Nasir Kazmi

Syed Nasir Raza Kazmi, (1925-1972) (Urdu: سید ناصر رضا كاظمی ) was a renowned Urdu poet of Pakistan. He was one of the greatest poets of this era, especially in the use of “ista’aaray” and “chhotee beher“.

Kazmi was born on December 8, 1925 at Ambala in British India. He was educated at Ambala, Simla and Lahore. He returned to Ambala in 1945 and started looking after his ancestral land. After the creation of Pakistan in 1947, he came to Lahore. He did some journalistic work with Auraq-e-Nau as an editor and became editor-in-chief of the magazine Humayun in 1952. Later he was associated with Radio Pakistan, Lahore and other literary publications and organizations.

Nasir Kazmi started his poetic life in 1940 by following the style of Akhtar Sherani and wrote romantic poems and sonnets. Later he began writing ghazals under the guidance of Hafeez Hoshyarpuri. He was a great admirer of Mir Taqi Mir and probably the melancholy and “Ehsaas-e-Mehroomi” in his poetry was a direct result of that. His tutor in poetry was Hafeez Hoshyarpuri, who himself used a lot of symbols from nature in his poems.

                    'Yaad ke benishan jazerun se
                     Teri awaz arahi hai abhi...'

Nasir, few days before his death, said in a TV interview by Intezaar Hussain, that ‘horse riding, hunting, wandering in a village, walk along the river side, visiting mountains etc were my favourite pastimes and probably this was the time when my mind got nourishment for loving nature and getting close to the expression of poetry. All my hobbies are related with fine arts, like singing, poetry, hunting, chess, love of birds, love of trees etc… i started poetry because I used to reflect that all the beautiful things those I see, and those in nature are not in my hands, and they go away from me. Few moments, that time which dies, cannot be made alive. I think can be alive in poetry, that is why I(Nasir) started poetry!’ Nowadays, very few people may remember that Nasir used to hum his poetic verses and that humming had much attraction in it.

                  'Phir kaga bola ghar ka suna angan mei
                   Rut ayi peeley phulun  ki, Tum Yad Aye...'

He migrated from Ambala, India to Lahore Pakistan in August 1947. He also worked as a Staff Editor in Radio Pakistan. He used to sit at Tea House and wander at Mall Rd, Lahore with his friends. He was fond of eating, wandering and enjoying life. Normally people take him as a sad poet but most of his poetry is based on romantic happiness and the aspect of hope.

                       'Yaas mei jab kabhi aansu nikla
                       Ik nayi  aas  ka  pehlu  nikla'

His last four books tragically were published after his death. He died in Lahore on March 2, 1972 due to stomach cancer. Few people know that he did some great translations of English poets, especially his translation of Walt Whitman‘s “Crossing Brooklyn Ferry” by the title of “Brooklyn Ghaat Ke Paar” is a real masterpiece and worth reading.

Source : Wikipedia

Parveen Shakir

Parveen Shakir, PP^[1] (Urdu: پروین شاکر) (November 24, 1952 – December 26, 1994) was a Pakistani Urdu poetess, teacher and a civil servant of the Government of Pakistan.

Shakir started writing at an early age, initially under the pen name of Beena, and published her first volume of poetry, Khushbu [Fragrance], to great acclaim, in 1976.^[2] She subsequently published other volumes of poetry – all well-received – including Inkaar [Refusal], Sad-barg [Marsh Marigold], Khud Kalami [Conversing with the Self] and Kaf-e-Aa’ina [The Edge of the Mirror], besides a collection of her newspaper columns, titled Gosha-e-Chashm [The Sight Corner], and was awarded one of Pakistan’s highest honours, the Pride of Performance for her outstanding contribution to literature.^[2]

Shakir died in 1994, as a result of a car accident while on her way to work.^[2] On her death the following “Qit’aa-e-Taareekh” was composed:
Surkh phooloN se Dhaki turbat-e-Parveen hai aaj
Jis ke lahjay se har ik samt hai phaili khushboo
Fikr-e-taareekh-e-ajal par yeh kahaa haatif nay
Phool ! kah do “hai yahi baagh-e-adab ki khushboo”

1994 A.D.(numerical value)
(From “Dhuwan Dhuwan Chehray“,page 183,by Tanwir Phool)
English translation:The tomb of Parveen is covered with red roses today.Her voice was spreading fragrance everywhere.On thinking about the year of her death,the angel told the poet to say “she is the fragrance of garden of literature.”

JauN Elia

Jaun Elia (Urdu: جون ایلیا, December 14, 1931 – November 8, 2002) was a notable Pakistani Urdu poet, philosopher, biographer and scholar. He was widely praised for his unique style of writing. He was the brother of renowned journalist and psychoanalyst Rais Amrohvi and journalist and world-renowned philosopher Syed Muhammad Taqi, and husband of famous columnist Zahida Hina. He was a man of letters, well versed in Arabic, English, Persian, Sanskrit and Hebrew.
Jaun Elia was born on December 14, 1931 in an illustrious family of Amroha, Uttar Pradesh. He was the youngest of his siblings. His father, Allama Shafiq Hasan Elia, was deeply involved in art and literature and also an astrologer and a poet. This literary environment modeled him along the same lines, and he wrote his first Urdu couplet when he was just 8.

