ParveenShakir24 November 1952 ko Karachi mein paida huin. App ko Urdu ki munfarid lehjay ki Shayara hone ki wajah se nahayat qaleel arsay mein woh shohrat hasil hui jo bohot hi kam logon ko milti hai. Englishliterature aur zaban dani mein ParveenShakir ne graduation kia aur bad mein inhin mozameen mein Karachi University se M.A ki degree hasil ki. ParveenShakir ustad ki hasiyat se dars o tadrees ke shobay se wabastah rahein aur phir bad mein ParveenShakir ne Govenment job (sarkari molazmat) ikhtaiar ker li. Government Job (Sarkari molazmat) shuru kernay se pehlay 9 sal shoba e tadres se munsalik rahein, aur 1986 mein custom department, CBR Islamabad mein secratary doyem ke tour per apni khidmaat anjam denay lagein. Iss se pehlay app ne America ki Harvard university se MPA (Masters in Public Administration) ka korse mukammal kiya.
ParveenShakir ki shadi doctor, Naseer Ali se houi jin se bad mein talaq lay li. ParveenShakir (death) 26 December 1994 ko traffic ke aik hadsay mein Islamabad mein 42 sal ki umar mein apne malik haqeqi se ja milim. ParveenShakir ke batay ka nam MoradAli hai.Parveen Sakir ki pehli (Book) ketab shaya hone se pehlay hi adbi jaraid mein chapne wali un ki nazmon aur gazlon ko bepanah maqboiyat hasil hui aur jab ParveenShakir ka pehla majmua shaya howa to nah sirf usey best seller ka azaz hasil huwa balkay ParveenShakir ke fikr o fun ki khushbu mulki hadud se nikal ker chahar dang alam mein phail gai. ParveenShakir ki shayeri noujawan nasal ka krazz ban gai. kachi umar ke romani jazbat ko gheray funkarana shaur aur clasici rachau ke sath pesh kerna ParveenShakir ke asloob ki pehchan qarar payia.
Khushbu ke bad anay wali ketabon un ke mauzoat hama geer aur fikar ghari pukhtagi ki hamil nazar ati hai. ParveenShakir ke inteqal se pehlay un ki khuliat Mah e Tamam ke nam se shaya huyi. ParveenShakir ki zati zindagi ka dukh jo un ki azdwaji zindagi ki nakami per muntahij huwa tha, ParveenShakir ki shayari aur shakhsiyat mein hazan aur udasi ki kaifiyat ban ker samnay aya. ParveenShakir ki maqboliyat ka andazah iss baat se bhi hota hai ke unki ketab “khushbu” mangataron aur mahboob chehron ko tohfay ki surat mein di jati rahi. ParveenShakir ko Sadare Pakisrtan ki taraf se pride of performance ke elawah Adam Jee Adbi award bhi mila. wafat (death) se pehlay woh PhD ke leyeh “ 1971 ki jang mein zarae iblag ka kirdar” ke mozu per moqalah mukammal ker chuki thin jo America ki aik University mein pesh kia jana tha. ParveenShakir Pakistan Television ke kai progeramon mein aur bilkhsoos moshayeron mein aik maqbool mezban motasauwar hoti thin. unki shayari ke terjumay English aur Japani zaban keye gaye hain. ParveenShakirki shayari ka mozu Mohabbat aur Aurat hai. PerveenShakir ki shayeri mein jo izhar e mohabbat karti hui bay jehjhak Aurat nazar ati hai, usey Purbi aur Hindi ki rawaiti Aurat per girah qarar deya ja sakta hai jo apney geeton mein Mard mehboob ko mokhatib ker ke apne tan man ke rogh biyan kerti hai. Kuch log iss rawaiye ko maghrib ke jaded rawaiyon ka per to qarar detay hain mager PerveenShakir ki shayari ki asal quwat kahin aur hai aur iss ne apni nazmon mein bar bar khud ko Unan ki saifo aur Hindustan ki Meera ka ham qaflah kaha hai. ParveenShakir ki shayari ka munfarid wasf iss ka aurat hotay huwe aik fard aur mukammal insane ki haisiyat mein sochna hai chunan chay uss ke ander ki maa beesween sadi ki aik zahen, taleem yaftah aur ghair mamuli aurat ke pehlu ba pehlu chalti hui nazar ati hai. Magar mardon ke banay huye iss iqdari nezam mein iss tarah zindah rehna waqai baray houslay ka kaam hai. PerveenShakir ne apni mokhtaser se zindagi baray houslay se guzari aur unn ki achanak aur almanac mout ne unki shakhsiyat ko aik aisa romantic hala bakshah hai jo anay wali tamam naslon ke leyeh bhi kashish ka bayes bana rahay ga.
