Poet Dr Ateequllah's strange Urdu couplets

Ateequllah is an established Urdu poet, who hails from Ujjain. He is known for his experimenting with ghazal and for his unique verses.

But some of his couplets appear shocking at first sight. It is possible that you may admire his craft. Similarly, you may also feel that the poet has deliberately composed slightly different poetry, in order to astonish, the reader.

Just read the three 'shair' which I have posted here and tell me what do you make out of them. The couplets are posted in both Urdu as well as Roman transliteration, for the benefit of readers.






میں ایک کانچ کا پر تولتا پرندہ
اڑان بھر نہ سکا اور چھن سے ٹوٹ گیا


main ek kaanch ka par taulta parindaa
uRaan bhar na saka aur chhan se TuuT gayaa

طلوع ہوتے دن کی پیٹھ پر چڑھ کر
سیاہ دیو میری ہڈیاں چباتا ہے

tuluu hote hue din kii piith par chaRh kar
siyaah deo meri haDDiyaaN chabaataa hai

وہ سنگ پاش ازیت کی تاب لا نہ سکا
میں اپنی چیخ میں پیوست ہو کے گونج اٹھا

woh sang-paash aziyat ki taab laa na sakaa
main apnii chiiKh meN paiwast ho ke guunj uThaa

Padma Award to renowned Urdu litterateur Kashmiri Lal Zakir

I am glad that Kashmiri Lal Zakir got the Padma Shri award this year. The only Urdu litterateur to get the award this year.

As a matter of fact few writers got the Padma awards this year. I remember in childhood the name of Kashmiri Lal Zakir in most of the magazines including Biswin Sadi for which he regularly wrote.

In those days the magazines like Shama, Biswin Sadi and Bano were full of non-Muslim Urdu writers. Now Hindu and Sikh writers are rare. Kashmiri Lal Zakir has been active with the Haryana Urdu Academy.

Zakir has written extensively on Haali and is credit with rediscovering the literary giant of yore. He is a prolific writer and one expects that he would continue to enrich Urdu literature in the years to come. 

Protestant Bradman Vs Cathlolic teammates in the legendary Australian cricket eleven

Protestant 'Don' among Catholic teammates

I find it very interesting that the differences between Bradman and his team-mates also had a Catholic-Protestant angle. Despite the fact that the Australian team was world-beater the differences within the team are well-known.

Bradman's phenomenal success caused jealousies among team-mates who watched as he was showered with financial gifts and remained a private person, aloof from the team.

Fine. But now just read this short excerpt:

"This disaffection was strongest among a group of players-Jack Fingleton, Grimmett, Stan Mc Cabe, Ernest McCormick and O'Reilly--all of IRISH origin and Roman Catholics and a different political persuasion to Bradman, who was a Protestant".

"That Bradman was essentially a patriot and monarchist, a tee-totaller and a non-smoker. This group suspected it was discriminated against by Bradman". Doesn't it sound interesting! I wonder if this issue has been taken up seriously in the past by cricket historians and writers.

When he was bowled out for just four in his last test innings and could not achieve a test average of 100, O'Reilly and Fingleton who were in the Oval press box could not conceal their delight, says Simon Wilde in his book "Number One: The world's best bowlers and batsmen'.

I never knew this. Though Bradman praised O'Relliy through out his career. He called his team-mates when Mc Cabe was hitting his famous century against Larwood during Bodyline saying ' Come and watch you will never see such an innings'.

State of Urdu newspapers in India & Etemaad's website

The website of newly launched Urdu daily Etemaad is impressive. Though difficult to find the site because of the spelling of etemaad. www.etemaaddaily.com

It is among the best Urdu sites I have seen. Like Hindustan Times and Times of India website, it also brings to you the entire page in the form of epaper on the screen.

Truly Hyderabad has remained the fortress of Urdu in India. While papers in Uttar Pradesh have seen a great decline lately, Lucknow has seen a growth in circulation, particularly since Rashtriya Sahara Urdu was launched.

The Lucknow edition of Sahafat is doing well. Also, Indian Express' local Urdu daily "Qaumi Khabrein' is beautifully printed and is an eight-page standard newspaper.

Apart from this 2-3 other papers like Eqdaam, Waris-e-Urdu etc are being published but none of these papers are available on net. The Mumbai newspapers Urdu Times, Hindustan and Inquilab are doing reasonably well.

 Mumbai is thus another citadel of Urdu journalism. Situation in Karnataka where Salaar and Pasban are old newspapers and West Bengal where Kolkata has Akkas, Azad Hind among the main newspapers, is not very rosy though.

In Madhya Pradesh Urdu Action's Bhopal and Burhanpur editions are the saving grace. Famous Urdu daily Nadeem that is now in its 70th year is a dying institution sadly. Though Muslims easily switched to Hindi newspapers in Rajasthan, parts of UP, MP and Bihar, the 95% Hindu-Sikh Punjab still has the mass circulated Hind Samachar.

Though its circulation figures have dropped to less than 50,000 in recent years. However, it faces no immediate threat because the sister publications in Hindi and Punjabi are earning profit. The group is named after it and the owners have an emotional bond with this paper.

Hind Samachar remains the only newspaper in Urdu that is published on glossy paper. In Bihar and Jharkhand a few newspapers are carrying the tradition. The popular paper in this region is Qaumi Tanzeem apart from Akhbar-i-Mashriq.

Hope remains from Jammu and Kashmir the sole state with Urdu as state language in India. Many newspapers are published and circulated fairly well. Delhi has Qaumi Awaz, Rashtriya Sahara and a few other newspapers. The old papers like Milap, Pratap that are still read by the elderly Hindu-Sikh.

Why no Indian, Pakistani cricketer in Simon Wilde's list of great cricketers?

Simon Wilde's book 'Number One' is about the best cricketers in the history of the game and has got attention in the media.

The writer has selected about 50 cricketers. The criterion is that the batsman and bowler should have been the best batsman or bowler at least for 5-7 years in the world during his career.

The list starts with John Small, then lists William Beldham, Frederic Beaucleark, William Ward and Fuller Pilch, going up to Carpenter, Grace, Trumper, Hammond, Bradman, Sobers. After the decade of 1970s it includes the following cricketers:

Batsmen: Barry Richards, Vivian Richards, Graham Gooch, Brian Lara, Waugh

Bowlers: Lillee, Marshall, Ambrose, Warne

So no Imran Khan, no Sunil Gavaskar. Neither Hanif Mohammed, nor Sachin Tendulkar or Kapil Dev. The sole Indian  in the list is Ranjitsinhji who played for England and who tried his best to stop Indian cricket from progressing even though India named its highest championship of domestic cricket in his name.

Zaheer Abbas hit over 100 first class centuries. This man is blind. He could spot none of them. He goes to the era of Carpenter, includes eighteenth centuries' cricketers who bowled under-arm and played without middle wicket about whom we only heard stories.

Another way I can prove Simon Wilde a failure. He failed to list the two greatest cricketers before WG Grace. Alfred Mynn, the Lion of Kent, the first cricketer whose statue was made and who was declared champion of all England.

Secondly, George Osbaldeston, the ferocious bowler who was said to be the greatest sportsperson after Assyrian Nimord. But he chooses his own Toms, Dicks and Harries. Its not a question of disappointment that how he ignored Indian, Pakistani cricketers.

One is entitled to biases but it can be tolerated to an extent. Unfortunately, Simon Wilde has simply left the entire sub-continent, ignoring the exploits of legendary cricketers who turned the game into a world sport, taking it out of the UK-Australia-South Africa axis.