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Have we really forgotten Mirza Ghalib, the greatest Urdu poet of all time?

Have we really forgotten Mirza Ghalib, the greatest Urdu poet of all time?

The poet’s 219th birthday went by completely unnoticed
Updated 28 Dec, 2016

Mirza Asadullah Khan Ghalib, who was born on Dec 27, 1797 in Agra, is widely regarded as the greatest Urdu language poet. Urdu is Pakistan’s national language and there are at least half a dozen cultural organisations in Karachi, a couple of them named after Ghalib, that harp on the importance of the Urdu language.

But for some strange reason Ghalib’s birth and death anniversaries are never observed or special events are held, leave alone observed the way they merit, by these organisations. The same negligent attitude was witnessed on the poet’s 219th birthday on Tuesday, which went by completely unnoticed.

Talking to Dawn, Ghalib Library’s secretary Rauf Parekh thinks that’s not the case; “We do hold special events and we intend to do one on Feb 15, 2017. Since we are a trust, lack of funds caused us to halt our activities in the past, but rest assured we have been doing our bit. We publish 30 to 35 books on Ghalib and he is very much alive with us. This year our grant has been increased, so you will see more programmes. That being said, I concede that we have not done enough.”

President of the Arts Council of Pakistan Karachi Ahmed Shah says: “Every year at our international Urdu conference we have a session on Ghalib. Even this year we had a lecture by Dr Nomanul Haq on ‘Ghalib Se Iqbal’. Yes, I agree that his birth and death anniversaries should be commemorated. To be honest, we were busy with our post-election stuff, so [we] could not think about it. Also, cultural organisations are not that connected to Urdu literature the way they should be. On Feb 15, which is Ghalib’s death anniversary, we will arrange a conference on his life and work.”

The question remains: where does Ghalib feature on our priority list?

Honorary secretary of Anjuman Taraqqi-i-Urdu Dr Fatima Hassan replies: “The provincial government had announced a holiday on Tuesday, so our employees did not come. Secondly, ours is a ‘research organisation’, our priority is that if a scholar from abroad is in town, we will invite him or her to speak on the subject that s/he specialises in. I agree, though, that asatizah (masters) should be honoured. We try and do our best, for instance, we arranged an event of Hali and Shibli’s centenaries.”

Poet Iftikhar Arif, who heads the Pakistan Academy of Letters, argues: “In the West, birthdays of Milton, Shakespeare and Homer are not celebrated. It is our Eastern tradition that we celebrate the birthdays of our great writers and thinkers. I was recently in Iran where I saw that Firdausi, Saadi, Hafiz, Rumi and Attar’s birth anniversaries were celebrated with fervour. To remember someone is giving proof of your own existence. It suggests the kind of relation you have with that person. If you don’t remember someone, it suggests you have no connection with him. We remember those whom we love. Yet, we don’t celebrate Ghalib, Mir, Anees and Nazeer. Every university in the country has an Urdu department. It does not take much to hold a seminar on a poet. I’ve been watching television and no channel has aired any programme on Ghalib. Literature is not our priority anymore, leave alone remembering Ghalib.”

An earlier version of this story incorrectly stated that this year marked Ghalib's 119th birth anniversary. The error is regretted.


