Urdu & Hindi Poetry

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Death anniversary of Khatir Ghaznavi

A recipient of the presidential award, Khatir Ghaznavi was also known as a researcher, columnist, educationist and vice-president of the NWFP chapter of the Progressive Writers' Association. Ghaznavi was born in 1925 into an Afghan family which had migrated from Ghazni.

Ghaznavi, who retired as the chairman of the Urdu Department, University of Peshawar, wrote his first novel when he was a school student.

Survived by three sons and four daughters, Ghaznavi wrote more than 50 books in Urdu and Hindko. He was among the widely-read authors in the country. His columns on a wide variety of issues, used to appear in several Urdu newspapers.

The founder of a syndicate of writers and “Baitakh”, a Hindko literary organisation, Ghaznavi worked as producer at the All India Radio, Radio Pakistan, Peshawar and Rawalpindi, between 1942 and 1962. He donated hundreds of books to the University of Peshawar. He headed the Pakistan Academy of Letters, Islamabad.

Ghaznvi, whose original name was Ibrahim, had command over several languages, including Chinese, English, Urdu, and Malay. He passed away in Karachi & laid to rest in Peshawar


گو ذرا سی بات پر برسوں کے یارانے گئے
لیکن اتنا تو ہوا، کچھ لوگ پہچانے گئے

 

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Remembering Ahmed Nadeem Qasmi on his death anniversary.


کون کہتا ہے کہ موت آئی تو مرجاؤں گا
میں تو دریا ہوں سمندر میں اتر جاؤں گا
زندگی شمع کی مانند جلاتا ہوں ندیم
بجھ تو جاؤں گا مگر صبح تو کرجاؤں گا
(احمد ندیم قاسمی)

 

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آج قتیل شفائی کی برسی ہے

رہے گا ساتھ ترا پیار زندگی بن کر
یہ اور بات مری زندگی وفا نہ کرے

 

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Muhammad Akhtar 1928-1974 (pseudonym) Saghar Siddiqui was an Urdu poet, in spite of his ruined and homeless alone life, he remained famous and successful till and after his death. when he died, he left nothing but a pet, his dog, who also died on the same foot path where Saghar died a year later.
Saghar Siddiqui was born in 1928 in Ambala (British India) to a well-to-do middle-class family. There are few historic records of Saghar's personal life. He rarely spoke to any one in this regard and most of what is known of him tends to be from witness accounts. Siddiqui was the only child of his parents and spent the early years of his life in Ambala and Saharanpur.

He was home tutored and received his early education from Habib Hassan a family friend. Young Akhtar was much impressed by Habib Hassan, and he got interested in Urdu poetry because of him. Siddiqui started writing poetry as a child. He moved to Amritsar(Punjab), in search of work and used to make wooden combs while writing Urdu poetry. For some time he used Nasir Hijazi as his pen name, but later he switched to Saghar Siddiqui. When 16 years old, he regularly started attending mushairas (poerty recitals) in Jalandhar, Ludhiana and Gurdaspur. In 1947, when he was 19, he migrated to Pakistan during the independence and settled in Lahore. In those days with his slim appearance, wearing pants and boski (yellow silky cloth) shirts, with curly hair, and reciting beautiful ghazals in a melodious voice, he became a huge success. He had some tragic turns in his life. Siddiqui continued to write poetry for the film industry and moved on to publish a literary magazine. The magazine was a critical success but a commercial flop. Disappointed, Saghar shut down the magazine. In his later life, he fell into depression, financially ruined and addicted to drugs.

Siddiqui chose to stay in cheap hotels, rather than settle into a house given by the government to refugees. He would pay the rent with meager amounts earnt by selling his poems to magazines. Sometimes he would have to sell his poetry to other poets for a few rupees. He would use the waste paper spread around to light fires to stay warm during winter nights. Some of these poems were re-sold by these people as their own work.

Within a decade of coming to Pakistan, he became disillusioned as he saw corruption and nepotism being rewarded at the expense of genuine talent. In despair, he turned to morphine, buying it from janitors of hospitals in Lahore. As friends and strangers continued to exploit him, Siddiqui fell further into despair and was soon turned out of hotels and had to live on the street as a beggar. He was often seen along Circular Road of Lahore, and in Anarkali Bazar, Akhbaar Market, Aibak Road, Shah Alami, and around the Data Darbar area. He would often hold mushairas on the footpaths, in candle light. He continued to write poems, though most of them are lost and unpublished.

In early 1974, Siddiqui was found dead on a street corner of Lahore. On 19 July 1974, he was found dead on a roadside in Lahore near alfalah building the mall, at the age of 46. His dead body was found one early morning outside one of the shops. He was buried at the Miani Sahib graveyard. His dog also died a year later, reportedly at the same spot. Despite his shattered life, some of his verses are among the best in Urdu poetry.

The sensitive and gifted teenager was excited by the prospect of becoming a citizen of a newly created country and at once got down to writing a national anthem for it.


