Daily Times

The book titled Baqiaat-o Nadraat – Faiz Ahmad Faiz (1911 – 1984) is a huge book written and compiled by Dr. Syed Taqi Abidi (living in Toronto, Canada) and printed on expensive art paper on Register Size and published by Gagan Shahid and Amar Shahid of Book Corner, Jhelum. It is a very ambitious and lavish project, both content and presentation wise. The book starts with large size portraits of Faiz Ahmad Faiz, the poet and is dedicated to his daughters Saleema and Moneeza.

A picture of the daughters also appears with their mother Alys. The author starts his submission with the contention that a poet does not have to remember as to when he or she started saying poetry. It is summed up in a line ‘Yei Baqiaat Abhi Natammam Hei Shayed’ (The left overs are still incomplete). By left overs this reviewer does not imply the sense as the food left overs for the following morning; it means the poetry written for magazines or an incomplete ghazal etc. not saved or kept a record of, untraceable after some time etc. That is the dilemma the author faced while collecting unpublished or incomplete works of Faiz Saheb which were to make contents of this book.

The unpublished poetry of Faiz is seen in a chapter titled ‘Faiz Ka Ghair-Madwan Kalam’ (Unpublished poetry of Faiz) — Pages 61 to 66). The author contends that overall Faiz’s couplets are around 2,000 which is a very low number. He knows some poets whose quantity of couplets was around 100,000. It is amazing that Faiz got fame because of contents and not quantity

The author has taken pains to discover some couplets/lines/stanzas that do not appear in his published works after proper research work (Pages 59-60). For example the poem ‘Sir-e-Wadi-e-Seena’ was published after Arab-Israel War in 1967 in his book with the same title in two portions. Later, only one portion was seen in ‘Nuskha Haye Wafa’. However only last few lines of the second portion are seen under the title ‘Nida-e-Ghaib’ as part of Teen Awazain (three voices) in his book ‘Mere Dil Mere Musafir’. Mr. Abidi has discovered the omitted lines from various sources and reproduced them, the first line being ‘Suno Keh Shayed Yei Noor-e-Saiqal’. Many other instances have been quoted.

The unpublished poetry of Faiz is seen in a chapter titled ‘Faiz Ka Ghair-Madwan Kalam’ (Unpublished poetry of Faiz) – Pages 61 to 66). The author contends that overall Faiz’s couplets are around two thousand which is a very low number. He knows some poets whose quantity of couplets was around one hundred thousand. It is amazing that Faiz got fame because of contents and not quantity. However Mr. Abidi has set out to discover the unpublished or incomplete works of the poet. The pages of copies of Government College’s magazine Ravi were turned and many of Faiz’s poetry of his student life were discovered. It comprises a poem ‘Moneeza Ki Salgirah’ (Moneeza’s birthday), songs of the film ‘Door Hei Sukh Ka Gaun’ (Far is the village of happiness), Iqbal, Noha, Laila tul Qadr’, Sehra for Naeem and Yasmeen (1962), Sham-e-Ghum, ‘O Mere Watan’ (translation, Nazim Hikmat), Bhookon Ki Ankhain (translation, Nazim Hikmet), ‘Jail Sei Aik Khat (translation, Nazim Hikmat), October Inqilab Roos Ki Saligirah, Khwab Pareshan (translation, Anjum Azmi), poem Aei Watan, Aei Watan and English poem Illusion. The poetry with contents’ list from October 1929 to 1964 and the poetry from Ravi are included. It includes two dramas Saanmp Ki Chatri and Private Secretary also (Page 67).

Faiz in India forms the contents of another section (Page 77). Special mention is made of a Mushaira in Allahabad on May 05, 1960 invited by Firaq Gorakhpuri. After Sahir Ludheyanvi and Makhdoom Muhaiuddin, Faiz appeared on stage and read his favourite Ghazal ‘Tere Ghum Ko Jaan Ki Talash Thi Tere Janisaar Chale Gaye’ for the first time. This section gives a detailed pictorial coverage of all the events Faiz attended. Special mention has been made of Jashn-e-Faiz in Bhopal on April 28, 1981. Excerpts of his poetry and that of what others said about him in poetic or prose format has been given. Another section covers Faiz’s sojourn in Europe (Page 97) followed by his visits to America and Canada (Page 109). Syed Sajjad Haider’s non-literary interview forms content of this section held in Toronto. He especially mentioned that in the race of recognizing Israel, Russia won the race from America (Page 111). A large section from Page 119 to Page 206 covers pictures of Faiz with family, friends, poets and politicians both from home and abroad. However the most appreciable section is Sadeqain’s artistic portrayal of Faiz’s poetry (Page 207 to Page 228). The printing is superb. As per Salman Ahmad’s letter to Dr. Taqi Abidi dated October 27, 2019 (Page 208) Sadequain painted forty five paintings based on Faiz’s poetry, twenty five paintings on the occasion of Faiz’s 60th birthday and twenty paintings upon his death.

Another interesting corner of this book is poetry by-hand poetry written by Faiz and images of his letters (Page 230 – 344). A section discusses the information retrieved from Faiz’s letters half of these being written to his wife and daughters. Those written in English to his wife were also translated by Faiz in Urdu himself.

This book is the product of Mr. Taqi Abidi’s deep commitment to Faiz and equally great dedication by the publishers.

The writer is the recipient of the prestigious Pride of Performance award. He can be reached at doc_amjad@hotmail.com