Journey from trauma to timelessness
Nasir Raza Kazmi or known eminently as Nazir Kazmi was largely considered as a melancholic poet, though his poems also reflect hope, love and happiness derived from longing, for someone or something. Nasir Kazmi (1925-1972), who was born in Ambala but later migrated to Lahore, was one of the pioneers of modern Urdu ghazals. His simple diction, lyricism, sensitivity and political awareness make him both a romantic and rebel of sorts. On World Poetry Day, city based academicians and literary critics, Prof Gurupdesh Singh and Dr Shelly Jaggi, talk about Kazmi’s life and legacy as they shed light on his most celebrated ghazals and nazms.
Prof Gurupdesh Singh, Guru Nanak Dev University’s former Professor, had translated some of the best urdu ghazals by Kazmi in his book, ‘Midnight Songs of Nasir Kazmi’. Describing him and his poetry, Gurupdesh Singh writes, “You can call him a downright romantic, a melancholic a brooding loner.” Nasir could never get over the trauma of leaving India and watching the ghastly division of land and people. That is why his poetry speaks of loss, nostalgia, grief and fleeting love. “His melancholic, at time ironic tone, bears testimony not only to the changing contours of human attitude, but also to the riotous times he lived in, like the partition. Juda huye hain bahut log ek tum bhi sahi, ab itni baat pe kya zindagi haraam karen,” says Prof Gurupdesh, who has extensively studied Kazmi’s works while researching for his book.
Nasir Kazmi died in March 1972 and around the same time last year Prof Gurupdesh Singh’s book ‘Midnight Songs of Nasir Kazmi’ an anthology of one hundred of his iconic ghazals in both Devanagari and English translation was published. Nasir Kazmi was one of the most loved modern poets of Urdu who belonged to India, but moved to Pakistan at the time of partition.
“We have loved his poems and repeatedly enjoyed them without ever realising that the lyricist behind them is Nasir. Remember Ghulam Ali’s Dil mein ik lehar si uthi hai abhi. Or Asha Bhonsle’s Dil dharkane ka sabab yaad aaya. Whether it’s Nusrat Fateh Ali’s Gham hai ya khushi hai tu or Noor Jahan’s Niyat e shauq bhar na jaye kahin, the list is endless; the only feature that binds them all is the sweet rhythm of Nasir Kazmi’s lyrics,” says Dr Shelly Jaggi, Assistant Professor at BBKDAV College for Women, Amritsar.
Dr Shelly Jaggi, analyses Kazmi’s ghazals as a means to translate his mourning and grief of losing loved ones, his home during the Partition of India, through words. “Nostalgia is one of the most prominent emotions that pervades all his poetry. Nasir mourns the loss of people, things, places that have been left behind. Farida Khanum, who sang his famous composition, Kaun is raah se guzarta hai, dil yun hi intezar karta hai. Or Hariharan, who reminds us as he sang Kazmi’s couplet, Mushkil hai fir milen kabhi yaarane-raftagan, taqdeer hi se ab ye karamaat ho to ho. The best example of romance and nostalgia is Mehdi Hasan’s ghazal Gali gali meri yaad bichhi hai pyare rasta dekh ke chal or Khalil Haider’s song Naye kapde badal kar jaun kahan,” Dr Jaggi reminisces.
Dr Jaggi says that Nasir was a night bird; he would stalk the streets of Lahore till late night, watch nature in its silence and speak to strangers. It was the most creative time for him, “Abida Parveen’s Ghazal Shahr sunsaan hai kidhar jayen, khaak ho kar kahin bikhar jayen sums up his romance with night. It was this peculiar character of Nasir that probably inspired Syed Asghar Wajahat to cast him in his famous play Jis Lahore nahi dekhya oh Jameya hi nahi.”
Nasir died at the age of 47. He died young, but his poems did not. In fact, they have grown in stature with every passing year. As known popularly, poetry gets a high tribute when he writes and Iqbal Bano sings Dayam abad rahegi duniya, ham na honge koi ham sa hoga.
