The programme was organised by the Unikarians, Karachi University’s alumni association, which later turned out to have a magnetic effect to the literati of the city leaving scores of visitors to listen to some great personalities standing in and around the hall which was packed to its capacity.
Dr Manzoor Ahmad, scholar and philosopher, a former vice-chancellor of Karachi University and at present vice-chancellor of the Islamic University, Islamabad, in his address as the chief guest spoke of the common tradition in the literary scene in the subcontinent in which critics tend to search links and similarities between modern poets with their classic predecessors.
“The language and words have their own interpretations and every genuine poet though seems to have some links identical to someone in the past in fact has his own colour, mood and ideas,” Dr Ahmad said in his speech dominated with philosophical texture but sometimes getting humorous colour that kept the audience glued to their seats.
He spoke in detail about the common belief among the critics that Dr Pirzada Qasim’s mood and style was immensely inspired by Mir Taqi Mir and declared that after meticulous study of the poetry of the two despite some similarities he found a great difference between the two.
Dr Ahmad said: “I opted for comparative study of the two poets and found great difference between Mir and Pir(zada) as both have their own style, mood and the way they express themselves in the world of poetry. We have a common tradition of seeing a modern poet in the shadow of a great classical poet, which ultimately snatches the modern poet’s own shadow. It is not fair because any genuine poet has his own class and an entirely different world he creates and shows to the readers and listeners.”
He said that he was very selective in appreciating and classifying the better poetry and he normally found not a few verses from the entire collection of a particular poet that could be categorised as great poetry but that was not the case with Pirzada Qasim.
“I found depth and virginity of idea in each of Pirzada’s verses and couplets. He creates a different world than what Mir has created. We can see similar trend in other great poets like Iqbal who has his own world,” he said.He said that comparisons and search for similarities among different poets often got the real thing disappeared and critics should take every genuine poet to the merit of one’s own.
“We have lost many poets commanding originality and creativity in the past and I pray that Pirzada is not the last of those great past poets,” Dr Ahmad said.
Earlier, poet and critic Mohammad Ali Siddiqui read out an article on Pirzada Qasim in which he said the poet had never lost ‘taghazzul’ like many other poets of his time despite he was part of a climate which was suffocated with depression and gloom.
He said that a poet chose his own words to create his world with the ideas and expressions he was blessed with but most of the poets, he found, were wayward who failed to attain a particular style and mood.
“But, Pirzada Qasim is part of the rare breed of poets who maintains his exclusive mood and style, which we can normally find among our classical poets,” Mr Siddiqui said.
According to him, Pirzada Qasim did not compromise on his mood and style when he expresses himself in poetry about love or about the problems and dilemmas in society.
He said that modernism had a tendency to negate one’s personality and individuality, which classical poets did not opt for and neither the poets like Mr Qasim went for it. “Modernism has torn apart history from literature,” he remarked.
He called Pirzada Qasim as cultural critic, whose poetry commented on variety of aspects of life and society as whole. He called for the conscious efforts to transfer of culture among the young generations.
Prof Farman Fatehpuri, Dr Kaneez Fatima, Azhar Abbas and Prof Kafil Ahmed also spoke.
Pirzada Qasim in his brief speech said he was nothing if he was dissociated from the people. “Man is identified with his people and my people are the great asset for me without whom I feel myself nothing,” he said.
Later, he recited his poetry with great applause and admiration from the audience.