere naan de agge
Harfan da beea khilaariya.
Sukhan de moti role,
Te dungi chupp vich leh gaye.
Murh moonhon kuchh nahin bole,
Asaan tainu nahin visaariya.
Bushra Ejaz’s poetry, in many places, often reads like a series of self-posed questions. She asks the question herself and fashions the answer herself. Like a self-dialogue. There is originality in this style of hers, the kind of originality one hears in the bubbling restlessness of a green spring. A continuity like the unstruck cosmic sound.
Ve sajjana!
Yaari naal saudagaraan
Te preetan vich tijarataan
Deed da mull na toliya hunda
Bujhiye kiven bujhaartaan.
Dil diyaan paatiyaan
Khillriyaan leeraan
Kehri thaanvein rakhiye?
Dho ke saare akkh de boohe
Keehnu beh ke takkiye?
Dass kithe ja royiye?
Te kithe beh ke hassiye?
In her poetry, she makes very effective use of self-address. She seems to find this mode highly meaningful for creation. That is why, instead of the entanglements of the outer world, she wanders more in the fairs of the inner mind. Knowing, valuing, and recognizing that fair, she builds a selfhood and then raises high layered, towering structures of words.
Main royi rajj ke royi
Mainu kitte na aave kall.
Main uddhri javaan andron
Meri lahindi jaave khall.
Ni tattiye hijar dupahire
Hun mere pasiyon tall.
Aa vihre sooraj meriya
Meri zulfan de vich dhal.
In this collection, Bushra Ejaz has a highly valuable poem, “Main Maan Ujjhde Baagh Di.” In it, while moving across the whole world, she seems to be searching for the Ranjhan-beloved of her soul. In the meadows of her Ranjhan, serpents still hiss today. Without becoming Heer, it is not easy to recognize these hissing serpents.
Ve Raanjhiya jogi beliya
Tere bele vichhe naag.
Tere sang tere ton nikhade
Tere chori ho gaye bhaag.
Ve vanjhli waaliya suttria
Hun jaag ve beeba jaag.
Sun Sachal Saiyaan Sindh diya
Sun Laal Qalandara Hind diya
Sun Khwaja Cholastaniyaan
Sun Paak Patan diya janiyaan.
Main azlaan di veeraangan
Main foohri apne zaat di.
Main Misar bazaaran vikdi
Main pooni katti raat di.
Main baazigaraan di rassi
Main diggi, digg ke hansi
Main apne gal di faahi
Main mudh kadeemi shaahi.
Main hijar vichhore jeevaan,
Kad kookaan maahi maahi.
This poem of hers, “Main Maalan Ujjhde Baagh Di,” is truly an extraordinary composition. Its inner core is absolutely fresh and powerful. While reading it, one feels that along with Bushra Ejaz, pain itself is walking beside her, conversing with her.
Main maan ujjhde baagh di
Main nissran vich khizaan.
Mere hathan leeki mautri
Main qabran vich rahaan.
A noteworthy development is that this book is being published by the international publishing house Chetna Prakashan, Punjabi Bhavan, Ludhiana, run by the noted poet Satish Gulati. With the publication of this poetry collection by Bushra Ejaz, the new face of Punjabi poetry being written in Pakistani Punjab will surely become accessible to Gurmukhi-knowing readers on our side, to know and cherish. With this hope and prayer, I welcome this book into the Gurmukhi world.
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