Aman with radiant smile, Zahid Masood, has been a witness to various shades of life, from a slow-paced life of Wazirabad of the mid-1960s, to the overcrowded and hectic present day life of Lahore.

Born to a poet, he had the privilege to read quality Urdu literature before finishing high school studies.

“Those were ideal times. Before the 1970s, we would start learning from home and from primary schools. The teachers used to be like institutions as along with the studies they would focus on the personal grooming and character building of their students.

“The knowledgeable people, especially poets and writers, were the heroes of society. There was no concept of commercialism and education was not just a business,” Masood recalls.

During studies at the Punjab University Law College, he started working with Radio Pakistan as presenter and it turned into his lifetime attachment with the radio.

“Since1976, I have been a part of literary circles at the Pak Tea House. Munir Niazi, Habib Jalib and Anis Nagi used to sit there with a lot of other writers. Nagi was not very social; he encouraged me by printing my poems regularly in his literary journal ‘Danishwar’.

“I got close to him and stayed close till his last breath. After Nagi passed away, I printed special issues of ‘Danishwar’, and dedicated them to him. It was compilation of articles about his life and works. I am grateful to him for encouraging me to get out of conventional forms of poetry and experiment in poems,” Masood acknowledges the influence of Nagi on him.

“Poem is a tough genre. It needs phonic effects and a strong content. One can’t amuse the readers only with rhythmic lines, knitted in conventional format,” he believes.

He admires the contribution of rival literary groups of Wazir Agha and Ahmad Nadeem Qasmi for promotion of literature and grooming of young writers.

“The culture of ideologies and debates is over now and everything is getting commercial; magazines are printed only to attract advertisers, everyone from copy-pastor to binder is being paid except for the writers. Same is the attitude of so-called ‘progressive’ publishers of Lahore,” he says in a bitter tone.

Zahid Masood likes the works of Majeed Amjad and Akhter Hussain Jafri. Waris Shah, Shiv Kumar Batalvi and Pash have been his permanent sources of inspiration.

“The Punjabi classic poets are literary giants. No one else can express human feelings and the social surroundings like them,” he says.

“Most of my poetry is in Urdu but my Punjabi poems are published regularly in ‘Pancham’. Maqsood Saqib has always been kind enough to give space to my works,” he says.

With four books of poetry to his credit, his Punjabi collection of poems ‘Kani Kani Darya’ got an award from the Pakistan Academy of Letters in 2013. He writes newspaper columns on social issues and a compilation of his columns is in the process of publication.

Except for his first book of poetry published in 1995 where he seems influenced by the traditional Urdu poets, Masood has an idiom of his own. Leaving poetic intricacies behind, he becomes blunt while addressing the contemporary sociopolitical issues. Dealing with a wide range of subjects, his heart beats with those who lost their loved ones in earthquake in Kashmir and those who are enduring hardships every year in heavy floods in Sindh and Punjab. He laments the alienation of man from nature and his cultural roots. The love for a slow-paced life of small towns and nostalgia is deeply rooted in his poems.

Published in Dawn, July 31st, 2016