I see this now applied to whole Pakistan's present day society.
".....I think I have written before that prison life does accentuate petty selfishness. I have never understood that psychology of purdah women as well as I do now. It is the normal psychology of a prisoner. I understand the pettinesses, the preoccupation with small grievances that seem to occupy the whole universe, the oblivion to larger impersonal issues, the selfishness and the self-pity, the spitefulness and the temper, the silliness and the servility, spells of paralysis and feverish activity - all this is the usual concomitant of suppressed and confined living and not very easy for free people to understand......"
(In a letter -dated March 7, 1952 - to his wife during his prison of famous 'Rawalpindi sazish case' published in Pakistan recently by his daughter Salima Hashmi. You can read full letter here)
".....I think I have written before that prison life does accentuate petty selfishness. I have never understood that psychology of purdah women as well as I do now. It is the normal psychology of a prisoner. I understand the pettinesses, the preoccupation with small grievances that seem to occupy the whole universe, the oblivion to larger impersonal issues, the selfishness and the self-pity, the spitefulness and the temper, the silliness and the servility, spells of paralysis and feverish activity - all this is the usual concomitant of suppressed and confined living and not very easy for free people to understand......"
(In a letter -dated March 7, 1952 - to his wife during his prison of famous 'Rawalpindi sazish case' published in Pakistan recently by his daughter Salima Hashmi. You can read full letter here)
2 comments:
I amcurious about such poets or writers of Urdu who have "Foriegn" wives. Faiz's remarkable ability with words and expressions along with his totally eastern thinking in the poems in which he seems so close and comfortable with that culture intrigues me. So I was so happy to see his letter, which does show his relation with his wife to be Western with a lot of Eastern touch. or you could say reverse too. I used to see Mrs. Taseer, the sister of Alys riding around Lahore roads on her bike. How these women had adapted to their Eastern lives with these remarkable men.
Its really interesting and admirable. I know some of "Gori" wives here in USA who are completely amalgated in pakistani cuture. It is so hard to believe....probably I guess women are more on giving side than men!
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