Piyal Saaz (Episode 3) Aymal Raza- Novel Review by Shoby

Piyal Saaz (Episode 3) Aymal Raza- Novel Review by Shoby

"Teen mard aik jagah aik hi niyyat se kharey hon to darwazon ko muqafal karney ki zarurat nahi hoti." Fastened your seat belts as Aymal Raza is all set to blow you away through her magical words. Connecting right from the previous episode, third one of Piyal Saaz starts off with a high voltage drama sequence where Nigaar is trapped around three beasts, masked as humans. Stephen King said “They're animals, all right. But why are you so goddam sure that makes us human beings?”

The transformation from root emergence to stem enhancement to a complete Banyan tree seamlessly woven by Aymal to symbolically depict the proceedings is indeed a treat to read. Mira Grant said, “The only thing we have in this world that is utterly and intrinsically ours is our integrity.” and Aymal starts sort of a debate, Insan ki Ghurqaabi ki ibteda kiya hai??? And then she herself sums up the debate, Ghurqaabi ho to mukammal... Ruswai ho to mukammal...

Thank you Aymal on shifting the course of attention towards Basil-Zimel track. Otherwise I was totally in a trance of the initial sequence. Dear Readers, dont mind, if my this review contains only dialogues written by Aymal as I am literally drowned in the feel of them.

Mardana mazboot hathon ka lams jab nazuk unglyon ko choota hai... Ahhh... What a delicate & sophisticated way to cherish the feel of young love. Hats off Aymal for re-endorsing a sweet quote after that hard hitting sequence. 

According to writer Stanley Kubrick, If it can be written, or thought, it can be filmed. To me you are a pitch perfect writer if you can write make-believe things and Aymal has that tendency to create the imagery through her words. Same is reflected in the garden scene featuring Basil & Zimel. Its a beautiful blend of warm dialogues with overall ambience description.

Zimel doses not want to hurt Basil by telling him the response of her father. However she has a Big Yes in her heart & mind, so she visits Nigaar'Khana to pick a unique gift to respond the proposal. Meanwhile she confessed in front of Yashaar tat she has failed in finding any helpful material which could be used to entice her father's past so that he may check down to the memory lane. Yashaar stresses to make his father visit Pakistan as it could be more helpful.

This writer has the tendency to make your heart skip a beat through her expression:

Zimel ke qadam chori jagah per phool ug rahey they... Nahi...

Hawaon ki dorain us ki ungliyon mein pewasta nthi... Nahi

Kiya us per mohabbat ka mausam aa gay tha... Pata nahi...

Ya woh nano jaisi basaarat hi nahi rakhta tha... Yaqeenan haan...

While focusing on her primary objective i.e. to discover the past of her father, Zimel visits the university and happens to meet an old professor who informs her about the election in which the contestant Misbah was murdered who contested against Zeyan Aalam.

Lets move towards the old Banyan tree. That rigged old woman is still complaining. She is still moaning. Oh sanyasi... Mohammad Khuda Yaar se poochu... Pakkey rangon ki holi ke daaghon ko kis jal se dhona hai... If you cant feel the pain, the agony, the shrewdness of the character through this one line, I believe you can never feel it in any case. Thumbs up Aymal.

After what happened with Nigaar, her soul is broken and when your spirit gets hurt, you believe me, it is the most painful of all. I usually dont quote my poetry in my reviews but this scene just reminded me of my own short poem "Scream of Silence" from my poetry book Main bekhayali Mein Sang Tere... Unfortunately I have no words to explain the sequence except this poem:

Andheyara, 

Jeewan ko sooni raeyn karey hai...

Mere ander ki khamoshi

Oonchi oonchi awazon mein

Baeyn karey hai...

On his return with fabricated gloomy face, Gulnaab asks him where is Nigaar and he utters her the false story that she does not want to live with him and is asking for a divorce. Zeyan has played the game with acute planning and nobody is there to believe Nigaar now.

Jab chaar atraaf se pather barsaey jaeyn to mazboot se mazboot chataan bhi raiza raiza ho jati hai... Nigaar is shattered and rightly so. And just to clarify the things all at once, this is the past. And if we have a look on the present, we can observe Zimel running away from the older version of Nigaar. 

