For quite some time, the feeling kept haunting me that the time for Qurratulain Hyder’s departure was imminent. Finally, the sad day came and she left us for good. Despite the impossibility of circumstances, I had a great desire to meet her some day, while she was a living legend. I have my old-time friend, Fuzzle, to thank for introducing me to this colossal writer.
The first short-story of her that I read, I found it so engrossing that I made a resolve to read all her works. Though, I am far short of fulfilling that resolve, whatever little I have read of her has left a deep influence on me and changed some of my perceptions of the world and life. I found her work generously adorned with abstract thoughts, expressed so amazingly that one is overwhelmed by results of the skill with which she exploits the power and beauty of Urdu language. She was not a follower of any particular ideology. She just cherished her inherited civilization, and wrote about it and her background.
When I joined orkut, first thing I did was to make a community on QH, as there was none at that time. Through her name and mention on that community, and elsewhere, I got introduced and acquainted to some remarkable people. Being the owner of QH community, for some it became my identity.
Her health and old-age didn’t permit her to write any more, but since I got the news of her demise yesterday, slowly I am realizing that her life, as long as she breathed, meant something. After her death, today, thanks to Raza Rumi, listening to her in her own voice made me feel overwhelmed. I couldn’t believe it. But alas, she lies under loads of earth now. The loved and lost, comes not again!
Evolution Interrupted 
