what an extraordinary and intelligent person, truly a role model for Pakistani women.
man what is up with this family? so much talent. incredible. there is Bajjia and of course Anwar Maqsood, and not to forget Imrana Maqsood. apparently all siblings of Anwar and Bajjia either write or are involved with the arts in some form. wow.
people like Bajiya are not born every other day. hope she lives a happy and healthy life for many, many more years. Ameen.
**The diminutive giant **
By Adil Ahmad
In a world fraught with problems there are strong women ready to take the bull by the horns and subdue it in no uncertain fashion. These are females possessed with flair and a steely resolve to accomplish that which they set out to do. They fly in the face of popular, unflattering stereotypes of repressed womanhood, and provide a challenging role model to those who want to follow suit. One of them is Bajiya.
The diminutive giant is in good health and relishing the challenges of an inspired and full workload. Fatima Suraiyya Bajiya, or just Bajiya to her fans, has wrestled her gum cancer to the ground, vanquishing it. Within 15 days of her operation she was up and about, going full steam ahead, at the grand old age of 74. Such is her will and zest for life. “I paid the price for chewing beetlenut for 36 years, and I thank God that the cancer did not spread.” There’s no sign of infirmity, and her voice is strong and clear.
Having felt slight pain in her jaw for some time, Bajiya dismissed it as a tooth problem. “The surprising thing is that I never felt much pain,” she says. Her family pushed her to go for a check-up after her servant told them she had been experiencing discomfort for some time. Discovering she had cancer and that the disease was in an advanced stage after a biopsy, Bajiya’s strong will power helped her through her ordeal. Her family rallied around her and fans from near and far came to visit her at the hospital, creating a headache for the staff. Bajiya says that it was the love and kindness of everyone, which saw her through the crisis.
Bajiya has three areas of preoccupation these days. She’s organizing her life’s work, spread over some 72,000 papers that represent 40 years of writing. She’s penning a play titled Wapsi about the modern rat race. Then she is putting together a major festival for the Japanese this November in her capacity as President of the Pakistan-Japan Cultural Association. She is the recipient of the Imperial Honour, a high, rare award bestowed upon her by the Japanese emperor for her services in bringing together the people of Pakistan and Japan.
“This festival will be held in different locations in Karachi, with each location transformed into a dedicated area for art, textiles, literature, jewellery, and the martial arts,” says Bajiya, referring to the upcoming festival. The news has spread like wildfire in Karachi’s martial arts fraternity, and practitioners of the four dominant Japanese forms - Judo, Kendo, Koyokushinkai and Shotokan - are burning the midnight oil in order to prepare a befitting tribute to Pak-Japan solidarity.
“I’d like to use the funds generated to provide widows and poor girls a better chance at life. I need to do something so that there are no more destitutes in this country.” Bajiya’s face wears a determined look as she says this. With half the country living below the poverty line, she has her work cut out for her. Having said that, Bajiya has a formidable ally in Japan, and with the festival she just might put in motion a process that grows in momentum and size. For the sceptics her message is simple. “Whatever I have done so far, I haven’t experienced failure.”
Bajiya has two young men working on a length of fabric stretched over a frame in her living room. They are doing fine embroidery that will adorn small, traditional velvet bags. These are part of the merchandise being prepared for the festival. She is also putting together a collection of cloth jewellery using semi-precious stones framed in 12-carat gold. Each set of jewellery is given a name. There is ‘Salomi’ with real emeralds from Afghanistan; a set called ‘Cleopatra;’ ‘Lela Chanesar;’ ‘Rumea,’ and ‘Sohni Mahiwal’ studded with lapis.
Fatima Suraiyya Bajiya is no stranger to enterprise. In the 1960s she worked as chief designer for the Small Industries Department in Islamabad, and is credited with introducing green marble, quilting, and Swati embroidery to urban areas where they flourished, turning into major revenue streams.
“While in my heart I might feel that I have completed my life’s work, here I am, alive and with strength in my limbs and the mental capacity to think, and working to a full agenda, thank God,” she says, clearly driven by a childlike enthusiasm for her work. “This house that I live in is the 19th in my life, and it has been bought for me by my kids. I never had my own house, and never thought of having one either, living with my mother and maternal grandmother,” says Bajia, as she looks in her bag for a set of keys. “Going by the number of keys that I have accumulated, it would seem I have a fortune in precious stones stored in my house!”
Her association with the Japanese came about in 1974 when Professor Asada, Director of the Japanese Cultural Centre and an expert in Urdu, asked her if she would help in promoting awareness about Japanese culture in Pakistan.
“I had no idea about Japanese culture! It was the month of March, so I asked him how the Japanese celebrated spring. He told me they had kite festivals for kids.” Ultimately, Bajia ended up organizing a grand festival for 2,000 underprivileged children from Karachi’s rural suburbs. That was the beginning of a productive relationship that continues till this day. She introduced Waka and Haiku poetry, both now being written today in 11 regional Pakistani languages. She put them to subcontinental music and translated to Urdu classic Japanese plays.
“The Japanese have developed a very deep sensitivity after the Second World War. They consider me as one of their own, and I reciprocate their feelings.”
**So what about Bajiya’s 72,000 papers, with many thousands having been thrown away?
“For the first time in my life I am organizing my writings of the past 40 years. Nobody will believe that a woman of such meagre height (‘aik balish’) can write so much!” She has been writing for 68 years altogether. “I think these have considerable research value. There’s Arab and Indian history here, art, geography, music, Japanese plays, and children’s programmes.” Presently, Bajia’s papers occupy a large cabinet in her sitting room, but with a few pick-up loads still to arrive from different locations, the time is close for their shifting to a more formal location.
It may appear that all of this is taking her away from her writing. Quite the contrary. Such engagements make for inspired minds, and the writings that follow reflect the inspiration that has been had. **
She is working on a television play she calls Wapsi. It’s about the jet-set, shallow lifestyle of a Pakistani family of Indian origin, headed by an indulgent father and husband who pays the price for his indulgence when his family takes the bit between the teeth, living life in the fast lane. One not-so-fine day, the father goes into a diabetes-induced coma, and the doctors offer little hope. The family rejoices and plunges headlong into the coffers, liquidating anything they can lay their hands on and living out their wildest fantasies. Then, quite without notice, the father returns from his deep sleep - “baap re baap ki wapsi!” All hell breaks loose. The father has been there and seen the light, and returns a fundamentalist!
“This is the story of what’s happening around us today,” says Bajiya. Loose parenting, the result of an unending rat race where people try and outdo the Joneses, has made for shallow rooting and values that are lightweight at best. Wapsi is still in the process of being written, and one is sure that Bajia’s going to take it through some suspenseful, even hilarious twists before bringing this analysis to a successful close.
**Bajiya’s message for her readers is simple, yet weighty. “Engage in something worthwhile that becomes memorable and a part of history.” **