The ECH audience give Dr. Aamir Jafarey a standing ovation following his talk that centered on his journey of translating his mother, Ada Jafarey’s autobiography. Personal accounts of his mother along with recital of her poetry added an emotive element to his talk.
Ada Jafarey: Through the prism of her autobiography
The Ethics and Culture Hour (ECH) is an event that CBEC hosts for a wider audience at periodic intervals. Revived after a hiatus of two COVID inflicted years, the focus of this particular ECH was to look at the life and work of the Pakistani poet, Ada Jafarey, regarded as the First Lady of Urdu Poetry through the prism of her autobiography “Jo rahi so bekhabari rahi.“
The catalyst for the event was the recently released translation of the autobiography from Urdu to English, titled “A World of Her Own” by her son and CBEC faculty, Dr. Aamir Jafarey with his daughter Asra. As the translated work states, “this autobiography is the tale of an ordinary girl, and a woman from a traditional household … The girl was a captive of the loneliness that filled her heart, became the woman, who despite being confined to four walls wandered the expanse of her imagination freely.”
For Aamir, the initial motivation to embark on this challenging project was to make his 8-year-old daughter comprehend her grandmother’s story. As years went by, Asra joined as a formal collaborator in the translation while she pursued her graduate degree in English literature. During the event, Asra theorized the limitations of translated works, capturing her dissatisfaction with the product by stating “Almost there, but not quite.”
Nida Wahid Bashir, CBEC part time faculty, who had played a key role in the planning of the event, also served as the moderator for the evening. Dr. Moazam welcomed the guests and spoke about the centre. She also introduced Aamir Jafarey and invited him to talk about the translation. The two guest speakers were prominent poets of Pakistan, Mohtarma Zehra Nigah and Professor Pirzada Qasim, who spoke about Ada and her poetry. The evening ended with a ghazal performance by renowned singer Salman Alvi. Bushra Shirazi closed the session by giving a vote of thanks to all the people who were involved in making the ECH a success.