Letter from N. M. Rashed

Rashed, N. M. Letter from N. M. Rashed. To Hassan, Yasmin. May. 7, 1969. 2 pp. 1 sheet. 7 x 12". Pen on yellowish aerogramme. Letter from N. M. Rashed to Yasmin Hassan. Writing in top right corner notes the letter was sent from Tehran. Blue Ink on reverse says: "Replied June 23rd". Aerogramme is different in appearance from others in folder. The colour is yellow-green and "Pust-i hawā’ī-i Īrān" is titled across the reverse in small writing. Urdu. Box 2. Folder 18: NMR's letters to his daughter Yasmin Rashed Hassan. 001. Digitized by Zahra Sabri. Catalogued by Zain Mian. Donated (2015) by Yasmin Rashed Hassan to the Institute of Islamic Studies, McGill University, Montreal. Full item here.

Several letters from Rashed to his family members are preserved in the Archive. This one, to the donor of the Archive, Rashed's second daughter Yasmin Hassan, dates from the early years of Yasmin and her husband Faruq Hassan's life in Canada. Two major events in Rashed's life are mentioned here. His third book of poetry, Lā = Insān, has been published by Munir Niazi's press, proving to the younger poets of Pakistan that Rashed is alive and well, as he triumphantly writes ("yih na'ī paud ke shā'ir mujhe qarīb qarīb marhūm o maghfūr samajh chuke the"). Secondly, for the first time Rashed has become a grandfather—he professes that this an odd feeling ("shāyad ab dāṛhī rakhnā paṛe!")

A summary of the aerogramme is below:

From: N.M. Rashed, Tehran P.O. Box 1555, Tehran, Iran. Written 05/07/1969.
To: Mr. and Mrs. Farooq Hassan, 601 Beaverbrook Street, apt. 4, Fredericton, New Brunswick, Canada. Replied 06/23.
NMR writes from Tehran that he has received Yasmin Hassan's letter of 26 April, 1969. Yasmin and Faruq Hassan are now renting a new accomodation in Fredericton, New Brunswick. Congratulates Yasmin on becoming an aunt. NMR confesses that it feels strange to be a grandfather. His correspondence with his son Shahryar has been very rushed on the latter's side recently. NMR has written for the second time to Munir Niazi asking him to send the Hassans 1 copy each of the 3 recently published books. Says that Yasmin should write directly to Saddan Khan, who has been looking for her pass-book in Karachi and may have found it by now. NMR sent some money to Yasmin in March.
NMR asks whether Faruq Hassan is still writing his "Chhotī barī nazmeñ." Lā = Insān has created quite a stir in Pakistani literary circles. NMR believes that the younger poets had assumed that he had practically passed away already. Seeing the new poetry, poets like Iftikhar Jalib have had to admit that he is very much alive, side-by-side with the new generation. Lā = Insān is receiving good reviews in the newspapers and periodicals. It has been emphasized to Tamzin that she should write to Yasmin soon. However Tamzin's exams are approaching in June.

In 1969, Rashed's second daughter Yasmin Hassan and her husband Faruq Hassan were living in Fredericton, New Brunswick, Canada. Faruq Hassan had begun a Masters degree in English Literature at the University of New Brunswick. Yasmin and Faruq had been living in a shared accomodation with a landlady since they had arrived. Rashed congratulates them on their moving to their own apartment, at 601 Beaverbrook St., apt. 4, bordering the University to the north-east. Yasmin Hassan describes this apartment as follows:

601 Beaverbrook was our first apartment which had two small bedrooms, living room, kitchen and our own washroom.[1]

Yasmin Hassan's husband Faruq Hassan was himself a poet, and in 1967 he had published a volume of Urdu poetry entitled Chhoṭī baṛī nazmeñ (with Gilani Kamran; Lahore: Kitābiyāt). Rashed asks after Faruq Hassan with great fondness, referring to him as usual as ‘azīzī Fārūq. In 1969 Rashed's third daughter Shahin Sheikh had her son Omer, Rashed's first grandchild. The youngest sister from Rashed's first marriage, Tamzin, is also mentioned at the end of the letter.

This was the year of the publication of Rashed's third collection of poetry, Lā = Insān. It was published by Munir Niazi's press Al-Misāl, who also reprinted Rashed's two previous collections, Māwarā and Īrān meñ ajnabī. These are the three books that Rashed orders for the Hassans from Niazi.

Article by Pasha M. Khan
June 27, 2015