The character she delineates of Hari Singh comes out quite different from what the state of Pakistan has long been portraying in official history books. This section of her book is also filled with numerous stories of intrigues and conspiracies that were probably typical of the darbaars of the many princely states before the Partition of 1947. The darbaar was the place where the youngster not only polished her musical skills, mannerisms and learned the refined ways of the court, but also attained knowledge of the ways of world. The second part circumscribes her life as a singer in the darbaar of Maharaja Hari Singh, whose character comes through as a benign figure and mentor for the young Pukhraj. The details give an insight into life in pre-Partition Jammu and Pukhraj’s early education in singing under the tutelage of Ustad Ali Bakhsh (father of Ustad Barray Ghulam Ali Khan) and other teachers. In these pages, the late Pukhraj - she died in 2004 at the age of 92 - describes, in detail, her life in the village of Hamirpur Sidhar in the rural environs of the State of Jammu, her family and their move to Jammu city. The first part consists of the singer’s early life in Jammu and formative years spent in learning music. It has now finally been published in its original Urdu in Pakistan and is a treasure of anecdotes about the great singer
Malika Pukhraj’s autobiography was first published in translation in India. Deviating further from established ideas of what women could, or could not, do, she developed an interest in investing in businesses that, unfortunately, for the most part, tended not to succeed. She married of her own choice against the wishes of her family, revolting against her mother to run away with the love of her life, an already married man. She continued to be the family breadwinner even after leaving the service of the maharaja. In the face of numerous hardships - the difficult economic circumstances of her family and the careless family head in the form of her father - Pukhraj took on the challenges and started taking financial care of her family from the very early stages of her singing career when, as a teenager, she entered into the service of Maharaja Hari Singh, against a monthly salary. The title is taken from Mirza Asadullah Khan Ghalib’s famous ghazal that Pukhraj sang for HMV on a 78rpm record in the 1940s, perhaps when she was still on the payroll of the maharaja of Kashmir, Hari Singh.īezubaani Zubaan Na Ho Jaey tells the story of a woman who was ahead of her times.
Pukhraj’s original autobiography in Urdu, titled Bezubaani Zubaan Na Ho Jaey has now finally been published, and that too in Pakistan. However, the original Urdu manuscript was translated into English by Saleem Kidwai and was published in India as Song Sung True in 2005. Journalist Khalid Hasan had written a long piece on Malika-i-Tarrannum Madam Noor Jehan but, despite the singer’s desire for a proper biographical book, that was it.Ībout two decades ago, when classical vocalist Malika Pukhraj - most remembered for her 1950s rendition of Hafeez Jalandhari’s nazm ‘Abhi Tau Main Jawaan Hoon’ - wanted to publish her autobiography, she could not manage to do so. and Bhavesh Sheth) although these were published in India. A few of our music legends, such as Mehdi Hasan and Ghulam Ali, were lucky to have had books written on them (Mere Mehdi Hasan by Akhilesh Jha Ghazal Wizard Ghulam Ali: The Life, Times and Experiences of a Living Legend by Sadhana J. However, the practice is, to a very large extent, alien to Pakistan.
Several instrumentalists have also been the subject of books, their lives often meticulously detailed and the resultant texts becoming invaluable records for aficionados of music, who want to know the histories and life stories of their icons. Almost all singers of repute in India have had book-length biographies written on them.