Poets, littérateurs pay rich tributes to Kaifi Azmi

LUCKNOW : On the eve of the 100th birth anniversary of noted Urdu poet Kaifi Azmi on Monday, prominent poets and littérateurs paid him rich tributes.

Urdu poet Sanjay Mishra ‘Shauq’ said, “Syed Athar Hussain Rizvi alias Kaifi Azmi started writing ghazals at the age of 11. His first ghazal, ‘Itna to zindagi mein kisi ki khalal pade’, is still a fad among the youth. I had the privilege of participating in several ‘mushairas’ with Azmi sahib and witnessed his poetic genius. His nazm ‘Paanv Saryu mein Ram ne dhoye bhi naa the’ is amazing.” He also fondly remembered Azmi’s evergreen patriotic song ‘Kar chale hum fida jaan-o-tan sathiyon’.

Poet Kumar Vishwas said, “Kaifi sahib never compromised on quality even when he penned ghazals and nazms for cinema in Mumbai. His songs like ‘Hoke majboor mujhe usne bulaya hoga’, ‘Waqt ne kiya kya haseen sitam’, ‘Ye nayan dare dare’, and many more are example of his uncompromising genius.”

Saeed Mehdi, secretary Kaifi Azmi Society, who spent over 25 years of his life with the legendary poet, said, “My Father Taj Mahuli was a good friend of Kaifi sahib. When he returned from Mumbai to Azamgarh in 1977, he asked my father to send someone to help him. That’s how I started working for him.”

“I was a student in Lucknow University at that time. He once told me that he was sent to learn Urdu and Persian in a madarsa of Lucknow, but when he went there he raised his voice against the exploitation of students at the hands of their teachers,” said Mehdi. Urdu exponent Prof Sabra Habeed said, “In his poetry, Kaifi highlighted the exploitation of subaltern masses, which he saw in and around Azamgarh. Because of his association with the Progressive Writers’ Association, his poetry conveyed a message of creating a just social order.” She said, “I was close to his family, especially his wife Shauqat Aapa. Kaifi used to call me ‘KGB agent’ with affection, as I used to translate his Urdu couplets into Russian.” Azmi’s first collection of poems, ‘Jhankar’, was published in 1943.