A LITERARY AUTOBIOGRAPHY
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By: Afzal Shauq
Revised and Translated By: Nazish Zafar
“I want to be a great man”, I remember, I had replied as a school child when Commissioner of Quetta had asked my ambition, on his inspecting visit to my school. At that time I had no definition of 'great' and I was unable to explain to the commissioner what I actually meant. I was perplexed, but deep inside me the very idea ignited me with a strange energy. But at that day of inspection I had savored admiring remarks of my teacher and an encouraging pat of the Commissioner. 'Good Luck son', the Commissioner had said. I felt beckoned, incited and instigated. But for what? I never knew.
There was non I could turn to or look up to, as I struggled to find a way towards my goal of reaching 'greatness'. 'Be a good engineer or excel in the field of medicine'. I was told by the parents at home and by teachers at school. I felt thwarted and frustrated with their limited and restricted ideas and I continued growing up, confused ,with a vague ambition, but hardly holding back a flood of wild and undirected energy.
In 1969, as I was stepping into adolescence, my vague ambition had become an obsession with me. All the hopes in my young brain would converge on the question 'How do I, with my individuality stand out in the maddening crowd of men around me. At that time I was busy grappling with the intricate zones of my mind and heart and was yet alienated from the vast span of populous world around me, and least familiar with the divisions and differences on the globe based on religion, colour and geography. My only source to connect with the world, in those days was a newspaper of some five or six leaves that reached the small town of
While I spent my mental energies in spinning an ideal face, I, used to exhaust myself, physically, in the game of soccer. I had great passion for the game and was good at it. As captain of the team of Degree College Lora Lai, I was able to earn several laurels for my team.
In the same days, I started discovering in me, a passion for poetry. To my sheer luck, I had acquaintance of Prof. Rab Nawaz Mail, an able teacher and renowned poet of Pashto and Urdu, to recognize my potential and who granted his ample guidance to me . I learned the basics of art of creating poetry from him. I wrote my first Pashto ghazal in August 1975. Prof. Rab Nawaz Mail not only appreciated and encouraged my juvenile efforts but also directed me towards writing in free verse, which he thought could be far more effective mode of conveying modern ideas to reach majority audience.
I owe my success to his early guidance. Now I was attending 'mushairas' Literary recitation gatherings, usually organized by talented poet Saeed Gohar, romantic poet Syed Kher Muhammad Arif and short story writer, Haji Mirza Khan Pechi. It was there that I was blessed with finding best friends like Sohail Jaffar and Mehmood Ayaz. The three of us kept pouring our ideas in poems under the tutelage of our able teachers. My hazed and vague dreams of boyhood were now taking a shape in the back of my mind. As I poured my heart out on the paper, I was discovering my unconscious mind, a world of dreams and found their an image of my ideal. I desperately tried to find that ideal image in reality around me but remained unsuccessful. As a poet, I was rising and wining but in my search, I was continuously defeated; always left wondering 'shall I ever behold the face of my ideal?' I read faces around me, I could even read the veiled emotions behind those faces, I searched, questioned, wondered... but my ideal face eluded.
My first book of poetry 'Shaldaley Amail' in Afghan language of Pashto was published in 1986-87. At that time I was also doing a programme by the name of a 'Amail' from Quetta Radio Station as anchor and script writer. The programme was very popular and had a huge audience. The Radio Programme was directed by a very successful broadcaster Agha Muhammad Kasi.
'Shaldaley Amail' brought me real taste of success. I won a name as a poet of realities, adding innovative ideas. The fame and success however, didn't quench my parched soul. The wound of my desire, that had always kept me agonized, was yet without a remedy.
With growing age and experience I learned to step out of boundaries that kept me restricted to myself. Not only did I out grow my personal whims, I learned to grow above geographic and racial boundaries. Now my excursions were tempted by another question ' What are the factors and elements that divide, anatomically alike humans into groups, nations and sects?.
In 1992 I officially toured
Now, I had chosen tourism as my true vocation. I traveled different countries of the world and carefully recorded my observations and experiences. I tried discovering the factors that part east from the west, ; differ whites from the colored. I endeavored to solve the mystery of division of humanity into the first, the second and the third worlds. I discovered the devious behaviour of the west, in this regard, that works upon the conscious deepening of division. As a result my first travelogue was published under the name of 'Aowa Gama Mazal' in 1996. The literary critics now knew me as a post modernist travelogue writer.
