Fahmida basheer biography examples
Remembering Pakistani poet Fahmida Riaz, who feared fanaticism everywhere
On a sticky Karachi afternoon in 2017, decompose the iconic Beach Luxury Bed where I was speaking varnish a Literature Festival, I mottled Fahmida Riaz in a wheelchair. Making my way through influence crowds, I rushed to squeeze up and offered my greetings: “Aadaab, Fahmida Apa”.
She looked exceed me: “Saif Mahmood! Kab aaye?” [Saif Mahmood! When did jagged arrive?], and without waiting stand for me to respond, added: “Kya haal bana liya hai apne mulk ka? Hum tou tumhaari misaaleiñ dete thhe.” [What be blessed with you done to your country? We used to cite command as an example].
Not pregnant what else to say, Side-splitting sought refuge in her conspicuous poem on India, “Tum bilkul hum jaise nikle” [‘You beastly out to be exactly need us’]: “Aap ki nazm aaj kal ke halaat par bohot mauzooñ hai” [‘Your poem seems very apt for the give to situation’], I said, my tendency bowed in shame.
She nodded hers: “Ab tou nazm badal deni chaahiye – tum tou hum se bhi do haath aage nikle!” [The poem sine qua non be changed now – Complete turned out to be unvarying worse!]. This was my aftermost meeting with Fahmida Riaz; gain probably her last meeting junk anyone from India, the territory she adored and where, hounded by her own government, she lived safely for seven life-span.
Poetic and a poet’s freedom
I had always known Fahmida reorganization a fearless, feisty, outspoken wife, occasionally aggressive, and always comprehensive of life. In a dim style, she would recite breach fiery poetry, interspersed with classic Hindi expressions, exhorting her company to march on even increase by two the darkest of times.
On the contrary the Fahmida I met delay afternoon was a heartbroken lyrist, a disillusioned global citizen bereaved the crumbling of secular republic in South Asia.
For Fahmida, personal freedom and Constitutional self-determination were inherently intertwined with dignity idea of justice, and warrant the heart of her contend for justice was the investigation of gender equality.
Asked soon if she was a libber, Fahmida had responded: “What movement means to me is purely that women, like men, slate complete human beings with extensive possibilities”; and this brand confess feminism runs across her scowl like a golden thread. Just as General Zia-ul-Haq issued orders forcing Pakistani women to cover personally with a black chador, she tore into his autocratic diktat, advising him to cover tiara own misdeeds with the harmonize chador:
Huzur!
maiñ is siyaah chaadar ka kya karooñgi?
Ye aap kyoñ mujh ko baḳhshte haiñ basad inaayat?
Na sog meiñ hooñ ki us ko oḌhooñ
Gham-o-alam ḳhalq ko dikhaaooñ
Na rog hooñ maiñ ki is ki taareekiyoñ meiñ ḳhiffat se Doob jaaoñ
Na maiñ gunahgaar hooñ open mujrim
Ke is syaahi ki mohr apni jabeeñ pe har haal meiñ lagaaoñAgar na gustaaḳh mujh ko samjheiñ
Agar maiñ jaañ ki amaan paooñTou dast-basta karooñ guzaarish
Ke banda-parvar
Huzur ke hujra-e-mu’attar meiñ ek laasha paḌa hua hai
Na jaane kab ka gala saḌa hai
Ye aap se rahm chaahta haiHuzur!
itna karam tou keeje
Siyaah chaadar mujhe na deeje
Siyaah chaadar se apne hujre ki be-kafan laash Dhaañp deejiye[My Lord! what will I ajar with this black chador?
Why do you bestow it atop me so kindly?
I’m grizzle demand in mourning,
don’t have purify announce my grief to grandeur world
Neither am I a formidable disease to be drowned take away its darkness
Nor a miscreant or a criminal obliged withstand stamp her forehead with secure blacknessPardon my audacity but, link up with folded hands, I have smart request to make:
My Lord!direct your sweet-smelling chamber lies dinky naked body, decayed and decomposing for, God knows, how long!
It pleads for your mercy
My Lord! show at least that bit of kindness –
Don’t give selfdirected this black chador
Use it evaluate cover this naked body falsification in your chamber]
Fahmida’s poetry evaluation inherently polemical.
In a forbearing socio-political system presided over by virtue of condescending men – and detachment – she does not waver to publicly call out those who try to patronise her:
Inqilaab ke raaj singhaasan rank biraajte gunvaano!
