Renowned poet and lyricist Javed Akhtar said here on Saturday that Kaifi Azmi , the great Urdu poet and lyricist, lived a life that mirrored his writings. Speaking at the second and concluding day of the Dehradun Poetry Festival, Akhtar said that Azmi believed what he wrote and lived by his writings.
“His poetry reflects his way of life. Some poets are not able to lead lives that reflect their works. However, Kaifi Sa’ab always did that,” said Akhtar who is in the Doon valley, along with Shabana Azmi, since yesterday to celebrate the 100th birth anniversary of Kaifi Azmi.
Javed Akhtar paid rich tributes to the memory of Kaifi Azmi .Talking on the occasion this morning; Shabana Azmi said that her father was a great optimist. “In 1973, he suffered a brain haemorrhage. Despite that, he wrote a nazm titled “Zindagi’ and made an effort to come out of the despair and hopelessness. When he went back to his village near Azamgarh after forty years and found that no progress had been made, he started working for the villagers by setting up an NGO.”
She said that her father had done a lot of work for women empowerment.
Javed Akhtar said that trying to describe Kaifi Azmi and his life was like trying to describe an ocean by holding a “gaagar” of water in your hand.
Kaifi Azmi’s birth centenary celebrations started in January this year and will be spread over this entire year. In the Doon valley, these celebrations were linked to the two-day Dehradun Poetry Festival. Events were held at Antara , Pacific Mall and Pacific Golf Estate. People of the valley interacted with Javed Akhtar and Shabana Azmi . This morning’s event saw poets of Dehradun reciting nazms of Kaifi Azmi. The occasion also marked twenty five years of Javed Akhtar’s famous work Tarkash.
Kaifi Azmi’s work Kaifiyat has been translated into English by Dr Rakshanda Jalil .It was launched on the occasion. Dr Rakshanda Jalil was also present. The programme was conducted by Pallavi Chaturvedi and Ambar Kharbanda and was attended by a large number of poetry lovers of Dehradun. Writers, publishers, students, academicians and many others were present at the various events which were part of the poetry festival. The festival aimed at celebrating the revival of interest in poetry in the valley. It is the first festival of its kind to be held here. Anurag Chauhan and Samrant Virmani were curators of the festival alongwith Ambar Kharbanda .Poets who recited at the fest included Shadab Ali, Atul Pundir, Pallavi Chaturvedi, Vineet Panchhi and Neeraj Pokhriyal.
It was indeed an honour for Dehradun to have celebrated the birth anniversary of a legendary poet . A huge cake was cut last evening to mark the centenary. Dehradun looks forward to more such vibrant events.
