The era of Masihi Shairi or Christian Urdu poetry recitation will now virtually come to a halt because of the death of its patron, T. David Lall, whose pseudonym was “Ghayal”. Lall, a body builder and fitness expert became an educationist under the influence of his late wife Aleline who started a chain of institutions and finally St Mary’s Senior Secondary School in Ambika Vihar, past Paschim Vihar. His wife’s demise resulted in Lall acquiring a religious bent of mind and he started holding Masihi Shairi sessions every year around the time of his birthday on 5th August. Christians writing Urdu poetry were invited from all over North India to recite their poems at week-long conventions during which he arranged for their boarding and lodging and rounded off the annual function with a grand party. This was something unique as there was no other forum in the country (and even in Pakistan) which gave so much encouragement to a tradition begun in the 19th Century when such shairs as the Italian Filoses and Portuguese dySylvas, Fitrat and Maftoon, and the British Gardners of Etah — all writing impeccable Anglo-Indian Urdu poetry flourished. Among them was Ellen Christiana Gardner alias Raqia Sultan Begum who excelled in poignant verses at the expense of her lover: “Tujko qasam hai khuda ki jo zulm se baaz aiye” (you are abjured by God not to desist from your cruelty).
T.D. Lall, who passed away on July 23, aged 83, was buried in the War Cemetery at Brar Square and will be remembered as one who revived the little-known saga of Indo-European Urdu poetry in Delhi with his wife who came from the distinguished Jacob family of the curled-up hair. One of her uncles, Soloman Sahib, was the Urdu tutor at St Peter’s College, Agra, where the great revolutionary poet Josh Malihabadi also studied for some time. T.D. Lall’s contribution has to be viewed in the light of the over 200-year-old history of Anglo-Indian Urdu poetry.
European contribution
A paper written on the subject ; 50 years ago, says: “In the realm of Persian, Urdu and Hindi poetry and to a lesser degree in Sanskrit, the Europeans have made their contribution felt. It is to the painstaking research of Dr. Ram Babu Saxena and some others, that we owe our knowledge today of the intimate interest and the assimilation of the domiciled European with Indian culture.
“In his foreword to Dr. Saxena’s book, Sir Tej Bahadur Sapru said in October 1943, ‘Judging by the test of classical writers of Urdu or poets of the front rank, the poetry of many of the Europeans and Anglo-Indian writers in Persian and Urdu cannot be described to be of the highest order and yet, it is remarkable that some of them at any rate should have written graceful verse. In my youth, I came across several members of the Indian Civil Service who knew Urdu remarkably well. I can recollect Dr. Howard, who afterwards rose to be judicial commissioner at Lucknow. Dr. Hoey and Dr. Fisher commanded very graceful and correct Urdu idioms. There was, however, one Irishman who, in my opinion, stood unrivalled 40 years ago for his command of the Urdu language and that was Thomas Conlan, who for a whole generation was the leader of the Allahabad bar. Dr. William Hoey, was a scholar of great ability who occasionally also composed poems in Urdu. After retirement, he was a lecturer and reader in oriental languages at Trinity College, Dublin and at Oxford. An example of his Urdu verse is:
‘Hone ko hain is shehar men mashuq hazaron
Bechara Hoey ek hai kis kis ki khabar le’
(There are many beloveds in this city, poor Hoey is one, who is he to take care of them).
“Robert Paget Dewhurst ICS wrote ghazals in Urdu and his ‘takhulus’ (pseudonym) was ‘Saqib’.
“Among the other notable European poets were Colonel John Baille, Sir John Shore (late Lord Teigmouth ‘Shore’), General John Smith and Edward Henry Palmer, who was one of the very few distinguished Orientalists who wrote fluently and flawlessly in Eastern Language. Besides English he knew Romany (gypsy tongue), Italian and French. His knowledge of Arabic, Persian and Hindustani was vast. He translated Moore’s ‘Lalla Rookh’ into Arabic verse and his ‘Paradise and Peri’ into Persian verse.
“Zara muskarakar chhidak do namak tum, Keh muh zakhm ka bemaza ho raha hai.” (Smile and sprinkle some salt, the mouth of the wound is tasteless).
“Shakishtah Khatri hai furqat saqi men kuch aisi, Bohat milti hai tute jam se soorat mere dil ki” (I feel so broken in my longing that my heart greatly resembles a broken wine-cup). Benjamin Montrose ‘Muztar’ was also one such exponent.
“The number of Indo-British poets is perhaps the largest: Alexandar Heartherley ‘Azad’, General Joseph Bensley ‘Fana’, and Suleiman Shikoh Gardner ‘Fana’, wrote copiously and are considered outstanding among them. Heatherley was one of the best exponents of the Urdu verse. He was the pupil of Nawab Zainul Abdin Khan ‘Arif’, (a pupil of Ghalib) and was descended from Baron Heatherley. He left a complete dewan of his poetry. The poetic work of Joseph Bensley ‘Fana’ in Urdu and Hindi is also considerable and he deserves to be ranked as one of the great Anglo-Indian poets’.”
“The poetic efforts of these European and Indo-European poets,” says Dr. Saxena, “demonstrate the great appeal and flexibility of the Urdu language. It gives one more proof, if proof is needed, of its being the lingua franca of India.” Tajamul David Lall was a latter-day keeper of this hallowed tradition till his death, “Ghayal” (wounded) as he was by Cupid’s arrow.
