Dareechah-e-Nigaarish

Farooq Hassan ... a modern Urdu poet

Raja Farooq Hassan Janjua

(11 January 1939-10 November 2011)

'Chhotee Barree NazmaiN' ... modern Urdu poems by Farooq Hassan was published jointly with Jeelani Kamran

and the other

"Naee Puraanee NazmaiN" .... modern Urdu poems by Farooq Hassan was published by the Government of Canada.

Urdu language translations that the late Farooq Hassan carried out of two seminal works of world fiction as well as the poetry of Turkish and Palestinian poets viz.

No One Writes to the Colonel  by Gabriel Garcia Marquez  translated partially into Urdu by Farooq Hassan and handed over to Mr. Asif Farrukhi (Karachi, Pakistan) for completion and eventual publication.

Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe translated into Urdu by Farooq Hassan.

Poems by Turkish poet Nazim Hikmat translated into Urdu by Farooq Hassan (a copy of this was kindly provided to Dareechah by Mrs. Yasmeen Rashid Hassan in early 2013)

Poems by Palestinian poet Mahmood Darwesh translated into into Urdu by Farooq Hassan.

Dareechah is also looking for the English translations that the late Farooq Hassan carried out of seminal works of Urdu literature viz.

Short Stories of Sa'adat Hassan Manto   translated into English by Farooq Hassan

Short Stories of Ahmed Nadeem Qasmi translated into English by Farooq Hassan

Short Stories of Chaudhry Ikramullah translated into English by Farooq Hassan

About Farooq Hassan

(a modern Urdu Poet from Faisalabad and Lahore, Pakistan)

an article by Zaman Khan, Karachi, Pakistan

(the article has been slightly modified by changing the spellings of some of the names and adding a few words at one or two places to make it more understandable to the wider, international internet audience)

from the February 24^th 2012 issue of The Friday Times

 URL link : 

http://www.thefridaytimes.com/beta2/tft/article.php?issue=20120224&page=24

                      Since resolving to write about Farooq Hassan (a little known modern Urdu poet), I (Zaman Khan) had encountered a problem: I was unsure of how to start this piece. I am grateful to historian Ayesha Jalal. She solved my problem. The other day at the Karachi Literary Festival, while talking about her late uncle, the great Urdu fiction writer Saadat Hasan Manto, she said that "Partition made Manto an alcoholic." I don't want to enter into a debate here, but suffice to say that every "creative being", artist or writer is prone to become an alcoholic, and a partition or the killing of a million people is not required. This was the case with my friend Raja Farooq Hassan Janjua, a fine, loving and caring gentleman.

In the early 1960s, Raja Farooq Hassan Janjua, after doing a brief stint in teaching at Government College, Khuzdar, Balochistan, moved to Government College Quetta because it offered Masters (MA) classes of English literature. Moreover, the legendary Professor Karraar Hussain was principal. One day the girl students complained to Karraar Sahib that Farooq Hassan came drunk into the classroom. Karraar Sahib had a great sense of humour. He asked the girl students: "What kind of a teacher is Farooq?" The girls replied: "He is an excellent teacher." Karraar Sahib then advised them to "sit a couple of rows away from him."

The last poem of Farooq Hassan's first book of poetry 'Chhotee Barree NazmaiN' was 'Achhaa Larrkaa'. The last lines of this poem are:

'Achhaa larrkaa mur jaa-ai gaa

Dunyaa khhaalee kur jaa-ai gaa'

Achhaa Larrkaa Farooq Hassan died on Nov 10, 2011, in Montreal, Canada and left a literary void.

The city of Lyallpur (currently renamed Faisalabad) was developed in the beginning of the twentieth century as a Canal Colony. It was a Land of Opportunity and not only people from East Punjab migrated to it but residents of Sialkot and Gujranwala also shifted here. The grandfather of Farooq Hassan migrated to Lyallpur, and Farooq Hassan's father Raja Chiragh Hassan Janjua was born here. He became headmaster of the most prestigious Municipal Board School (equivalent of Central Model School, Lahore). He was married to the sister of a pioneer of free verse in Urdu, the great Noon Meem Rashid. Noon Meem Rashid was also educated at Government College Lyallpur. Farooq Hassan was the eldest son of Raja Chiragh Hassan Janjua.

Lyallpur was a small country town till the 1960s. Almost everybody knew everybody else. Farooq Hassan  imbibed a love for poetry and literature from his uncle and future father-in-law Noon Meem Rashid.

He started writing poetry at a very early age and took part in intercollegiate mushairahs. Once he was given the first prize from Nasir Kazmi himself. After graduating from Lyallpur he got admission in Islamia College Lahore to do a Masters in English literature, where Hameed Ahmed Khan and Eric Cyprian were his teachers.

Farooq's poetry contained a strong imprint of English free verse, and he became a role model for young budding poets and intellectuals.  A group of intellectuals, mostly college teachers, would meet every evening in different hotels. I was an exception, being the youngest member, a first-year student at Forman Christian College, Lahore (a College owned and run by the Presbyterian Church, USA and affiliated with Duke University, USA). First it was Grand Hotel, then Alhamra but later on we settled on Irum. Invariably Prof. Irshaad Ahmed Khan (father of freelance professional photographer Umair Ghani) would pay the bill. The bill would not exceed Rs 5 which was a big amount in those early independence days of Pakistan’s economy !!  Once Professor Irshaad gave a hundred-rupee note to a waiter and believe it or not he never came back. We would discuss every thing under the sun without fear of being accused of 'blasphemy'. The late Hafeez Nayyar, poet and Director of Punjabi film 'Zulm Daa Badlaa', Farooq Hassan, Riaz Majid and Prof. Shahzada Hassan, all poets would recite their poems and get appreciation or criticism.

