After a hiatus of three years, the All India Urdu Mushaira lit up the city stage on Saturday. The evening, held at the Ganesh Kala Krida Manch as a part of the Pune Festival, brought together poets from all over the country – Indore, Bihar, Rampur, Delhi, Kanour, Nasirabad, Akola, Malegaon, Bangalore, Mumbai, Gondapur and Jabalpur. Dressed in white pyjama-kurtas with embroidered topis, they infused the evening with poetry that transcended borders. Yet, the ardent fans were missing.
'Tartib se zahan mein, main rakhta chala gaya, Ghar se tange hue the takaze, idhar udhar...' (I kept on putting the world in order, but my own house was going haywire with various demands.) These lines, recited by poet Ejaz Anjum, talk about the changing nature of Mushaira. A change that embraces their 'new' form to bring back the audiences .
Anjum, who has been reciting at mushairas for the last 12 years, chronicles the change in poetry beautifully. “I am a madai, a hasya kavi. For me, mushaira changed when popular culture embraced it,” he says. An emcee by profession, Anjum believes that the art form is being altered to suit the common man. “First, we would only write poetry dedicated to one’s beloved. Today, we write poetry that takes that love to other people and places . Love for brotherhood, nation and character, is now most written about,” he adds. What accounts for this change, according to Anjum, is the way Urdu has been embraced in popular culture . “Even now, while talking to me in Hindi, you have used so many Urdu words. It seamlessly blends with other languages . This is the impact of Urdu in films, songs and everyday conversations,” he says.
Full report here Indian Express
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