REPORT
Bajia remembered: 'Beta,
our identity is changing'
C
olleagues, admirers and relatives of playwright
and novelist Fatima Surayya Bajia recollected
how she impacted their lives at an event held to
commemorate her memory at the Arts Council. Bajia
passed away on Feb 10. Writer Anwar Maqsood, the
younger brother of Bajia, said he had been writing for
the past 50 years, and whatever he wrote Bajia would be
the first one to see it. He lamented that on Wednesday
he was able to write down nothing. He said Bajia had
inherited classicism and a cultured disposition. He said
she had a treasure trove of love, affection and care [for
other people] and had tied the key to that treasure trove
to the corner of her sari. Now the key had gone away, he
bemoaned. He said she never complained about what
she suffered in life and never spoke about whatever she
received. Mr Maqsood said Bajia was the eldest of 10
siblings, and each one
had requested her to
stay at their place, but
she refused because
her house was a place
where she could take
care of people, even
of those whom she
did not know. He said
when she fell ill, her
niece and nephew,
Bunto and Azam, took
care of her. Former
senator and federal
minister Javed Jabbar
said he first met Anwar
Maqsood in 1963 at Karachi University, after which he
started visiting his home. He said Bajia was the central
figure in the home which had an atmosphere conducive
to creativity. He said not just her, the entire family comprised unique personalities, one of which was Ahmed
Maqsood Hameedi. He said people found living in the
past romantic, but even in the 1960s there was decay
and decline in society, and at the same time the process of evolution was taking place. He likened the life
of a