Shahryar awarded 44th jnanpith

Justu-ju jiski thi usko toa na paaya hamne, is bahane se magar dekh li duniya hamne...” (What I longed for, was never mine, but on this pretext, I beheld the world...)”

These spine-tingling lines from the movie Umrao Jaan by Muzaffar Ali in 1981 still cut through to both heart and soul of a listener. The writer of these living lines — Akhlaq Mohammad Khan Shahryar — has unleashed his formidable power and control over words all through his life as an Urdu writer, a lyricist and an academician.

Mr Shahryar, who was awarded the 44th Jnanpith Award for the year 2008 in the national capital on Sunday by superstar Amitabh Bachchan, lyricist Gulzar and Cabinet minister M. Veerappa Moily, has maintained a conscious balance between tradition and modernity. “He expresses modern thought...with a new style but maintains a continuity of tradition.,” Dr Moily said. Mr Shahryar said, “Humans always try to maintain a balance between material and spiritual progress. Thank God we live in a world which at least as of now values emotions... there still exists a bond between humans. Art has a role to play in this world and I am glad to be part of it.” Born on June 16, 1936 in Anwala, Bareilly, he obtained his Ph.D in Urdu from AMU.

Full report here Asian Age

A new poetic impulse

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

Celeb Urdu writers to publish new works

Five noted Urdu writers are set to publish their latest works, including an autobiography, before year end.

Intezar Hussain has completed the final draft of Justajo Kia Hai, an account of his days in Bulandshahr, India. Hussain told The Express Tribune that he had handed over the draft to the publisher and expected the book to be available in markets before year end.

“I have recorded memories of my days before partition,” he said.

Hussain’s last book Chiraghon Ka Dhuan was an account of his days in Lahore.

It also narrates the events leading to his migration from Dibai in Bulandshahr following partition of India. He said he had been encouragedby Muhammad Hassan Askari, the critic, to shift to Pakistan. Novelist Abdullah Husain is publishing a work after more than 10 years. Husain, whose last published work was a novel, Nadar Log, said he was in the process of compiling short stories he had written following the publishing of the novel.

Full report here Express Tribune 

Kashmir’s literary harvest

This year has seen a blossoming of English-language narratives on Kashmir, many from a generation that has never known peace

Last August, as droves of rock-hurling boys and young men rallied on the streets of Srinagar, essayist Pankaj Mishra wrote in The Guardian that “apart from the youth on the streets, there are also those with their noses in books...”, a generation, he wrote, that will soon “make its way into the world with its private traumas. Life under political oppression has begun to yield, in the slow bitter way it does, a rich intellectual and artistic harvest.”

Mishra’s words appear to have been borne out by the minor boom in English-language writing by and about Kashmiris. This includes Sanjay Kak’s anthology, Until my Freedom Has Come, in which the film-maker has compiled writing, mostly from the Internet, produced by Kashmiris last summer. India International Centre chief editor Ira Pande’s A Tangled Web: Jammu & Kashmir is an anthology that seeks to provide fresh ways of looking not just at Kashmir, but Jammu also.

The new crop of Kashmir books is a diverse lot. Published last year was Luv Puri’s scholarly Across the LoC, and soon to follow are My Kashmir, by former civil servant Wajahat Habibullah, and a book of Amit Mehra’s photographs. Also forthcoming are reporter Rahul Pandita’s memoir of growing up as a Hindu in Kashmir, and Sonia Jabbar’s book of reportage from the state.

Likewise, works in translation are beginning to trickle out. Prisoner No. 100, Anjum Zamarud Habib’s jail memoir, was published in translation from Urdu this year. First-time translator Sahba Husain said she has had other offers to translate Urdu works, but passed in favour of writing a non-fiction book based on her activism in Kashmir.

Full report here Mint

These songs do not die

Could a region as varied as Southasia expect anything other than today’s dizzying cornucopia of literary creations?

Southasian literature, in its many voices, languages and avatars, retains an underlying warp and woof of cultural connectivity. Each country of the Subcontinent has its own political and emotive narrative and its own unique stories to share. Linguistic histories, colonial experiences (or resistance to them), and traumas such as Partition and conflict have fermented and matured the writing of each of our countries and societies. The Empire left – but left its language, literature and genres behind. The phrase, ‘A language is a dialect with an army and a navy’ first came into use via the linguist Max Weinrich. In a linguistically diverse set of cultures, the Queen’s English asserted a hegemonic sway.

