Saleem Kidwai, with his translation The Mirror of Wonders and Other Tales, resuscitates Urdu author Syed Rafiq Hussain (1894–1944) for the English language reader. The Urdu stories were first published in the literary journal Saqi in the late 1930s and early 1940s. And Aina-e-Hairat (The Mirror of Wonders), the only short story collection he ever published, was released posthumously in 1944. The stories – where animals are protagonists – were instantly loved by readers and the collection was reissued a couple of times before disappearing from circulation. In 2002, a publishing house in Karachi, Pakistan reissued the book for a new generation of readers.
Aina-e-Hairat
For the Introduction, Kidwai translates Hussain’s autobiographical essays where the author offers a frank account of his relationship with the Urdu and English languages, his family, and animals. He claims that he “cannot write Urdu at all”, “enjoyed reading literature in English”, and that he hates animals. “I have never willingly allowed the presence of pet animals in the house,” he writes. To him, English is “a train” while Urdu is “a bullock cart”. He is admonished by his daughter and younger sister for his “slave mentality.” The reason he took to writing in English was because of them – the two women challenged him to fix the state of Urdu literature instead of simply complaining about it. Despite the opposing opinions of literature, it’s clear that Hussain held his daughter and sister in great regard. His daughter would even proofread his work and even translate some phrases and words from English into Urdu when he struggled.
However, the claim of “hating” animals feels rather dubious once you start reading the stories. These might be some of the most nuanced, empathetic, and elaborate descriptions of animal life – both domesticated and wild – you’ll ever read.
In “Atonement”, a maneater invades a village. However, she and her cubs are caught and killed. An old man bears the anguish of the sin of killing mute animals whereas a caged tiger elsewhere “loses himself to memory” from a “long time ago.”
In “Kalua”, the most affecting story in the collection, a dog’s unconditional love costs him dearly when the child who had rescued him as a puppy cannot remember him many years later. Wandering from street to street when he is cast out, the dog learns that a human’s love is fickle and not without conditions. A true tear-jerker.
In “Biru”, a domesticated nilgai returns to the wild after many years of captivity. The jungle startles him, dangers lurk everywhere, but this might be his coming-of-age moment. As the jungle grows on and around him, the nilgai will discover the aggression his species is capable of.
Another moving story in the collection is “Gori ho Gori”. A sudden flood in the village separates children of every species from their mothers. While a human mother cries for her boy, a cow cries for her calf. The mothers understand each other’s plight and in a moment of dramatic reconciliation, both show maternal compassion for the other’s child.
The eponymous story tackles multiple themes of animal-human relationships where we see the conflicts resulting from close inhabitation, the human proclivity to pray to animals in the image of god, and the separation anxiety that domesticated animals feel, and the distinct maternal love that every creature is capable of. This relationship of disgust and dependence changes both humans and animals as they learn to live with each other.
“A Nemesis for Every Tyrant” is a literary take on the food chain. The human hunts and fears being hunted down. The predators in the jungle too are never at ease. A tigress watches proudly as her cubs go for their first kill. A crazed elephant that has caused mayhem in the lives of villagers as well as other animals in the jungle. She sees the cubs pounce and tear into the elephant till it meets its bloody end.
“Shirin-Farhad” is a love story of two cats, but with a rather shocking end. A cat’s cannibal nature and poor memory conclude a rather sorry account of doomed love.
In “The Voiceless”, we read about the friendship between two unwanted creatures. Both of them mute, one by nature and the other by human beings’s unfamiliarity with animal tongues, become allies in the fight for survival.
An endless reflection
Hussain's stories examined animal-human conflict at a time when it was unheard of. The years of being posted in the Terai region of the Himalayas brought him closer to animals. And not always in a kindly way. Hussain hunted deer and rabbits and was also fascinated by big game hunting. Nevertheless, it is quite clear that Hussain is unquestionably sympathetic to the plight of animals. Hussain imagines their emotional self and humanises their natural, wild temperament. It is made clear that while humans act out of greed and rage, an animal hunts from hunger and danger.
Humour is Hussain’s greatest asset as he passes judgment on both animals and humans boasting their sexual prowess or their intellectual capacity. Though, of course, it is humans who tend to overdo both.
The mirror of wonder – what does it reflect? Perhaps the animalistic nature of humans or the innate humanness of animals. And who is civilised and who is not? Hussain holds up a mirror for us to decide.
The Mirror of Wonders and Other Tales, Syed Rafiq Hussain, translated from the Urdu by Saleem Kidwai, Yoda Press.
