Salaam, Everybody,
Shahji (Syed Sardar Javaid, founder of Kitab Mahal) belongs to a well-known Syed Family of Delhi. He migrated to Pakistan in his early youth, and settled in Islampura, Lahore.Later he shifted to Model Town.
In 1952 he came into business as a publisher. Unlike other publishers, he chose a specific field for his business. He started publishing books related to MA English syllabus. Being an assiduous worker, Shah Ji worked day and night, inching his way up in his profession.

Once he said to me , “Malik Sahib, for many years I worked 362 days in a year, with just a day off on each of the two Eids, and a third day off on 10th of Muharram”.
Brick by brick (read book by book) Shah Ji built up an empire which extends across Pakistan. Kitab Mahal publishes MA English help books for all the universities in Pakistan. Although now it has to compete with a few other publishers in the field, yet Kitab Mahal books are recognized as the best choice by discerning students and teachers.
May be an image of 1 person
*** ( The picture on the left shows Shah Ji as he came to Pakistan in his early youth. The picture on the right shows him standing on the roof of his old house in Delhi during a recent visit)-1 MARCH 2017

Salaam, Everybody.
Syed Muhammad Ali Javaid, CEO of Kitab Mahal, is Shah Ji’s elder son. He is an MA in English literature. He has taken the whole burden of Kitab Mahal business upon his shoulders to give a much-needed relief to his aging Daddy.
He has proved himself a capable successor to his father, from whom he has inherited not only the business, but also the talent to run it. Like his father he too is a visionary. He is, therefore, constantly trying to improve the format and quality of Kitab Mahal publications. Instead of just producing reprints of old editions, he is bringing out thoroughly revised and updated new editions Moreover, he makes extensive marketing tours to introduce his publications. In this process he has developed cordial relations with teachers across Pakistan.

To me he is just like a son. Like his father, he lets me have my own way in working for Kitab Mahal. I therefore love to work with him..

2 MARCH 2017
Salaam, Everybody,
We lived in Sham Nagar near Chauburji Chowk before shifting to Model Town in 2015.
Chauburji, as you see in the picture, is a graceful building of the ancient style. It was the gateway to a large garden built in 1646 by the Mughal Emperor, Shah Jahan, as a memorial to his daughter, Jahan Ara Begum.

Now there is no trace of the garden around the spot. It is believed that the garden was destroyed by a huge flood in the river Ravi. a few hundred years ago. The building is known as Chauburji because of the four minarets, one at each corner of its square roof.
Chauburji is one of the landmarks in Lahore. It is situated at the intersection of Multan Road and Bahawalpur Road. The building is surrounded by a circular grassy plot. In the daytime the plot is occupied by drummers in yellow shirts and white shalwars, waiting for clients. At night it serves as a huge bed for homeless drug-addicts and malangs.
Some more interesting information about the locality will be provided tomorrow, InshaALLAH.

3 MARCH 2017
FACEBOOK ought to take notice of the blasphemous rot published by some rogues, and block the persons / websites engaged in this hideous campaign against Islam. It owes this cleansing action to millions of its Muslim clients across the world.-10 MARCH 2017
March 11, 2017
Salaam, Everybody,
Left Lahore around 12.00 noon yesterday. Never easy to leave a place when a part of your family is living there. But to think that you’d be welcome back any time , makes it sort of easy.
Over the past two weeks I’ve been busy with some other matters of my interest. So busy indeed that I had to skip my regular daily posts.

From tomorrow, InshaALLAH, I’ll be with you again, at my usual hours, with at least one Urdu and one English post as usual.

13 MARCH 2017
Another click from Hotel Shehrzad, BALKASAR,
March 12, 2017
Salaam, Everybody,
I have already told you about some of my English books. There are more than a dozen. But I think most of you ‘d be more interested in my Urdu books, as English isn’t everybody’s cup of tea.
So let’s talk about my Urdu books. They are just four. I often curse myself for having written too little. Anyway, I’m now honestly trying to reform myself
My facebook posts are one way to make up for the shortfall. My English and Urdu posts of 2016 can make up two readable books.

