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KARACHI: The 30th Sakinan-i-Shehr-i-Quaid International Mushaira on Saturday evening attracted a decent number of poetry lovers at Expo Centre.
Moderated by Rizwan Zaidi, Wajih Sani and Ambareen Hasib Abmer — and presided over by Prof Sahar Ansari — the first poet invited to present his poems was Abdur Rehman Momin. He began by dedicating his initial few verses to his father, the late Ajmal Siraj. The first couplet was:
Ab kis se kalaam keejyey ga
Bas subh ko sham keejyey ga
[Who will you share your ideas with now?
Just let time pass from dawn to dusk]
Zaheer Zarf was the second poet. His stint on stage commenced with:
Gham mein hans detey hain aazaar mein khush rehtey hain
Hum bhi kya loag hain bekaar mein khush rehtey hain
[We laugh in grief and stay happy in saddening moments
What a strange people we are… we stay happy without reason]
Naeem Sameer was invited with a great deal of fervour by Mr Sani: Sameer’s first two lines were:
Us ke haath ki choori tooti aur falak per tara toota
Matlab neend hamari tooti yani khwab hamara toota
[Her bangles broke, and a shooting star moved across the sky
This means I lost my sleep and my dream was disrupted]
A surprise feature of the programme was the inclusion of the Indian poet, Vijay Tiwari. He was greeted with warm applause by the audience. He introduced himself with the following verse:
Pehle akhbaar likh ke biktey thay
Aaj akhbaar bik ke likhtey hain
[In the past, newspapers would write and sell
Today, they get sold first and then write]
Khalid Moin earned praise with his verse:
Haal ye hai Karachi walo ka
Hyderabad tak nahi jaatey
[Karachiites are such a bunch
They don’t even travel to Hyderabad]
Iftikhar Arif was one of those poets who had come from outside of Karachi. His turn came after midnight and as usual the audience acknowledged his high quality of poetry.
Mayaan-i-arsa-i-maut-o-hayaat raqs mein hai
Akaila main nahin kul kainaat raqs mein hai
Majal kis ki ke junbish karey raza ke baghair Jo raqs mein hai ijazat ke saath raqs mein hai
[In between life and death
The entire universe is dancing
Who can think of moving without permission
Whoever is dancing is doing so with permission]
Some of the other poets out of more than three dozen who presented their kalaam were Anwar Shaoor, Abbas Tabish, Iqbal Pirzada and Shakil Jazib.
Published in Dawn, January 6th, 2025
