Punjab Notes: Magazines: what's new on literary horizon?

Byline: Mushtaq Soofi

Among humans there are innumerable ways of looking at the world and experiencing it. There is a way all adults are familiar with; the child's way. But they nevertheless find it extremely difficult to be in a child's shoe once they grow up. The main reason is that they outgrow verve that defines the life of childhood.

A child's life is generally governed by fundamental principles of pain and pleasure but his/her reaction to stimulus is wonder driven. And sense of wonder is invariably a hallmark of all creative people. Sense of wonder coupled with imaginative faculty is responsible for great artistic and literary creations which we as species are proud of. So those who have lost their sense of wonder have in fact lost their ability to interact with children. And that's one reason why most of the writers including great ones rarely dare to create literature for children.

Children gifted with sense of wonder are envy of poets as they can hear what an adult can't, they can see what an adult can't, and above all they can imagine what an adult can't. Thus writing for children is an art a few can master. Writers writing for children anyway are not large in number in most of the languages. Such people creating children literature in Punjabi language can literally be counted on the fingers of one hand, at least at this side of the border despite the fact that Punjabi has rich folklore meant for children with its stories, rhymes, riddles, songs and lullabies.

Ashraf Sohail is one such socially and culturally conscious person who has done tremendous service in promoting children literature in mother language. He brings out a monthly children magazine titled 'Pakheru [Bird]'and has been able, despite meagre resources, to sustain it over the years through the hard work of his team comprising G.S Deip, Ali Akmal Tasuwwar, Atif Husain Shah, Abdul Ghaffur Khan and Sohail Qaiser Hashmi.

Junaid Akram, a well-known writer of Punjabi language, rightly says: 'I can say it with justifiable pride that how Ashraf Sohail all alone launched a campaign for the promotion of children literature and how he has stood his ground in the field for the last 24 years will be remembered for a long time to come'.

The latest annual edition of Pakheru is dedicated to novels. The magazine apart from publishing translations of foreign novels has been serialising the novels meant for children. The current issue carries five novels authored by Jasbeer Bhullar...