موت کہتے ہیں جس کو اے ساغرؔ
زندگی کی کوئی کڑی ہوگی

 

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July 23 marked the death anniversary of Baba Zaheen Shah Taji Sahib


تُو نے دیوانہ بنایا تو میں دیوانہ بنا
اب مجھے ہوش کی دنیا میں تماشا نہ بنا

نگہِ ناز سے پوچھیں گے کسی دن یہ ذہیں
تو نے کیا کیا نہ بنایا کوئی کیا کیا نہ بنا

 

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Anand Bakshi (21 July 1930 – 30 March 2002) was a popular Indian poet and lyricist. He was nominated for the Filmfare award for Best lyricist a total of 40 times, resulting in 4 wins.

Anand Bakshi (Bakshi Anand Prakash Vaid) was born in Rawalpindi, now in Pakistan, on 21 July 1930. His ancestors were Mohyal Brahmins from Kurree, near Rawalpindi, and had their origins in Kashmir. His mother, Sumitra, died when he was five years old.

Bakshi's family migrated to India (Delhi) on 2 October 1947, in the aftermath of the partition, when he was 17 years old. The family arrived in Delhi, via a Dakota aircraft, and then migrated to Pune, then Meerut and settled finally in Delhi.

Bakshi was fond of writing poetry since his youth, but he did this mostly as a private hobby. In a 1983 interview with Doordarshan, Bakshi recounted that after his initial studies, he joined the Indian Navy, where due to a paucity of time, he could only write occasionally. He continued to write poetry whenever time permitted, and used his songs and lyrics in local programmes related to his troop. He worked in the Navy for many years and simultaneously tried to market his songs in the Mumbai film world.

Anand Bakshi came to Hindi films to make a name for himself in writing and singing, but ended up becoming more successful in writing lyrics. He got his break writing songs in a Brij Mohan film titled Bhalaa Aadmi (1958), acted by Bhagwan Dada. He wrote four songs in this film. His first song in this film was "Dharti Ke Laal Na Kar Itna Malaal" which was recorded on 9 Nov 1956. (In his own voice on All India Radio interview)

After writing for a few movies from 1956 onwards, he first found success in 1962 with Mehendi Lagi Mere Haath, which was produced by (LimeLight), Music Kalyanji & Anandji, Music Pub-HMV/Saregama. Bakshi later made another mark for himself writing a quawwali for the 1962 film Kala Samundar, the song was "Meri Tasveer Lekar Kya Karoge Tm". He got his real big breakthroughs in 1965 with Himalay Ki God Mein, and a huge breakthrough again in 1965 with the super-hit film Jab Jab Phool Khile, starring Shashi Kapoor; and yet again in 1967 with the super-hit movie Milan (starring Sunil Dutt). These six hit films within a decade of his entry into films cemented his status as a lyrics writer of immense calibre. Bakshi was preferred lyricist by Rajesh Khanna for films with Rajesh Khanna in lead. He went on to work as a lyricist of over 3500 songs and 638 films in his career.

He got his first break as singer in a film directed by Mohan Kumar – Mom Ki Gudiya (1972). The first song he sang was a duet – "Baaghon mein bahaar aayi hothon pe pukaar aayi", along with Lata Mangeshkar, with music composed by Laxmikant–Pyarelal. He also sang the solo "Main dhoondh raha tha sapnon mein" from the same film. He also sang songs in four other films: Sholay (1975), where he sang the quawwali "Chand Sa Koi Chehera" along with Manna Dey, Kishore Kumar and Bhupinder, (the song was released on vinyl, but not in the feature film); Maha Chor (1976); Charas (1976); and Balika Badhu (1976).

Anand Bakshi was widely associated with music composers such as Laxmikant–Pyarelal, R D Burman, Kalyanji Anandji, SD Burman, Anu Malik, Rajesh Roshan and Anand-Milind, and his songs have been sung by all the top singers as well as other singers such as Shamshad Begum, Ila Arun, Khursheed Bawra, Amirbai Karnataki, Sudha Malhotra and more. He is known to have worked with more than one generation of music composers.

He wrote the first recorded songs of many first time male and female leads who went on to become stars, and also of singers such as Shailendra Singh, Kumar Sanu, Kavita Krishnamurthy etc., and he established himself as a versatile lyricist with the song "Dum Maro Dum" in the movie Hare Rama Hare Krishna (1972).

After this, he wrote memorable lyrics in many movies including Bobby, Amar Prem (1971), Aradhana (1969), Jeene Ki Raah, Mera Gaon Mera Desh, Aaye Din Bahar Ke, Aya Sawan Jhoom Ke, Seeta Aur Geeta, Sholay (1975), Dharam Veer, Nagina, Lamhe, Hum (1991), Mohra (1994), Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge (1995), Pardes (1997), Heer Raanjha, Dushman (1998), Taal (1998), Mohabbatein (2000), Gadar: Ek Prem Katha (2001), and Yaadein (2001).

Late in his life, he suffered from heart and lung disease as a consequence of lifelong smoking. In March 2002, he caught a bacterial infection at Nanavati hospital during a minor heart surgery. He finally died of multiple organ failure on 30 March 2002, 8:00 PM at Mumbai's Nanavati Hospital, at the age of 71. The last released movie with lyrics by Anand Bakshi (after his death) was Mehbooba.

At the time of his death in 2002, he was survived by his wife Kamla Mohan Bakshi, his daughter Suman Datt, sons Rajesh Bakshi, Rakesh Bakshi, and daughter Kavita Bali.

Anand Bakshi, as a baby in the 1930's, Rawalpindi. where his father was a banker.