LITERARY NOTES: Doha Literary Festival

The 15th Majlis-i-Faroogh-i-Urdu Adab Award and Mushaira ceremonies were held in Doha, Qatar, in a grand manner last week. Doha is becoming an important cultural centre for Arabic, English, Urdu and other South Indian languages and hardly any day passes when a celebrity doesn't perform on its stages.
The sports activities are also touching feverish heights after the Asian games and the new high-rise buildings in the West Bay area on a vast track of land reclaimed from the sea attracts even Western visitors. It could be safely asserted that no sub-continental metropolis could match the West Bay enclave post-modern quarter. The awardees for 2011's Awards were Urdu and Arabic scholar S. M. Kazim from Pakistan and famous poet, short story writer and Indian film director Gulzar whose fame has spread far and wide.
As one who has been attending Doha Festival from many years along with Dr Gopi Chand Narang as speakers on the Awardees, I think that this year's ceremonies were more glittering and exciting for having Gulzar as one of the Awardees. Pakistani and Indian communities thronged the award ceremony and the mushaira night to greet the poets and scholars from the sub-continent.
Gulzar's love for Urdu is exceptionally passionate. His recital of poem 'Urdu' at the award night and mushaira drew applause from the audience. Gulzar who hails from a Sikh family of Deena, a village in Jhelum (Pakistani Punjab). Born in 1936, His real name Sampooran Singh has almost gone into the shade. Gulzar is his pseudonym and the actual name for most of his fans.
His 'poem' Urdu was almost a love letter addressed to Urdu enumerating to the language itself the beauties it carries. For him Urdu's civilising influence is its greatest asset. He also recited a poem on 'Ghalib' from his wonderful TV serial 'Ghalib' which almost created a history. His poems are known for the day-to-day images of common man's experience and have a dramatic beginning. They carry images in a dramatic sequence with a pleasing twist in the end.
One feels that there is nothing extraordinary in the 'content' but the composition of the poem bewitches the listeners and readers. His poetry adores mainly the form of prose-poem which has found in Gulzar an ideal practitioner of the craft. His compositions have passion, rhythm and a lyrical imagination therefore all those prose-poets who lack this combination, perfected by Baudelaire and Mallarme, in mid 19th century in France have to keep in mind Gulzar if they want to be successful otherwise much of that effort will be consigned to the dustbin of history.
Gulzar is also a successful short story writer and the long list of his successful film scripts proves that the twist of knife technique of his story-telling was instrumental in making him an icon in Bollywood's film industry. His success as a loveable man, short story writer, poet and director is amazing and it could be said that he; by his affirmation of Urdu as his language in India where this language was proud of having more Hindu publishers of newspapers and journals than the Muslims, was targeted for the blame game as the language of Muslims. Nothing could be wrong than this accusation as all linguists of India believe that Urdu sprang from the shorseni Upbhransh Prakrit of Sanskrit in the adjoining area of Rohilkhand and Haryana.
Firaq Gorakhpuri, the famous poet of Urdu called it the language of Jats of Haryana and Western UP the area of Khadi Boli. It is strange that the modern Hindi has also cast itself in the mould of Khadi Boli. It is for this reason that all glotto chronological tests have shown that these two languages are twins and refuse to be separated from each other. The only dividing factor is religious background of the user/speaker, which tends to use more Persian/Arabic words in Urdu and more Sanskrit words in Hindi. Hence Mahatma Gandhi had accepted that both languages should be called Hindustani in Devnagri and Urdu script. Had not the battle of scripts been allowed to create a 'wedge' between the two, the history of the sub-continent could be different today. No use of crying over spilt-milk now. The die has been cast.
However the language of Gulzar's poetry can still be called 'Hindustani' inspite of the Himalayan blunder of 'surgery' that has resulted in disjointing the twins. The awardee from Pakistan was Syed Muhammad Kazim an Urdu and Arabic scholar who has translated many books of Maulana Maudodi and Dr Fazlur Rahman into Urdu besides penning quite a few scholarly books in Urdu.
Born in Rahim Yar Khan, S. M. Kazim is a lucid writer and started his career from Hanif Ramay's weekly 'Nusrat'. His next port of call was Ahmed Nadeem Qasimi's 'Funoon' in 1963 and he along with his friend Muhammad Khalid Akhtar. He writes letter in a great style and his letters in Ghalibean style and novel 'Chakiwara Mein Wisal' have enjoyed popularity.
S. M. Kazim enjoys the rare distinction of writing in Arabic journals of Morocco and Algeria and hence it was a good treat to Doha to have a proficient Arabic writer as an awardee from Pakistan. I have known S. M. Kazim, for the last 40-45 years and the way he has carried himself all these years is praise worthy. My hearty congratulations to both of them.
Mushaira Doha Mushaira has always been a treat to poetry lovers Gulzar was the obvious choice for presiding over it. He did so with perfect grace. The other poets were Peerzada Qasim Raza Siddiqui, Manzar Bhopali, Popular Meerathi Aslam Kolsari, Fakhri, Dr Taqi Abedi , Ashfaq Hussain, Shabina Hameed, Dr Qaiser Kaleem, Syed Mansoor Abbas Rizvi, Abdul Fareed Nadvi, Wasi Shah, Fartash Syed, Jahan Ara Tabassum, Najid, Waheed Malik etc etc.
Gulzar, Peerzada Qasim, Popular Meerathi, Fakhri and Manzar Bhopali drew more applause than others. Gulzar was the main difference. The way he recited his poems particularly on Urdu and Mirza Ghalib moved all, even himself. He was in tears when he recited some of his nostalgic poems saying that countries could be divided but not languages.
The chief guest of the Mushaira was Moosa Zainul Moosa Advisor to Qatar's Minister of Culture and Heritage. In his presidential address he welcomed Urdu poets and writers from India and Pakistan and said that he is happy that Bazm-i-Farogh-i-Urdu Adab is playing a laudable role. He thanked Muhammad Atiq and his dedicated team.
Pakistan's Ambassador Muhammad Sarfaraz Ahmed Khanzada and Indian charged affairs Sanjiv Kohli were the guests of honour while this writer and Dr Gopichand Narang were Mehmanan-e-Aizazi of the event. The Pakistan troupe was feted by Pakistan's ambassador who also invited Pakistani poets and writers to Pakistan Educational Centre, an imposing and huge building with a capable faculty being headed by its Principal, Nargis Raza Audh.
The visit to the school was really a happy experience. The way Khanzada, Pakistan's ambassador and Pre6sident of the Board of Governors, of the school has worked for the renovation and uplift of the school with a cost of 3.2 million Qatari Riyals made me think why shouldn't we have school like the Qatar's P.E.C in Pakistan as well.