چاہ میں اس کی طمانچے کھائے ہیں

دیکھ لو سرخی میرے رخسار کی

Jaun was very sensitive in his early teen age. His preoccupations in those days were his imaginary beloved character, Sophia, and his anger at the English occupiers of India. He used to do dramatic presentations of the early Muslim period, and hence his knowledge of Muslim history was recognized by many. According to him, his early poetry reflected the dialogue nature of stage drama.

A close relation of Elia’s, Syed Mumtaz Saeed, recalled that Elia also went to Syed-ul-Madaris in Amroha, a Madressah (Koranic school). “Jaun had a way with languages. He could learn them effortlessly. Apart from Arabic and Persian that he had learnt at the Madressah, he acquired great proficiency in English and a smattering of Hebrew.”

During his youth, the united India was involved in a Muslim-Hindu feud, which led to the partition of the country on religious lines once British rule ended. Being a Communist, Elia was averse to the idea, but finally accepted it as a compromise. Elia migrated to Pakistan in 1957, and made Karachi his home. Before long, he became popular in the literary circles of the city. His poetry, which bears ample testimony to his wide-ranging reading habits, won him acclaim and approbation. Poet Pirzada Qasim said: “Jaun was very particular about language. While his diction is rooted in the classical tradition, he touches on new subjects. He remained in quest of an ideal all his life. Unable to find the ideal eventually, he became angry and frustrated. He felt, perhaps with reason, that he had squandered his talent.” He was a prolific writer, but could not be convinced to publish his work. His first poetry collection Shayad (an Urdu word which means “Maybe”) was published in 1991, when he was 60. The poetry presented in this collection added Jaun Elia’s name in the Urdu literary canon forever. Jaun Elia’s preface in this collection provided deep insights into his works and the culture within which he was expressing his ideas. The preface can also be considered as one of the finest examples of modern Urdu prose. It covered his intellectual evolution in different periods of time, and his philosophy of poetry, science, religion, etc. The second collection of his poetry Ya’ani was published posthumously in 2003 . Afterwords Jaun’s trustworthy companion Khalid Ansari has compiled and published his three consecutive collections, “Gumaan” (an Urdu word which means “Illusion”) in 2004, “Lekin” 2006 and “Goya” 2008, one more collection ‘Kyon’ is now under processing.

An eminent Urdu literary critic, Dr. Muhammad Ali Siddiqui has called Jaun Elia one of the three most eminent ghazal poets of Urdu of the second half of the twentieth century.

Jaun Elia was an unabashed open anarchist and nihilist in generally a conservative and religious society. His elder brother, Rais Amrohvi, himself a poet and influential intellectual, was brutally murdered by a religious zealot, and ever after his death, Jaun was conscious about what he would say in public.

Jaun was also involved in translation, editing and other activities. His translation of various Mautazalite treatises, Hasan Bin Sabah, and various texts about the Ismaili sect in Islam are a major contribution to the Urdu language. His prose and translations are not easily available. Some of these can be found at Ismaili centers and libraries.

He acquired encyclopedic knowledge of philosophy, logic, Islamic history, the Muslim Sufi tradition, Muslim religious sciences, Western literature, and Kabbala. He also synthesized this knowledge into his poetry that also differentiates him from his modern contemporaries.

He also edited Urdu literary magazine “Insha”, where he came to know of another prolific Urdu writer Zahida Hina, and finally married her. Zahida Hina, a progressive intellectual in her own right, still writes for dailies, Jang and Express, on current political and social issues. He had 2 daughters and a son with her. Jaun and Zahida were divorced in mid 1980s. This left Jaun devastated and alone. He became alcoholic and depressed.

وہی حساب تمنا ہے اب بھی آجاؤ

وہی ہے سروہی سودا ہے اب بھی آجاؤ

He died after a protracted illness on November 8, 2002 in Karachi.

میں بھی بہت عجیب ہوں،اتنا عجیب ہوں کہ بس

خود کو تباہ کر لیا،اورملال بھی نہیں

Source : Wikipedia

Raees Amrohvi

Syed Muhammad Mehdi, known as Rais Amrohvi (or Raees Amrohvi) (Urdu: رئیس امروہوی) (1914 – 1988) was a noted scholar, Urdu poet and psychoanalyst of Pakistan, however he can not be classified as a psychoanalyst in a traditional sense, as he looked at psychology through a spiritual perspective rather than scientific.

He was born on September 12, 1914 in Amroha, India, in a notable family of scholars. Almost all the members of his family were poets. He migrated to Pakistan on October 19, 1947 and settled in Karachi.

He was known for his unique style of Qatanigari (quatrain writing). For many decades he penned quatrains every day for Pakistan’s largest daily newspaper Jang. He also supported the Urdu language and the Urdu-speaking people of Pakistan.

He penned a number of books on metaphysics, meditation and yoga. He also tried to produce a standard Urdu translation of the Bhagavad Gita. He was assassinated on September 22, 1988, reportedly by a religious fanatic.

Source : Wikipedia