KARACHI: Mirza Asadullah Khan Ghalib enriched the Urdu language by experimenting with its syntactical and semantic structures in a way that encouraged creative individuals to compose poetry with complete abandon. Josh Malihabadi made grandiloquence sound understandable. And Faiz Ahmed Faiz introduced a kind of serenity in protest poetry that’s unparalleled. World literature is indebted to the three greats of Urdu poetry.

The month of February holds importance in the lives of the three literary giants: Ghalib died on Feb 15, Josh passed away on Feb 22 and Faiz was born on Feb 13.

On Wednesday evening, the Arts Council Karachi organised an event to remember these poets to mark the important days in their lives. Yousuf Jamal, adviser to the Sindh governor, presided over the event.

Speaking on Mirza Ghalib, Professor Sahar Ansari said that despite the lack of any kind of institutional support Ghalib enjoys popularity and critical acclaim that are unmatched. At a time when other verse-wielders were busy trying to create linguistically inventive couplets, Ghalib came up with ghazals that had a brilliant blend of emotion and thought. It is impossible not to be influenced by him. Even a revered poet like Allama Iqbal dedicated a nazm to him and compared Ghalib to the likes of William Shakespeare and Goethe.

Prof Ansari informed the audience that since Ghalib had Central Asian ancestral roots, some exceedingly valuable research has been done in Russia on the poet. He was among the first in Urdu literature to write with and about the modern mindset. Prof Ansari asserted that Ghalib, Josh and Faiz’s highfalutin diction owes a lot to Sauda.

Poet Sarwar Javed spoke on the way Josh Malihabadi has been ill-treated and ignored by critics. He argued that the reason why Josh is not given his due is the fact that he migrated to Pakistan a bit late and spoke candidly against the establishment, something that Qurutulain Hyder also did and left for India for good.

Sarwar Javed said the practice of comparing Josh with Iqbal should be discouraged because creative colossuses cannot be weighed against each other.

Professor Qamaruzzaman spoke on Faiz Ahmed Faiz and reminisced about the days when the poet was imprisoned in Hyderabad jail. He also talked about the days when the poet would come to Hyderabad city to take part in mushairas and stay at Mir Rasool Bakhsh Talpur’s. He said Faiz was a multifaceted person: he was a poet, had a military background, was a journalist, a progressive individual and a kind-hearted soul who would always have a Buddha-like smile on his face. He said Faiz’s poetry is timeless as can be gauged by the following line: Taeed-i-sitam maslahat-i-mufti-i-dee(n) hai.

Yousuf Jamal narrated quite a few anecdotes related to Faiz Ahmed Faiz. Giving a reference from a book written by Mujtaba Husain, Yousuj Jamal recounted that once at a function in which Faiz was received with a thunderous applause, a woman research scholar from the West asked another woman who knew Faiz to translate whatever the poet recited. Faiz read out his famous ghazal Gulon mein rang bharey baad-i-nau bahar chaley. The woman who was asked to translate the couplet got confused and interpreted the line thus: “Please come so that the business of the garden starts.” When the function ended the research scholar walked up to Faiz and said, “I’ve never heard of this business. Is it profitable?”

Yousuf Jamal criticised those who say that minus ideology Faiz’s poetry doesn’t have much to offer. He likened it to saying minus poetry Ghalib’s verses have nothing to offer. He said the marked feature of Faiz’s poetry was his pan-humanism and his quest for peace. To give cogency to his argument he quoted from the poet’s speech which he delivered while receiving the Lenin Peace Prize. And it is his humanism that brackets him with the likes of Pablo Neruda.

He also denied the notion that Faiz was a laidback person. On the contrary, he said, Faiz was a very agile human being who, no matter what time he hit the bed at night, would get up at 7am.

The discerning audience at the Arts Council thoroughly enjoyed the programme, which was ably conducted by Javed Saba.