Remembering Prof Naila Gul “Sapna” Qazi, renowned Sindhi poet, Educator, Calligrapher and Compere on 3rd anniversary of her demise
By Yasir Qazi
January 27th marks the passing away of Prof Naila Gul “Sapna” Qazi; young poet, prose writer, educationist, educator and a radio compere from Sindh, who left the world 3 years ago on this day at the age of 41 only, leaving behind an inadequate journey of literature and other segments of fine arts – The path, on which she had to walk for a few more decades, to become the identity of Sindh and to turn out as a world-renowned intellectual.
Along with numerous persons of letters in Sindh, some families have also been serving the literary domain and other fields of fine arts in such a way that almost every individual of those families, made their own distinctiveness while cultivating the garden of letters. As a result, those have been recognized and respected discretely. One of the few such scholarly, iconic and artistic families in Sindh is the ‘Qazi family’ of Ratodero town in Larkana district; which is known by the name and benefaction of Qazi Abdul Hai “Qaa’il” as its head of the family, but the family’s literary affiliation goes back almost 13 generations. In this very family, Naila Gul “Sapna” opened her eyes on December 8, 1977, as the eldest child of Maqsood Gul, the well-reputed Sindhi poet, researcher, columnist and translator, who left Sindh and met his maker 7 years ago in 2015. Introducing Sapna, I would like to quote the words of Dr. Shahnawaz Sodhar, an eminent scholar and intellectual, who said: “Naila Gul is the beacon of a learned family. Her family has always shunned oppressive thoughts and arrogant traditions. By choosing to research on Sassui’s biography in her M.A. (Final)’s monograph, she has subconsciously proved that the intellectual class of Sindh is far ahead of the caste distinction.”
Sapna Gul Qazi, the only sister of four brothers… the very first child of Maqsood Gul and Gulnar Badr, was innately intelligent, as she was holding the torch of her heritage firmly and was ready to carry it forward. She entered Government Primary School No. 2, Ratodero, in grade one in 1982, when she was 5. She continued to get the first position in each class till 1987 when she passed the annual examination of Grade 5. In level 5, together with the annual examination, she also passed the scholarship examination with remarkable marks. From the sixth grade, she entered Government Madrasat-ul-Ghuraba Girls High School, Ratodero (which, at that time, was the only institution of secondary education for girls in Ratodero) from where she did her matriculation in 1992 with distinction. By the time Sapna passed her matriculation, the same school had been upgraded to “Government Girls’ Higher Secondary School”, from where she passed her F.Sc. (intermediate) examination in 1994 with distinctive marks. While cultivating her innate God-given artistic abilities, she also passed the elementary and intermediate grade drawing examinations with enviable success during her secondary education. After doing Inter-Science, she graduated from Shah Abdul Latif University, Khairpur in 1997 with a Bachelor of Arts (B.A). Three years later, in 2000, she did her M.A. in Sindhi literature with “First Class ــ First Position” and accomplished the degree by achieving the “Vice Chancellor’s Gold Medal”, which was conferred in her alma mater’s convocation. Around 2016, she registered herself in the M.Phil. course in Sindhi Literature at the same University and started her course work, but due to disloyalty of life, couldn’t complete the degree.
Naila, in her student life, remained an outstanding debater. Her interest in debates and participation in stage discussions gave her the confidence to speak at various forums, so she earned the skills of speech and compering. She had also an aptitude for singing in cloying vocals, which always earned applaud of the audience.
From the past till date, the number and proportion of women writers in Sindhi literature have been very low. The number of poets among them is even less. Sapna began to cherish her inherited gift of letters with the power of her own skills and adopted her own style in the field of poetry and prose. Her first writing was published in a Sindhi newspaper during her secondary schooling around 1988, with the assistance of her father, which was in the form of a poem, but she has been writing formally since 1993 with the pen name “Sapna Gul Qazi”. She was predominantly a poet, who experimented with almost every genre of contemporary as well as classical poetry, excellently. Her poetry has regularly been published in almost all the popular journals of Sindhi literature, including quarterly “Sartiyun”, the regular literary magazine, which is published by Sindhi Adabi Board Jamshoro for women. Naila rarely participated in the poetry recitals, but her first poetry recital was in 1997, titled ‘All Sindh Khawateen Mushairo’ held at Mumtaz Mirza Auditorium Hyderabad, which was organized by the Sindhi Adabi Board when she was only 20 years old. The noted German scholar, Dr. Annemarie Schimel, attended the event as the Chief Guest.
