TAJAL Bewas, who died on Dec 14 last, was a poet of love. Thirty-one of his books have been published while nine more remain to be published. Though a top bureaucrat, he was s smiling, caring and loving person.

Tajal Bewas wrote in Sindhi, Urdu and English languages but he never shied away from saying “After Shaikh Ayaz and Narain Shayam, I am the poet of Sindh”. Truly it was not he alone who took pride in his poetry but all Sindhis do.

Sindh My Mother,

what shall I write on your beauty

there is one pen and one me,

how do I do this mounting task (of writing on your beauty)

Sung by Abida Parveen, a melodious song which became the poet`s identity. Because of poems like this, he was considered a national poet who inspired resistance movement, a hallmark of Sindh, from the 1960s to the 1980s.

He not only established a connection between writers and poets of Sindh and Sindhis in India but maintained those relations and remained a bridge. He was equally loved and praised by Sindhi literary figures in India, received all highest awards of Sindhi literature from India.

Progressive literary and political movements remained his inspiration. He was associated with the progressive voice of Sindh. In his last few years I read his letters and articles taking great interest in history, he was a deeply sensitive person.

MUSHTAQUE RAJPAR

Karachi