While Salman Rushdie’s Midnight’s Children (1981) was a watershed that impacted how the world viewed Southasian writing, the author’s magical prose also transformed the way this writing looked at itself. Although some critics categorised it as a valorisation of the ‘post-colonial exotic’, Pico Iyer’s famous essay ‘The Empire Strikes Back’ described it as ‘a call to free spirits everywhere to remake the world with imagination’, opening up ‘a new universe by changing the way we tell stories and see the world around us.’ The voice of Saleem Sinai, Rushdie’s main character, reclaimed the spoken sounds of the Bombay streets into English literary usage. The sinuous stylistic flow also reflected the texture and grain of Urdu, which is an important part of Rushdie’s literary inheritance.

Full report here Himal

Pulp fiction is back!

It's time to rewind to regional pulp fiction as over-the-top heroes, villains and outlandish plots make for a quickie read. Anuradha Varma reports

Lyricist and scriptwriter Javed Akhtar credits reading Ibne Safi's novels for helping him creating eternal celluloid villains like Gabbar Singh and Mogambo. Filmmaker Anurag Kashyap grew up wanting to be either Amitabh Bachchan or writer Surender Mohan Pathak. Actress Gul Panag even invited her favourite novelist Pathak to the premiere of her film Rann.

Besides Bengali detectives Feluda and Byomkesh Bakshi, Hindi, Urdu and Tamil pulp fiction heroes can keep many readers up at night turning pages of their slim detective novels. "Pocket books" or novellas, these became popular at book stalls at railway stations over 50 years ago.

Publishing houses are now giving the books fresh airing. Westland, along with Blaft, has published four translations of Ibne Safi's Jasusi Duniya series. Ibne Safi, the pen name of Asrar Ahmad, was once described as "the only original writer in the subcontinent" by Agatha Christie and wrote 125 novels in his lifetime.

Full report here Times of India 

Take a pledge to save Urdu, Governor exhorts delegates

Governor Surjit Singh Barnala on Monday, Sep 27 asked delegates to take a pledge to save the Urdu language that was facing difficult times.

Delivering the presidential address at the Tamil Nadu State Urdu Conference 2010, he said “Only with public support, I believe, Urdu will have a rebirth.”

Mr. Barnala recalled his association with the Urdu language and said that whenever he wrote a book, he made it a point to publish an Urdu translation.

He used to think in Urdu and then write it in English.

He released the Urdu translation of Chinna Kuthoosi's Tamil Book ‘Dr. Kalaignar,' comprising articles published in ‘Nakkeeran' and ‘Murasoli', and presented trophies to outstanding Urdu writers, professors and headmasters.

Full report here Hindu

Urdu poet Shaharyar to receive Jnanpith Award-2008

Noted Urdu poet Akhlaq Mohammed Khan, generally known,' Shahryar' has been selected for Jnanpith Award-2008 which is the highest literary award in India. This prestigious award will be given to him in the recognition of his contribution for Urdu language.

The Award was instituted in 1961 and is presented by Bharatiya Jnanpith, every year to different personalities for their outstanding literary works in different languages. The award carries Rs. 700,000, cash a citation plaque and a trophy.

His name was approved by selection committee comprising Professor Gopi Chand Narang, former president of Sahitya Akademy, Gurdiyal Singh, Keshu Bhai Desai, Dinesh Mishra and others.

Mr. Shahryar is also famous as a lyricist in Hindi films and has written lyrics in several famous films including Gaman (1978), Umrao Jaan (1981) and Anjuman (1986),

In 1987 he was awarded with Sahitya Akademy Award in Urdu for his poetry collection, Khwab Ka Dar Band Hai. Besides, he wrote a number of poetry collections which brought glory to him in literary world.

Full report here TwoCircles

Why civilisations clash in India

Log toot jate jain ek ghar banane mein, tum taras khate nahin bastiyan jalane mein. This couplet, written by the famous Urdu poet Bashir Badr after his house was burnt in a communal riot in Meerut in 1987, reflects the sentiments of a large number of Indians who have suffered communal prejudice in one form or the other. Communal riots have become a part of Indian psyche; we live with it, albeit with a feeling of pain and remorse.

