Faiz – the subtle slip

It was back in the days when post offices were in business and one would spot a perspiring khaki-clad postman cycling under the scorching sun, delivering letters at the doorsteps. A letter addressed to ‘Faiz, Pakistan’ would reach no other place but to Faiz’s home. So I read on the pages of the Nuskhaa Ha-e-Wafa — the complete anthology of Faiz’s works.

So popular was he. Such was his influence. After Iqbal, arguably Faiz is rated as the most respected poet and thinker in the literary history of the country. Whether it was “Mujh se pehli se mohabbat” immortalised by the legendary Noor Jehan or “Hum dekhein ge” by equally majestic Iqbal Bano, his poetry continues to reverberate off and on at gatherings of land-lovers.

Few would have highlighted the ills of a society without first expressing love for the land as this Sialkot-born poet did in the unforgettable poem, “Nisar mein tere galiyon ke”. He was, and is, loved for his ideas, craft and humane attributes.

But, on his birth anniversary, which is being observed today, when all shall be praising him for the revolutionary spirit that he infused in three consecutive generations, I have a problem with him that I wish to bring to the fore: Faiz’s poetry is replete with Urdu and Persian words, which often renders it incomprehensible to many.

Indeed, Faiz could have been worth much more than what he turned out to be had he, along with Urdu, written in Punjabi. He could have reached out to many more people who needed his vision and more importantly, he could have set a tradition of writing in the language that one thinks in. He could have set in motion a trend in poetry that we so badly need, which is that of not shying away from writing in the mother tongue.

Faiz himself is reported to have said in a private gathering that he ought to have written more in his mother tongue, Punjabi. Faiz sahib, I, for one, am not content with what you have left in the Punjabi — I crave for more.

Published in The Express Tribune, February 13^th, 2014.