CSA’S
EVENING WITH NIDA FAZLI. 18 Aug 2013
“Kabhi kisi ko mukammal jahaan nahi milta
kahin
zami to kahin aasmaa nahi milta.”
“Hoshwalon
Ko Khabar Kya
Bekhudi Kya Cheez Hai
Ishq Ki Jaye Phir Samajhiye
Zindagi Kya Cheez Hai….”
Bekhudi Kya Cheez Hai
Ishq Ki Jaye Phir Samajhiye
Zindagi Kya Cheez Hai….”
“Tu is
tarah se meri zindagi mein shameel hai
jahan bhi jaun yeh lagta hai teri mehfil hai….”
Immortal lyrics, these! We have been humming them for quite a
while now. So much so that they have become part of our day-to-lives. So how do
we react when the composer of these verses decides to visit our city? We throng
in large numbers to get perhaps a fleeting glimpse of the man who has said so
much on our behalf, so much love, emotion, pain and ecstasy in the most appropriate,
in the barest minimum words!
This is exactly what happened today when Chandigarh Sahitya
Akademi organized a session with the Urdu poet lyricist Muqtida Hasan Nida Fazli, popularly known as Nida
Fazli, who has been writing verses for almost
half a decade now. At the UT Guest House
the hall overflowed with listeners who listened with rapt attention as Nida
Fazli recited poem after poem, one doha
after another, ghazal after ghazal. He was quite unstoppable. When the torrent
of poetry stopped the audience would not let him go. They engaged him in a
lively conversation, not just about his poetry but also on wide-ranging topics,
from the language used by poets to the politicization of literature, from the
literature of partition to the commercial aspects of lyricism today. Nida
Fazli, being the seasoned veteran and expert public orator that he is, remained
unfazed as he engaged with the audience.
Mr Fazli is an extremely well-read man. He makes frequent
references to Amir Khusrau, to T.S. Eliot, Wordsworth, Whitman and other
writers from across the globe. At the same time he comes across as well-rooted
in Indian culture and tradition, bonding strongly with the aam aadmi, the
common man rather than the privileged classes. He is a man deeply committed to
literature and repeatedly emphasized the need to respect men of letters. The
worth of a society, according to him may be measured by the respect it shows to
its writers. He does not believe in barriers that divide man from man. On the
contrary, he is convinced of a common human spirit pervading mankind, no matter
what religion and background one hails from.
'Duniya
jise kehte hain jaadu kaa Khilona hai
Mil jaaye
to mitti hai kho jaaye to sona hai'.
The evening had
a certain magic about it: the golden halo of poetic creativity that surrounded the
poet seemed to expand and grow to such an extent that it enveloped the entire
audience sitting in the hall and also spilling out of it. There was a bonding
between the speaker and the listeners which lingered long after the session
came to an end.
Some photographs of the session are attached. Others will soon be available
on CSA’s FB and Blog.