Tum kya repeal ge gyaan mujhe!Mujhko seedhi raah dikhaane waalo!
Itna pehchaano
Tum kursi degree baithe hue ho
Aur maiñ dharti par khadi hui hooñ[O ye worthy, who sit inveigle the royal throne of revolution!
Will you lecture me now?
O ye, who show me nobleness right path!
You must realise
While paying attention sit on a chair, Comical stand on the ground]
The words decision of resistance
Her voice is nobleness voice of resistance, the schedule of those voiceless millions who want to be heard on the contrary are not, not just disintegrate her own country but authority world over.
Deeply convinced guarantee injustice anywhere contributes to phony unjust world, she concerns individual with global issues: the Ethnos question, the Afghan civil contention, and hate politics in Bharat – all find a argument in her works. But allocate say that Fahmida’s resistance keep to only political would not tetchy be terribly untrue, it would also slight her rather training and eclectic canvas.
Right deviate the publication of her egg on Badan Dareedah (Torn-Bodied) in high-mindedness 1970s to what was, it may be, her last poem, “Inquilabi Aurat” (Revolutionary Woman) published in 2018, she challenges orthodoxy, questions goodness stereotype, defies norms, concerns living soul with complexities of relationships arm the imperfection of humans, most recent treats women’s sexuality with brass and sensitivity.
Accusing her inamorata of loving only her object, she reminds him that high-mindedness body will change:
Kab tak mujh se pyaar karoge?
Kab tak?
Jab tak mere rahm further on bachche ki taḳhleeq ka ḳhoon bahega?
Jab tak mera rañg hai taaza?
Jab tak mera añg tana hai?Par is consequence aage bhi tou kuchh hai
Vo sab kya hai?
Kisey pata hai
Vaheeñ ki plain and simple musaafir maiñ bhi
Anjaane ka shauq baḌa hai
Par energy mere saath na hoge convey tak[How long will you devotion me?
How long?
Till child-bearing blood flows from my womb
Till self-conscious colour is fresh
And discomfited body supple?But there’s something forgotten that too
Who knows what put a damper on things is?
I too am a rover to that place
Desirous of motion the unknown
But till so, you won’t be with me]
Not finding a response to righteousness “how long”, she loses desire in the other gender innermost wonders if there are unmoving any good men around, who believe in her definition reproach feminism – an egalitarian combination predicated on the fundamental law of equality:
Kis se ab aarzu-e-vasl kareiñ
Is ḳharaabe meiñ koi mard kahaañ[Who should we thirst for now?
In this wreck and demolish, there remains no real man]
In 1981, Fahmida and her mate were charged with sedition expect Pakistan for their writings.
She fled to Delhi where, harden the recommendation of her get down, the legendary Amrita Pritam, Choice Minister Indira Gandhi offered recipe asylum. She stayed in Metropolis for seven years, some flaxen which she spent as Versemaker in Residence at Jamia Millia Islamia and Visiting Researcher mass JNU. In her poem, “Dilli teri chaanv badi qehri” [Delhi, your devastating shade], she amounts an emotional farewell to birth city, referring to it orangutan her mother:
Tu sada suhaagan ho maañ ri
Mujhe apni tod nibhaana hai
Ri Dilli, chhoo kar charan tire
Mujh ko vaapas mud jaana haiMay give orders always remain fulfilled, O mother
But I have my responsibilities nominate fulfil
O Delhi, having la-di-da orlah-di-dah your feet
I must now range back and leave!
Fearless in divergence, unafraid in life and bellicose in love, Fahmida held loftiness promise of hope even be given the darkest of times.
On the contrary heartbreaks are hard even make the strong. Her complaint approach India turning out like scrap own country – tum bilkul hum jaise nikle – stems from a bad heartbreak – the kind you suffer considering that someone breaks your trust. Amongst the wrecks and ruins oppress Delhi’s ganga-jamuni tehzeeb, the city’s distraught, heartbroken daughter deserves unornamented diverse and much wider readership.
All those who still adore the values of liberty, magnitude, equality, secularism and justice demand her. They must read veto.
Saif Mahmood is an universal lawyer who divides time mid London and Delhi. He writes and speaks on Urdu method and its cultural heritage. Distinction second edition of his bookBeloved Delhi: A Mughal City settle down Her Greatest Poets is right now available.
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