Ammi and Mumun: Son’s befitting tribute to super mom Bano Qudsia on 94th anniversary

By Aneeq Ahmed

(Exclusive to Pakistan News & Features Services)

Ammi and mumun (my grandmother Zakira Chatha) were pillars of our home, Dastan Serai. Ammi held the physical and exoteric encumbrances with my father and mumun the spiritual and esoteric loads of the Serai. 

The relationship between the two was over 70 years old with so many things in common that it would be next to impossible to recount them all in one go. One thing that became beneficial to me in my school and college life was their love for mathematics. 

Mumun had Bachelor of Teaching (BT) degree and Ammi had completed her bachelors with double math from Kinnaird College, Lahore. 

In my early school years mumun taught arithmetic, and Ammi taught me (and my brothers) mathematics, geometry, calculus and trigonometry all the way for from secondary school to college years. I must confess here that I faced a great deal of difficulty with all these subjects. 

To learn math, as I understand it today, one needs to have clarity of mind, and love for simplifying constructs and integrating them back to their original forms, merging them with other constructs to form complexes that render never ending ‘aha’ experiences of awe and joy. 

I could not understand that in my school and college years. Dastan Serai was a colossal complex, with abundant incoming traffic of people; which translated into flooding of their pressing problems, their lost or about-to-be lost hopes, their achievements and their desires to be acknowledged for what they had done. 

Every cataclysm of this complex, each day was decomposed by Ammi (and mumun in the background) to its granular form and solved with steps simplified as in algebraic equations; were knowns and unknowns are separated for clarity and goal-directed solutions. 

Some problems were solved immediately using analogies from previous solutions, others were divided into parts were each part was solved over time, and still others were solved with possible solutions with many solution options much like quadratic equations and left for people to decide which way to proceed. 

Among all this human anarchy, tutoring mathematics was never missed. I would dillydally with excuses empathizing with Ammi that you have too much load today, many people need your attention and help; may be we could work tomorrow on these theorems and figure out their solutions at a better time, she would gracefully acknowledge my concern but open up the next page of the text and start solving the problem going over the steps for its solution. 

I could not learn mathematics the way Ammi desired but I started to like the subject and these days I do stop to look at a YouTube video that solves a simple and easy algebraic equation for old memories’ sake. 

I completely understand and agree with her admirers that she was a great thinker, a creative genius and a seasoned writer, but she is just Ammi to me, I miss her, I miss her whiff, her presence and her quizzical expressions that would warn me not to embark on paths that would go nowhere. I really do miss her a lot. May Allah grant her the highest Heaven where she is close to His love. Ameen.

Jumbo Publishing’s tribute to Bano Qudsia the great on her 94th birth anniversary

By Syed Khalid Mahmood

(Pakistan News & Features Services)

Just a handful of greats have impacted the literature canvas of Pakistan as much as the legendary Bano Qudsia whose 94th birth anniversary is being celebrated on November 28, 2022. She is talked about with awe even today and her writings are revered as much as they were in the yesteryears. 

She was novelist, playwright and spiritualist of the highest pedigree and her contribution to Urdu literature remained overwhelming to say the least. She distinguished herself by writing novels, short stories, dramas and plays which are still relevant and famous. 

She had found a perfect companion in Ashfaq Ahmed, who had immortalized himself with scholastic deeds of his own. It was rare to find such a high-profile couple living and supporting each other all the way. Their partnership was broken only when the husband breathed his last in 2004 and his partner for all occasions followed him in the Heavens about 13 years later. 

The couple was blessed with three sons, one of whom, Aneeq Ahmed, followed in the footsteps of his illustrious parents to become a renowned writer before moving on to the profession of research. 

The plays of Bano Qudsia and Ashfaq Ahmed had not only enlivened the literary scene of the country but they also turned out to be lifeline for the newly established Pakistan Television (PTV) which used to be the sole provider of entertainment on air for the masses. It was many decades later when the satellite arena boomed and people got hold of the remote to switch on from one television channel to another. 

Bano Qudsia thrived at a time when the quality of content was the sole criterion for a playwright to be judged or assessed. She did have a few critics around but the vast majority of the audience stayed glued to their television sets whenever her drama or play was telecast. 

Adhi Baat, Tamasil, Hawa Kay Naam, Seharay and Khaleej were among the most famous plays written by her. Her novel Raja Gidh has been acclaimed as modern Urdu classic while Aatish-e-Zer-e-Paa, Aik Din, Asay Pasay, Chahar Chaman, Chhotaa Sheher Baray Log, Footpath Ki Ghaas and Haasil Ghaat were other popular books authored by her. 

Ashfaq Ahmed's autobiography Baba Saheba was incomplete at the time of his death and Qudsia completed the biography whose second part was published as Rah-i-Rawaan. The contrast in the narrative styles of the couple was evident in these two books as the first half was considered provoking, lucid and utterly spellbinding by critics and the second half reflected the feeling of sorrow. 

Bano Qudsia, born on November 28, 1928, at Firozpur, died in Lahore on February 4, 2017. She had migrated to Lahore with her family after the partition of India and had begun writing short stories while studying in primary classes. She graduated from the Kinnaird College in Lahore and then joined the Government College University (GCU) in Lahore to earn her master's degree in Urdu literature completed in 1951. 

She was awarded the Sitara-e-Imtiaz and Hilal-e-Imtiaz by the Government of Pakistan in 1983 and 2010 respectively while she received PTV’s Best Writer Award in 1986. The Pakistan Academy of Letters (PAL) decorated her with the Kamal-e-Fun Award while the GCU's Old Ravians Union (GCU-ORU) conferred on her a lifetime achievement award.