As for those four that were published, Dard Ka Safeer was the first. It turned out to be a nice little classic in its own right. My next post will, InshaALLAH, be a detailed introduction to Dard Ka Safeer..14 MARCH 2017

Salaam, Everybody,
Dard Ka Safeer was my first Urdu book. I wrote it without any planning. I just sat down and started writing an account of my friendship with Lala Isakhelvi. I never thought it would be published as a book. I intended to write just a sort of article, and share it with some intimate friends.
But, as I moved ahead with the story, I began to enjoy it. So I didn’t stop until I had written the whole story. It took me just about 10 days. When I finished, I saw it was not an article, but a whole book.
I went to Lahore, and consulted my friend, Muhammad Saleemur Rehman. He read the manuscript and said it was an excellent story. He asked his publisher friend, Ch Riaz of Qausain Publishers to publish the book as soon as possible.

Thus the first edition of Dard Ka Safeer came out in October, 1992.
More about Dard Ka Safeer tomorrow, InshaALLAH.15 MARCH 2017

Salaam, Everybody,

Dard Ka Safeer was warmly welcomed all around. I got about 100 letters of appreciation from various parts of Pakistan. But the letter that moved me most came from a prisoner in Faisalabad Jail. It said.
سر، آپ کی کتاب جیل کی کال کوٹھڑی میں ھمارے لیے تازہ ھوا کا ایک جھونکا ھے-

The response that Dard Ka Safeer got, made me realize that I had done something really good. My literary friends admired it as much as did my friend Iqbal tonga wala. The celebrated story-writer, Mumtaz Mufti, said :
یار، مجھے تمہاری تحریر میں ایک چمک سی نظر آتی ھے، جو بہت کم تحریروں میں دیکھنے میں آتی ھے-
My friend and renowned literary critic, Muhammad Saleemur Rahman, also said there was a charm in my style that held the reader spell-bound.
To be honest, I still don’t see anything special in my style. I just take up the pen and start writing whatever comes to my mind, without worrying about choice of words, or other stylistic techniques. If there is something special, it is purely a gift from ALLAH.16 MARCH 2017

Salaam, Everybody,
Urged by persistent demand for Dard Ka Safeer, Nafees Book Depot of Mianwali got my permission to publish the second edition of the book. That edition also sold out in a few months, and people started pestering me to bring out a third edition. But I was too busy to work on Dard Ka Safeer.
Another publisher recently offered to publish a reprint of the second edition. I sent him a copy of the book. Let’s hope the reprint will come out soon.-18 MARCH 2017
Salaam, Everybody,
My second Urdu book, PAS-E-TEHREER was piiublished by Bookmark Publishers of Lahore in 1994. It is a collection of written interviews of 6 eminent Urdu writers ; the celebrated story writer, Mumtaz Mufti, renowned playwright and magazine editor, Meerza Adeeb, most refined humourist, Shafique ur Rehman, towering all-rounder (poet and story-writer) Ahmed Nadeem Qasimi, the well-known Indian short story writer, Ram Laal, and famous literary critic, Dr Saleem Akhtar.

The book contains not only interviews of these writers, but also useful personal data, complete list of each writer’s published works, and a sample of each writer’s handwriting.
Further details about PAS-E-TEHREER will be given tomorrow, InshaALLAH.

19 MARCH 2017
My third Urdu book was JOHN MILTON. It is about the life and works of the great English poet, John Milton, It was published by Qausain Publishers, Temple Road, Lahore in 1998. It is the first, and so far last book on Milton in Urdu.
I wrote this book on the suggestion of my friend, renowned scholar and critic, Muhammad Saleemur Rahman. As Milton is my most favourite English poet, it was a labour of love for me to write about him, Like Dard Ka Safeer, this book is also very interesting. Like Dard Ka Safeer, it also draws tears as well as smiles.

Tomorrow, InshaALLAH, I’ll tell you more about this book. 21 MARCH 2017

Salaam, Everybody,
My book John Milton offers very interesting facts and figures about Milton. I would like to share some of these with you.
1. Milton was so handsome in his youth that he was known as Lady of Christ’s College when he was a student of Christ’s College in Cambridge University. The title suited him aptly also because he was as shy as a young girl.

