Power of simple poetry

She was one of the first women to make a name in the male-dominated field of Urdu poetry, yet Zehra Nigah refuses to be labelled as a woman poet. In one of her earlier interviews on DD, Zehra Aapa, as she is fondly known, agrees that a shayar has no gender and has never allowed the binary to dictate her choice of words or verses. However, she admits that it was because of her ‘feminine’ sensibilities that she could write about the compulsions and compromises of being a woman so honestly and realistically.

On the other hand, her poetic sensibilities have not allowed her to make any compromises about her writings. In a career spanning six decades, she has only published four slim collections. In ‘The Story of Eve: Selected Poems’, Rakhshanda Jalil has translated 65 nazms and 11 ghazals by her. It is the first-ever collection of Zehra’s poems in English in a book form.

Born in 1936 in Hyderabad, Zehra’s family migrated to Karachi in 1947. Writing and reciting her poetry since school days, Zehra has been an active witness to the subcontinent’s evolving history. Some of her poems have strong social and political themes, while others allude to the simple joys or sorrows of life. However, her idiom remains feminine, imagery domestic and words simple.

And within this simple framework, she has written some astute poems reflecting the social and political realities of our times. ‘Bhejo Nabi ji Rehmatein’ is about the atrocities on women of East Pakistan in 1971 by West Pakistani soldiers. Written in her usual classicist style, the nazm is full of everyday domestic imagery and how that calm is shattered by violence. ‘Qissa Gul Badshah’, ‘Suna Hai’, ‘Insaaf’, ‘Ijlaas’, ‘Aik Sipahi Ke Naam’, all carry powerful political statements.

Her women-centric poems have a fine balance between femininity and feminism. Whether it is ‘Main Bach Gayi Ma’, ‘Samjhauta’, ‘Hawwa ki Kahani’, ‘Yahaan Dildar Begum Dafn Hai’, ‘Eik Ladki’, these aptly portray the emotional, physical and social compromises women have to make.

Besides her writing, her graceful, saree-clad presence and lyrical renditions ever since her first mushaira in Delhi in 1953, have mesmerised audiences across India and Pakistan. Despite the presence of established poets like Faiz Ahmad Faiz, Jigar Muradabadi, Firaq Gorakhpuri alongside a young Zehra in many of the mushairas, it was her tarannum that would elicit calls of mukarrar (encore) from her growing legion of admirers.

Known for her traditional and classic style, Zehra may have started her journey with ghazals, but it is her nazms that have increasingly broken new grounds. Rakhshanda says in the ‘Introduction’ that whether nazm or ghazal, Zehra’s effortless ability to say ‘big’ things in a conversational manner leaves the maximum impact. These translations suitably capture the essence and lyricism of Zehra Nigah’s poetry.