Remembering Sahir

Nonika Singh

Mein pal do pal ka shayar hoon pal do pal meri kahani hai

So wrote the inimitable poet Sahir Ludhianvi. Yet, decades after his demise his voice resonates, his immortal poetry lives on and his persona is firmly etched in the memory of those who knew him personally. Jung Bahadur Goyal, a literary figure and former IAS officer, recites his poems one after the other, without a pause. Reminiscing about Sahir, back in time somewhere in 1970, he remembers the golden jubilee function of Government College for Boys, Ludhiana, where Sahir was conferred a gold medal. Proud to be part of the same alma mater, Goyal recalls the legendary poet as an exceptionally shy person, sensitive and serious. 

Similar thoughts are expressed by Dr Kewal Dhir, who has been organising Jashan-e-Sahir for the past 46 years. Many of these were graced by the poet himself. Hailing him as a writer who created a place for poets and poetry in the Hindi film industry, he remembers Sahir’s undying love for Ludhiana, the city he put on the map of the world and consciousness of the nation. How he refused to take any remuneration from him for mushairas and called himself mejbaan(host), remembers Dr Dheer with a sense of wonder and awe. “Here was a man who never forgot his debt and gratitude to his city,” he adds. Goyal recites Sahir's poem matching these sentiments, “Mera naam jahan jahan pahuncha, wahi pahuncha mere dayar ka naam”. 

Chander Trikha, vice-chairman, Urdu Akademi, talks of his meetings with Sahir almost as if these were yesterday. Even though the ink in Sahir's pen was dipped in rebellion and often angst, Trikha too seconds what others say, “Undeniably, he was rather diffident on stage, not even once would he look at the audience who, anyway, stood mesmerised." What made him a cut above the rest is that he did not believe in jumlebazi, he wrote what he experienced, says Trikha.

A greater poet or an immortal lyricist... Goyal answers, “Lyricism is the culmination of a poetic heart. Forgetting him would be forgetting a tradition, lyricism and Urdu language,” he adds further.

But then people's poets live forever.