In memory of Faiz: Yawning crowd suffers through evening of drab poetry

Poets from India join Makhdoom Amin Fahim to recite work.

KARACHI: Had Faiz Ahmad Faiz been alive and had attended a Musharia in his memory on Saturday night, he would have returned grim-faced, frustrated and disappointed in what has emerged as the state of Urdu poetry in this part of the world.

Reacting to this suggestion, cynical though, one of the poets present there nodded in agreement and added, “In fact, Faiz the Poet just died today.”

The International Peace Mushaira was part of the three-day Faiz centennial celebrations organised by Faiz lovers under the umbrella of the Sindh government. The evocative ambience of Frere Hall Garden, where the evening was organized, was simply captivating and enthralling.

However, for reasons best known to the organisers of the event, none of the acknowledged names in the World of Muses in Karachi and Lahore were in attendance. And what the amateurs referred to as their compositions, ghazals or nazms, left many in the audience struggling for want of comprehension.

The mushaira was supposed to take off at 10pm but the compere, Shakil Jafery, only managed to declare a start to the festivities at midnight. No less than 28 poets recited their work - all, with the exception of a few, failing to strike a chord with the audience which was much smaller than the capacity and the arrangements the organisers had provided for. By 3am it was, however, all over.

Halfway through the mushaira, one of the poets took the microphone to complain about the non-responsive crowd, little realising that it is the poetry with its content, rhythm and rhyme, its imagery and diction, idiomatic expression and construction that earns appreciation and applause from the audience.

Mercifully, Sabiha Saba, Nasim Syed and Gohar Raza from India sounded fresh, meaningful and close to the traditions of the art and craft of Urdu poetry. Others who read at the mushaira, presided over by senior Sindhi poet Imdad Husaini, included Mahjabeen Ghazal, Haris Khaleeq, Sadaf Mirza, Mukhtar Ali, Afzal Sahir, Shabbir Ali Shah, Farhat Parveen, Kamal Azhar, Yashab Tammana, Fehmida Riaz, Javed Saba, Rehana Rohi, Basir Sultan, Masroor Javed, Abdul Ahad, Ishrat Afrin, Sehar Imdad, Sarwat Mohiuddin, Ashfaq Hussain, Anwar Shaoor, besides the federal commerce minister Makhdoom Amin Fahim.

Published in The Express Tribune, November 21^st, 2011.