At the beginning of the 70s, emerged a name in Urdu literature in the field of satire and humour, which attained global acclamation within a very short span. He is none other than Mujtaba Husain a prolific and critically acclaimed humourist. He has nearly two dozen books to his credit carrying his writings. Though he was born in Chincholi, Gulbarga district, on 15th of July 1936, but his name and fame crossed geographical boundaries. In 2007, he was honored with the award of the much-coveted Padma Shri by the Government of India for his contributions to Urdu literature. He also bagged a number of literary awards. Mahboob Husain Jigar the founder joint editor of Siasat daily, Ibrahim Jalees a distinguished journalist of Pakistan and Urdu fiction writer and Mujtaba Husain are remembered as the three brothers of Urdu literature.
Mujtaba Saheb’s first masterpiece was ‘Takalluf bar Taraf’, then came Qata-e-Kalam, Qissa-e-Mukhtasar, Baherhal, Admi-nama, and then Japan Chalo Japan. His work has been widely translated into English, Hindi, Japanese and various other regional languages of India.
Presented here are excerpts from an interview with Mujtaba Husain: F M Saleem
I was born in a time when the Hyderabad state was passing through its days of turmoil. It was the time of political, social and cultural changes. The erstwhile state of Hyderabad was comprised of regions of Telangana, Karnataka and Maharashtra. My age at that time was around 10 to 11 years. With India’s independence several revolutions took place. With the beginning of democracy, political chaos prevailed. Riots began. My father (Maulvi Ahmed Husain) was in Osmanabad at that time. That area was worst affected by the riots. Our house and property were robbed. I was studying in Gulbarga. It took a long time for me to overcome this situation. My education was very much affected. Then I took admission in a college in Gulbarga. There were three colleges in Marhatwada, Telangana and Karnataka. There from I took admission in Arts College in Hyderabad in 1953. I already had penchant for writing. I took part in many Essay writing competitions and dramas.
I was the secretary of Bazm-e-Urdu. Communist movement was at its peak in those days. Makhdoom Mohiuddin was then released from jail. He was my ideal. As a poet and leader I was very much impressed with him. It was the beginning of the 60s; Urdu was widely spoken in Hyderabad. There were Sulaiman Areeb, Shahid Siddiqui on one side and Shaz Tamakanat, Waheed Akhtar and Aziz Qaisi on the other among the new generation. Siasat played a significant role in making my life. Informal association with Siasat remained at all times. Elder brother Mahboob Husain Jigar was in Siasat. Hence I used to write something or other for Siasat. But in 1958 I officially started working as subeditor. I was the manager of Inqilab press at that time.
It was not me who chose humour and satire but it was humour which chose me. I took up satire and humour incidentally. I still remember the day of 12th August 1962. Shahid Siddiqui used to write ‘Sheesha wa Teesha’ column. He expired in July 1962. On August 12 as soon I reached Siasat office elder Brother Jigar Saheb and Abid Ali Khan Saheb called me and proposed to write ‘Sheesha wa Teesha’ column. In the morning at 10:30 I started column writing and finished the column before 2 pm. I wrote with my pen name ‘Koh Paima’; after a week people began asking who was writing the column. It has freshness, enthrallment and entertainment, they commented. I was encouraged by the praise and thus I began writing continuously. The thing which began incidentally became the destination of my life and also the purpose of life. The only identity of my literary journey of 50 years is humour writing. I read Ibn-e-Insha, Ibraheem Jalees, Ahmed Naseem Qasmi, Shaukat Thanvi and Yousuf Nadeem’s columns in noted newspapers of Pakistan, I also read Fikr Taunsvi, Ahmed Jamal Pasha, Hayathullah Ansari in India. I even read English writers like Mark Twain etc.
If asked what I would have been if not humourist. I would surely have been a fiction writer. The journey of literature which began in Hyderabad got a big canvas in Delhi. Delhi has a significant role in promoting my literary journey.
One day Jigar Saheb arrived in Delhi; he was accompanied by Zaheeruddin Ali Khan. Zaheeruddin Ali Khan proposed to start a separate column. On the proposal I told him it would not be a humour column but the experiences of life. Hence its title should be ‘Mera Column’ (My column). When the column started it received a huge round of applause by the readers. The credit, no doubt, goes to Zaheeruddin Ali Khan.
The world has undergone many changes these days. With selfishness prevailing in the society, values have taken a back seat.
Change of government in the state and police action period was awful. The early 10 years were spent in shock and dilemma then Hyderabadis thought now we should laugh a bit. Some moments of happiness were required to remove disappointment. In 1966 an all India conference of humourist and satirist was held. 27 humourists from around the country were called. Under the auspices of Zinda Dilan-e-Hyderabad, publication of Mustafa Kamal’s magazine Shagufa was quite significant. This magazine is published even today. These activities made the Hyderabad the capital of humour.