GUEST SPEAKER SESSION AMIDST SIGHS

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آد می بلبلہ ہے پا نی کا ۔۔۔۔۔۔کیا بھروسہ ہے زند گانی کا (میر تقی میر)۔

Guest Speaker Session of MIS was not a good experience as the whole environment was too bleak and sad after the news of demise of our junior Zohaib Aijaz.

انا للہ و انا الیہ راجعون

Of course guest speaker sessions are scheduled beforehand and they cannot be postponed because of unavailability and busy schedules of guests. Naturally it was difficult rather impossible to concentrate on what the guest speaker was saying, in such gloomy atmosphere. What I remember is that the subject was IS audit. The speaker was an experienced and learned man. He covered different aspects regarding IS audits. He told that the purpose of IS audits is to ensure three most important aspects of information which ,if I am not wrong, are:

1. Confidentiality
2. Reliability
3. Availability

حمد

ایک حمد پیش ِ خدمت ہے۔ ناصر کاظمی کی یہ حمد ان کی طویل نظم "پہلی بارش" کی ابتداء ہے۔ یہ حمد عام حمدیہ شاعری سے قدرے مختلف ہے کیونکہ اس میں مالکِ حقیقی کی بڑائی کے ساتھہ ساتھہ انسان اورمالک کے عظیم رشتےاور تعلق کو بےنظیر اور خوبصورت انداز میں بیان کیا گیاہے۔ مجھے یہ نظم بہت پسند ہے۔ امید ہے کہ آپ کو بھی پسند آئے گی۔

۔

میں۔ نے جب ۔ لکھنا۔ سیکھا ۔ تھا

پہلے ۔۔ تیر ا ۔۔ نا م ۔۔۔ لکھا ۔۔۔ تھا

۔

میں وہ صبر ِ صمیم ہوں جس نے

بار ِ امانت ۔۔ سر۔۔ پہ ۔۔۔ لیا ۔۔۔ تھا

۔

میں وہ اسم ِ عظیم ۔ ہوں جس کو

جن و ملک ۔ نے سجدہ ۔ کیا۔۔ تھا

۔

تو نے کیوں ۔ مرا ہاتھہ نہ ۔ پکڑا

میں جب رستے سے۔۔ بھٹکا۔۔ تھا

۔

جو۔۔ پا یا۔۔۔ ہے۔۔۔ وہ۔۔۔۔ تیرا۔۔ ہے

جو۔۔ کھویا۔۔۔ وہ۔۔ بھی۔۔ تیرا۔۔۔ تھا

۔

پہلی۔۔ با رش۔۔۔ بھیجنے ۔۔۔وا لے

میں۔ ترے۔ د رشن۔ کا۔ پیاسا۔ تھا

۔

ناصر کاظمی

The Key

Here is the key to know their names and brief overview of their contributions to Urdu Literature.

