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More than a man of letters
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R.V. Smith on the nonchalant ways of Delhi's very own Chacha Niaz
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Chacha Niaz Haider was the grand old man of Urdu letters who (before going bald) bore a striking resemblance to Karl Marx - long hair, unkempt beard and Leftist ideas, which he had woven into a philosophy of his own. A leading light of the Hindustani theatre, he formed the progressive thinkers' quartet with Krishan Chander, Mahinder Nath and Sahir Ludhianvi, which challenged the might of Morarji Desai, along with Khwaja Ahmed Abbas, in the 1950s when Desai was the Chief Minister in Bombay. One met Niaz Haider in the 1960s, when he used to make his avuncular presence felt in the room of Saeed Naqvi at The Statesman.
Chacha, in khadi kurta-pyjama, never cared for money but was fond of the amber stuff, for which a 10-rupee note from his kinsman was welcome any day. There were others too who provided him good company, like Vijay Shankar and Hali Vats, editor of See magazine. Hali's wife, Sheila Bhatia had staged his play on Amir Khusrau and so he was always welcome at the couple's East Nizamuddin house, reciting his rubai, "Sare gunha pi gaya saghar ko dhal ke / Hote hain Zahid yeh sharabi kamaal ke".
Once on a dry day, we met at Hali's place to chalk out a plan for a pictorial feature on the dancing girls of G.B. Road. Chacha was feeling very "thirsty" and before we left, the host poured out generous peg of whisky for each of us. But Chacha Niaz got two pegs, after which he suddenly asked his benefactor what his name was ("Tumhara naam kya hai - Hali") and then threatened to hit him if he didn't give more whisky. Nobody was stunned and Hali, with a laugh, gave him one more Patiala peg, because that is the way Chacha often behaved - taking advantage of his age, and reputation.
We drove to the kothas and were lucky to get a special mujra held, courtesy Chacha, who was quite sober by the time we ascended the pan-splattered stairs of 81 G.B. Road. The performance lasted more than an hour, with all the nuances that four pretty dancing girls could conjure up for the evening.
The wink
When the mujra was at its peak, four burly turbaned truck drivers entered the hall and tried to pick up a fight with the assembled journalists. Some of us thought of running away but suddenly things cooled down. Half an hour later, while descending the stairs, we asked Chacha how the truck drivers had been bridled. "I just winked at one of the pimps and order was restored," he disclosed pulling hard at a cheroot.
In those days Niaz Haider was writing the script of a film on Hazrat Mahal, the courageous Begum of Awadh. Sometimes he would stand near the Delhi Gate, walking stick in hand, musing on things happened long ago and on the great cultural divide between the angarakha and the jean-clad generation at Karim's that had not even heard of Hazrat Mahal and Wajid Ali Shah.
Friends in Bollywood
Chacha Niaz, who was born in Mustafabad (Allahabad district) in 1918, had migrated to Bombay on the invitation of Sukhdev and was befriended, among others, by Nargis and Shyam Benegal. Known as Baba Niaz in Bollywood, he was justly famous for his epic poem on the martyrs of Karbala and used to come to Delhi to renew acquaintance with old friends and places. "I have been a Bacchus lover for 45 years but now not a single drop passes through my lips," he would say with a smile.
But his resolution would not last beyond the 10 days of Moharram. This proved fatal. While partying hard to celebrate a successful play, he had a stroke and passed away in 1989, after lingering some time in Moolchand Hospital. His sister, the youngest of four siblings, Murtazai Begum, who lives in Neb Sarai, where the Niaz Haider Memorial Society is based, recalls his achievements with pride. Chacha's "Mitti-ki-Gadi", made famous by Habib Tanvir, and his association with Qudsia Zaidi and Banne Bhai is the stuff that enlivens her conversation in Freedom Fighters' Enclave.
Prof. Qamar Rais has been associated with three books on Niaz Haider and so Chacha lives on in such works as "Shola-e-Awargi", "Naghma-e-Jamal-e-Zamin" and "Zebar-e-Ishq", as also the "Jan-e-Alam" serial scripted by him for Muzaffar Ali.
But for this scribe that evening at the kotha with Chacha Niaz is more reminiscent: A melancholic nasal voice rendering the ghazal "Yun hasraton ke dagh mohabbat mai dho liye / Khud dil se dil ki baat kahi aur ro liye".
Such surely is the pain of pent-up emotions!
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