As the episode concludes, Nigaar is still complaining out loud, Purshootam (The Supreme Being), Saya e Gautam, Ibn e Maryam se keh do, KHUDA ke maujzey se... Meri izzat ke sath khelney waley woh teen they... Hearing the harsh reality, Zimel can not take this and runs away...

So one hell of an affair was witnessed in the episode. This is The Aymal Raza whom I talked about in the first review of Piyal Saaz. This is The Aymal Raza who I admired after reading Taveez e Hubb. This is The Aymal raza who knows exactly how pain can be best pictured through mere use of words.

Best thing about Piyal Saaz is the fast pace of the story. Many secrets have been revealed & many secluded aspects of the story have been uncovered. I believe its a game of a a couple of more episodes that the we may reach to a logical conclusion of the tale.

I am much impressed with the vast vocabulary of Aymal Raza. She does not only possess the great vocabulary but she knows how to use the same in the best of their meanings. Certain monologues literally produced goose bumps in the episodes. Whatever she has written for the old Nigaar has a deep intense feel in it. 

I personally dont mind use of foreign languages, concepts & philosophies to further elaborate the feelings. Use of hindi dialects has magnificently enhanced the overall ambience & feel of the story. Looking forward to more of this celebrated stuff from Aymal in upcoming episodes.

Seyah Hashia (Saima Akram Choudary) Concludes- Novel Analysis by Shoby

Seyah Hashia (Saima Akram Choudary) Concludes- Novel Analysis by Shoby

It started off with an excellent sequence where someone is is running towards nowhere and suddenly voice of an invisible entity is heard, which is trying to stop her from crossing the Syeah Hashia (The Black Line of Limits). A boundary which was supposed to be a start of a devastating hell but she crossed it.

The very first sequence of the novel was a symbolic one. Executed beautifully, it had all the required ingredients to attract the reader. So I stick to it for all these 17 episodes and now it has come to the concluding part. Lets analyse, how Saima Akram Choudary has played with all the characters of the novel and how she tackled with somewhat complex proceedings.

To me, best part of Syeah Hashia is that it is perhaps one of those very rare Urdu digest novels of our current time that had characters in good numbers but all of the characters are very much required to build up the actual plot. I found not even a single non-needy character in the whole story and probably this is the most peculiar reason why I followed it completely.

Seyah Hashia can be regarded as a true socio-reforming material with few very important messages embedded within the plot. Especially the way Saima Akram highlighted the falsehood of Atheism and its devastating results on the individual as well as society. the novel revolved around how jealousy factor can badly impact the lives of not only the one who possess the bad hallmark but to others as well.

Seyah Hashia was all about social messages, be it the regard & honour of elders or cons of a bad decision maker. Saima nicely elaborated all these issues through actions, characteristics & dialogues of various characters. The novel tells how harsh, rude & false decisions of a father can brutally demolish a family. It also gave an insight of what sort of bad sequences a girl has to face if she runs out for someone. At times, what we feel as love is not love at all. Its destruction disguised in love.

In the middle of the story we got to see some sweet romance as well. I personally loved the way how the meetings of Bindya & Taimoor were exhibited by Saima. Purity of old-age romance was at its best in those scenes. How can one forget the young, energetic & cool couple of Oreeda & Arsam. Especially in the earlier episodes when the young love was all set to ablaze things. It was a real treat to read. Then off course the short love stories (although not much elaborated) of Adeena & Abdullah and Bakhtawar & Hashim). So it had the element of love in quite good volume.

It is pertinent to mention one thing here that it is not mandatory that every time you need some sort of metaphysical approaches or out of the box treatment to make a thing look good. Sometimes, a nice simple topic needs a very simple yet appealing treatment and here I would like to applaud Saima Akram that she did not tried anything out of the box. In fact, she stood accurate to her main concept and without letting reader wander here & there, she said her things in very clear & honest manner.

A touch of thrill & mystery was also observed in the novel. When Adeena found the gravestone with the name & the of birth & death dates of her living mother was marked and when Adeela saw the glimpses of Abdullah a couple of times after his proclaimed death. These sequences were sufficient enough to make the reader glued to it.

