Dhanak Rang Titli — a satire on society

LAHOREFakhar Zaman’s Punjabi novel ‘Dhanak Rang Titli’ (The Rainbow Butterfly), is perhaps the most befitting satire on the Pakistani society, the root-causes of its present ills and a glowing testament to the fact that Pakistan, a rainbow coloured butterfly, has been pinned to the wall by its own inheritors.Fakhar Zaman,

By Shahab Ansari
May 15, 2015
LAHORE
Fakhar Zaman’s Punjabi novel ‘Dhanak Rang Titli’ (The Rainbow Butterfly), is perhaps the most befitting satire on the Pakistani society, the root-causes of its present ills and a glowing testament to the fact that Pakistan, a rainbow coloured butterfly, has been pinned to the wall by its own inheritors.
Fakhar Zaman, a foot-soldier of Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, and ardent fan of democracy and a die-hard supporter of progressivism in politics and literature, has a special nag for Punjabi language and Punjab: The land of five rivers.
The novel ‘Dhanak Rang Titli’ is a symbolic narration of various contributing factors and mega events which reshaped the history of this great country and changed its course from progress to disaster.
The novel starts with the present conditions prevailing in Pakistan seen through the eyes of a butterfly and a dialogue between the butterfly and an old man.
The symbols are too obvious to make out about the real personalities being discussed. The novel takes the reader into the golden age of tranquillity and a remarkable era of peace and progress in the newly created Islamic Republic of Pakistan, which gradually has been reduced to a graveyard of unfulfilled promises and unrealised dreams.
Fakhar faced many hardships in Gen Ziaul Haq’s times when his books were banned as he was the frontline crusader of ‘Bhuttoism’. PPP’s founding Chairman Zulfikar Ali Bhutto has always been a fixation and a mentor to Fakhar since his boyhood. Fakhar Zaman is the author of 40 books in Punjabi, Urdu and English. His Punjabi novels and poetry have been translated into several languages of the world and are taught at postgraduate level in different countries.
PhD and MPhil theses have been written on his Punjabi writings in India. Five of his Punjabi books, including his modern classic novel ‘Bandiwan (The Prisoner), were banned, taken away from bookstores and burned publicly by Gen Zia’s government back in 1978.