The Akhara And The Kotha

Pakistani writer Musharraf Ali Farooqi is a different kind of author. Though he writes elegant, evocative novels in English (his latest is Between Clay and Dust, published by Aleph Book Company, David Davidar’s new publishing venture), he is also a passionate advocate of Urdu literature and has translated epics like The Adventures of Amir Hamza. Excerpts from an interview:



You dropped out of engineering studies to become a writer. Didn’t your family protest vehemently?

It caused a major scandal. My dropping out is still a matter of some shame for my mother, and I feel that even if I won the Nobel one day, she would come back at me with, "Yeh to buss aik award hai, degree to nahin! (This is just an award, not a degree)." I know there would be no answer to that.



Your latest novel, Between Clay and Dust, unfolds like a lovely old-world tale. Why did you decide to write it?

To begin with, I wished to explore the connection between self-discipline and power in the life of a pahalwan. Then the courtesan Gohar Jan entered the story and suddenly there were two people, Ustad Ramzi and Gohar Jan, who were both devoted to their respective arts, and whose peculiar circumstances made their relationships with loved ones somewhat complex. It became a story of the tragedy of the choices available to them and how they would acquit themselves without compromising on their integrity as artists and human beings.



The present narrative voice is not very different from the voice in the first draft written about 10 years ago. But longer reflection about the relationships created a greater layering of the story, and further clarity in my mind that it was really the only style in which this particular story could be told to maximum effect.