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Fatima Surraiya Bajiya
Focal point Imitating life
 A woman who has fought her battles valiantly on all fronts throughout her life, Fatima Surraiya Bajiya is indeed a woman of substance.
After having had an unusually happy and privileged childhood, Bajiya witnessed an extremely lean period when her family migrated, then came divorce, death of two children and severe illness. But she bounced back with renewed vigour each time.
“I am an optimistic person, I don’t take stress and that’s what keeps me going. You should have a strong will, if you lose heart, then you’ve lost everything,” she says matter-of-factly. Bajiya’s agile movements belie her 80 years as she gets up several times during the interview to take care of chores around the house.
A recent indisposition which started the rumours that her disease had returned, turned out to be false. “I suffered chest pains after lifting a heavy object. My family got scared and had me admitted in hospital but it was a false alarm. I do have a wretched sinus problem and can’t speak clearly because of my operation.” Her willpower makes her the strong person that she is, “If you tell me to ride a horse now or dig a road I will do it. I have inherited this resilience from my grandmother and mother.”
Her father and grandfather were unable to cope with the drastic change in their lives when they migrated from India, and both died soon after. Being the eldest in the family Bajiya took charge. “I was 18 when I came here from Hyderabad, Deccan, got married and took a divorce two years later. My family was against the decision but my grandmother supported me.”
 Bajiya has been writing from the age of 11, with her articles on women’s issues getting printed in newspapers. Her grandfather, who was chief commissioner of Hyderabad, Deccan, and was given the title of Nawab Nisar Yar Jung Bahadur, was a poet. His grandchildren inherited a love for poetry and literature from him.
Her father had a great collection of classical books and his children would have to read and narrate the stories to their grown-ups in the evenings. “I catalogued my grandfather’s 80,000 books from the age of 8 to 11. He had us learn everything from cleaning house to colouring dupattas. We learnt painting and writing and cooking. We lived grandly but when we came to Pakistan in 1948 from Hyderabad we were penniless.”
She started making dolls to support her family which included nine siblings and elders. The venture was a success. Her elders had taught her how to survive in adversity. She then started embroidery and designing clothes.
“I was the first designer of Pakistan and worked at Gul-i-Rana set up by Begum Rana Liaquat Ali Khan.”
When China’s then premier, Chu Enlai, visited Pakistan she designed clothes for the ministers’ wives. During the time when Queen Elizabeth visited the country, President Gen Ayub Khan made her chief designer in the ministry for industries. “I gave new ideas for curtains and banarsi cloth-making. I also interior decorated the State Bank and taught in schools for many years.”
When TV started, Khawaja Shahabuddin, the then minister for information, asked Bajiya to join PTV and write a drama. Bajiya had not written for a while and was hesitant as her continuity in writing had lessened. But she agreed.
“He came to my younger sister Zehrah’s house in Islamabad, where I was staying. This was in 1964 and Shahabuddin said the play had to be done for the next day. We both read the book Bagh-o-Bahar till 4 o’clock, but no idea came to our heads and we were tired. Zehrah said ‘Bajiya tell Mr Shahbuddin we couldn’t write it’ and put her hand in the shelf to get some paper out and jumped back as a snake was sitting there. She told the servants to kill it, who refused saying it was a jinn and we then left the room hurriedly.”
 She then dreamt of Amir Khusrau’s story Qissa Chahar Darvesh which Amir Khusrau had written for Nizamuddin Aulia when he was sick. John Gilchrist the Principal of Fort William College, Calcutta, had this book translated into English. It was the first Persian book to be translated there.
Then Bajiya wrote the play by 8.30 and by 10 it was typed. By five o’clock all the artistes were chosen and the rehearsals began the next day. The play was completed in a day and on the third day it was edited and put on air. “After that I wrote 35 plays based on Urdu classics for this programme, including Miratul Uroos, Alif Laila, Shakuntala, Gao-daan, etc.”
Bajiya has since written more than 500 plays and serials, including a historical series on women during the Abbasid period, titled Aabginay.
Bajiya finds today’s channels churning out plays that have very little calibre. After a gap of some years in her writing she has recently written a talk show for children for PTV. She is also planning to write a play on Pakistan titled Tum Ho Kaun.
“For the past seven years I was unable to write because of my illness and then my sister and brother’s death which affected me a lot. I plan to start writing plays regularly. I have written so much that my thumb has become flat.”
Bringing back the past glory of what plays used to be here, appears to be a difficult task now. She does not seem to agree. “When you get fed up of the plays that are being shown, you revert to the past. I think we will see it after a while, as it is human nature to revert to good things after a bad phase. There are still good directors and producers around.”
She has a strong liking for Japan, which led her to set up the Pak-Japan Cultural Association; she has written poems in the Japanese genre of poetry known as waka on topics which are similar to both the countries, and has translated Japanese plays into Urdu, one such based on the Hiroshima-Nagasaki tragedy which will go on air in Pakistan as well. “I have worked so much for them that they gave me their highest award known as the Imperial Honour.”
Bajiya opines that our new writers don’t have the time and inclination to research, and don’t know much about their culture, traditions and religion. “The early writers have seen a lot, we read a lot and worked hard, that is the difference.”
 She says it is not the new writers fault because they have not been trained, and their environment is different. “Everything is fickle now, done in a hurry.” Importance is given to sets, glamour and clothes just like the Indian soaps. Most plays have recaps and long scenes. A five-minute play is stretched into 25 minutes. “Gone are the days when there were rehearsals and directors making the artistes work.”
Belonging to the old school of thought Bajiya says she has accepted change in life because she doesn’t believe in fighting or creating problems for others. As for the old and new thought of writing, whatever goes peacefully together for the betterment of the new generation, she welcomes it whole-heartedly.
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