Fatima Surayya Bajia passes away

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Bajia — the lady with old-world charm


FATIMA Surayya — Bajia to one and all — who passed away in Karachi on Wednesday, was the kind of lady one would have liked to have as a grandmother. She was sweet, warm and a repository of children’s bedtime stories. Tales narrated verbally or presented in the form of plays were her forte. Her spotless white hair vied for attention with the white starched saris that were her trademark, if one may use the word.

Bajia was born on Sept 14, 1930, in Hyderabad Deccan to a highly literary family that hailed from Badayun (UP). Her maternal grandfather held a senior position in the state. But when the Nizam government fell after the invasion by Indian troops, the family had no choice but to migrate to Pakistan. She remembered distinctly that a senior officer of the Indian Army helped them take a train to Bombay (now Mumbai) from where they sailed by the SS Damra to Karachi. The large family, including her great-grandmother, grandparents, parents, Bajia and her nine younger siblings, disembarked at Keamari, the port in Karachi. Their baggage included 80,000 books, a claim Bajia never failed to make.

Also read: Renowned Urdu playwright Fatima Surayya Bajia passes away at 85

Used to comfort and luxury, the family faced a difficult time. Bajia’s marriage broke up, and she had had to bear the loss of two stillborn babies. With all her elders, except her mother, dying within the first decade of their migration, Bajia had to assume the responsibility of fending for the family. She started making dolls and later designed and embroidered clothes to keep the kitchen fire burning. In an interview with Dawn in 2010, Bajia claimed that she was among the first clothing designers in the country. Her services were used by the All Pakistan Women’s Association at the Gul-i-Raana Club in Karachi.

Her talented siblings include poet Zehra Nigah, painter and writer-cum-TV presenter Anwar Maqsood, and culinary expert Zubaida Tariq. One of the most widely read individuals that this obituarist ever met was her younger brother Ahmed Maqsood Hameedi.

Bajia’s one weakness was tobacco-filled paan which she took in excess for several years. It took its toll in 2003 when she fell prey to mouth cancer. A difficult and long-drawn surgery ensued, and a lengthy period of convalescence followed. Yet once she recovered, she was back in harness with a renewed vigour.

Bajia told this writer in August 2012 that she had penned more than 300 plays for children, women and general viewers. Initially, of course, she wrote for the radio but when TV made its debut in the country she started writing long plays and serials for the audio-visual medium. Her most popular serials included Shama, Afshan, Ana and Aagahi.

She had long had a fascination for Japanese literature. She wrote poetry in the Japanese-style Haiku, and claimed to have popularised it. She also adapted Japanese short stories and novels into stage plays in Urdu.

Her forte was musical programmes and the one that stands out in many people’s memory was Sakal bin Phool bani Sarsoon, which included songs written by Amir Khusro 700 years ago. Zehra Nigah, Bajia’s younger sister, rendered the commentary in her melodious voice. The songs were subsequently released on a long-play record which turned out to be a good seller.

Bajia had links with the premier educational institution PECHS School for Girls, set up by Begum Amna Majeed Malik. She helped the staff organise milaad events and mushairas, lending to them her distinct touch of elegance.

At the risk of using a cliche, one can say that the lady with the old-world charm will be missed by a wide variety of people.



Anwar Maqsood said Bajia was a motherly figure for all her siblings.

Road in Clifton named after Bajia......................
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Bajia’s departure

SOME names reveal everything about a personality — such as bajia, a variant for the respected, loved (and in command) elder sister in Urdu. It is impossible to separate Fatima Surayya Bajia, the individual, from family — both hers in real life and the one she breathed life into on television screens all those decades back.

And as the search for microcosms goes, her personal struggle can be equated with that of her adopted city — and this country after the demise of its founder in September 1948. Bajia’s family arrived in Karachi a week after the passing of the Quaid.

Also read: Bajia — the lady with old-world charm

Faced with challenges, this resolute lady was, in time, to lead her siblings’ search for a new life, she herself graduating through various stages to ultimately emerge as a playwright of merit — and a much-loved, respected sister and an in-command mentor.

She was able to portray a culture with all its intricacies, fallouts and conflicts that defined the contours of her drama.

This was in the tradition of the so-called social novels written in the era of Partition, like the ones by A.R. Khatoon that she was apparently inspired by.

The reader — and later television viewers under the guidance of Bajia — was taken on an exhaustive round of a complex world filled with interplaying family connections exposed to pressures brought about by new influences including education and a collapsing feudal structure.

It was a life that was attractive but that also encouraged reform. Bajia wove her stories around the scenes she must have first come across before her migration and that, post-Partition, were transported to her new home Karachi in bulk. She contributed richly to a vibrant cultural stream and without trying to expand her canvas too much.

