Today, if you talk to anyone about books, you will surely hear a phrase that books are not sold anymore, no one reads them but On June 21, 2020, a book was published that broke records of popularity after a long time.
Its first edition, which was printed in a number of eleven hundred, sold out in just four weeks and the publisher had to print a second edition. In this age of digital media when it is said that people’s interest in buying and reading books is decreasing day by day, such high sales of a book is very heartening. All over the world, wherever there are people who read Urdu, have a passion for Urdu and Urdu literature, there the demand and popularity of this book remains as usual.
This is a reference to the popular general book series “Sab Rang Kahini” which has so far published eight volumes consisting of translations of stories from across the sea. Another book in this series is a selection of translations of the columns of the famous American columnist Art Buckwald, which were published in the Color Digest.
The popularity of Sub-Ring stories is not surprising as Sub-Ring Stories is based on Sub-Ring Digest stories and Sub-Ring Digest fans still love Sub-Ring Digest and read Sub-Ring Digest just like Roseville. . All colors did not diminish their love.
UK-based Hasan Raza Gondal, who is an old Raven and has been the editor of Ravi, a scholarly and literary paper of Government College, is such a sincere lover of all colors that his love has now become an example. He started saving the writings published in Sub-Rang as Sub-Rang stories. Sub-Ring lovers still want to read Sub-Ring Digest. This is the reason why lovers of Sub-Rang Digest have taken the Sub-Rang stories by hand.
Sab Rang Digest is Shakeel Adilzada’s masterpiece which is enough to keep his name alive in the history of Urdu literature till the end of the world. This journal started its publication from Karachi in January 1970 and within three to four years its circulation reached one hundred and sixty five thousand. This is a record in the history of Urdu digests which may never be broken. While Sub-Ring Digest is the glorious achievement of Shakeel Adilzada, it is also important to mention that the selection quality of Shakeel Adilzada’s stories also played a role in making Sub-Ring Digest a Sub-Ring Digest. Then the people he made part of his team and whose translations were published in his magazine were also very accomplished and very talented.
We spoke to some of the creative people who helped Shakeel Adilzada in making Sub Rang Colors about the Sub Rang stories. See what he had to say about the rebirth of this wonderful journal of stories in the form of a beautiful book:
Honorable Anwar Shashit is a great name of Urdu poetry. He worked as a deputy editor in Sub-Ring Digest from 1970 to 2000. Recalling the days of Subring Digest, he said:
“I was responsible for correctness of language and statement etc. in all colors, but everything from A to Z goes to the head of Shakil Adilzada for creating, embellishing and bringing the paper to its peak.” He had a complete eye over the paper, as a good editor should have, and I have never seen this in anyone better than him. That one person made it the most widely circulated paper in Urdu. One hundred and sixty five thousand was printed. All this was the perfection of Shakeel Adilzada. Sub-Ring Digest has a great role in the promotion of Urdu. It featured a selection of the best stories from around the world. Such hidden stories that may not be able to be translated together. Literature, legends, stories from all over the world were translated because of color and then they reached from the cities to the people in the villages. Then, the stories of Urdu literature were printed in it, and writers who were not known except by literary pamphlets, people started to know them because of their color, and Urdu writers who were limited to the literature circle became common. It also reached people. This is also a great service for Urdu literature of all colors. Collecting the stories of Sub-Rang Digest in the form of Sub-Rang Stories is a great achievement of Hasan Raza Gondal, the tireless work he has done for it is not the work of a day or two and like Shakeel Bhai the cause of Sub-Rang Digest. Hasan Raza Gondal has also become immortal because of all the colorful stories.
Prominent fiction writer Akhlaq Ahmed has a very old connection with sub-ring. All of them were associated with Rang in his early years. While recalling the memories of that period, he said:
“It was in the 1970s when Sab Rang started, it was a normal magazine like other magazines and there was nothing new in it. The rise he achieved is all due to Shakeel Adilzada. I came into contact with Sab Rang in 1975. I was a BA student then. I translated some stories and went to Subrang’s office. Shakeel met Adilzada. He took the story from me, looked at me and said, “Good man!” If the story is good, it will be covered. When the paper came, the story was printed in it. It was one of the great achievements of my life. Almost half a century ago, when I first saw the all-color office, I didn’t know it was a talisman where a new, unique world would be created for the one who entered. After so many years, when Hasan Raza Gondal started the great work of compiling the translations of masterpieces of world literature published in all colors in the form of “All Color Stories”, that whole time, that whole atmosphere, All that sensation of reading the highest literature, the soul began to devote again. One began to remember how these masterpiece stories of Samudranpar used to be acquired, how they were presented in the court of all colors after translation, how translators like us waited for these stories to be selected, and published. How it filled our hearts with pride and joy. “All Color Stories” are undoubtedly the world’s best story collections. Till date, I have not seen translations of such wonderful stories in Urdu language.
