KARACHI: A literary meeting was held here on Friday to acknowledge the erudition and the great poetic talent of (late) Aziz Hamid Madni. It was organized by ‘Sarzameen’ a new cultural organisation.

Presided over by Dr Aslam Farrukhi, the meeting was addressed by Prof Saher Ansari, Jazib Qureshi, Dr Aslam Farrukhi and Ahsen Salim.

A fascinating speech came from Dr Zafer Saeed Saifi, vice- chancellor Karachi University and nephew of the great poet who spent thirty years of his life in his close companionship and was like a son to “chacha Madni”, his guide and mentor. Poetry to Madni was a very serious business, demanding deep knowledge of literature and science. These qualities were reflected in his poetry as assessed by the speakers of that evening.

Saifi recalled in a voice filled with emotion how ‘chcacha Madni’ composed verses till after midnight, shunned mushairas and was happy in the company of a few friends, Prof Mujtaba being one of them.

Dr Aslam Farrukhi, Madni’s close friend, expressed dismay over the deteriorating cultural standards, talented people being ignored and forgotten. However, he was happy that he motivated Aziz Hamid Madni to write a highly valuable book— Jadeed Urdu Shaeri, in two volumes.

Prof Saher Ansari briefly analysed the three poetry collections by Madni; Chashm-i-Nigran, Dasht-i-Imkan and Nakhl-i- Guman, each collection reflecting the thought process of the poet in a particular period of time. A H M was deeply influenced by the poets of the West, mostly the modern English writers, and was ‘born in Europe while living in the East, Ansari said. “He blended scientific knowledge with the traditional melody of Persian and Urdu classical poetry, a unique combination which made his poetry entirely different and also a bit difficult. Ghalib, Iqbal and Josh in the East and Dante and Goethe in the West were the poets whose influence may be found in Madnis’ verses”.

Jazib Qureshi read out a part of his article he had written seventeen years back. He felt sorry that not much had so far been written on such a unique poet.—Hasan Abidi