It was in my mind till very recently but then I forgot. 19th Aug 2006 was the thirteeth death anniversary of Jan Nisar Akhtar, an accomplished lyricist and poet. He was also the father of Javed Akhtar, husband of Safiya Akhtar (and therefore the brother-in-law of Majaz Lucknawi) and an Aligarian. His own father, Muztar Khairabadi was a well known poet and actually composed the Ghazal, ‘na kisii kii aaNkh kaa nuur huuN’ (yes, it was him and NOT Bahadur Shah Zafar). Not many websites remembered Jan Nisar, nor blogs wrote about him. On searching I found this news item at Rediff.com that talks about the release of a book of edited by Jan Nisar and released by his son.

Jan Nisar wrote some beautiful Ghazals and composed some really good couplets:

ab ye bhii nahiiN thiik ke har dard miTaa deN
kuch dard kaleje se lagaane ke liye haiN

jaaiye baiThiye hukmraanoN ke biich
aap kyuuN aa gaye ham divaanoN ke biich

chand vahmoN pe na rakh fikr-o-amal ki buniyaad
sirf buniyaad se ta’amiir badal jaatii hai

zindagii ye to nahiiN tujhko saNvaaraa hii na ho
kuch na kuch teraa ehsaan utaaraa hii na ho

tuu is qadar mujhe apne qariib lagtaa hai
tujhe alag se jo sochuuN, ajiib lagtaa hai

He also some wrote fine poems and the one written on a visit to his wife’s grave is a classic.

I would be posting some Ghazals and Nazms of Jan Nisar Akhtar at Aligarians.com in the days to come. You can read them at this link.

P.S. First blog post written with Windows Live Writer.

A.M.U. not only gives you a degree but it also gives you a name (called ‘title’ in Aligarh lingo). More often than not, the new name sticks with you for the rest of life. More on A.M.U. nomenclature system sometime later, but right now I remember a very interesting anecdote about a person whose ‘title’ was (yes, you guessed it right) bakraa.

His actual name was Nafiis meaning exquisite. I don’t know how and why he was named bakraa. What I did hear was that he was not very popular among the students during his earlier stint as the Proctor. A couple of years ago he was appointed the Proctor again. He hadn’t exactly endeared himself to the students during this duration and obviously the title was still the same, bakraa. It has been the tradition of A.M.U. that high officials always offer their Eid and Bakreid prayers in the main mosque of Sir Syed Hall. Once during Bakreid prayers Nafis saahab was sitting near the Imam while he was delivering the Khutbah on the suitability of the sacrificial bakra during Bakreid. According to eye-witnesses, the Imam used the exact same words and used it forcefully and repeatedly:

qurbaanii kaa bakra to nafis hii honaa chaahiye (The sacrificial goat should be exquisite).

Needless to say, the audience was in splits and the Imam was clueless.

Naseem Ahmed, the current Vice Chancellor (V.C.) of A.M.U. is also an alumni of the institution. Urdu department of A.M.U. organizes a sherii nashist (small poetry recital gathering) on the eve of Independence Day and Republic Day every year. Usually, the V.C. is the chief guest and is invited to say a few words to the audience, which mostly comprises of the staff and the students.

When Naseem saahab’s turn to speak came, he started by saying that, “jab maiN yahaaN par paRhtaa thaa, us vaqt mujhe shaayerii ka itnaa zauq nahiiN thaa aur mujhe samajh meN bhii nahiiN aatii thii. lekiN ab itne saaloN ke baad mujhe shaayerii bhii samajh meN aane lagii hai” (When I used to study here, then I did not have a taste for poetry and I also didn’t understand it. Now, after so many years I have started to appreciate the poetry). To which one of the students commented:

“haaN, ab shaayerii ka mayyar bhii bahut gir gayaa hai” (Yeah, the standard of poetry has also deteriorated a lot).

You just can’t get away with A.M.U. students !

Aligarh numaaish (exhibition) is an annual month-long event and has become a tradition of sorts down the years. Its cultural events are very well attended and lure away even big artists like Ghulam Ali last year. After reading this post through Desi Pundit, I remembered a very interesting anecdote about the numaaish.

A.M.U. students attend numaaish with much enthusiasm and needless to say, it would be a bland affair without their presence. For the cultural events, the audience section is divided into three parts. The front rows are usually reserved for dignitories and government officials. Normally they are occupied by people who like to throw their weight around. The back rows are divided into two parts, one for the students and other for general public. Some years ago when I was studying over there, Hema Malini was invited to present a classical dance program. Now, I am yet to ‘meet’ a North Indian who would watch a classical dance show with some interest. But since it was Hema Malini’s dance, therefore the front rows were jam-packed. As soon as Hema Malini arrived on the stage one of the students from the back rows shouted:

Basanti, in kuttoN ke saamne mat naachnaa…..

Overheard after a flop mushaira at the athletics ground, Aligarh Muslim University in February 2003.

A Maulana (to another): “kam se kam do shaayeraat ko to bulaanaa hii chaahiye thaa” (They should have invited at least two poetesses).