Humsafar / ہمسفر

by Hameeda Akhtar Hussain Raipuri

The author's first work, written at the age of 72, not only throws light on the character and unusual family history of her late husband, Akhtar Husain Raipuri, a well-known intellectual, but also provides luminous vignettes of prominent people, including her father, the Urdu novelist Zafar Omar, Gandhi, and Maulvi Abdul Haq, the "father of Urdu."

354 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1995

About the author

اردو کی مشہور ادیبہ بیگم حمیدہ اختر حسین رائے پوری 22 نومبر 1918ء کو ہردوئی کے مقام پر پیدا ہوئی تھیں۔
ان کے والد ظفر عمر اردو کے پہلے جاسوسی ناول نگار تسلیم کئے جاتے ہیں۔
بیگم حمیدہ اختر حسین کی شادی 1935ء میں اختر حسین رائے پوری سے ہوئی تھی جو اردو کے نامور نقاد، محقق اور ادیب تھے۔ 1992ء میں اختر حسین رائے پوری کی وفات کے بعد بیگم حمیدہ اختر حسین نے اپنی ادبی زندگی کا آغاز کیا اور اپنے بے ساختہ اور سادہ اسلوب بیان کی بنا پر اردو کی اہم اہل قلم میں شمار ہونے لگیں۔
ان کی خودنوشت سوانح عمری ہم سفر کے نام سے اشاعت پذیر ہوئی۔
انہوں نے خاکوں کے دو مجموعے نایاب ہیں ہم اور چہرے مہرے بھی یادگار چھوڑے۔
اس کے علاوہ انہوں نے بچوں کی کہانیوں کا مجموعہ سدا بہار،کھانے پکانے کی ترکیبوں کا مجموعہ پکائو اور کھلائو اور ایک ناول وہ کون تھی؟ کے نام سے تحریر کیا۔
ان کی خود نوشت ہم سفر کا انگریزی ترجمہ My Fellow Traveller کے نام سے اشاعت پذیر ہوا، یہ ترجمہ امینہ اظفر نے کیا تھا۔ 1998ء میں اکادمی ادبیات پاکستان نے انہیں نایاب ہیں ہم پروزیراعظم ادبی انعام بھی عطا کیا تھا۔ 20 اپریل 2009ء کو بیگم حمیدہ اختر حسین رائے پوری کراچی میں وفات پاگئیں۔ وہ کراچی میں آسودۂ خاک ہیں۔

Reviews

[Shakera · Rating 5 out of 5]

The woman wrote this gorgeous nonfiction account of her life with her beloved husband and began her career as a writer at the age of 72. Before this, she was a woman devoted to her husband and her children. It was impossible for me to put this book away. She talks about her youth in India before the partition and how she met her husband. She began to write this book in order to cope with the loss of her beloved. This translation was so elegant and beautiful, I can't imagine what the original was like. It has inspired to really try to learn how read and write Urdu. Alhamdulilah, I am so blessed to be able to understand speak it even if it isn't not that great. I am looking forward to reading more translations of Urdu Literature until I can begin to read in Urdu itself....I can't imagine all the literature of the other languages that I am missing out.



Although at time it seems this novel revolves around her husband and the man who adopted him and she almost lost herself serving them, that is not always true. It got around to getting what she wanted when she wanted. She was smart, intelligent, and full of love like most women of the world. I could tell she came from a wealthy and famous family who were all very well educated and modern. It is hard to imagine that sometimes the past wasn't as backwards as the present currently is. Change can bring so much good and harm. Like I know there are gems everyone in our world, but sometimes we forget.

I love her descriptions about about all her travels with and without her husband. I found myself really shocked my own prejudices against South Asian women. This book really helped me question my stereotypes and also really gave me enormous respect for the Urdu language and speakers.

Like many people, I can become very shortsighted and start believeing that only the Western is enlightened while the East lags behind. Because there are many others in both sides of the world that love, give, and educate.

It is important to remember that there are beautiful people everyone. That everyone deserves a clean slate.

[Hasan · Rating 4 out of 5]

A must read book and I am amazed that it was the first book penned down by the author in her seventies. The pure language and her narrative style made this book a worth read.