Naila Gul ‘Sapna’, among other genres of poetry, experimented most with ‘Ghazal’ and ‘Nazm’. She composed ghazals in every meter. It is considered to be the most difficult thing to write a ghazal in a short rhythm, but she successfully wrote ghazals in the shortest meters. The use of unique and out of the box rhymes (Qawaafi) in her ghazals is evident of her poetic excellence. Her verses carry the expressions of all varieties, from inner sentiments to external ones.
Check out one of her free verses:
Why do you send me butterflies?
The colors of those are unsustainable
Like you
They can’t be trapped…
Like you
They do vanish from the sight
Like you
But… yes…
They are pretty
Like you!
On an impulsive pleasant change in the weather, she feels good to express through some of her verses, below:
It’s cloudy again
The enclosure of my soul is drizzly
Again a stanza is about to be shaped
My pen has trekked plentifully
My exceptional mate is offhand
Who doesn’t upkeep such appealing endure
To him, just a sentence
Is the riposte to the anguish of epochs!
Her writing-feather bows before the magnificence of mother and her motherhood; and pays her esteem in a distinctive and tremendous flair.
She says:
Your being is like a crock, having fresh cold water
In which I sense myself tranquil
O’ my mother… O’ my Mom… O’ Ma…
Every name of yours is unparalleled
Where should I glide my yacht?
Each manner of it is taught by you
This life is like a burning sun… and me bare-footed
My father is my shelter… and you are like a shadow
The distresses of the time are like hell
& you are like my heaven
You are precious to every of your toddler
Your emotion is enduringly devoted to him
Her pen not only writes on the conventional topics, but she also reveals the pages, which are not usually turned over. Since she was a teacher herself, so she was well aware of a teachers’ caliber, therefore she brilliantly designates the grandeur of a teacher in one of her poetic fragments:
A teacher is a constructor of ‘the constructors of tomorrow’
He is the arena, which improves the comprehension of his thought…
The Holy Prophet of Islam, Muhammad (Peace be Upon Him) Himself is evident of the glory of a teacher
Indeed, he is the leader of all the intellectuals
In the arena of prose, Sapna’s pen continued to show its essence more effectively than poetry. From essays to research papers, from columns to children’s stories, the beauty and comprehensiveness of her writings were the best earning of the broad communication for her readers. In the year 2000, during the final year of M.A. in Sindhi Literature, she wrote a monograph (research paper) about ‘Sassui’, the intrepid character of Hazrat Shah Bhittai, under the supervision of Dr. Malik Nadeem, the researcher and unique poet of Sindhi abstract poetry, from the Sindhi Department of Shah Abdul Latif University, Khairpur. This thesis included Sassui’s biography conferring to various traditions, the poetic aspects of her struggle, her traditions in the poetry of Hazrat Shah Latif as well as its references by other prominent poets and in the folklore as well as classical Sindhi literature. In the completion of this research, Dr Shahnawaz Sodhar, a renowned scholar also guided her, along with Malik Razzaq Nadeem.
Naila Gul’s role as an educator was more than just an “Ideal Teacher”. According to my observations, her elegance and mannerisms were entirely that of a teacher and it seemed as if nature had created her to play a role especially as a teacher. From teaching in a private school set up by her father since 1995, and assisting him in administrative matters also, till passing the Sindh Public Service Commission examination in 2008, and teaching as Lecturer of Sindhi subject in Government Girls’ College Larkana and Government Begum Nusrat Bhutto Girls’ Degree College, she was a dutiful, gifted and skilled teacher, who always encouraged her students. From being a student to being a teacher, she used to host almost all the small as well as mega programs in her institutions with the aroma of literature. Hosting numerous radio programs for Radio Pakistan Karachi and other private FM radios, she proved her mettle as a talented host and ‘Radio Jockey’ (RJ). As a calligrapher, from Quranic verses to the poetry of Hazrat Shah Abdul Latif Bhittai, her calligraphy is a testament to her artistic talents. She had also been featured on PTV as well as on various other private TV channels as a poetess, and as a commentator and guest on several programs.
But leaving behind hundreds of her dreams associated with all these fields, “Sapna” left us suddenly, 3 years ago, on January 27, 2019, after short illness, and coming from Larkana to Karachi by road, the thread of her breath was broken near Dadu. She tried to wake us up in her lines by giving us a hint of her untimely stigma, the echo of which we could actually understand after her demise and scattering this “dream”.
She said:
Death is inevitable, it is bound to come
Will go away, my mate!
The dreams vanish, as we open our eyes
How long will you stay together, my Love!
But this carrier of unique colors herself revealed this fact that:
“The (apparent) colors of butterflies are indefensible”
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The author is a freelance radio and TV broadcast and print journalist, poet, prose-writer, researcher, columnist, blogger, translator, media Expert, and author of 12 books in Sindhi. He writes regularly for esteemed English, Urdu and Sindhi papers and websites.
