Former Law Minister and noted public intellectual Ashwani Kumar, who had penned books on politics and democracy, gave a glimpse of another aspect of his multifaceted personality on Monday evening. This time round, he has put together an anthology of poems of 60 well-known Urdu poets.
Titled Ehsas-o-Izhar (Niyogi Books), the compilation was released by former Vice-President Hamid Ansari with the first copy being presented to former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh. The release was followed by a discussion between noted lyricist Javed Akhtar, writer-translator Pavan K. Varma and the author.
Describing the book as an “autobiographical endeavour”, Mr. Kumar, said, “Encompassing love, pain, longing, hope and happiness, the verses are a reflection of my life as a politician, lawyer, and my personal experiences.”
When asked how he zeroed in on the 60 poets, the eminent lawyer explained, “I chose the different verses on the basis of the impact they had on me in my personal, political and social life over the years. These influenced my thinking, resonated with me and gave meaning to my life. The substance of a couplet is always appreciated with reference to one’s circumstances. That is the first principle of poetry appreciation. A poem is not an expression of a thought in a vacuum. It is only when a poet feels something, that he pens it down and if you can relate to it then the verse is yours like Iftikhar Arif’s ‘ Dayar-e-noor mein tera Shabon ka sathi ho, koi to ho meri vehshaton ka saathi ho ’ resonated with my desire for companionship. That was my talisman on choosing from the vast repertoire of poems by innumerable poets.”
The poets included in the anthology are Mir Taqi Mir, Bahadur Shah Zafar, Mirza Ghalib, Allama Iqbal, Jigar Muradabadi, Josh Malihabadi, Sahir Ludhianvi, Madan Lal Didi, Dagh Dehalvi, Rahat Indori, Indira Varma, Momim, Salim Kausar, and others. The verses are in Devanagri (Hindi) and Roman (English) script. When asked why the poems were not in Urdu, Mr. Kumar said, “The idea was to reach out to a vast number of people, many of whom can’t read the Urdu script but long to know about these poems and poets.”
Agreeing with him, Mr. Varmasaid, “Urdu is not dependent on any script. Its beauty itself is enough to draw people in droves. This collection will be beneficial for many, especially the young, who are eager to know Urdu verses.” Mr. Akhtar pointed out, “Most of us are not even aware of the Urdu words we use in daily life. Majority of the Hindi film dialogues and lyrics are in Urdu.”
He quipped: “ Jab tak samajh aata hai, log sochte hain ki Hindi hai, jab nahin to khete hai Urdu hai .” The collection is divided into five chapters, namely, love, life, politics, philosophy and separation and longing. “These are basic themes of Urdu poetry, and I chose them to put the verses that have special meaning to me,” said Dr. Kumar. The function concluded with Dr. Kumar reading out poems by Indira Varma and Kalim Aziz, and rendering of ghazals by Radhika Chopra.
Held at a five-star hotel in the city, the event was attended by the Capital’s who’s who, including Dr. Murli Manohar Joshi, former Chief Justice of India, T.S. Thakur, Sheila Dixit, Kamal Nath, Anand Sharma, Professor Shamim Hanfi among others.
