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May 4, 2003
Author: The poet of awakening
WHENEVER he was called on the stage of a political rally to recite his revolutionary poetry, the audience welcomed him with shouts of his most popular lines: Jage piyo, hoo jaagan waro jage piyo/biya nindoon kan hoo jage piyo. (He is awakening, that awakened man is awakening/ Others are sleeping, he is awakening.)
And that is what Mohammad Khan Majidi did his entire life — struggle to awaken the sleeping souls. This struggle had to end one day and it did in eternal slumber on April 8 when Mohammad Khan Majidi closed his tired eyes forever in the sleepy town of Sujawal, Thatta district.
He was born on January 5, 1918 in the nearby village of Shadman Jatoi (Jhoke Sharif), the place of martyrdom of Sindh’s socialist sufi Shah Inayat and his comrades. He began writing poetry in 1938 but devoted more time to it after retirement in 1976. His first book Sindh Ayeen En Joon Qaumoon, which is a long poem on different castes of the province, was published in 1962 and the second, Mitti Munhji Mitti Ahe in 2002. His two anthologies Mulh Mahanga Manrhoon and Sadhe Sat Warhee are awaiting publication.
As a people’s poet, Majidi was more interested in reciting his verses at political, cultural and literary gatherings than getting his poetry published. His commitment to the cause of Sindh and its working class made him travel widely in the province, even in his old age, to attend political and literary gatherings which he charged by melodiously reciting his electrifying poetry for hours. He mainly wrote poems on issues related to nationalist and class-based politics of Sindh in the simple yet eloquent language of the common folk.
The spontaneity of his diction can be compared to the folk poetry of Sindhi language. However, the true worth of this poet of Sindh was never recognized by the literary circles of the province.
Majidi’s contribution was not confined to literature as he had also rendered valuable services in the field of education. He was a teacher by profession and remained associated with this honourable job for 35 years.
He was also one of the founders of the Primary Teachers Association. Besides, he was the first resident of his village to educate his daughters and after shifting to Sujawal, he played a pioneering role in promoting girls’ education in the town and area. The first girls’ primary school of Sujawal was opened in his house where his two daughters used to teach. One of them, Mariam Majidi, who is also a poetess, later retired as an assistant district education officer. Her sister, Hanifa Majidi, has been awarded a gold crown by the residents of Sujawal for her contribution to girls’ education.
The octogenarian poet broke his leg when he slipped in the darkness — there being an electricity breakdown — in August 2002. Despite being operated upon, he could not recover and remained bed-ridden for eight months during which he often fell unconscious due to weakness. Later he was admitted to the Liaquat University Hospital, Hyderabad, on the government’s instructions but could not recover.
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