Mahmood Ahmed Modi is a very good writer. His short stories and translations have been published in the most famous and popular journals of the country. Some of his translations were also published in Sabrang Digest. He said:
“The Sub-Ring Digest was a brilliant paper and a perfect example of Shakeel Adilzada’s genius. What kind of paper did he bring out and what experience did he have in it? Very wonderful and I think that because of all the color his name will live forever in the world of digests but also in the world of literature. It was a brilliant piece but it’s just a shame it didn’t last, it should have by now. I was introduced to Sub-Ring Digest from the very first issue. I used to write professionally and wrote in many magazines. Iqbal Parekh introduced me to Shakeel Sahib. Then I started writing for Sub-Ring Digest, but wrote less, because it was very difficult to choose stories for them. Their quality was different. Just think that the amateur wrote in Sabrang, because there was a joy in writing. “All Color Stories” was a brilliant idea. By the way, old issues of digests are sold in antique bookshops in thilas, so the digest survives for a long time, but the fact that all color digests are printed in separate volumes in book form on art paper and in hardbound. Will be preserved for a very long time. It may be preserved for a hundred or two hundred years, and when any one ever writes the history of the digests or periodicals, they may be found. In this sense, this is a great work of Hasan Raza Gondal.
Mr. Anwar Khawaja, a renowned Urdu fiction writer based in America, expressing his feelings says:
“There was an early period of the digests, that is when all the colors rose. Shakeel Adilzada kept the quality of the stories so high that the publication of Sub-Rang started to grow rapidly and within a short period of time it reached half a million. Sab Rang presented stories by local and foreign writers that catered to the tastes of every class. The rarity of language and expression, the diversity and colorfulness of the themes of the stories became the reason for its popularity. Sab Rang not only catered to the tastes of all classes but also played an unforgettable role in the development and promotion of Urdu language. During these days, many of my stories were published in full color, among which the translations of the English stories “Du Shakha” and “Saribazar” and Tabazad “Dost Aan Beshad” and “Shakar Haram” were very popular. . Hasan Raza Gondal, a young man from Mandi Bahauddin, fell in love with Sub Rang in Anfwan-e-Shabab and set out to find old issues of Sub Rang. His quest paid off after years of hard work and he collected all the papers. Hasan Raza Gondal’s destination had not yet arrived. Now he thought how to preserve this collection. Should their skins be made and kept in the closet? In the meantime, the computer arrived. Hasan Raza Gondal struggled for a period, invested his time and life. And saved this treasure of all colors in digital form. The next step was more difficult. This Mardim Mujahid decided to publish this great literary collection of all colors in book form. The series began with translations of world tales and has so far produced eight volumes of tales taken from across the seas. Hasan Raza Gondal is undoubtedly a great man. Such brilliant and lively people are rarely found in life. Haven’t met them yet. The winds are meeting now. I have almost become a fan of him as he is doing the hard work of reviving every color and giving it an immortality that no other man could ever do. His dedication and sincerity have made me his devotee.
Shakeel Adilzada has given new life to the art of storytelling through Sab Rang and Hasan Raza Gondal has given a new life to Sab Rang in the form of ‘Sab Rang Stories’. We hope that this book series of sub-color stories will revive the art of storytelling. Sab Rang Kahandi is actually the second birth of Sab Rang, which is happening through the true lover of Sab Rang, Hasan Raza Gondal.
Fayyaz-ur-Rahman Qadri’s translated stories were also published in Sabrang Digest from his student days. He said:
1975 was my first year of graduation when I developed a fascination with short stories published in English. Maupassant, Somerset Mumm, Leo Talstein and especially O’Henry were favorite storytellers. He got to know all the colors these days. I was stunned to read the stories in it. I was exposed to writers in the style of O’Henry, including CB Gilford, Henry Slessor, Gerald Kirsch, Leo P. Kelly, Jack Ritchie and many other famous storytellers like him. All were being published in color. Selected stories from Urdu literature were also being printed in all colors. Undoubtedly, she was so excellent that she deserved to be called the perfume of Urdu literature. After reading these stories, I became fascinated with Urdu fiction. The collections of many fiction writers have been studied, but compared to the stories published in Sub-Ring, their other stories seem different in terms of language and narration. It was the perfection of Shakeel Bhai and his team. It took me a while to understand the mood of all the colors. I wrote about 18 stories between ’77 and ’82. It is significant that two of these stories were published as special stories. One story was Ibn Maryam and the other story was Chiknepaat. Then a story was published as the first story, The Woman. I came to Saudi Arabia in early 82 then my writing was almost over. My inclination was towards short fiction. When I started doing translations for Sub Rang, I was looking for good stories. Many digests were published during that time. My translations were also printed in them. I have translated about two hundred and sixty stories. We used to get stories from English magazines or short story anthologies. I used to give the best story in my opinion. Whenever every color came out, I would definitely buy it. After coming to Saudi Arabia, my loved ones used to send them from Pakistan, but then there was a time when everything stopped, which I regretted a lot. Then there was a new development in the last few years, that Mr. Hasan Raza Gondal started publishing selections of Sub-Rang Kahani and he also considered a refreshing process which I liked very much. Sub-Ring Digest has its own niche and a name, and when these “Sub-Ring Stories” started appearing, they took off. Lovers of all colors are not only spread in Pakistan but all over the world. We have almost spent our time reading countless stories but the children have not developed that interest, because all are either related to English literature or do not read at all. I was also a little curious to see what it was. They are also getting fascinated by Sub-Rang stories, this is Sub-Rang Revival. May Allah continue to publish an anthology of some newly selected stories like this, Hassan Raza Gondal. Sub Rang stories compiled by Hasan Raza Gondal Sahib are a priceless gift to Urdu literature and Dil Dadgan Sub Rang, which they can save for themselves and their future generations in the library of Basad Showk Ghar.
