BENGALURU: That she could become a playwright’s muse was the last thing on her mind when mai (mother) – a lone elderly Punjabi Hindu woman in Lahore – was trying to figure out her survival in Pakistan, when she refused to come to India after Partition. Four decades later, and across the border, a scant piece of information on her led Asghar Wajahat – a well-known Hindi playwright, novelist and documentary maker from Uttar Pradesh (UP) – to pen Jissney Lahore Nai Dekhya (Those who have not seen Lahore) in 1989. The play is not about the pain of Partition.
“It is a paean to insaniyat (humanity),” said Wajahat in an exclusive talk with CE on the sidelines of the show in Bengaluru. The play, directed by Zafer Mohiuddin, was staged at the Alliance Francaise on Sunday. “It highlights the mindset, which divides people on the basis of nationality, ethnicity, religion, caste, race and language, among many other things, and what humanity can do to bring people together,” added Wajahat.
“The characters in the play, from a cleric who, when confronted with the question whether a Hindu could live in Pakistan, says that the earth belongs to God and anyone could live anywhere, to the character of real life poet Naser Kazmi, who says that an artiste’s world has no boundaries, believe in togetherness,” he said. Besides raising the existential questions on life, its driving and dividing forces, the play has portrayed strong women characters. In fact, their roles have highlighted how patriarchy has sidelined their voices.
“A daughter of a family that provides shelter to mai asks her mother that if a Hindu could live at ease with a Muslim family where was the need for Partition? In reply, her mother says, “Tum apney abba sey poochho (ask your father).”“It says a lot about male dominance and the absence of women’s voices in decision making,” said Wajahat.
Contrary to its spirit and the message it aims to send across, performing Jissney Lahore Nai Dekhya has not been an easy task. “When the play was taken to Karachi, the director of the play Khaled Ahmed was refused permission by the Pakistani authorities. They objected on the grounds that a Hindu was the protagonist of the play; that the playwright was Indian and that the killing of a religious cleric in the play sends a wrong message in an Islamic country. Ahmed did stage the play at Goethe Institute in Karachi. In Meerut, in UP, permission to stage the play was denied because its title is Lahore and the authorities felt that it was about Pakistan,” he smirked.
“It is ironical that Jissney Lahore nai Dekhya has raised issues surrounding the myth of ‘us versus them.’ It is about ironing out the creases and celebrating human relationships, above all,” said the veteran playwright.Wajahat is also an avid traveller, who looks forward to visiting people-oriented places. “I love meeting people wherever I go,” he said. From being invited to weddings by newly-made friends to being caught on the wrong side of law are some of the many anecdotes in Wajahat’s travelogue.