Eminent poet Mehboob Azmi remembered

ISLAMABAD: Mehboob Azmi made the country’s common, social and political life the subject of his poetry and criticises the drawbacks in our society with light humor. These views were expressed by speakers on the launching ceremony of two humorous poetry books titled “Mukarrar Kahay Baghair” and “Kaisay Kahoon” written by prominent poet and writer Mehboob Azmi on the occasion of his second death anniversary.

The event was arranged by the literary organisation Inheraf in collaboration with Pakistan Academy of Letters. Ejaz Raheem and Professor Dr Alamgir Hashmi were the chief guests.

The speakers said that Mehboob Azmi’s poetry is different from other humorous poets as he penned sensitive issues and highlighted inefficiencies of our society. Ejaz Raheem said Azmi’s poetry gets his readers close to ground realities. The poet, he said, was aware of the rationalised use of his words and phrases and could justify reflecting humane characteristics. Rahim was of the view that Azmi’s books are milestones in humorous Urdu literature.

Dr Hashmi said that Azmi’s poetry contains all the qualities of good humour that has the ability to last for a long time. The poet has covered all aspects of our contemporary life, Dr Hashmi said.

Sarfraz Shahid said the major portion of his humorous poetry consists of Qat’aat in which he described social, political and economic themes in a light vein. Dr Nisar Turabi commented that Mehboob Azmi manages a special cultural taste in his poetry and never used a word without any cultural reference. This makes his poetry rich. He said that Azmi has a refined cultured attitude towards the use of words in his poetry.

Anjum Khaliq said unlike other humorous poets, he chose serious national issues to comment through poetry and used poetry as a tool to rectify the deficiencies of society. He has equal command and excellence in different forms of poetry. He called him a poet of Akbar Alahabadi’s tradition whose poetry is a mixture of humour and social awareness. Manzoorul Wahab praised his true and honest personality and said that he was well versed and wrote a parody of Iqbal’s “Shikwa” in very concise language.

Published in The Express Tribune, January 9^th, 2011.