KARACHI: Harris Khalique charmed poetry lovers with his politically conscious and socially aware nazms at the launch of his new collection of poems titled "Mailay mein" at the Arts Council Karachi on Wednesday. He presented nine poems, all of which carried poignant messages, and recited them with literary flair.
Prof Sahar Ansari, who presided over the event, spoke about the graph of Harris Khalique’s literary pursuits and stated his latest collection was different from the rest of his books (written in English and Urdu languages). He said that going through Mailay mein gave the impression as if a big story had been created by putting together smaller poetic pieces. Prof Ansari wanted to say more about the poet and his book but did not like a member of the audience’s non-serious behaviour and kept his speech short.
Poet Fahmida Riaz, who was the chief guest on the occasion, said Harris Khalique was an intelligent and enlightened individual who also tried to do his bit in the political arena. Disagreeing with the host of the programme, Wusutullah Khan, she claimed all of the poet’s activities in life were linked to one another. She complained that Harris Khalique took breaks in bringing out his works. She lauded the diction and freshness of ideas in his poems, and said the poet wrote short stories in the form of poems and used characters as his subject matter. All of this was made possible because he had suffered the pangs of love, she remarked. She also touched on the cheekiness (shararat) that some of his lines embodied (for example, a girl in one of his poems comes up to him and asks, “Naak ki keel ko angrezi mein kia kahte hain?”)
Dr Nomanul Haq in his usual eloquent style talked about the qualitative aspect of Harris Khalique’s nazms (he seemed a bit pleasantly surprised at his recent attempt at ghazal writing). He said there were two noteworthy features of Khalique’s poems: his narrative and discourse. Describing discourse (Dr Sahib thought it was difficult to explain it in Urdu) in Khalique’s nazms he said it had three facets: [1] external world (khariji dunia) [2] his association with tradition (riwayat) [3] his relation with himself (zaat). Further elucidating his statement he said Khalique’s poems read like a tale (daastan) and came across as a confluence of fictional and poetic endeavours in literature, which was why they exuded contemporariness (asariat).
Dr Haq then spoke on the use of metaphors in Urdu literature. He said to play with metaphors was a distinct trait of the subcontinent’s literary tradition of which Harris Khalique was a part, and quoted a couple of lines from his poem Qissa aik basant ka to support his argument. He read from a foreword that he penned for one of Khalique’s previous books as well.
Noted broadcaster Raza Ali Abidi told the audience about the time when Harris Khalique used to translate some material for a radio programme in London. He praised his translation as being correct and nice.
Mobin Mirza began his speech by quoting two lines from a Robert Browning poem (Grow old along with me / The best is yet to be) and recollected the time when he was first introduced to Harris Khalique 20 years back. He said that at the time his poetry had an existential air about it. The element of love also drove Khalique to compose nazms and if one were to understand his poetry, one would find it apt to understand it through his metaphor of love, he added.
Journalist Wussutullah Khan conducted the event. He too read out a paper on Harris Khalique.
Arts Council President Ahmed Shah thanked the audience for turning up in a decent number to attend the book launch.