ISLAMABAD: The Pakistan Academy of Letters (PAL) on Thursday held its ‘Meet a Writer over a Cup of Tea’ event with renowned Urdu poet and writer Sarfaraz Shahid.

The event was presided over by poet Anwar Masood.

Mr Shahid said he was born in Ghakhar Mandi in Gujranwala. He said he served at the met office for 30 years before he retired as a director. He has written 30 books including seven of comic poetry.

“Universities publish research papers on my poetry and many poets- including Shafiqur Rehman, Dr Jameel Jalibi and Zamir Jafri have appreciated by poetry. I have visited over a dozen countries including the US, UK and Canada and participated in poetry symposiums. I was conferred with the Pride of Performance Award, the Ameer Khusro Award and a number of others,” he said.

Mr Shahid said he had tried to cover a wide range of issues from the Pakistani society to the global village.

He shared some of his work and people particularly enjoyed verses regarding the caretaker government and voters.

Anwar Masood said Mr Shahid had a humorous personality and that humour is not complete without including elements of surprise and reality. He said Mr Shahid knows how to do this well.

“He also uses science in his poetry which makes it unique,” he said.

Educationist and poet Dr Inamul Haq Javed said he had started comic poetry because of Mr Shahid and that they used to do radio programmes together.

“Sarfaraz Shahid is very friendly and speaks in such a way that everyone begins to like him. That is why children also easily take to him. He has a few friends, but they are all very sincere to him,” he said.

Sarfaraz Shahid’s son, Ibrar said his father had always treated him as a friend though he could not become a poet like his father.

Ibrar’s wife Alia said her father-in-law was soft spoken and believed that being polite is important for living happily.

“It is a blessing that I was given such a caring and friendly father-in-law,” she said.

Published in Dawn, July 20th, 2018