Khalid Akhtar
| Muhammad Khalid Akhtar | |
|---|---|
| Born | Allahbad, Bahawalpur |
| Died |
2 February 2002 (aged 82) Karachi, Pakistan |
| Occupation | Electrical engineer, writer |
| Period | 1943 to 2000 |
| Genre | Humour |
| Notable works | Chakiwara Main Visal |
Mohammad Khalid Akhtar (born 1920 in Allahbad, Bahawalpur, died 2 February 2002),[1] was an Urdu-language writer. His satirical novel Chakiwara Mein Visal from 1964 won the Adamjee Literary Award.
Life
Born in Rahim Yar Khan in 1920, he came from a family of scholars. His grandfather, Abdul Malik, was konown for his writings in Persian and Arabic. His father, Akhtar Ali, was employed by the state of Bahawalpur, which later merged with Punjab.
Khalid Akhtar gained his early education at Sadiq Deen High School and later at Sadiq Egerton College. Humourist Shafiq-ur-Rehman was his classmate and Ahmad Nadeem Qasmi was his senior at the college. A lifelong friendly association between the three existed.
He gained his BSc from the Punjab Engineering College in 1945, went to England for higher education in 1946 and came back in 1948. He joined the Public Works Department, Bahawalpur, in 1952 and was respected for being an efficient officer.
Works
His short story "Khoya hua ufaq" was written in 1943 and published in Sawaira by Saadat Hasan Manto in 1953. From the 1950s onward, his short stories, essays, reviews, parodies, and travelogues were published in journals including Funoon, Sawaira, Adab-i-Latif and Afkaar. In the 1990s, he wrote mostly reviews and travelogues. His last piece of writing, travel notes on Greece, written in late 1999, was published in Tehrir.
Khalid Akhtar's first humorous essay was published in the monthly Sheeraza, edited by Chiragh Hasan Hasrat, and his first travelogue in monthly Adab-i-Lateef in 1946. His first satirical novel, Bees Sau Gyarah, was first published in 1954 and again in recent times: it was highly acclaimed and awarded by the Adabiyat-i-Pakistan.
Chakiwara Mein Visal was also a satirical novel and was given the Adamji Adabi award. Abdul Baqi Kahanian, a collection of humorous essays, Makatib-i-Khizir, satirical letters, Khoya hua Ufaq, a collection of short stories, and the travelogues of Swat and Kaghan are some of his most admired books.
Bibliography
Chakiwara main Visal (1964).
Khoya Hoa Ufaq (A collection of stories, sketches, satirical essays, the winner of the Adamjee Award in 1967).
Bees So Giyara (A novel published in 1950 and republished in 1999).
Yatra (A travelogue published in 1990).
Do Safar (A travelogue – 1984
Chacha Abdul Baqi – Stories (Satire) – 1985
Makatib E Khizar
Ibn-i-Jubair ka safar (A travelogue published in 1994)
Laltain Aur Dosari Kahaniyan (Stories and a novella published in 1984)
A complete collection of his short stories, travelogues, and articles is being published by Oxford University Press.
Further reading
Muhammad Khalid Akhtar's Collection of Stories By Rashid Ashraf: http://www.scribd.com/doc/167325092/Muhammad-Khalid-Akhtar-Stories-Pictures-Articles-Rashid-Ashraf
In August 2010, a PhD thesis was submitted to Allama Iqbal Open University, Islamabad, by Waheed Ur Rehman with the title Muhammad Khalid Akhtar Shakhsiat Wa Fun.