Two Psychiatrist

Family of the Heart - DIALOGUE & DISCUSSIONS 

Dear Ali....I am not surprised that you feel a little anxious writing about Faiz, not only because he is your grandfather that you love and adore him but also because he is loved and adored by millions of others all over the world.

In my opinion you need not worry. We will have an informal exchange of letters for a few months about different aspects of Faiz's personality, poetry and politics and read the literature available.

We need not repeat what others wrote...if we like, we can translate some. We will focus on other issues that interest you or fascinate me. I am confident our dialogue will be a unique contribution.

This is all part of the homework. I am enjoying reading the book you sent me.

I am confident that with passage of time you will relax and feel more comfortable and feel inspired again.

My philosophy is 

 CREATE first EDIT later.

And before CREATING we need HOMEWORK

So we will do the homework and then create and then edit. If you feel it is worthwhile we will publish, if not, we would not. We would have become close friends by then. For me that is

 GOOD ENOUGH.

Your friendship is the cake...a book on

Faiz or

Marxism and Mysticism

or

any other topic

is the icing

I am thoroughly enjoying the journey as you are inspiring me.

Last year Azeem was the political MUSE, this year it seems to be you.

affectionately

sohail

ps...i will find out the details of the books

Daman-e-Yousaf

and

Maqalaat-e-Faiz

that you asked and send them to you.

Faiz: Early formative years

As the middle one of three boys in the house with several sisters, aunts, cousins and other female relatives, Faiz recalled with some regret that he never participated in any of the rambunctious activities that young boys often do. Temperamentally, he was the least rowdy of his brothers, shy and reserved and thus a favorite of the women of the house. His older sister recalls that there were standing orders in the house that if the boys returned home late, they were to be sent to bed without food. Faiz’ older brother Tufail, returning home late would demand a meal while the younger one, Inayat, would go to the kitchen and help himself. Faiz would come home, change and go lie down without having eaten anything. His sisters would feel sorry for him and offer him dinner to which he would never say yes, just that if something was there, he would not mind eating. They would fix him a plate and he would eat and go to bed. Faiz often said in his later years that it was the company of women in his early years which molded him into the man he became later. This continued through his school years where he was often recognized as a leader by his teachers and sometime appointed the class monitor, assigned to punish the boys who misbehaved, a task he detested. He remembers being berated by teachers for not slapping some of his classmates who were misbehaving.

This facet of his personality has been identified by many as one of the sources of the love, affection and admiration that was showered on him throughout his life.

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