1. Muneer Niazi: A great contemporary Urdu poet who passed away in recent years. He is famous for his beautiful diction and highly imaginative poetry.
2. Maulvi Abdul Haq: Called Baba-e-Urdu (Father of Urdu), Maulvi Abdul Haq spent his whole life working for Urdu cause. He had a great command on Urdu linguistics and had a great style in writing biographies and essays.
3. Parveen Shakir: Considered greatest female Urdu poetess by many, Parveen Shakir died early like many English Romantic poets. She was among firsts who wrote poetry with keeping their femininity intact.
4. Prem Chand: Prem Chand (real name: Dhanpat Rai) is among the pioneers of short story (afsaana) writers in Urdu. His legacy is the subjects of common man on which he constructed his stories. No one can deny his position in the domain of Urdu Afsaana.
5. Wasif Ali Wasif: Wasif was a beautiful essayist. He was a mystic. He wrote several books on Tassawuf which reach our hearts and souls.
6. Mir Taqi Mir: Considered by many the greatest Ghazal writer, Mir is a symbol of classic Urdu poetry. His poetry is simple but has an everlasting impact. He is called Khuda-e-Sukhun (God of poetry).
7. Altaf Hussain Haali:The services Haali did to Urdu can be matched by few. He was a poet and a writer. He changed the scope of poetry and started using poetry to discuss social issues rather than traditional love themes. He was a great critic and essayist.
8. Firaaq Gorakhpuri: Firaaq (real name: Raghupati Suhai) is a very influential poet of 20th century. His ghazals influenced all generations which came after him.
9. Saahir Ludhianvi: Saahir's name is among greatest poets who remained in India after partition. His poetry is rebel against existing norms. He could be compared with Faiz as both write about same themes generally.
10. Saadat Hasan Manto: Very famous and very controversial Manto took afsaana to new heights after the era of Prem Chand. He was criticized for vulgar themes he portrayed in some of his stories.
11. Ahmed Nadeem Qasmi: Famous as both poet and short story writer, Ahmed Nadeem Qasmi is a very respected literary figure among those who ruled literature after the partition.
12. Ismat Chughtai: Like Manto, Ismat was also highly criticized for propagating vulgar themes. She was a committed member of Taraqi Pasand Tehreek, a literary movement initiated to revolt against established norms and status quo.
13. Mirza Ghalib: Ghalib is considered the greatest Urdu poet though his most poetry is in Persian. The ideas he gave and the expressions he chose are still unparallel to anyone in literature.
14. Allama Iqbal: With Ghalib, Iqbal enjoys the greatest respect and fame among all other poets. His poetry is philosophical, highly rich in diction and purposeful.
15. Bano Qudsia: Wife of Ashfaq Ahmed, Bano is a famous contemporary novelist and story-writer. She excels in exploring complex psychological processes behind our behavious.
16. Ahmed Faraz: Disciple of Faiz in many respects, Faraz was a great poet with beautiful diction. He was excellent in writing both, romantic and rebellious verses. His style became the benchmark and new poets started saying verses in his diction.
17. Asrar-ul-Haq Majaz: Majaz was a taraqi pasand poet who died early. His choice of words and imagery have become standards in poetry.
18. Syed Sajjad Zaheer: One of the pioneers of Taraqi Pasand Tehreek, Sajjad Zaheer tried to bring western techniques in poetry, criticism and short stories. He viewed literature not only as a tool to satisfy aesthetic needs, but as a weapon to destroy capitalism.
19. Maulana Shibli Nomani: Shibli was contemporary of Sir Syed and Haali. He contributed with them in changing the paradigms of Urdu prose. He was among firsts to write history, Islamic themes and biographies in Urdu.
20. Mushtaq Ahmed Yousufi: Yousufi is considered as one of the greatest humour writers. His humour is highly intellectual. He established new standards for writing humour.
21. Akbar Ilahabadi: Akbar is among pioneers of humorous poetry in Urdu. His humorous verses are still considered benchmark.
22. Qurat-ul-Ain Haider: Called Virginia Woolf of Urdu, Qurat-ul-Ain Haider was a navelist par excellence. Her novel "Aag Ka Daria" is considered greatest Urdu novel by many critics.
23. Fehmida Riaz: She is a very famous contemporary Urdu poetess. She is a rebellious poetess raising feminine causes and protesting against unjust social norms in her poems.
24. Faiz Ahmed Faiz: An unforgettable voice of Urdu poetry, Faiz introduced new styles and ways of expression in poetry. He is considered among greatest poets who lived in Pakistan.
25. Sir Syed Ahmed Khan: Sir Syed is the founder of modern Urdu prose, essays and journalism. He shifted the prose from imaginative stories of fairies and devils to the essays concerning issues of masses.
26. Hafeez Jalindhary: Hafeez enjoys great respect being the poet of the anthem of Pakistan. He made great innovations in Nazam particularly Geet.
27. Nawab Mirza Khan Daagh: Daagh is one of the last classic poets. He is highly distinguished among classic poets because of his unique, direct and satirical expressions.
28. Mir Anees: Anees is the greatest Marsia writer of Urdu. He was master of words.
29. Ibn-e-Insha: Ibn-e-Insha (real name: Sher Muhammad Khan) occupies important position in Urdu history because of his remarkable achievements as a poet, Safarnama Nigar, humour writer and translater.
30. Gopi Chand Narang: He is the great writer and critic. He is among those who are raising the cause of Urdu in India.
31. Ashfaq Ahmed: Ashfaq Ahmed is a renowned short story writer. His short stories and dramas are very deep and profound in their treatment of human psyche.
    
