I have been reading Dr. Rahi Masoom Raza’s Urdu Poetry these days. Was lucky to find a book of his at a book fare at Delhi while I was in India. He’s mostly thought of as a Novelist/scriptwriter (mostly renowned as the scrip-writer of the famous TV show Mahabharata) and few know now that he was a Shayar of a very high level. There was revolution in his poetry, but the underlying theme in most of his works is Pain. Pain about the partition of India and pain that grows out of helplessness. He strikes me as a Shayar who was romantic in his own right. Here is an outstanding Nazm by Rahi Sahab, which is not that easy to understand, but I included meanings to some tougher words.
It was interesting, but I felt he was speaking to me in the fourth para.
This “nazm” is universally applicable to all unknown writers who make a beginning in their writing careers. Or for that matter in any other discipline they choose to adopt.
The famous film producer director Mehboob Khan on being presented Yusuf Khan as an actor , yelled at the agent, ” Where did you find this monkey faced idiot?”
And Yusuf Khan went on to become Dilip Kumar, a household name even today.
Keep finding such gems. And please present the meanings of difficult words at the beggining of the “nazm” so that we are ready for the encounter.
Best good luck.
amazing to find this nazm on your site, the poet is my uncle and am glad that his work is still being appreciated.
his best book of poems is “mein ek pheriwala” which was published in hindi, you sld definitely check it out
also check out his novels, esp “aadha gaon ” and topi shukla
cheers!
mb