In the 1960s, Iranian immigrant families settling in Pakistan opened cafes in different cities of Pakistan. Cafe Iran was in Bhawana Bazar. We started meeting there. We would sit in Cafe Iran late in the night and drink a lot of tea. When the owner would switch off the lights, the 'gang' would shift to the house of Professor Mubashar Hasan, who had the best collection of Indian and Western classical music. Here we would have a number of rounds of black coffee, eat cheese and roast beef (roast beef, to this day, is called Hunter beef by Lahore's senior citizens, in memory of Hunter brand roast beef popular in British colonial days!!)  and listen to music till the small hours. Then the process of returning home for the 'intellectual birds' would start and reluctantly the 'night birds' would go back to their homes. Farooq would then land at Alam Coffee House (near his house) which remained open all night. These places at Chiniot Bazar were hubs for journalists, intellectuals, political activists and vagabonds.

Farooq, after teaching some time at Emerson College Multan, finally landed at Government College Lahore. Here he finally deemed it fit to publish his poems jointly with Professor Jilani Kamran in 1967. Farooq became an ideal for young poets. Although he adopted the diction of his father-in-law N. M. Rashed, and his poetry contained a strong imprint of English free verse, he became a role model for young budding poets and intellectuals.  I am not a literary critic but to my understanding his poetry reflects the mood and themes of the sixties:  rebellion, romance, mysticism, being and nothingness or existentialism.

According to intellectual and poet Zahid Dar:

"Farooq Hassan was a good poet and a good translator."

In the good old days relatives would visit their near ones to spend holidays together. Yasmeen Rashid, the daughter of Noon Meem Rashid and Farooq's cousin, came to stay at Raja Chiragh Hassan's house (who was her Uncle or her Phhoophhaa Jaan)  to spend her holidays. Farooq being a young bohemian, full of passion, fell in love with her. His poetry of those days exhibits his passionate love for Yasmeen. He also dedicated his first book of poetry 'To Yasmeen.' It was a one-sided love. Yasmeen was a student of Kinnaird College in Lahore. Farooq would borrow a suit from one of his friends to impress his beloved.

When Farooq was teaching at Government College Lahore I was a student at the Law College. We would meet almost daily. In those days the late Sohail Iftikhar had opened a publishing house and in his spare time Farooq would oversight Urdu translations. Then he got a LEAD's scholarship and went to England to do a B.A. (Honours) in English literature. Many attempts were made to convince the parents of Yasmeen to give her hand in marriage to Farooq but it bore no fruits. (Rashid Sahib himself had married an English woman or 'goree'.) Finally Yasmeen came to England and her romance with Farooq culminated in marriage. A small group of friends including Prof. Sajjad Sheikh arranged the marriage ceremony. It was like the 'Taming of the Shrew'.

Farooq got a teaching job at Dawson College, Montreal, Canada. The couple shifted there and spent the rest of their lives there. He would send his poems to some literary magazines. His second book of poetry 'Naee Puraanee NazmaiN' was printed with the aid of the Government of Canada.

Later Farooq switched to translations and we lost a good poet. After retirement he was teaching Urdu language at McGill University's Institute of Islamic Studies.

He was the first one to translate Manto's short stories into English and included Manto in his course, and gave cyclostyle copies to his students. He also did translations with Khalid Hasan but two egos could not work together for a long time.

He also did Urdu translations of Gabrial Garcia Marquez's 'No One Writes to the Colonel'. He translated Ahmed Nadim Qasmi's short stories which were printed by Oxford University Press, Pakistan in book form. He translated Chaudhry Ikram ullah's Urdu short stories into English. Later on, he was attached to C. M. Naim and Omer Memon, two leading lights of the global Urdu scene.

He translated Turkish poet Nazim Hikmat and Palestinian poet Mahmood Darwesh into Urdu. His last translation was of the novel 'Things Fall Apart' by African writer Chinua Achebe.

His choice of work for translation reflects his commitment to pioneering literature.

One hopes that his poems and other work printed here and there will be published in book form by some publishing house.

Farooq was hooked onto Punjabi by Dr. Manzoor Ejaaz. Our friend in Washington sent him to Lahore to collect Punjabi literature to do some research work. Whenever Farooq would come to Lahore, old friends would meet every evening and recall the good old days.

Shaheryar Rashid, brother of Yasmeen, was also a poet and dabbled in that field in English blank verse. He introduced judo-karate at Punjab University. He died young while in the Foreign Service.

I (Zaman Khan) went to Canada in 1993. I was excited and phoned Farooq Hassan, expecting that he would ask me to leave everything and come to his place at once. But I had the shock of my life when he couldn't recognize me. I couldn't understand this until a friend explained it like this: "The chip was damaged in which your memory was stored."

Farooq had lived the life of a bohemian, and like the great Manto before him had developed a number of complications of the heart and liver. He died in Canada and left behind Yasmeen, a son and a daughter.

Dareechah has been able to contact Mrs. Yasmeen Rashid Hassan through the kind assistance of Assistant Professor Dr. Pasha Khan (a young faculty member at McGill University's Institute of Islamic Studies). Mrs. Rashid was kind enough to send a copy of his second collection of poems (Naee, Puraanee NazmaiN) as well as English translations of Nazim Hikmat and other poets. Mrs. Hassan has very kindly also provided photocopies of Farooq Hassan's first collection of poems (as of February 10th, 2013). Dareechah is indebted to both Professor Pasha Khan and Mrs. Yasmeen Rashid for their help.