Overall this novel was a nice attempt if we talk about spreading strong socio-religious messages to the society and I really hope that we all get to learn certain supremely important concerns regarding our society.

I wish more of these simple message oriented writings come our way so that the much needed society gains some fruitful lessons & interpret them in their deeds. Looking forward to read some more good writings from this very talented writer Ms. Saima Akram Choudary.

Chalo Udaasi Ke Paar Jaey (Zain Shakeel)- Book Review by Shoby

Chalo Udaasi Ke Paar Jaey (Zain Shakeel)- Book Review by Shoby

Honestly speaking I dont read so-called poets of today's era. Most of them have no sense of rhyming schemes and they literally dont know the factual utilization of words with their most appropriate & understandable meanings. They even dont have any idea of where the behar of the poetic piece is going. Neither do they have any novel idea to express and nor they have beautiful treatment of words. Nevertheless I term them #Facebook or #SocialMedia Good for nothing poets.

And just by chance while browsing #Facebook I fortunately found a page named Zain Shakeel and I just had a glance on the same. Guess what, the below mentioned couplet emerged in front of my eyes:

Kabhi Aa Ker Inhain Shafaaf Ker dey...

Tere waadon pe matti jam gai hai...

Dont you feel Goose Bumps I bet you had. I am so sure about it because I felt the same. The depth of the couplet, the concept, the beautiful & simple words used to present the idea was so unorthodox that it tempted me to read more of the poet and after going through some more of his couplets, I instantly perceived that hey be aware! this magician named as Zain Shakeel has all the characteristics to spell cast you by his words.

So after few weeks, being a true admirer of honest & true artists, I contacted Zain Shakeel to praise his writing skills & there we started having a nice friendship bond. Just a few days back, my friend Zain sent me his debut poetry book titled as Chalo Udaasi Ke Paar Jaey and although I dont consider myself worthy enough to say even a single word for this gem of an artist, I am still writing a humble review on his book just to pay him the due regard.

So what is this #CUKPJ all about. I may sum up the whole story by uttering mere one word Emotions... I have talked to Zain a few times and through our conversations, I observed one thing about Zain. He is a very sincere & honest person and same is depicted by his words. His poetry is nothing except sheer presentation of very honest feeling & emotions.

Zain starts of the book with a tribute to the ASHRAF ul MAKHLOOQAAT, PAGHAMBAR e AKRAM MOHAMMAD MUSTAFA (saww) in the form of a Naat e RASOOL e MAQBOOL (saww). See how beautifully he is expressing the very righteous views:

Ik nazar e karam ho to kahin daad bhi paon

Kehna ke yeh bebas ki hai rudaad NABI Jee...

No doubt, we are nothing and the only ray of hope for all of us is the Shifa'at of our dearest PROPHET MOHAMMAD (saww).

As I stated earlier, Zain's poetry is all about emotions and the best aspect about his poetry is that he does not remain static in only a few of them. Although as the title suggests, the overall feel of the book is warm, sad & grieved, he still managed well to deal with many other emotions of human life as well.

If he depicts sheer sadness in his poem Chalo Udaasi Ke Paar Jaey, U will surely find a very loving & caring person in his poetry. Check one of his Punjabi couplet:

Us diyan akhiyan wasdiyan her dum...

Tu jis jis da peer wey ishqa...

Zain is blessed with the treasure of expressing diverse thoughts in very unorthodox manner. The below mentioned couplet tells us the same:

Rsta kaisey milta mere khawabon ko...

Main neendon se shart lagaey betha hoon...

He stunned me with his undermentioned couplet. Beautiful indeed

Aisey naazil hua khayal ter...

Jaisey koi azaab utra hai...

Somewhere in his poetry, you may feel a sort of complaint. This complaint is basically his agony that tempts him to write this way:

Zain, her baar main hi yaad aon...

Woh kabhi khud bhi mujhey yaad karey...

Aaj shayad teri suni jaey...

Aaj tu mehw e iltija hona...

Dekhiye, hath mein ehsaas mera mat lijiye...

