Kishwar Naheed is known to be an outspoken individual who defied stereotypical expectations. Her verses celebrate the woman who asserts herself and thrives in spite of adversities. Through her poetry, her construction of femininity stands out – uncontrollable and unapologetic.
Women share histories – personal and political. Afreen urges women to recall the stories that contribute to the meaning of their existence. How and where will they go from this point onward?
Some stories never die; they are told again and again, from time to time, place to place, author to author. One such is the story of Heer and Ranjha. About six centuries old now, it was first narrated in verse by one DamodarArora during the reign of Emperor Akbar. Damodar was a native of Jhang where the story is broadly based and he had heard it from one Raja Ram Khatri who is supposed to be an eyewitness to all that happened. Since then it has been narrated variously and in various languages, both in verse and prose. One of the most notable narratives came from Waris Shah in 1766, apart from several others in Sindhi, Haryanavi, Hindi, Urdu, Persian, and English. In Persian alone, there are as many as twenty versions of this story and in Urdu not less than fifteen.
Concept and Text: Maniza Khalid Firaq Gorakhpuri makes a friend of the night. It is a living presence in his verses that hums with soft movement. It has its own rhythm, its own pace as it moves on — moment by moment. Firaq recognizes this and connects with the elements of the night – the… continue reading
The stories of human-animal love are not too rare. Here is an atypical story of love between a queen and a peacock told by no less a master craftsman than Meer Taqi Meer (1723-1810). This verse- narrative known as More Naama has survived through two centuries and has been acknowledged as an exemplar of Meer’s skill of telling a tale in a poetical framework which is allegorical in nature and far reaching in appeal
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