Qurratulain Haider buried; end of an era

New Delhi, Aug 21: Celebrated writer of international fame and a trendsetter in Urdu fiction, Qurratulain Haider, breathed her last in the early hours of the day after about a month of hospitalisation.

The world of literature was enveloped in a pal of gloom with the news of the writer's death and described her loss as the end of an era.

Haider, who was around 80, had been undergoing treatment at the Kailash Hospital in the neighbouring Noida. She was diagnosed with a chronic lung ailment but the immediate cause of her death was said to be a pneumonia attack.

She was buried at the Jamia burial ground here this evening. A large number of friends, litterateurs and close family members attended the burial.

Popularly known as Annie Apa, the writer lived the last days of her life with her niece Huma Haider. Her younger sister and husband have arrived from Hyderabad. Ms Hyder has one elder brother who lives in Pakistan.

Bharatiya Jnanpith, the country's most prestigious literary body which had honoured her with its Award for 1989, held a condolence meeting here at which it said the death of Haider was an irreparable loss to the Indian narrative literature.

Chairman of the Sahitya Akademy and eminent litterateur Gopichand Narang said the with Ms Haider's death had come to an end a glorious era of Urdu fiction.

A towering figure of Indian literature, she was born in 1927 in Aligarh, Uttar Pradesh. He father Sajjad Haider Yaldram was one of the close associates of great reformer and educationist founder of the Aligarh Muslim University Sir Syed Ahmed Khan.

She established novel writing as a serious genre in the poetry-oriented world of Urdu literature. Urdu novel acquired new sensibility at the hands of Ms Haider, as she shook it out of its stagnation and took it out of its obsession with fantasy, romance and frivolous realism.

A prolific writer, Haider has penned some 12 novels and novellas, four collections of short stories and has translated important works from other languages, includinmg her agless classic 'Aag Ka Darya (River of Fire)' in English.

Aag Ka Darya is an epic that explores the vast sweep of time and history. It tells a story that moves from the fourth century BC to the post-Independence period in India and Pakistan, taking a pause at the many crucial epochs of India's history.

Haider was honoured with the Jnanpith Award in 1989 for her novel Aakhir-e-Shab ke Hamsafar (Travellers Unto the Night).

She received the Sahitya Akademi Award, in 1967, Soviet Land Nehru Award, 1969, Ghalib Award, 1985, Jnanpith Award, 1989, and was conferred Padma Shri for her outstanding contribution to Urdu literature.

Haider also served as a guest lecturer at the universities of California, Chicago, Wisconsin, and Arizona.

Her works have been translated into English and other languages.

The writer had migrated to Pakistan after the Partition, but the longing for the culture of her homeland became too strong for her to stay there, and she soon returned to India to live here till death.

Anjuman Tameer-e-Urdu and the Urdu Akademy have also mourned the death of Ms Haider.

UNI