    
    

Legends of Urdu Literature

Here are pictures of some great names of Urdu Literature. They include poets,story writers novelists, humour writers, essay writiers and literary critics. I took images from google search and joined them. Of course there are many other great names and legends that are missing.
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Some interesting books

Introduction

Assalam-o-Alaikum, My name is Bilal Ahmed. I have disclosed some information about my life and personality in the profile which you can access. In short I am doing BBA. I dont know why I am doing it and what sort of advantage I would take from the degree if I complete my BBA. My hobbies include reading about diverse fields (mathematics, literature, philosophy, chemistry, politics), playing computer games (particularly DoTA nowadays), surfing on the net and travelling. I love to travel. Even travelling within Karachi and going to diverse areas satisfy me a lot. There is a proverb in Urdu, "safar waseela-e-zafar" meaning travelling is a mean to success. I think travelling is a source of success, knowledge, observation and exploring the unknown. I plan to post another item regarding my travels. God has been very kind to me as I have gone to Islamabad, Murree, Taxilla, Abottabad in Pakistan and New York, Chicago, Buffalo and Detroit in United States of America.

I am a bit pessimistic and depressed person as I cannot answer many fundamental questions about life, ethics, relativity, society and human existence. My thirst for answers to such questions led me to realms of philosophy which really fascinated me but still I do not possess the truth about ultimate realities of things. Relativity of things has made me skeptic. An issue very ethically important to me might be very trivial for other. The different stands of philosophers, religious scholars and mystics over fundamental issues of life have troubled me a lot. Although I am intrinsically a sad and introvert person but ironically I crave for enjoyment. I want enjoyment and I do enjoy a lot when I am in a good mood with my friends.

I love mathematics because it is pure; rather purest. It strives to establish conclusions beyond doubt, beyond skepticism, beyond any possibility of contradictions. Besides I love chemistry in sciences. I also like biology. Nature, animals and plants have fascinated me for long.

Yes I forgot to tell my another noteworthy hobby. I like music. But not rock or rap. I should accept that I cannot understand what criteria people have of judging English songs. I know this would hurt many people but for me Madonna, Michael Jackson, Bryan Adams, Linkin Park are all same. You have all rights to declare me insane for this. Instead, I soothe myself from golden voices of sub-continent such as Lata Mangeshkar, Asha Bhosle, M. Rafi, Kishore, Mukesh, Talat Mehmood, K.L. Sehgal, Shamshad Begum, Noor Jehan, Mehdi Hassan, Saleem Raza, Rushdi, Naseem Begum, Masood Rana, Runa Laila, Mehnaz, Mala etc. I also like ghazals and semiclassicals sung by Iqbal Bano, Farida Khanum, Amanat Ali, Nayyara Noor, Tina Sani, Habib Wali Muhammed, Tahira Syed etc.

Urdu Literature:

I have created this blog as a requirement of our subject MIS (Management Information Systems). This blog is about my life, my activities and particularly my interest in Urdu Literature.

Literature has been one of the greatest heritage of mankind. It lies in the essence of humanity. Literature, whether it is prose or poetry, has been a tool to understand human,to identify what constitutes his humanity and to explain his life with its complexities. Every language has produced writers and poets who with their great creativity, imagination and diction identified new realms of life, reached new spheres of thought and created new ways of expressing humanity. How bleak would have been the world had Shakespeare not written "to be or not to be" in his Hamlet. How much beauty would not have been in our lives had Keats not declared:

"A thing of beauty is a joy for ever

Its loveliness increases, it will never

. ...................................................Pass into nothingness;" (Endymion)

No language can claim that it has the greatest literature in the world. Even our regional languages have many great prose and poetry which worth to be translated in other languages. Afterall all poets and writers whether they wrote in English or French, Arabic or Persian, Sindhi or Punjabi, Urdu or Sanskirt, were humans. Their languages were not same but the humanity they had, the emotions they felt, the knowledge they craved were the same. Today many of young people and my friends are quite interested in reading English literature. Some of them are really experts in literatature, having knowledge of every noteworthy contemporary as well as classic writer. But they do not recognize the treasure of masterpieces which Urdu literature has. Urdu has evolved from any languages. Its grammar is primarily derived form Hindi and Sanskirt, its many words have come from Arabic, its poetry has a stamp of classic Persian poetry on it, and now many words have been adopted from English and Western languages such as Latin and French. Besides there is also a great effect of Turkish and regional languages of sub-continent. I mean it is really a beautiful and civilized language. That is why there have been many great writers and poets in Urdu whose works can be compared with famous literary giants such as Homer, Milton, Goethe, Chekhov, Tolstoy, Saadi, Firdousi, Virginia Woolf etc.

I have designed this blog to share my interest of Urdu Literature with you. I would be posting prose and poetry which I like so that you could read them and comment on them. And of course the content on the blog wont be only related to literature. I would be posting things related to IBA and materials related to my other interests. I will be highly obliged if you people give me your suggestions regarding anything about this blog.