She covered the one robust parallel she was well versed in and did it with quiet grace and pride, and what is paramount for a communicator, effectively and in a distinct style. There has been no one like her. She remains incomparable in her field.

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Bajia's admirers pay tribute: ‘We can say that we have lost our mother’

Playwright Fatima Surayya Bajia was laid to rest in the Gizri graveyard yesterday afternoon

Actress Rubina Ashraf consoles Anwar Maqsood at Bajia's funeral prayers - Photo: Dawn


KARACHI: Distinguished playwright Fatima Surayya Bajia, who passed away on Feb 10, was laid to rest in the Gizri graveyard, DHA Phase IV, on Thursday afternoon.

Bajia’s funeral prayers were offered after Zuhar prayers at 38D, Miran Mohammad Shah Road, Mohammad Ali Society. Apart from her family members, hundreds of the playwright’s friends, admirers, colleagues and a big number of showbiz personalities, politicians and scholars attended the funeral.

Bajia’s younger brother, eminent writer Anwar Maqsood, stood at a corner of the house where Bajia spent her last few years, receiving the mourners. They, along with members of television and print media, started trickling into the street at least a couple of hours before the Namaz-i-janazah.

Despite Mr Maqsood’s request to the media that they needed not interview him because he was not in a position to answer their questions, they did not listen to him. And when preparations were under way for the Namaz, they rushed with their cameras near the coffin, creating a difficult situation.

Talking to Dawn about Bajia, scholar Dr Nomanul Haq said: “It seems as if a significant era has lost its link with our times. This troubles me. Bajia’s disposition, her nature had certain mellifluousness (halawat) to her, which was rare. Though the bulk of her work was for television, what was key in all those plays was her personality itself which had a great deal of sweetness (mithaas).”

Actor Qazi Wajid articulated: “People like Bajia don’t die. They live in their creative pursuits.”

Underlining the significance of Bajia’s presence in Pakistani society, poet Pirzada Qasim said: “There was no one like Bajia. Now that she’s no more, her absence would be felt badly. She wrote a lot of historic plays, but she herself was the central character of the drama and story of the culture of our times.”

TV producer Ali Rizvi reminisced about the times when Bajia worked for Karachi Television. He said: “Bajia was the only person in our community that everyone, be it a young man or a seasoned person, felt comfortable talking to. They used to seek her counsel treating her like their mother. We can say that we have lost our mother.”

When asked to give his opinion about her craft as a writer, Mr Rizvi said: “What can I say about that. Great directors and producers have (proudly) worked with her. Her Afshan and Aroosa were two of the most memorable drama serials produced by Pakistan Television. As far as I’m concerned, I only got to direct a couple of her dramas. She did most of her work with Qasim Jalali, Zaheer Khan and Haider Imam Rizvi.”

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RIP Fatima Surayya Bajia


Fatima Surayya Bajia. PHOTO: FILE

The past several months have not been very kind to Urdu literature, with writers who have served us for decades leaving this world one after the other. Pakistan has lost Intizar Hussain, Abdullah Hussain, Jamiluddin Aali and now Fatima Surayya Bajjiya, leaving not only this country, but the entire subcontinent much poorer. These were all towering literary personalities, who possessed deep intellect and great insight into society.

With Bajia’s departure on February 10, a glorious chapter in Pakistani drama has come to a close. After a prolonged fight with cancer, she died at 85, leaving behind numerous works that have lived through the decades. Bajia gave us some of the best plays of Pakistan Television (PTV) history, such as Aroosa, Shama, Afshan, Ana and Aagahi. Before the advent of television, she also wrote scripts for radio and worked not only as a playwright, but also as an activist and author. Her contributions to Pakistani culture and literature were invaluable.

Bajia is said to have written nearly 300 plays, focusing particularly on women, children, history and culture — areas in which works have increasingly become a rarity in Pakistani drama. Having lived a difficult life, raising nine siblings on her own, she was able to communicate social complexities in her plays in ways that everyone could relate to. As one of the pioneering playwrights of PTV, Bajia was a source of inspiration to many, not just for her work as a writer, but also because she led the way for other women to come into the field of drama. She courageously weathered all the odds that accompany being a professional woman in Pakistan. While tributes have poured in for Bajia from the heads of different political parties, the prime minister and the president — and it is heartening to see her services recognised by all — it would be an even greater tribute not to let literature and culture die with the death of our great writers, poets and dramatists. The importance of quality fiction and drama cannot be overstated in these times and it is hoped that the state helps build institutions that foster the work our intellectuals stood for.

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