Daily Times

‘Rait Hi Rait Hai Is Dil Main Musafar Mere Aur Ye Sehra Tera Nakash-e Kafe Pa Chahta Hai’ Think of a time in very ancient phase of human evolution when they have not yet learned to speak, there was no difference between between humans and other mammals.

And then as time progressed, the great philosophers and artists led this barbarous society to great civilization right here as it exists today. We owe all this to the great minds who carved out new ideas, invented and devised new mechanisms and changed the course of history. Paying tribute to all those geniuses is a must obligation for us today. From a non-speaking state to the world of today’s great literature, the journey has been smoothened for us by these genius ‘drivers’ at their expense and sufferings, as most of them have been brutally killed by the fundamentalists opposing every type of change.

Parveen Shakir is regarded as one of such pioneer of feminist Urdu poetry that exists today with her bold and romanticized style and articulation encompassing so called tabooed areas akin to our society. She set aside the style and texture existing in her era and carved a new gem of romanticism and feminism. She not only changed the style of female poetry in essence but also reverted to new forms of free verse poems

We owe a lot to the evolutionists in every field even today, as they are the one leading us to new possibilities, new dimensions and new beliefs. Even though poetry has been centuries old, but each revolutionary poet still manages to explore something that was undiscovered, touches our hearts, inspires us and enable us to broaden or mindsets and thus shape the society positively.

Parveen Shakir is regarded as one of such pioneer of feminist Urdu poetry that exists today with her bold and romanticized style and articulation encompassing so called tabooed areas akin to our society. She set aside the style and texture existing in her era and carved a new gem of romanticism and feminism. She not only changed the style of female poetry in essence but also reverted to new forms of free verse poems.

‘Dil ko us rah py chalna he nai

Jo mujay tuj sy jada kerti hy’

‘Ek lamhe ki tawajo nai hasil us ki

Aur ye dil k usay had sy siva chata hy’

Her poems depict the unexplored areas of women psychology that were hidden before. She talked about their loving nature, complex thinking patterns, social indifferences and injustices in this patriarchal society. Unfortunately, she herself suffered a lot in this ‘underprivileged’ society for women. She led a painful live as a divorced woman.

‘Larkiyon Ke Dukh Ajab Hote Hain Sukh Us Se Ajeeb

Hans Rahi Hain Aur Kajal Bgeghta Hai Sath Sath’

‘Masla jeb b chiragu ka utha

faisal sirf hawa kerti hy’

‘Jo gham mila hy boj uthaya hy us ka khud

Ser zaer bar e saghar o baada nai kia”

“Pa ba gil sub hyn rihai ki kare tadbir kon

Dast badasta shehr ma kholay meri zanjeer kon’

Mera Sar hazir hai lekin mera munsif dekh le

Kar raha hai meri fard-e- jurm ko tehrir kon’

She had written few books in her short life of 42 years, but her magnum opus “Khushbu” garnered widespread popularity all over the world and she was awarded Adamjee Literary Award for this masterpiece.

26 December 1994 was the unfortunate day that parted us from this great poetess, when she met a car accident in Islamabad. In future, if the science and technology develops further and a consensus is made to recreate old great humans of past through some complex DNA technology, I am sure her name will find a place in the list of those few distinguished persons longed for ‘to be recreated’.

The writer is based in Muzaffarabad and can be reached at rajaamin12@gmail.com