2. Milton did MA in Literature from Cambridge University.in 1632. He was, therefore, known as the most highly learned poet of his age.
3. Milton is included in MA English courses of all the universities in the world.
Some more interesting information about Milton will be shared tomorrow, InshaALLAH.
*** ( The picture shows Milton in his youth )-22 MARCH 2017

Salaam, Everybody,
My book JOHN MILTON is based on some of the best books and reference works about Milton. Here’s a list of the books that I consulted while writing my book.
1. Life of John Milton by A N Wilson
2. The Concise Cambridge History of English Literature by George Sampson.
3. History of English Literature by Cazamian and Legouis
4.History of English Literature by George Saintsbury
5.A Critical History of English Literature by David Daiches
6.History of English Literature by Arthur Compton Rickett
7. A Short History of English Literature by Ifor Evans
8. John Milton by Frank Kermode
9. Cambridge Companion to Milton by D Richard Danielson

So, you see that writing my book was not a child’s play. But, by the Grace of ALLAH, I managed to accomplish this gigantic task quite easily.-24 MARCH 2017

Salaam, Everybody,
My fourth Urdu book is جو تم سے کہہ نہ سکا . It is a collection of my poetry. It was published by Qausain Publishers, Lahore, in 2002.
Unlike most poets, I rarely write poetry. It comes to my mind in rare moments of inspiration. When the inspiration comes, only then I take up the pen and put it on paper. I mostly write Urdu ghazal. But I have also written some sad songs in Seraiki, and a couple of poems in English. More about my poetry tomorrow, InshaALLAH. 25 MARCH 2017
Salaam, Everybody,.
My book contains 5 Naa’ts, 3 poems about Karbala tragedy, around 45 ghazals and a few short nazms. Pretty little output, you see, just because I write poetry only when I feel inspired, as I told you earlier.
As compared with my poetic output, my prose covers 3 books. And yet my reputation as a writer is mainly as a poet. Interesting, isn’t it ? Interesting also because to me my prose is as dear as my poetry. Remember Dard Ka Safeer. Isn’t that a book in prose?

More of this tomorrow, InshaALLAH.

26 MARCH 2017
Salaam, Everybody,
My Urdu poetry is, by now, familiar to my Facebook friends, because I occasionally post my verses on my page. I am thankful to my Facebook friends who select, decorate my verses and send them to me. They are
Shahid Anwar Khan Niazi,
Zaka Malik,
Manazer Gondal,
Qudratullah Khan Niazi,
Pail Piran Pail,
Malik Adnan Ahmad,
Malik Aamer Sohail,
Ashfaq Khan Niazi,
Malik Shaban Kasar
Will tell you about my Seraeki poetry tomorrow, InshaALLAH.   
-27 MARCH 2017

Salaam, Everybody,
I had never thought of writing Seraeki poetry. It was sort of thrust upon me by Lala Isakhelvi soon after my appointment at Government College Isakhel.
One day, during lunch at a friend’s house, Lala said to me:

“Munawar Bhai, I know that you are a poet. I have seen some of your Urdu ghazals, and love your style. I have noticed that you are very good at writing sad poetry. Would you please write a Seraeki song for me to the tune of the famous Indian song :
پنجرے کے پنچھی رے تیرا درد نہ جانے کوئی
I promised to do so, and wrote a song the same evening.
More of it tomorrow, InshaALLAH.- 29 MARCH 2017

Salaam, Everybody,
The song that I wrote was
کملی دا ماھی وے ڈس کیہڑے پاسے جاواں

Lala sang it the same evening in Mekada Mehfil. It became an instant hit. From that day onwards it became a permanent item of our mehfil along with the songs of Younus Khan and Majboor Sahib that Lala sang every night. The audience loved it.
More of this tomorrow, InshaALLAH.  30 MARCH 2017
Salaam, Everybody,
I have never been serious about creating poetry. As for the songs, I wrote most of them to some tune suggested by Lala. And, I never kept a copy of any song. I just wrote on a sheet of paper, and handed it to Lala. So I don’t know exactly how many songs I wrote.
Anyway, my songs became quite popular. The credit for their popularity goes, of course, to Lala’s singing. But, the songs made me known across the world.
Most of my facebook friends and followers became my friends and followers because of those songs.  31 MARCH 2017

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