I scheduled traveling to three or four countries each year. 1996 brought me a very memorable and rewarding opportunity of road travel with dozens of international tourists. I was fortunate to observe from very close quarters the culture and the social system of fourteen European countries, England, Wales, Scotland, France, Belgium, Holland (The Netherlands), Germany, Lichstenstien , Switzerland, Monaco, Austria, Italy, San Marino and Spain.
I had a mind-expanding experience of living with people from different parts of the world, getting to know their ways and behavior. I came to understand the gaps between the western world and my own part of the world. I was neither a politician nor a polemist devising slogans and harangues. In my efforts to bridge those gaps, I could only use my creative energies as a poet, transforming my ideas, messages and hopes in poems and verses, with a heartfelt desire that my words touch the millions of hearts around the globe and bring them together. I kept writing poems with a wish that my ideas become harbinger of a new dawn, a color of peace, a hue of love.
I wondered what can make men aware of their predicament and incite them to work towards the perfection of humanity; in complete harmony with natural laws of mutual tolerance, peace and love.
In 1997, I traveled to
My love tale formed the substance of my novel 'Paroni Makhuna' that was published in 2006. The English translation of which will soon be available. I translated the novel into easy English myself, while Prof. Ernanie-I-Pepito of Philippines has been kind and considerate enough to work at the improvement of the manuscript. Since 2006 the project is receiving final touches by Alley Boling.
In 2003, I finished writing for my readers, my second book of poetry ' Pa Latun Sta Da Sarey'. The book has reminiscences of lasting images I bore in my mind during my travels; recollections of true love I found in my spouse; reflections of my burning desire to give humanity its perfect shape. It reveals my pain, having to see men in his utmost brutality, and, that too, very ironically, in the name of civilization. I openly gave vent to all my dreams, I had dared to see for the betterment of my fellowmen, and by that time I had included men of all races and regions into my kinsfolk, my concern. With the publishing of book the literary critics has started calling me, Traveler-poet... Selani
I penned down my travels of
My search, ventures and probe, all lead me to the conclusion that man has revolutionized himself, since his creation but only in a negative way. Where the denizens of the modern world have progressed much outwardly; they have been gradually deteriorating inwardly, reducing themselves to the brutality of animals. Behind the sophisticated face of civilization, lies a corrupted soul with the ugliest of potentials.
Like all sensitive people, I was flabbergasted by the 9/11 incident. In my state of frustration and mental hysteria, I was comforted by the presence of another lover of humanity. I was lucky to be introduced to my American friend, Alice Alley Ann Muhaphay... Alley Boling. She was impressed with my literary approach, innovative ideas and creative skills, and insisted upon translating my poetry into English. She urged the need of bringing out the ideas of universal concern in a language understood by the most around the globe. A voice rising from the east could now echo in the west. A phenomena that brought me great joy and satisfaction.
At the first stage of the process I translated my poems into simple English myself. Then Dr. Ouahiba Sakani Afzal revised them. Famous freelance Romanian writer Ms. Andreea Sarcani shared her part in composing and compilation. In the last steps the manuscript was finalized by Alley Boling and translation of my poetry in American English was published in 2006, under the title of 'Twist of Fates'. The book is now available around the world in print and can be found on international sites including
and readers can also get the book TWIST OF FATES translated by Alley Boling with direct link as…
http://khyberwatch.com/nandara/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=378&Itemid=1
I was now recognized as a global poet. My translated works caught attention of readers and critics from all the world. I was happy my words didn't address a particular group of people. They were for all and they reached all. The response and reaction had been overwhelming, beyond my expectations. Above all, by then I had known what 'greatness' was all about. It is neither about fame nor about recognition. It is all about knowing one's mind and making a difference... proving one's role in the process of evolution... living not just another life but a life to be remembered by coming generations.
I would like to quote the views and criticism of critics of electronic and print media with a hope that readers peruse this book and involve their acquaintances in the experience, as well. It will make Alley's and my dream of bridging the east and the west true. It will help propagate the message of love and peace to each nook and corner of the globe, we humans share.
I express my gratitude to my best friend Nazish Zafar, a promising young writer, poetess and critic associated with T.V production by profession, for her contribution in translating the material.
AFZAL SHAUQ
9- National Champion Society,
Judicial Colony, Chaklala Rawalpindi /
afzalshauq@yahoo.com and afzalshauq@hotmail.com
Ph. +92 346 5455414 / +92 300 5206095 / +92 51 5954687
Blog - 1: www.tolafghan.com/afzalshauq
Blog – 2: www.postpoems.com/members/afzalshauq
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