February 01, 2008	Friday	Muharram 22, 1429

KARACHI, Jan 31: “Ibne Insha was a poet fascinated by the moon and perhaps that was why his first book was titled Chandnagar. Sadness was his wealth, he would cry in love as a child but as Ahmed Bashir puts it, he wanted sorrows in return for his love,” said Dr Rauf Parekh at a seminar organised in the memory of two literary figures, Ibne Insha and Hasan Askari, by the Anjuman-i-Taraqq-i- Urdu.

The president of the organisation, Dr Aftab Ahmed, presided over the seminar. During the first session, a critic and short-story writer, Mobeen Mirza, highlighted various aspects of the works of Hasan Askari.

He said Askari’s works had various dimensions to them, which people termed contradictions. He was equally inspired by both western and the eastern writers and had a style of his own. “Probably that is why we are holding this programme in his memory,” he said.

Speaking about the two literary figures of the sub-continent, Prof Sahar Ansari traced various incidents in the life of poets/writers.

He said: “In Askari, we find such contradictions for the reason that he was a versatile writer, apart from that his analysis of various personalities on their own was quite controversial. An example of this would be that he called great philosopher Karl Marx a ‘pamphlet-baaz’, therefore he himself invited criticism from various quarters”.

Prof Ansari also praised the multi-dimensional work of Ibne Insha. “Though Insha is known for his humour and wit, there are other reasons that add to his fame. His classical analysis of Urdu prose is highly praiseworthy,” he said.

Sharing various witty remarks of Insha with the audience, Prof Ansari said once Insha was asked why he did not use his real name Sher Mohammad, to which Insha replied, “Sher (Lion) is one of the four-legged animals, I prefer to be referred as a human, thank you”.

Dr Rauf Parekh said that Insha was an idealist. “He was a person for whom the moon was a great source of inspiration.”

At the end, the president of the Anjuman-i-Tarraq-i-Urdu thanked the audience and said that such programmes would be organised every month. Noted poet Jamiluddin Aali was also present.