Urdu mushairas lose sheen with the passing of Anwar Jalalpuri

Anwar Jalalpuri, a prominent Urdu poet from Lucknow, who had suffered a brain stroke on December 28, passed away at King George's Medical University (KGMU) on Tuesday morning. He was 71.

Jalalpuri—who mastered the art of weaving magic into mushairas with his nizamat (compering) and appeared in Dedh Ishqiya, 2014, co-produced by Raman Maroo and Vishal Bhardwaj—wrote some remarkable books in Urdu such as Rahro se Rehnuma Tak, Khaare Paanion ka Silsila, Khushboo Ki Rishtedari, Urdu Shayari Mein Geetanjali and Urdu Shayari mein Gita besides writing dialogues for popular TV serial Akbar the Great. A strong advocate of composite culture, Jalalpuri was considered to be the soul of poetic congregations. With interesting anecdotes, verses of classical and modern poets and excerpts of political speeches of flag-bearers of Indian freedom struggle, Jalalpuri, while compering Urdu mushairas and Hindi kavi-sammelans, would always stress on humanity, Hindu-Muslim unity, constitutional and democratic values in his inimitable style.

Aspiring for a world where there is no room for injustice, exploitation and terrorism, Jalalpuri upheld unity of human beings despite diversity of religions, races, regions and languages in his poetry. He was a true inheritor of legacy of classical poets like Kabir, Tulsi Das, Raskhan, Meer, Ghalib, Khusrau and Khayyam in equal measure. Sample some of his couplets:

‘Tum Pyaar ki saugaat liay ghar se to niklo,

Rastay mein tumhain koi dushman na milayga!’

(With a gift of love, come out of your home at least,

You won’t come across any enemy on the streets.)

‘Har dam aapas ka ye jhagda, main bhi sochon tu bhi soch

Kal kya hoga shehar ka naqsha, main bhi sochon tu bhi soch

Aik khuda kay sab banday hain, aik Aadam ki sab aulaad

Tera mera khoon ka rishta, main bhi sochon tu bhi soch !’

(Why we keep quarrelling all the time, let both of us introspect

What the map of city would be like tomorrow, let both of us introspect

All human beings belong to one God, Adam is the father of human race

We share a blood relationship, let both of us introspect)

A recipient of Uttar Pradesh’s highest civilian award, Yash Bharti, the poet was reportedly distressed after the demise of his daughter Nuzha, who died of liver cancer in London on November 17. He had returned from Nuzhat's chaliswa which was performed in his village in Ambedkarnagar on Thursday , according to the family.

Jalalpuri was on life-support system in KGMU after being detected with a brain clot in the CT scan at the private hospital near his home at Lal Kuan area of the Lucknow city.

“He had fallen in the bathroom and was semi-conscious, when we realised that it has been almost 30 minutes since he has been inside. When we called out to open the door, he replied that he could not and we had to break in. He was lying on the bathroom floor,” his son Jannisar Jalalpuri was quoted as saying by TOI.

A number of well-known artists, authors and lovers of Urdu poetry are paying tributes to one of the Urdu literature’s greats. Here we take a look at the tributes pouring in across social media:

The last rites of the poet will be held on Wednesday in his native village Jalalpur in Ambedkarnagar district. Jalalpuri is survived by his wife and three sons.