Aap thak jaey ge tukrey mere chuntey chuntey...

Zain hoon, yaad kijiye mujh ko...

Aap ne naam to suna ho ga...

Zain's poems flow like a stream... Silent, if we look from far away but full of strength if we monitor them closely. I personally liked his poems Bol Piya, Mere Sarey Mausam Ho, Udaasi, Piyar Karo Na and a beautiful short poem with no title presented below:

Koi to hai na

Ke jis ki khatir

Udaas rehney 

ka shoq sa hai!

I personally dont like the genre of Azad Ghazal but Zain's poetry compelled me to read more of it and eventually I started liking the concept. It is pertinent to mention here that writing an Azad Ghazal is not an easy task altogether.

One of his couplets from Azad ghazal that has become my most favorite is:

Mujhey bikhrey bikhrey se baal yun bhi pasand hain...

Mujhey maatmi se libaas mein na mila karo...

Overall, this poem is a beautiful blend of sincere & honest emotions depicted in true & loud words. I would like to congratulate Zain Shakeel on this exceptional attempt on writing this very nice poetry book and I wish he writes more & more of this... Good Luck & Stay Blessed Zain...

Namal (Episode 25 Nemrah Ahmed)- Novel Review by Shoby

Namal (Episode 25 Nemrah Ahmed)- Novel Review by Shoby

Dr. Seuss said “You know you're in love when you can't fall asleep because reality is finally better than your dreams.”  Martin Luther King Jr said “Darkness cannot drive out darkness: only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate: only love can do that.” Bob Marley said, "Things that never interested you before become fascinating because you know they are important to this person who is so special to you. You think of this person on every occasion and in everything you do." My personal favourite John Green in #TFIOS said “As he read, I fell in love the way you fall asleep: slowly, and then all at once.” and story continues as for many of the philosophers, scholars, speakers & writers the feeling of Love is sweeter than honey but STOP we are in the #Namal world where things are always unanticipated So Nemrah quotes a very unorthodox monologue written by C. JoyBell C. about love.

Check the lines depicting a very unique & dynamic yet true hallmark of intense love. Joybell said, “They say a good love is one that sits you down, gives you a drink of water, and pats you on top of the head. But I say a good love is one that casts you into the wind, sets you ablaze, makes you burn through the skies and ignite the night like a phoenix; the kind that cuts you loose like a wildfire and you can't stop running simply because you keep on burning everything that you touch! I say that's a good love; one that burns and flies, and you run with it!”

Probably its needless to further explain these self explanatory lines. I just want to add up here that Love for Joybell & our Namal characters is different (read sui-generis). Remember Zumer saying, "I Hate You" and Faris replying "I Love You Too". Recall what Aabi said, "Woh (Zumer) tumharey liye Faris Ghazi, Aisa kabhi nahi karey gi." Last but not the least, what Hanna felt for Hashim & how she tackled with her emotions & affection. So this is the type of love for which Joybel said, "the kind that cuts you loose like a wildfire and you can't stop running simply because you keep on burning everything that you touch".

Now lets begin our journey in the state of hypnosis. When I first read the title of episode 25, the first thing that strike to my mind was the 19th episode of 3rd season of Fringe (Lysergic Acid Diethylamide), where Waltor, Peter & Olivia walks into an altogether different world with the help of hypnosis using LSD (drugs used to alter awareness of the surroundings, perceptions, and feelings).  But this, obviously, is not Fringe, it is Namal. So lets see, who, why & how someone got hypnotised in Namal this time around :p

Episode 25 starts with the beautiful description of a court room. (Side Notes: Apart from many other traits, I am the biggest fan of Nemrah as far as her scene detailing skills are concerned). Nemrah shuffles multiple scenes forth & back while focusing on the primary court procedures. I feel she has a superbly talented screenplay writer hidden somewhere within her.

Few weeks backs Aabi challenged Hashim, "If you want me, earn me" and the price she quoted for acceptance of wedding proposal is way too high, way too complex. She wants Hashim to follow the court trial and prove his innocence in the court. Meanwhile, Zumer shares the complete past of Sadi highlighting how "Humara #innocent Saadi" converted  into this newly emerged ruthless character.

