By Shafique Ahmed Shafique
Name of book : Balkoni May Baithi Aurat
Author’s name : Roomana Roomi
Pages : 176
Price. : Rs. 500 (50 US dollar)
Right from the beginning there is a long list of women story writers. Women are writing short stories, novels, articles poems and dramas. Though they are less in number but are writing shoulder to shoulder of male writers. Women have been registering their existence of creativity very significantly. At present they are not less in number and are very prominent in Pakistan, India, Middle East, Europe and America. These women writers are seriously busy in literary works. So, females are not writing only short stories but are busy in writing novels, articles composing verses and plays for TVs. Female writers also are in journalism and rendering valuable services.
Roomana Roomi is one of those women writers who is very seriously involve in rendering precious short stories. She is not only a short story writer but also composes verses. She has two anthologies of poetry which consist of nazms and ghazals. Her poetic books “Sahil Dekhai Day” (ساحل دکھائی دے) and “Dil Aik Musafir” (دل ایک مسافر) had come out in 2007 and 2015 respectively.
The book “Balkony May Khari Aurat” (بالکونی میں کھڑی عورت) is her first collection of short stories has come out recently (2018). The collection contains 30 stories in its skirt. Each and every piece is evident of her deep feelings which she has for human beings, specially, for women.
The short stories of the book “Aathwaan Derwaza,” “Saleeb Per Latki Soch,” “Khahish-e-Naatamaam,” “Jeeti Jagti Iasweer,” “Shimmi,” “Not For Sale” and “Fitrat” are related to the same gender’s issues. It may be mentioned here that the technique of the first story “Aathwaan Derwaza,” is not new but subject matter is to some extent fresh and contemporary. This authoress adopting the technique of Kirshan Chander which he applied in his short fiction “Khirkian” (کھڑکیاں) successfully mirrored the all kinds of injustices which are prevailing in the present time too. Kirshan Chander had selected “Windows” but the authoress of the book under discussion has used “Doors” in place of windows.
There are seven “Doors” in this short story (Aathwaan Derwaza) and every door opens with horrible scenes. This story is impressive one. Women are, since the ancient ages suffering from all kinds of injustices, oppressions and suppressions. The pages of history are witness that females have been playing like toys in the hands of males. It may be mentioned here that a book was produced under the title of “History of Woman Suffrage” by three writers: Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Susan B. Anthony, Matilda Joslyn Gage and Ida Husted Harper.
That book published in six volumes from 1881 to 1922, it is a history of the women’s suffrage movement, primarily in the United States. In this book for the first time the right of voting in elections for female was demanded. Before that time women were being counted among animal-like creature. Before Islam man in Arab also did not like female. That is the reason the novelist Marlin French in her book written under the name of “Women’s room” said about males: ”They rape us with their eyes, their laws, and their codes.”
Even in the present modern and developed age the fate of women to some extent still not changed. Rumana Roomi’s aims and objects of creativity are to depict realities of our society. She wants to expose those very exploitations of women-folk which are still going on. Other stories such as ‘Bermuda Angle’ ‘Yahaan Kawway Bohot Hain’ and ‘Zameer’ are also good stories which are in view of style, narration situation and expression of sentiment of characters are good pieces of short fiction. The stories ‘Apnoon Kay Dermian’, ‘Visiting Card’, ‘Durvesh’ are not so much impressive like the above referred short stories. These stories may be called popular literature.
Rumana Roomi is a serious writer and is busy to create poems and short stories continuously. Her writings are coming out several notable literary journals and being appreciated by readers and writers.
