So yesterday I ended up attending a function for the launch of this website dedicated to Patras Bokhari (1898 - 1958). It was conducted at Government College University (Lahore, Pakistan) as the person being honoured was not only a student, but later a teacher and then principal of that institution before he went on to represent Pakistan in the United Nations as the first permanent ambassador. He was so instrumental in supporting independance of a few countries that peope in those countries revere him (He even has a road named after him in Tunisia).

 

Patras Bokhari was not only a diplomat and a teacher, he was writer and a poet par excellence... in three languages! He is best known for "Patras ke mazameen", a collection of 11 humorous essays in Urdu, but he has writings in English as well... and poetry, thoug limited, in Urdu, English and Persion.

 

Why, you say, should I feel small because of that? Three reasons...

 

1. When I went to GCU yesterday, I knew the name Patras Bokhari. And I'd read one of the essays that he had written. I knew that the person has a place in Urdu literature. I did not know much else. I felt the extremely low limit of my knowledge pinching me. This was someone whose life had been dedicated to good, nay great work, be it in carving out young minds, literature or international politics, and I did not know much about him.

 

In Pakistan, as a country and a society, I believe we are failing miserabely in this regard. We are losing track of the great people that went before us. Mr Bokhari's is a legacy that needs to be kept afresh in the minds of the youth, not just because everyone should  know, but because it is truly inspirational.

 

2. In this age of information Technology, information from the entire world is available on your fingertips! You look up Shakespeare online and you will not know which one of a few thousand websites should you go to. News, events, history, literature... everything is available in the electron driven cyberspace. Well... almost everything.

 

As Pakistanis, we have failed miserabely in documenting things related to our country, especially our history. I, for one, feel ashamed. Yesterday, as I sat there and listened to people sing praise after praise of the great Patras Bokhari, I was asking myself, what about Faiz? Manto? other literary figures? Forget literature for a while. What about our freedom fighters?  Other than M.A. Jinnah, we don't have much information available on anyone else (were there others as well?!?!?!). Even if we forget about people... what other information is available online related to Pakistan? Not much... and what is available is counrtesy of international aid and intelligence organizations (e.g CIA website, ADB & UN agencies' websites, etc.)

 

We need to get the ball rolling. Something needs to be done and who better to do it than I? or you?

 

3. Last reason for feeling small is becuse it was the first time I was ever in the company of such true intellectuals. Their words carried such weight that I could not resist tears of emotion brewing up in my eyes. Half the length of the fuction, I had tears in my eyes. Such was the aura. Such was the speech. Such was the wisdom! I felt like I was bringing the average IQ level down in the room, with people like Bano Qudsiya and Javed Iqbal in the room!

 

It is in awe of such personalilities, that I feel like an insignificant speck of dust!