Decoding Intolerance: Riots
and the Emergence of
Terrorism in India;
Prateep K. Lahiri
Roli; Rs 395

The Allahabad High Court’s judgment on the 60-year-old Ayodhya issue on September 24, 2010 may trigger another round of communal frenzy if we do not bury the past. Why is it that six decades since Independence, the country still suffers from communal riots and we are not able to do much about it? Why has the problem of communal riots not been resolved with the passing of the years? People are killed, women are raped, children are burnt alive, houses are set ablaze, and the country witnesses all this with a sense of loss.

As such, it is important that this recurring and entrenched problem has attracted the attentions of P K Lahiri, who has had a distinguished career in the civil service as an Indian Administrative Service officer spanning 36 years. Lahiri, who served as secretary in the ministries of mines and finance, had earned a reputation for being upright, fearless and honest. Lahiri has several encounters with communal riots during his career, and his experiences and sharp sense of social responsibility in dealing with this problem have probably prompted him to explore the subject. He does so with both objectivity and a personal touch that lend greater credence to his arguments. Thus, Decoding Intolerance: Riots and the Emergence of Terrorism in India is a very different kind of book that provides a hands-on analysis of a social reality that India and Indians need to understand and face.

Full report here Business Standard

Poets, writers join chorus of refrain on Ayodhya verdict

Even as the Supreme Court deferred the Babri Masjid verdict by a week, poets, writers and religious leaders gathered to support the ‘refrain’ call given by other minority leaders at a press meet. The meet was organised by Urdu Markaz, an organisation promoting Urdu and its writers, on Wednesday evening at Imamwada in Bhendi Bazar.

The writers called for “no celebration or no mourning”, and backed the court’s stance. “In a way, it’s good that it got deferred for a week.The court did a good thing of putting this off to a future date,” said Hassan Kamal, a poet who chaired the briefing. The meet was attended by Markaz members Prof Aisha Shaikh, Azra Khan, Shahzad Siddiqui, Fayy-az Ahmed Faizi, Haroon Afro-ze, Ram Puniyani, Zubair Azmi and Maulana Mustaqeen.

“The issue has been hijacking a lot of things for years. It is good that there will soon be some decision on it,” said Kamal. Calling Ayodhya-Babri not just a religious but also a political issue, the writers acknowledged that the problem was a result of the passiveness shown by the liberals in India.

Full report here DNA

Shaharyar conferred Indian honor

Fifteen Indian poets brought the annual celebration of Urdu poetry alive with their choicest couplets as legendary professor Shaharyar, professor Waseem Barelvi and Meraj Faizabadi did the star turn at a Mushaira (poetry gathering) here on Thursday.

Ghazal, the traditional genre of Urdu poetry, was the penchant of all poets during the evening, but some of them stole the thunder with their impeccable content and delivery of the lyrical rhyme and metered verse that was enjoyed by a crowd of over 2,000.

For Shaharyar, his visit to this holy land proved rewarding with India conferring on him the most-coveted literary Gyanpeeth Award for 2008 on Friday. An elated Shaharyar thanked the jury for recognizing his services to Urdu.

This year’s annual mushaira, organized by the Indian Pilgrims Welfare Forum (IPWF), began with the connoisseurs of Urdu poetry receiving the initial fare on a lukewarm note.

Full report here Arab News

Raees Amrohi’s 22nd death anniversary today

Sep 22 marks the 22nd death anniversary of Syed Muhammad Mehdi, known as Raees Amrohi. A noted Pakistani scholar, Urdu poet and psychoanalyst, Amrohi was assassinated on September 22, 1988.

Born on September 12, 1914 in Amroha, India, to a notable family of scholars, almost all of Amrohi’s family members were poets. He migrated to Pakistan on October 19, 1947 and settled in Karachi.

He was known for his unique style of Qatanigari (quatrain writing). For many decades, he penned quatrains every day for Pakistan's largest daily Urdu newspaper, Jang. Amrohi was a supporter of the Urdu language and Pakistan’s Urdu-speaking people.

