- by A.S. Ghazali The Urdu Academy North America held a grand literary evening on June 23 at the Lucie Center in Palo Alto. The Literary evening was split into two sessions, namely prose and poetry. Two papers were presented in the prose session on the life and poetry of Wali Dakhni and Mir Taqi Mir. The session was presided over by Dr. Agha Saeed, Professor of Political Science at the California State University, Hayward. Well-known poet, Abdur Rahman Siddiqi was the chief guest of the event. Iqbal Zaheer Tashie was the compeer for the prose section. If poetry is about reflection, prose is about choosing words that accurately indicate a certain thing or a certain notion. This equally applies to the article of Annie Akhtar, host and producer of San Francisco's popular Urdu radio program, Watan Ki Awaz, on the life and poetry of the first poet of Urdu, Wali Dakhni. Her well-researched paper was actually words in action when she presented a graphic narration of the poetry of Wali Dakhni. However, she reminded the audience that her subject was not only poetry or ghazal but also the history of Urdu ghazal. According to Annie Akhtar, before Wali Dhakni, the Urdu language was not considered fit for ghazal composition. But Wali Dakhni astonished the poets of Delhi when he visited them with his Urdu ghazals. He drew wide applause from the Persian-speaking poets, some of whom also adopted Urdu as medium of their poetic expressions. Prominent poets - Shah Hatem, Shah Abro and Mir Taqi Mir - were among his admirers. Wali Dakhni composed 473 ghazals besides masnawis and qasidas. The poetry of Mir Taqi Mir, who used simple words to express his thoughts, was the topic of next paper presented by Ahsan Sayed. He was of the view that Mir has a deep impression on the course of development of Urdu poetry. Mir died in 1810 at the age of 86. Poetry is sometimes described as the best words in their best order while prose is seen as just words in their best order. This is how Mir Taqi Mir's poetry can be described. Dr. Agha Saeed, concluding the prose session of the Literary Evening, pointed out that Greeks give the same status to prophets and poets. Prophets take care of spiritual aspect of life while poets focus on the moral aspect. Nations are developed in the shadow of poets. Today in Pakistan, we cannot find a single poet who could awaken the nation. The poetry session of the Literary Evening was presided over by a very popular poet, Farhat Shehzad. Nasreen Nisha presented a free verse. Another poetess, Rubina Jina who drew wide applause for her ghazal, followed her. Later the following poets thrilled the audience with their thought provoking poems and ghazals, reflecting human nature: Abdul Rahman Markar, Sabir Chisty, Zafar Zafeer, Prof. Noor ul Hassan Syed Anwar, Farooq Taraz, Javed Syed, Fayyazuddin Jahangir Hamdani, Abdur Rahman Siddiqi and Farhat Shehzad. They drew wide applause from the audience for their imagination and eloquence of expression. |
