Late last month I was at the London launch of a collection of columns by the late Irfan Husain . At the well-attended gathering in west London, the editors, Abbas Nasir and Carmen Gonzalez, spoke about both the process of compiling and editing the book (A Life Lived with Passion: Irfan Husain 1944-2020) and about their ‘association with, and memories of, Irfan.

The good turnout was not a surprise – Irfan Husain was a man with many friends, friends of all ages and from many different backgrounds. The excellent food and drink were not a surprise either – Irfan and Charlotte have always been great foodies and charming hosts. The real surprise was the book.

Quite honestly, I have never been too interested in collections of newspaper columns. Over the years, I’ve seen a few national columnists put together collections of their columns, and they have hardly made for scintillating reading. After all, newspaper columns are mainly topical, so that they tend to have a best-before date.

Of course, some people will say that actually columns don’t have an expiry date and that collections provide important insights into political and social history. Mostly, and unsurprisingly, the people who say this are pompous columnists who tend to quote themselves endlessly from column to column in the raqim-ul-huroof (this scribe) manner. The surprising thing about this particular collection is how readable it is: the topics are interesting and the tone is wonderfully reasonable and very humane. It feels almost as if Irfan is having a conversation with you, inviting you to be on the same plane of common sense and good humour as he is writing from.

This posthumous collection proves that it is not just the quality of writing that matters; editing is key. The selection and organisation of the work is what makes this such good reading. Instead of just cramming dozens of columns together in chronological order, the editors have arranged carefully selected columns into seven sections, such as Irfan, Mind and Soul (the man and his life); A Fractured Society (Pakistan); The Great Divide (Indo-Pak issues); and On the Menu (food and all matters culinary) etc.

My favourite section, so far, is On the Menu. This includes some of Irfan’s Epicurious columns in Dawn. In these columns, he goes on in the printed word in the same serious way he used to do in person: he reflects on the pulao versus biryani question, discusses different menus for roast lamb, talks about preparing surmai ‘four ways’, laments how our culinary heritage is being lost and so on.

The columns about such thorny issues as religion and Muslim society are full of good sense as well as good humour. An interesting discussion on different concepts of hell across centuries, religions and cultures (Visions of Hell), for example, ends with his observation that “my personal vision of hell is being locked up with crowds of shoppers in a mall in Dubai for all eternity.”

In another column published a few months before he passed away, Irfan writes about his cancer (Cancer Comes Calling) and about the treatment and the toll it takes: “After nearly three years of this barrage, I must confess there are times when I wish it would just end quietly without fuss. But then I look outside the window and see the flowers, trees and birds in our garden, and I am happy to be still alive.” He writes about how it is his wife, Charlotte, who has been battling the hardest for him in the fight against cancer, spending “endless hours researching my condition and ordering all kinds of herbal medicines and books recommended on the internet.” He ends the piece with the wry comment, “She is determined to keep me alive or kill me in the attempt.”

The book contains columns Irfan wrote for Dawn over a period of more than three decades, so it does actually provide an interesting insight into recent history and a window into political and social developments during this time. The one on the 2008 Mumbai attacks (Mumbai Massacre Revisited) is a must-read. It includes revelations made in a Channel 4 documentary and it ends simply: “We need to see the horrors inflicted in the name of Islam. Above all, we need to share the agony of our neighbours.”

Empathy is something underlying all of these columns. Irfan wrote with great empathy and with a very humane approach. His tone is simple, quiet and unfailingly polite (even when he takes a fellow columnist and friend, Ayaz Amir, to task for inflammatory remarks the latter makes about Malala Yusufzai). His writing is confident and reveals both a great appreciation of life and all it has to offer along with respect for learning and rational thought.

Perhaps not all columns have an expiry date after all. This collection certainly seems to have something for everyone – it is surprisingly good reading and, really, rather comforting.

Best wishes,

Umber Khairi