Noshi Gilani (Urdu: نوشی گیلانی ) (born in 1964 in Bahawalpur, Pakistan) is an Urdu poet of international fame and a former academic from the Bahawalpur University, Punjab, Pakistan.
She is one of the leading Urdu poets in Pakistan and has successfully published five collections of poetry.
In 2008, her poetry was translated into English and her poems were read in the UK, with the Poetry Translation Centre's World Poets' Tour.
She hosted a tribute to folk singer Pathanay Khan, sponsored by the Pakistan National Council of the Arts (PNCA).
Personal Life
Noshi Gilani settled in San Francisco USA in 1995 but after her marriage to Saeed Khan she decided to move to Australia. She married Saeed Khan, an Australian-based Urdu poet on 25 October 2008 and they currectly reside in Sydney Australia. It was reported by her mother Mrs. Sarwar Gilani Sahiba, a professor of Urdu and Persian languages and literature, died in Bahawalpur, Pakistan.
Works
The candour and frankness of her highly-charged poems is unusual for a woman writing in Urdu and she has gained a committed international audience, performing regularly at large poetry gatherings in Pakistan, Australia, Canada and the US. Unknown outside the Pakistani community, the translations here mark her introduction to an English-speaking audience.
She is a member of younger generation of female poets. Her experience of living in US shows a notable impact on her significant number of poems. Living through Diaspora has increased the complexity of her poems and reinforced her sense of female identity and introduced a new revolution against restraint creative writers in Pakistanisociety.
Noshi Gilani's Works:
1. Mohabatain Jab Sumar Kurna (When you would count affections, 1993)
2. Udas Honay Kay Din Naheen (These are not the days of sadeness, 1997)
3. Pehla Lafz Mohabat Likha (The first word was written "Love", 2003)
4. Selected poems like Ay Meeray Shareek-E-Risal-E-Jaan,
5. Hum Tera Intezaar Kurtey Rahey (And I kept waiting you!) (2008).
6. Noshi Gillani poems, Enitharmon Press, (15 Sep 2008), translators: Lavinia Greenlaw; Nukhbah Langah.
Abu-Al-AsarHafeez JalandhariPakistani writer, poet and, above all, composer of the National Anthem of Pakistan. He was born in Jalandhar, Punjab, British India on January 14, 1900. After independence of Pakistan in 1947, Hafeez Jalandhari moved to Lahore. Hafeez made up for the lack of formal education with self-study but he has the privilege to have some advise from the great Persian poet Maulana Ghulam Qadir Bilgrami. His dedication, hard work and advise from such a learned person carved his place in poetic pantheon.
Hafeez Jalandhari actively participated in Pakistan Movement and used his writings to propagate for the cause of Pakistan. In early 1948, he joined the forces for the freedom of Kashmir and got wounded. Hafeez Jalandhari wrote the Kashmiri Anthem, "Watan Hamara AzadKashmir". He wrote many patriotic songs during Pakistan, India war in 1965.
Faiz Ahmed Faiz (1911–1984) was born on February 13, 1911, in Sialkot, India, which is now part of Pakistan. He had a privileged childhood as the son of wealthy landowners SultanFatima and SultanMuhammad Khan, who passed away in 1913, shortly after his birth. His father was a prominent lawyer and a member of an elite literary circle which included Allama Iqbal, the national poet of Pakistan.
In 1916, Faiz entered Moulvi Ibrahim Sialkoti, a famous regional school, and was later admitted to the Skotch Mission High School where he studied Urdu, Persian, and Arabic. He received a Bachelor's degree in Arabic, followed by a master's degree in English, from the Government College in Lahore in 1932, and later received a second master's degree in Arabic from the Oriental College in Lahore.After graduating in 1935, Faiz began a teaching career at M.A.O. College in Amritsar and then at Hailey College of Commerce in Lahore.
Faiz's early poems had been conventional, light-hearted treatises on love and beauty, but while in Lahore he began to expand into politics, community, and the thematic interconnectedness he felt was fundamental in both life and poetry. It was also during this period that he married Alys George, a British expatriate and convert to Islam, with whom he had two daughters. In 1942, he left teaching to join the British Indian Army, for which he received a British Empire Medal for his service during World War II. After the partition of India in 1947, Faiz resigned from the army and became the editor of The Pakistan Times, a socialist English-language newspaper.
