“‘Paro’: Farhat Malik Parveen and the Emergence of a New Dimension in Urdu Women’s Sketch Writing

پارو :فرحت ملک پروین کے ہاں اردو نسائی خاکہ نگاری کی ایک نئی جہت ۔

Abstract

Fatah Malik Parveen is among those women writers of Urdu literature who expanded the scope of sketch writing beyond mere personal description, transforming it into a medium for articulating experience, observation, cultural awareness, and inner emotional states. Her book Sunderban Ki Yaadein represents a distinctive blend of memoir, travelogue, and sketch writing, offering a departure from traditional conventions of khaka-nigari. Based on her journey to the Sundarbans region of Bengal, the work presents not only vivid depictions of places but also natural and evocative sketches of people. These sketches extend beyond external features to encompass social conditions, class distinctions, and feminine consciousness. Parveen’s keen and realistic observation enables her to animate characters through subtle details of speech, gesture, and psychological nuance. A compassionate and sensitive feminine perspective shapes her portrayal of local women, fishermen’s families, and marginalized communities, maintaining a balance between emotional engagement and realism. A notable artistic feature of her sketch writing is the integration of nature and human life, wherein the landscape itself functions as a living presence. This study argues that Sunderban Ki Yaadein exemplifies modern Urdu sketch writing by presenting the sketch as a social document and by introducing new dimensions of travel, memory, and personality portrayal. Overall, Fatah Malik Parveen’s work emerges as artistically balanced, intellectually profound, and stylistically engaging, securing her a significant place among contemporary women sketch writers in Urdu literature.