At a time when Urdu language is losing patronage among native speakers, it seems to strike a chord elsewhere. Its poetic form in particular has many followers both within and outside the country. Interestingly, in the land of Uncle Sam too Urdu is making waves, and not just out of curiosity.
Celia Bell, a student of Columbia University, is a case in point. Charmed by the musical quality of the language, she has come all the way from New York to Hyderabad to do research on two women Urdu poets of the 18th century, poets that Hyderabadis themselves have almost forgotten. She has chosen little known poets like Mah Laqa Bai Chanda and Luft-un-Nisa Imtiyaz for her research. Their works have not generated much critical appreciation and this is precisely the reason why Bell would like to explore them.
Maha Laqa Bai was the first women poet with a diwan (published works) of her own. A woman of great beauty, she was a courtesan during the reign of Nizam II and III. Luft-un-Nisa was also a sahibaan-e-diwan poetess with a rich collection of ghazals and masnavis. She wrote under the penname ‘Imtiyaz’.
During the last one month she is here, Bell’s mission has stirred quite a bit of interest and is drawing quiet admiration among Urdu circles. “It is interesting to take up studies on writers on whom not many have researched. I hope I will be able to throw fresh light on these poetesses,” she remarks.
Bell plans to explore the ‘gendered voices’ in the poetry of Mah Laqa Bai and Luft-un-Nisa. She will also delve into the technical elements of their works and their impact on Deccani literature. This project will be of immense help to Bell who wants to do Ph.D on contemporary literature and South Asian Studies. She is in India as part of the Fulbright-Nehru Student Research Programme.
But why in the world she has chosen Urdu literature for research? “I am much drawn to Urdu. It is a sweet language. The best part is its poetry which casts a spell,” says the 24-year-old who is quite familiar with the language by virtue of having studied Hindi at the undergraduate level.
“ Main padh sakti hoon, bol sakti hoon aur likh sakti hoon (I can read, speak and write),” she says in Americanised accent. But she feels shy of speaking in Urdu for fear of committing mistakes. “That’s why I am conversing with you in English,” she laughs.
Bell is all appreciation for Dr Habeeb Nisar, her research guide at the University of Hyderabad. The University is her host institution during her nine-month long project work. A self driven resercher, Bell has been poring over books in libraries and has found little time to explore the nawabi city. She is looking forward to the trek to Maula Ali to look up the mausoleum of Mah Laqa Bai.
Who are her favourite Urdu poets? Mirza Ghalib, Iqbal and Faiz – she reels out the names. But she is more fond of Ghalib whom she considers the Shakespeare of Urdu. She backs her claim by reciting this famous couplet of Ghalib:
Baske hoon Ghalib aseeri main bhi aatishe zere pa
Mue aatish deedah, hai halqa meri zanjeer ka
(Whereas, even in bondage, there is fire under my feet Ghalib
The chain that binds me is merely curls of singed hair)
She further recites verses from the works of Faiz Ahmed Faiz -
Ye daagh daagh ujaala, ye shab-gazidar sahr
Ye wo sahr to nahin jiski aarzu lekar
Chale the yaar ke mil jaiegi kahin na khain
(The stain-tainted light, this night-bitten dawn
That we were waiting for, this is not that morning
This is not the morning, in whose yearning
We had set out full of hope that we will surly find)
Bell took to writing early in her life. A good number of her short stories in English have appeared in New York Times Magazine and literary journals like Five Points and Bomb Magazine . Will she write in Urdu too? She only flashes a big smile by way of answer.