On March 9, 1951, Faiz was arrested with a group of army officers under the Safety Act, and charged with the failed coup attempt that became known as the Rawalpindi Conspiracy Case. He was sentenced to death and spent four years in prison before being released. Two of his poetry collections, Dast-e Saba and Zindan Namah, focus on life in prison, which he considered an opportunity to see the world in a new way. While living in Pakistan after his release, Faiz was appointed to the National Council of the Arts by Zulfikar Ali Bhutto's government, and his poems, which had previously been translated into Russian, earned him the Lenin Peace Prize in 1963.
In 1964, Faiz settled in Karachi and was appointed principal of AbdullahHaroon College, while also working as an editor and writer for several distinguished magazines and newspapers. He worked in an honorary capacity for the Department of Information during the 1965 war between India and Pakistan, and wrote stark poems of outrageover the bloodshed between Pakistan, India, and what later became Bangladesh. However, when Bhutto was overthrown by Zia Ul-Haq, Faiz was forced into exile in Beirut, Lebanon. There he edited the magazine Lotus, and continued to write poems in Urdu. He remained in exile until 1982. He died in Lahore in 1984, shortly after receiving a nomination for the Nobel Prize.
Throughout his tumultuous life, Faiz continually wrote and published, becoming the best-selling modern Urdu poet in both India and Pakistan. While his work is written in fairly strict diction, his poems maintain a casual, conversational tone, creating tension between the elite and the common, somewhat in the tradition of Ghalib, the reknowned 19th century Urdu poet. Faiz is especially celebrated for his poems in traditional Urdu forms, such as the ghazal, and his remarkable ability to expand the conventional thematic expectations to include political and social issues.
Syed Wasi Shah (Urdu:سید وصی شاہ) is a PakistaniUrdu poet, dramatist, columnist, writer, anchor and occasional actor. Wasi started his career by acting in his own-scripted serial, he left acting in order to pursue his career in poetry. Wasi Shah wrote many books, including Mujhay Sandal Kar Do, Mere Ho Kar Raho, Ankhain Bheeg Jati Hain. Mujhay Sandal Kar Do. Wasi has written many plays including Babul, Thorhi Si Jaga Chaiye and Ek Tamanna Lahasil Si for which he was nominated asBest Writer Drama Serial at 1st Hum Awards.
Born as Syed Wasi Shah in Sargodha, Punjab, Wasi has a Punjabi dialect. His was seven when his father died of heart attack. Wasi married in 2001, he met his wife during his stay in Islamabad while of his first shooting of drama. Wasi and his wife have four children.
Wasi started his career as an actor in his own written serial, but left acting in order to pursue his childhood interest in poetry. Later Wasi served as an anchor on the talk shows, Raat Gaye and 3 Idiots.[2] He appears on number of talk shows, morning shows and intellectual programs. Wasialso serve as columnist on a daily Pakistani newspaper and he is still writing about issues in the newspaper Daily Aaj.
Dr. Israr Ahmed, (Urdu: اسراراحمد, born April 26, 1932) is a Pakistan-based Muslim religious figure who has been described as well-known among Muslims in Pakistan, India, the Middle East, and North America. Born in East Punjab, (now part of Haryana) in India, the second son of a government servant, he is the founder of the Tanzeem-e-islami, an off-shoot of the Jamaat-e-Islami.
He has spent the "last forty years" actively engaged in "reviving the Qur'an-centered Islamic perennial philosophy and world-view" with "the ultimate objective of establishing a true Islamic State, or the System of Khilafah." Ahmed is skeptical of the efficacy of "parliamentary politics of give-and-take" in establishing an "Islamic politico-socio-economic system" as implementing this system is a "revolutionary process".
Early life and education
Dr. Israr Ahmad was born on April 26, 1932 in Hisar (a district of East Punjab, now a part of Haryana) in India, the second son of a government servant. He graduated from King Edward Medical College (Lahore) in 1954 and later received his Master's degree in Islamic Studies from the University of Karachi in 1965. He came under the influence of Abul Ala Maududi as a young student, worked briefly for Muslim Student's Federation in the Independence Movement and, following the creation of Pakistan in 1947, for the Islami Jamiyat-e-Talaba and then for the Jamaat-e-Islami. Dr. Israr Ahmad resigned from the Jama`at in April 1957 because of its involvement in the electoral politics, which he believed was irreconcilable with the revolutionary methodology adopted by the Jama'at in the pre-1947 period.