Zumer tells Faris about the proposal of Haroon Ubaid and in return Faris reveals the actual reality behind Haroon's interest in the case. "Woh dil se chahta hai ke Hashim is muqadmey mein uljhey. Is ke liye woh tumhain or Aabdar dono ko istemal ker raha hai". The very honest & beautiful inner self of Zumer gets sad hearing this.

I loved the way, how Nemrah mentioned the short notes taken by Hashim during the oral arguments by Zumer.

After Zumer, here comes the Hannibal himself. Fastened your seat belts for some very cunning remarks from him. Hashim almost thrashed Saadi by besmirching his innocent character. Thank you Nemra for reminding us the Real Day of Judgement in the meantime.

In the midst of all this, entry of Aabdar is a game changer for a while. Hashim looks at Aabi and this mere glance was noticed by Hanna. Mohabbat rahey ya nahi... Yaaden to akhri saans tak rehti hain... Nemrah makes sure that we do not forget the love-effected super cool girl Hanna. (What a bunch of characters Namal has. I shall miss all of them once Namal concludes and it is a fact). 

Aabdar is angry with Haroon reason being she is now fed up of being misused by him. However he assures her that whatever he has done, its for her and then he presents her Zumer's nose pin.

I personally enjoyed this little informal written correspondence between Hanna & Aabi in the courtroom. (Remeinded me of how we used to talk to each other in our school & uni life :p ).

Aabdar cunningly informed Faris about the deal which was cemented between Zumer & her father Haroon. Aabdar's statement "Baat cheez ki nahi hai... us ne #aap ko 3 din tak girwi rakha tha" is followed by a stunner response from Faris, "Us ne mujhey 4 saal tak jail mein bhi rakha tha... Main us ko hazaar dafa muaaf ker sakta hoon". (This is the type of love that Joybell talked about). This scene featuring Faris, Aabi & Zumer (in the backdrop) is a masterpiece. Took place at #FoodlyEverafter this one is an excellent rendition of love... Love that speaks out loud in the words of Joybell... A good love is one that casts you into the wind, sets you ablaze, makes you burn through the skies...

Hashim consludes his initial arguments. Arguments that were full of false statements, misinterpreted scenarios, twisted incidents & every bad notion that can be accounted for in the books. And if this is not enough Hashim has disclosed his future plans to Sheru. He literally wants the innocent  family of Saadi to bite the dust. He is in full swing to thrash the tag of nobility from their forefronts.

Statements of Saadi Yousaf in the witness box forced Hashim to "think out loud' #TooPoetic. I loved the remarks though...

Thank you Nemra... Thank you very much for providing the poor couple a much needed opportunity to leave all other tensions behind and visit a hill station. Zumer says it all in just one sentence, "Mujhey qeemti zewar chahiye tha... Mehenga nahi". A line with a beautiful blend of romance & honesty. (Love that John Green talks about).

As per tradition of Nemrah Ahmed & Namal, words of wisdom are here, "Jab insan ke baap dada ko saza nahi milti... Walden ko in ki seyah kariyaon ke bais koi nahi pakarta... Ya khud humarey maazi mein humarey gunaahon pe koi pakar nahi hoti... To humain lagta hai ke woh gunaah justified they...  lakin ALLAH ki Shariyat flexible nahi hai...".

Back in the hotel located in the beautifully hill station, while playing word scrabble, we have a new addition in the dictionary... Zumerized will be tackled with Farsisism... Ha ha ha... Brilliant...

Episodes ends with the start of Hashim's interrogation while Saadi Yousaf is still in witness box... (To Be Continued...)...

Unlike the last one, this is a very beautiful & powerful episode. Nemrah has beautifully wrapped up the proceedings of all previous episodes here. Nemrah deserves a big applause for writing this episode in a very unique manner.  

The whole episode looks like filmed in a drone rotational mode in the state of virtual hypnosis. This episode is a milestone in current Urdu literature considering the fact that it is unique in its treatment & projection. Congrats to Nemrah Ahmed for being a pioneer in writing in this style as far as Urdu digest writing is concerned.