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Cultural metaphor
Patras rememberd by GC
Gilani Kamran
 It is characteristic of Government College that its
hostels have their own students’ magazines. The New Hostel
publishes Patras while the Quadrangle, publishes Iqbal.
The Quadrangle has the distinction that as a student, Iqbal had lived
there. But A.S. Bokhari had no such associations with the New
Hostel. He was thus remembered by the inmates of the New Hostel as a
matter of courtesy – and perhaps paid tributes to A.S. Bokhari as an
Urdu writer. As Professor and Principal, Bokhari Sahib is remembered
through the Bokhari Auditorium in the college campus, which was built in
the days of
Dr. Nazir Ahmad and inaugurated by President Ayub Khan on the Centenary
of the College in 1964. As a legend, Professor Bokhari still lives
around the corridors of the College. The young students of today look
back at him with pride, and take pleasure in talking about him. Thus,
watching all this, a neighbouring bookseller has published Quliyat-e-Patras
- Bokhari's prose-writings, which is a favourite book with every young
Ravian.
The young Ravians who live in the New Hostel have recently published a
special number of Patras to commemorate Professor Bokhari.
This Patras issue is significant as no other magazine in Lahore
or elsewhere has so far given any thought to A.S. Bokhari who had been a
famous public man, a Principal, and this country's envoy to the United
Nations. He died in New York and was buried in the Muslim graveyard
there. Though he is known to Urdu journalism as Patras, yet not
much about him has ever been written by newspapers. That shows how
the world forgets every man. It was nevertheless a distinctive
feature of the college students that they had remembered Bokhari Sahib
and dedicated a special issue of their magazine to his pen-name, Patras.
As is the convention in college magazine, Patras’ issue also has
two-sections: English and Urdu. The English section is good in its own
way. It has treated Bokhari Sahib as a man of the past. And in that
perspective, A.S.B. has appeared as a distant figure. There is a lack
of warmth in this section. Bokhari Sahib emerges as a neutral,
sophisticated figure, as a big government servant. It is an irony of
fate that a big government servant dies as a common human being and is
clean forgotten by every man, even the government whose policy he had
been pursuing during his lifetime. The Urdu section has on the
contrary, treated the memory of A.S.B. as a living thing. There is
warmth in the Urdu section, and as such it has earned a walkover over
the English section. It is more readable, more interesting and far more
alive than its counterpart in the magazine. Editorial effort, however,
has been equally expended on the two sections. But perhaps in the
nature of the language, the Urdu part has won distinction. Nonetheless,
the editors of the sections may be complimented for bringing forth a
memorable issue of their magazine.
Ahmed Shah Bokhari had appeared under his pen-name Patras for the first
time in an article published in The Ravi of January 1921. He had
taken up this name in late December of 1920.
The Urdu section opens with the writings of Bokhari as editor of The
Ravi in 1919 – 1920. The present issue has reproduced an
extract from Z.A. Bokhari autobiography about the orientation of ASB’s
pen-name. The extract goes as under :
“My brother’s full name was Pir Syed Ahmed Shah Bokhari. Our headmaster
(in Peshawar) Mr. Watkins addressed him by his first name ‘Pir’ but
pronounced it as ‘Pierre’ as if it was a French word. Pierre in French
stands for Peter, which is Patras in Greek….As a result of this
similarity, my brother took up ‘Patras’ as his pen-name.”
Bokhari’s early articles in the Ravi had a sprinkling of what can be
regarded as pure humour, which was something new in the writings of the
Subcontinent. As a matter of fact, his humour was the outcome of
Charles Lamb’s humorous essays. The editors of the Patras have
particularly emphasized this humour, which brings a sense of pleasurable
amusement to the reader. This high-level humour is a rare thing in
writing, and it is also very hard to imitate. Bokhari Sahib was thus
unique in the tradition of literary humour in the Subcontinent.
On the 50th anniversary of the Punjab University in 1935,
Professor Bokhari had produced Hamlet and had himself acted as the
Prince. The scene, where Hamlet and Laertes fight beside the dead
Ophelia, was regarded as his best performance. Hamlet was Bokhari
Sahib’s favourite play and he always preferred to teach this play to his
classes. He was very fond of literary meetings where a new sensibility
was shaped to enrich Urdu literature. In the 1930s, the weekly meetings
of Urdu Majlis were held in Bokhari Sahib’s flat on McLeod Road.
Akhter Shairani was a frequent visitor of this Majlis.
There are very few persons who become a legend and live in the academic
folklore of college life. Bokhari Sahib had been the singular figure
who had become a legend and the stuff of academic folklore. His
class-work was mostly conversational; it encouraged the students to
think and imagine. As a matter of fact, Bokhari Sahib wanted to release
the creative talent of his students.
The most interesting part of the Urdu section is a selection of Bokhari
Sahib’s letters to friends in Lahore. These letters were written by him
during his stay in the United States. In one of these letters, Bokhari
Sahib has given the information: “I have just received a letter by N.M.
Rashed. He has sent me a few tit-bits which are quite amusing.”
The tit bits were perhaps an appreciable link between Rashed and Bokhari
Sahib in 1955. Rashed was then working on Iran main Ajanbi.
Perhaps the above sentence referred to a commentary on Rashed’s new
book. But who knows, Bokhari Sahibs humour was a covering for many
things. He had given a humorous face to life in his multifarious
activities. |
