Daughter of Heavenly Father and Son of Mother Earth
15th May 2018
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Dervish presents Adaab to Rabia!
Having read Rabia’s reference to ‘the world of spirits’, Dervish assumed as if Rabia was the daughter of a Heavenly Father and Dervish the son of Mother Earth. Dervish also surmised that Rabia’s relatedness to her heavenly father is as intimate, complicated and cumbersome as with her earthly father. That might have been the reason of suffering from ‘separation anxiety’ when her earthly father had to go abroad when she was just a kid. The advice of an earthly Messiah to write letters to her earthly father was a blessing in disguise. These letters not only resolved Rabia’s psychological ailment but also drove her toward writing. Rabia’s letters first took shape of a diary but ended up with short stories. Rabia’s stories amply introduced the creative personality of Rabia to Dervish.
Dervish was really hurt to learn that Rabia was denied the opportunities to realize her dreams. About this situation, he recalled his own couplet written once:
Is derja rawayat ki dewarein uthaeen
Naslu se kisi shax ne bahir nhi dekha
The walls of traditions were built so tall and strong
For generations no one has seen out and beyond
It was Rabia’s sheer luck that she was mentored by great letters like Asghar Nadeem Syed, Amjad Islam Amjad, Mansura Ahmed and Ahmed Nadeem Qasmi. They not only encouraged her but also polished her talent as a writer. While reading Rabia’s letter Dervish also recalled his student days at Khyber Medical College – Peshawar where he had taken part in first poetry recital of his life. The jury consisted of Ahmed Nadeem Qasmi, Ahmed Faraz and Mohsin Ehsan. When Dervish was called upon to read his poem the audience were silent. The hall remained quiet during the recital of his poem. At the end however, there was an outburst of applause as Dervish was awarded the first prize – a statue of Venice. The name of dervish’s first poem was ‘Red Circle’. Dervish wishes to reproduce his first poem here:
Today it was seventeen
The day brought worrisome thoughts for me
All day long
The pangs of suspicions kept stinging into my head
I was stunned and worried
Should I believe it or not?
I was perplexed since morning
This went on throughout the day
I wandered in my home, lost in my apprehensions
With deluded thoughts and fears
Then in the afternoon I went to my room
I turned over the calendar page with trembling hand
I saw the thirteenth of last month encircled with a red circle
But this time my whole body quivered
With unknown fears
Then I cooled myself with a thought
It was only seventeenth today
After writing the poem, dervish realized that it was the tale of a woman. He then realized that there was perhaps a woman dwelling inside him. That might be the reason of his befriending with woman more than the men. Most friends call him Saheeli instead of Sohail. Rabia’s letter also reminded Dervish his meeting with Asghar Nadeem Syed at Sang E Meel Publishers when Syed invited Dervish to deliver a lecture to the students of psychology in GC. When dervish went to lecture the students, he was surprised to learn that there were more girls than the boys.
Dervish still remembers his days in Lahore when he had an opportunity to have many memorable sittings with Asghar Nadeem Syed, Kishwar Nahid, Munir Niazi and Zahid Dar.
Rabia thinks that marriage is an accident. Well, Dervish would like to ask her about love and marriage. Did she ever fall in love with someone or vice versa? What she thinks of becoming a wife or a mother? Dervish has never dreamt of becoming a father or start a family for that matter. He has always taken creative and literary friends as his family. Dervish calls it Family of the Heart. One such friend is added into the family each year. This time, he is so happy to have with him the friend of the year that is Rabia.
Dervish must prepare for a seminar, therefore requests a leave from Rabia.
