ONCE Dr Saleem Akhtar gave a piece of advice to Mashkoor Husain Yad: “Mashkoor, keep on writing the way you do, and never pay attention to what others say about it.” Mashkoor took the advice seriously and kept on writing all kinds of stuff, ranging from literary criticism to essays and philosophical treatise to poetry.
He, paying heed to the advice, turned a deaf ear to the reactions coming from his contemporaries to whatever he churned out. And now, Mashkoor Husain is one of the most prolific writers of our time.
People say, Mashkoor’s pen moves with the speed of a galloping horse. As far as literary criticism goes, he has written profusely. Every year he comes out with a book on a different aspect of Ghalib’s poetry. It means, he brings out no less than four books in a year making valuable contributions to Ghalibiyat. He has always ignored hostile comments on his books. And when his friends told him that Mir, Iqbal and Anis also needed some of his attention, he shifted his focus from Ghalib to other poets.
Mashkoor Husain has written one book on Anis and wanted to bring another volume relating to the same study, but when his friends advised him not to overlook his poetry while indulged in criticism, he shunned the thought and resumed writing poetry. As a result, now we have his latest collection of ghazals entitled Bardasht, published by Alhamd Publications, Lahore.
Strangely, as far as his poetry is concerned, Mashkoor does not seem to be as sure as he is about his critical studies. The very title of the collection, as explained by him, gives away his lack of confidence. He appears to have doubts about his readers, more particularly his contemporaries, who, according to him, will not have much patience for his ghazals. He apologizes by saying that, in fact, his friends are responsible for making him bring out his new collection.
But why should he feel shy about presenting his poetry? Frankly speaking, he is a better poet than a critic or an essayist. His ghazals clearly represent his unique individuality.
Before we analyze his book, let us first get acquainted with Mashkoor’s concept of poetry. After all he is not just a poet, but is also a critic and an intellectual. In his preface to the book he has discussed the art of poetry. He is polite enough to agree with those critics who think that poetry is an expression of emotion. But he has something to add to it. He thinks that expressed in poetry, emotions go through a process of refinement. It is only after getting refined that an emotion finds its proper place in poetry.
Such is his concept of verse-wielding. But will it not be better to set aside this concept while reading his ghazals? Poetry is rarely written complying with directives of a certain concept. It’s the critics who decipher poetry. Poets just compose poetry. I think the above-mentioned concept has come out from Mashkoor Husain the critic, not the poet. Ghazals in Bardasht have been written by Mashkoor, the poet.
The form of ghazal in its long literary journey has developed certain rules and regulations along with a host of similes, metaphors, and allusions known as taghazzul. Once a person gets the hang of this system it is easy for him to write ghazals. But the moment one wishes to have a distinct style in verse-wielding, poetry turns into a difficult genre to handle. The rigidity of the system comes in its way. Those who want to get recognized having an individual style of their own have gone to the extent of staging a rebellion against this system, writing anti-ghazal.
Mashkoor Husain has not gone to that extent. But he seems to be keen on making his presence felt in the realm of ghazal writing. In this struggle he, at times, parts his ways with taghazzul and is seen migrating from urbanity of ghazal to the rusticity of geet and doha. However, he soon comes back to taghazzul and tries to achieve something different within its bounds. For instance, he has attempted to write a musalsal ghazal, which has a unity of theme. One ghazal is a tribute to the beautiful feet of his beloved. The other is devoted to her earlobes. And in another he praises her breasts, but in a very decent way.
In another ghazal he discusses the meaningfulness of zero or siphar, delineating his penchant for philosophy. But here he does not seem to be in full control of the bahr chosen by him. In this regard, a friend commented that herein lies the zero point of Mashkoor’s ghazal.
So Mashkoor in his new collection is seen trying to come up with ghazals in a different way and achieve some kind of individuality.
ONCE Dr Saleem Akhtar gave a piece of advice to Mashkoor Husain Yad: “Mashkoor, keep on writing the way you do, and never pay attention to what others say about it.” Mashkoor took the advice seriously and kept on writing all kinds of stuff, ranging from literary criticism to essays and philosophical treatise to poetry.