Amrohi cannot be classified as a psychoanalyst in the traditional sense, as he perceived psychology spiritually, rather than scientifically.

Full report here Samaa

Urdu: a shared legacy

The decline of Urdu is not a recent phenomenon. In 1900, Anthony MacDonnell, Governor of the United Provinces, sounded the death knell of Urdu. He passed an order that it should not be used as the official bureaucratic language. Since then, and arguably even before that, Urdu and the culture associated with it has slowly eroded. As a language, Urdu is in the unique position of having been originally created as a bridge between people who spoke different languages in India. Muslims who came to India between the 11th century right up to Mughal times may have come as conquerors. But, unlike the British, they stayed and made India their home.

All these people spoke languages which were not native to India; Persian, Turkic languages like Chaghatai and Dari. However, in order to communicate and interact, Urdu was created. It drew in Arabic, Persian, Turkish and Hindi and, therefore, was spoken by people regardless of caste or creed. However, in 1901, in a census by the British, the language fell prey to communalisation. Urdu was listed as a Muslim language and Hindi as a Hindu one. These distinctions had never been made before and the poetry of people like Brij Narayan ‘Chakbast’, Gopi Chand ‘Aman’ and Pandit Harichand ‘Akhtar’ testifies to this.

Full report here Hindustan Times

I don’t want to write from New York, London or Delhi: Tabish Khair

Author and poet Tabish Khair left India at the age of 24. Born and educated in Gaya and today an associate professor at the University of Aarhus, Denmark, Khair rejects labels like ‘diasporic’ and ‘multicultural’. However, a keen awareness of his displaced identity is evident in his latest works, the novel The Thing About Thugs and his collection of poems, Man Of Glass.

In the latter, he takes the works of three writers from different eras — Sanskrit dramatist Kalidas, Urdu poet Mirza Ghalib and Danish writer HC Anderson — and makes them his own, in content and form. On a recent visit to Mumbai, Khair spoke to DNA about his literary preoccupations, his identity as a writer, and his relationship with the languages he grew up with.

How did you conceive of The Thing About Thugs? 
I had grown tired of the recent multicultural novel based in contemporary London. They make a claim of knowing the native, a claim I can’t accept. I had also done some reading about the thugees and felt that the British narrative on them was just one side of the story. There were lots of other stories that hadn’t been told. And I had a similar feeling about Victorian London. So the two combined to create this novel. Also, in some way, London of that time reminded me of the situation in India today in terms of the difference of wealth.

Full interview here DNA

The story thus far...

Seasoned author Joginder Paul shares the crests and troughs of Urdu in Delhi, the city of immigrants

It is difficult not to like Joginder Paul, the silver-haired 85-year-old author, much hailed and translated. Measured words, generous smiles, one moment he comes across as a family patriarch on a relaxed late summer afternoon: a cotton kurta on his body, a cigarette placed between his fingers and a mop of hair that constantly demands attention. Next moment he is a scholar whose every sentence comes cloaked with words of wisdom. Sitting in his unpretentious study in South Delhi, Paul has a black-and-white painting of Ghalib on his right, and Saadat Hasan Manto peers from a calendar just behind him even as Krishna keeps a silent watch. There is Kabir too, another painting reminding us of the varied hues of the gentleman's tastes. This Sunday, he heads to Aurangabad, where 500 of his admirers and former students (Paul was college principal for over a decade there) gather to felicitate him on Gratitude Day.

Predictably enough he is on the ball from the first sentence. “I am a Punjabi who speaks Punjabi at home. I read and taught English in college for a living, and write in Urdu.” Paul, clearly, has the talent for making anomalies sound not just normal but also desirable. Pratibha India has just reproduced a story he wrote in the 1970s, but Paul is in no mood to wallow in nostalgia. “Nostalgia is natural at my age, but I don't bank upon the past. Nostalgia makes you feel old. Courage to play the fool makes me feel young.”

Full report here Hindu

Yaraana: A bittersweet symphony

It is indeed orchestrated that I succeeded my first brush (R. Raj Rao’s Hostel Room 131 with queer literature, with another: Yaraana, Gay Writing from South Asia, edited by Hoshang Merchant.

