Obituary
Immortal with words
RANA SIDDIQUI ZAMAN
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The doyen of Urdu literature Ahmad Faraz passed away this week leaving behind no successor.
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The legend Ahmad Faraz (1931-2008)
Last year, Jamia Millia Islamia’s Ansari auditorium was full to capacity. Even at 9 p.m. there was a long queue outside. Some people were ready to break the queue to have a glimpse of the famous poet from Pakistan who was also an integral part
of Delhi’s literary and cultural scene. The man was Ahmad Faraz. The occasion, a mushaira held in his honour.
Faraz Sahab wasn’t keeping too well, it showed in his inability to sit on the rug spread out for all the poets. So, he sat on a chair next to Nirmala Deshpande. As the poet got up to recite his poem amid murmurs, a mobile phone rang, much to the annoyance of a senior student. He shouted from his chair, “Who is this? Don’t you know how to respect an elderly neighbour? Please switch off your mobile phones…” Pin drop silence followed. Faraz Sahab got up, ignoring his discomfiture in standing in front of the mike. But again, a student, who felt his pain, couldn’t help calling out to him from his seat, “Sir, kursi le lijiye”. Smiling, Faraz Sahab retorted, “Miyan, mujhe kursi ki nahin, aapko Aaytul Kursi ki zaroorat hai”, (dear, I don’t a chair but you — all youth — need prayers!) And within a second, the tense atmosphere turned mirthful, to which his romantic couplets added a zing.
Aligarh Muslim University was one of his favourite destinations. Recalls Shafey Kidwai, Chairman, Department of Mass Communication, AMU, “Once poets Waheed Akhtar and Irfan Siddiqui teased him saying, ‘Your poetry is very popular among teenagers’. Without losing his cool, he replied, “Sahir (Ludhianvi) is more popular among teenagers than me. My poetry goes beyond too. It talks of both immediate and Ultimate concerns.’ I admire the way he uses old metaphors with new meanings. Unlike Iqbal, his works are not message-centric. Only he had the magic of juxtaposing revolutionary ideology with teenage humour. He was the last icon of progressive poetry.”
I love his mixing of romance and revolution and the ghazal “Ranjish hi sahi...” SHAHARYAR, POET
The greatest thing about him was that he was ‘zinda dil’. - DINANATHMALHOTRA, DIAMOND BOOKS
His poetry had a lot of anguish. His death is the death of an ideology. - MUSHIRUL HASAN, AUTHOR
We were working on making him our editorial consultant. The project would never take shape now. - SUDHIR MALHOTRA, PUBLISHER
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