Originally published in Dawn December 28th, 2016

Comments

Abid Dec 28, 2016 11:15am
If Mirza Ghalib was born in 1797 it should be 219th birthday and not 119th.
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Ajay vikram Singh Dec 28, 2016 12:32pm
Naksh faryadi hai kiski shokhi-e-tahrir ka....kaagzi hai pairahan har paikar e tasweer ka...
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indifferent Dec 28, 2016 12:35pm
Heart it is, not a brick or stone Why shouldn't it feel the pain?
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Khalil A. Hassan Dec 28, 2016 12:35pm
Traditionally, it is the responsibility of the regime in power to assign patronage to arts and literature. That does not seem to be the case in our country where major government functionaries are observed inaccurately reciting verses of Ghalib & Iqbal in public gatherings. Aesthetics and preservation of our legacies do not enjoy the desired level of priority among the elite. Take the example of the Orange Train Project adversely affecting our archaeological heritage. Mr. Iftikhar Arif, himself and accomplished poet, as head of our Academy of Letters should not have taken the matter lightly. By the way, it was the 219th and not the 119th birth anniversary of Ghalib this year.
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lafanga Dec 28, 2016 12:37pm
we have to change according to time.
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Syed Rafiq Dec 28, 2016 12:47pm
yeh na thi hamari qismat........
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Comment Dec 28, 2016 01:13pm
Nothing much, other than romance, sadness and sorrow and miseries. Time to move on....gone is gone...
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Zia Taqdees Dec 28, 2016 01:45pm
Very few comments in span of 2 hours evaluate the overall trend of interest in Ghalib's poetry. It was only great ghazal singer Jagjeet Singh who pick him for his unique album which reminds Ghalib ka hae andaze bayan aour.
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osman Dec 28, 2016 01:55pm
Disagree with the title. Iqbal is the greatest poet of urdu. Though Ghalib is the greatest commercial poet of Urdu undoubtedly.
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Comment Dec 28, 2016 03:17pm
@osman all the same....issue of perspective and perceptions..
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Naved Dec 28, 2016 03:41pm
Mir, Ghalib, Anis and Iqbal are four pillars of Urdu poetry. But not doubt due to variety of topics and their treatment, depth of thinking, use of language and its phrases, range of different colors and aspects of human life, Ghalib is the greatest of all Urdu poets. We need to read and understand his poetry and remember him.
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Ahmed1236 Dec 28, 2016 03:46pm
It is not far away when our new generation shall not have any heroes, history, culture and values to take pride in.
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DK PAMNANI Dec 28, 2016 04:14pm
We still remember Ghalib: Jaaage hain Der tak ...Hume kuch Der or sone do Thodi raat or waaki hai....subah hone toh do Aadhe adhure khawab Jo ..pure na ho sake Ek baar phir se neend mai wo khawab bone do.........
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M. Emad Dec 28, 2016 04:46pm
Iqbal or Galib or Faiz the the greatest Urdu poet of all time?
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Imtias ahmed Dec 28, 2016 05:00pm
No doubt he was & is great Urdu poet of all time & will remain the icon of the masses for his poetry matching past, present & future eras for his all time matching cercomstances through his great massages of poetry. The other poets though they were great but of their own times or were they limited to for a particular massages.
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Maestro Dec 28, 2016 05:06pm
Rekhta kay tumhe ustaad nahi ho Ghalib Kehtay hain aglay zamanay may koi Mir bhi tha
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ahmed41 Dec 28, 2016 05:57pm
@osman Osman ji, Iqbal was a philosopher-poet . He had a philosophy to propagate . He spoke for a pan-Islamic re-formation . He wrote equally well in Farsi and in URDU. Ghalib wrote in Persian & Urdu too, but it was deep poetic feelings , not philosophy of the Iqbalian brand.
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Khalid Khan Dec 28, 2016 06:41pm
@osman Aisa bhi hae koi keh sab acha kahain jise.
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Wasim Rathore Dec 28, 2016 07:34pm
If Ghalib is considered such a great poet of the Urdu language, why does keeping his memory alive depend upon government patronage? The books, plays, movies and other stuff about Shakespeare, for example, are not paid for by the British government.
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a Dec 28, 2016 11:00pm
@Zia Taqdees While Jagjit Ji was and will always remain the voice of Ghalib for the whole of India, it wasn't actually Jagjit who made the TV series. It was and out and out a Gulzar production. Of course, Gulzar himself credits Jagjit for the success.
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Zak Dec 28, 2016 11:55pm
@osman disagree. Ghalib was Ghalib.
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Azeem Dec 29, 2016 03:31am
@osman While one can say Iqbal was one of the most important figures in Urdu lterature,but certainly not the greatest poet of Urdu language and should not be favourably compared with Mirza Ghalib. Firstly Iqbal wrote primarily in Persian.His importance and greatness is as a philosopher and leader who inspired the Pakistan Movemen and will forever be remembered for that reason and not as the greatest poet of the Urdu language.
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Sukhera Dec 29, 2016 05:24am
Why we have to only remember Ghalib on birthdays and death anniversaries. This is totally insane. Why not we include his poems and ghazal in high school curriculum and introduce him to our younger generations.
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j.Gamble Dec 29, 2016 07:04am
Hai aur bhi dunia main sukanvar bahut achhe, kahtain hai ki Ghalib ka andaze bayan aur.
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jawahar lal Dec 29, 2016 04:25pm
India and Pakistan should jointly celeberate Mirza Ghalib's birthday the greatest poet of our times. Those of us who are now past seventies and possess some knowledge of urdu language hold Mirza Ghalib in the highest esteem. "
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HANS Dec 29, 2016 11:36pm
Poet iftikar Arif is so right. In West, they don't celebrate birth day of great literary persons. But in West they produce their writings beautifully and people read it. Also they keep their birth place with great care as national heritage and people visit them.
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Masood Hussain Dec 30, 2016 01:18am
Isn't a pity we are forgetting our cultural priorities? To forget Ghalib is forgetting ourselves.
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