A novel exploration of gay sexual identity and men lovestruck by men, Yaraana makes for interesting reading. Only after I put this anthology down, do I discover that Yaraana was first published in 1999. In this extended version, the novel emphasises the timelessness of its collection. Queer themed (and often, not necessarily) pieces in English and translated from Gujarati, and Urdu and Marathi.

Yaraana begins on a comprehensive note, in an introduction by editor Hoshang Merchant. Merchant traces contemporary and past societal notions of everything queer, leaving you to marvel at the expanse of the genre's literature.

Full report here IBNLive

The man about history

Professor Mushirul Hasan appears not to be in a hurry. Sitting inside his large office chamber, with beautiful colonial-era furniture, Prof. Hasan, the new director general of the National Archives of India (NAI), looks as carefree as a retired man.

The 61-year-old academic, author of several books on Indian history, talks in a singsong voice; he laughs easily and peppers his conversation with amusing Urdu couplets. Soon, however, he comes to the point. “I want the Archives to be like London’s British Library, which is wonderful in terms of collection, conservation, preservation and, most importantly, accessibility.”

As the storehouse of the non-current records of the Indian government, the NAI, situated on Janpath close to India Gate, has thousands of rare old books, documents and lithographs piled up on various floors. While researching here for his book The Last Mughal: The Fall of a Dynasty (Delhi 1857), author William Dalrymple discovered previously unexamined manuscripts that present the Indian perspective on the 1857 mutiny. “All the Urdu research for the book was done there,” says Dalrymple. “The archive contains the biggest and fullest colonial archive in India.”

Full report here Mint

Scholar wins award for translation

Prominent scholar and litterateur Mrs. Asma Saleem was awarded Sahitya Akademi’s award for her Urdu translated book Safar at a ceremony in Panaji on August 20.

The Sahitya Akademi translation awards presentation ceremony was held at the Kala Academy’s Dinanath Mangeshkar hall. The welcome speech was delivered by the secretary of Sahitya Akademi, Mr Agrahar Krishnamurti. The president of Sahitya Akademi, Mr Sunil Gangopadhyay presided over the function.

The chief guest for the function was eminent Malayalam writer, M T Vasudevan Nair. The vice-president of Sahitya Akademi, Mr Sutindar Singh Noor presented the vote of thanks.

Translators of 23 languages were awarded for their contribution on the occasion including Asma Saleem, the translation award winner in Urdu, 2009.

Full report here TwoCircles

Salvaging pride

With subtlety in accent, royal touch in approach and tenderness in pronunciation, Urdu language has the capacity to impress and leave a firm impression on the hearts and minds of anyone who hears it. Such is the charm of Urdu that understanding becomes secondary.

This is precisely why the lovers of Urdu around the country treat the language and the customs associated with it as sacred. Yet a language that has more than five crore speakers in India seems to be losing its charm and glory.

A major catalyst in the struggle for India's freedom, Urdu journalism has lost its flair and dignity post independence. The conditions at present are not positive. Delving on the future of Urdu journalism, eminent personalities gathered at the India Islamic Cultural Centre recently to express their concern and offer suggestions to improve the current state of the Urdu language in general and Urdu journalism in particular.

Eighty five-year-old renowned Urdu journalist, G. D. Chandan was present on the occasion along with Shahid Siddique, the editor of Nai Duniya. Columnist Zafar Agha also lent his voice.

Full report here Hindu

Indian gets Pak’s highest civilian awards

A noted Urdu litterateur Shamsur Rahman Faruqi from Allahabad in Uttar Pradesh has been chosen by Pakistan for one of its highest civilian awards Sitaara-e-Imtiyaz.

Faruui has received this information from Iftikhar Arif, noted Urdu poet and Pakistani scholar who heads the National Language Authority.

Born in 1935 Shamsur Rahman Faruqi is an eminent Urdu critic, poet and theorist. He is regarded as the founder of the new movement in Urdu literature and has formulated fresh models of literary appreciation.

He has done his post graduation in English from Allahabad University in 1955 and worked as a civil servant in the Indian Postal Department and other departments of the Government of India from 1958-1994 and became Chief Postmaster-General and Member, Postal Services Board, New Delhi.

Full report here Samachar Today