UNFOLDING OF A BEGUM’S ERA

Sitting on her comfy single bed in a brightly lit room, surrounded with stockpile of books, newspapers and of course her khandaani pandaan (betel & nut container). This sums up HT Woman 2017 Begum Masroor Jahan’s creative space from where she has penned 65 novels and more than 500 short stories.

Ask her where’s her writer’s chair and pat comes the reply, “Actually I never invested in a chair and table for myself. For me it was the corner of my bed with my back resting on the wall behind and two pillows on lap. I sat and wrote whatever story or incident that struck me. And till date I love writing like this. It’s now when you have asked me that I have realized that all these years I never thought about this.”

Talking about her initial days, the 79-year-old Begum says, “My father Naseer Hussain Khayal was a shayar and it was his work that inspired me somewhere. But my source of real knowledge was my grandfather’s house as he had the choicest and widest collection of Urdu and Hindi literature. And so during our vacations we visited him in Lucknow as we were residing in Barabanki and that was one thing I waited for whole year round. I used to pick up any book or magazine in random and read it hiding in dyodhi (passage between rooms) as girls in that era were supposed to read only selected books as it was thought that too much of exposure will spoil them.”

It was in her adolescent years that she started enjoying reading romantic novels which was again a completely hush hush affair for her.

“I was in ninth standard when I got my library pass. It was my pass to heaven-- a heaven of books. Here I got to read romantic fiction and realized that even I can try my hand in this. Then there was no looking back. I thought of a pen name Masroor Khayal inspired from my father’s pen name Khayal and penned several short stories. It was in mid fifties when I my first short story was published in an Urdu daily- Quami Awaz. I was on cloud nine. This was the beginning of Masroor Khayal’s journey,” she recalls.

“This made my father more than happy as I not only went with his pen name but also through other pen names for my short stories that I used to call Afsaane. So this way my identity was never disclosed,” she said.

It was at the age of 16 when Masroor completed her high school that she was married off to Nawab Syed Mohd Mutuza Ali Khan, an ace businessman, hence beginning a new journey of Begum Masroor Jahan making her discontinue her studies.

“By the time I got married I was a writer in my head. I remember I met a publisher from Pakistan who was very glad to read some of my short stories and also my ready novel Rubina but he didn’t like my pen name and asked me to switch to Masroor Jahan- my real name as many female writers were coming into notice around the world with their real names. I wrote my first novel Rubina that was printed in Pakistan followed by Ruma that was published by Naseem Book Depot. I wrote approximately 10-11 novels for them before a little a misunderstanding happing between me and the owner because I had a publisher from Delhi who was interested in a new novel which I was keen to get published in Delhi.”

Coming back to her married days, Begum adds, “We both were poles apart when it came to my writing. I remember when he got to know about my first novel getting published he said, ‘Achaa Bhaii tum bhi likhti ho ... yeh tumhara khandaani asar hai...’ That was it. But I loved writing and continued doing so while also taking care of kids and the house.”

She excitedly recalls her getting 200 royalty from Naseem Book Depot in 1962.

“Those 200 were my prized procession. It was my money. I was being paid for my creativity. And it turned out to be a big booster and then I never looked back,” she said.

Even today her latest collection of short stories awaits approval by Fakuruddin Academy for publishing.

“It would have been published by now but due to elections the process got delayed. But it’s okay. It will see the light of the day. I have been a very positive person and never ran after people for getting my work published. I’m like a river I flow with the current. I remember someone coming with an offer to translate one of my collections in English, Punjabi, Tamil and Telugu. I just said okay and rest he managed. Also one of my short stories was used for an episodic in Doordarshan,” she said.

She also happily mentions a thesis Masroor Jahan done by Javeed Kholov, VC University of Tajikistan for his PH D and Masroor JahanShakhsiyat aur Fan thesis done on her for DLitt by Dr S Nighat Sultana Abidi.

I’m grateful to HT for this honour. When I started writing at the age of 13-14 I never thought it will take me this far and will earn me this big recognition. I won several awards but this is the greatest because it came to me as surprise and made me realize that my writing in a fading language is not that useless. BEGUM MASROOR JAHAN, WRITER