Religious work
While still a student and an activist of the Islami Jami`yat-e-Talaba, Dr. Israr Ahmad became a Mudarris (or teacher) of the Qur'an. Even after resigning from the Jama`at, he continued to give Qur'anic lectures in different cities of Pakistan, and especially after 1965 spent a great deal of time studying the Quran.
In 1967 Dr. Israr Ahmadin wrote “Islamic Renaissance: The Real Task Ahead”, a tract explaining his basic belief. This was that a rebirth of Islam would be possible only by revitalizing Iman (faith) among the Muslims -- particularly educated Muslims -- and the propagation of the Qur'anic teachings in contemporary idiom and at the highest level of scholarship is necessary to revitalize Iman. This undertaking would remove the existing dichotomy between modern physical and social sciences on the one hand, and Islamic revealed knowledge on the other.
In 1971 Ahmad gave up his medical practice to devote himself full time to the Islamic revival. In 1972 he established or helped establish the Markazi Anjuman Khuddam-ul-Qur'an Lahore, Tanzeem-e-Islami was founded in 1975, and Tahreek-e-Khilafat Pakistan was launched in 1991.
Dr. Israr Ahmad first appeared on Pakistan Television in 1978 in a program called Al-Kitab; this was followed by other programs, known as Alif Lam Meem, Rasool-e-Kamil, Umm-ul-Kitab and the most popular of all religious programs in the history of Pakistan Television, the Al-Huda, which made him a household name throughout the country.[citation needed] Although he did not like to receive it personally, Dr. Israr Ahmad was awarded Sitara-i-Imtiaz in 1981. He has to his credit over 60 Urdu books on topics related to Islam and Pakistan, 9 of which have been translated into English and other languages.
While still a student and an activist of the Islami Jami`yat-e-Talaba, Dr. Israr Ahmad gained considerablefame and eminence as a Mudarris (or teacher) of the Holy Qur'an. Even after resigning from the Jama`at, he continued to give Qur'anic lectures in different cities of Pakistan, and especially after 1965 he has, according to his own disclosure, invested the better part of his physical and intellectual abilities in the learning and teaching of the Qur'anic wisdom.
Dr. Israr Ahmad wrote an extremely significant tract in 1967 in which he explained his basic thought — that an Islamic Renaissance is possible only by revitalizing the Iman (true faith and conviction) among the Muslims, particularly their intelligentsia. The revitalization of Iman, in turn, is possible only by the propagation of the Qur'anic teachings and presenting the everlasting wisdom of the Book of Allah (SWT) in contemporary idiom and at the highest level of scholarship. This undertaking is essential in order to remove the existing dichotomy between modern physical and social sciences on the one hand and the knowledge revealed by Almighty Allah (SWT) on the other. This tract is available in English as “Islamic Renaissance: The Real Task Ahead”.
Dr. Israr Ahmad gave up his thriving medical practice in 1971 in order to launch a full-fledged and vigorous movement for the revival of Islam. As a result of his efforts, the Markazi Anjuman Khuddam-ul-Qur'an Lahore was established in 1972, Tanzeem-e-Islami was founded in 1975, and Tahreek-e-Khilafat Pakistan was launched in 1991.
Dr. Israr Ahmad first appeared on Pakistan Television in 1978 in a program called Al-Kitab; this was followed by other programs, known as Alif Lam Meem, Rasool-e-Kamil, Umm-ul-Kitab and the most popular of all religious programs in the history of Pakistan Television, the Al-Huda, which made him a household name throughout the country. Although he did not like to receive it personally, Dr. Israr Ahmad was awarded Sitara-e-Imtiaz in 1981. He has to his credit over 60 Urdu books on topics related to Islam and Pakistan, 9 of which have been translated into English and other languages.
In the context of Qur'anic exegesis and understanding, Dr. Israr Ahmad is a firm traditionalist of the genre of Maulana MehmoodHassan Deobandi and Allama Shabeer Ahmad Usmani; yet he presents Qur'anic teachings in a scientific and enlightened way, being also a disciple of Allama Iqbal and Dr. Muhammad Rafiuddin, and also because of his own background in science and medicine. Concerning the internal coherence of and the principles of deep reflection in the Qur'an, he has essentially followed the thinking of Maulana Hameed Uddin Farahi and Maulana AmeenAhsan Islahi, though even here he has further developed their line of argument. Dr. Israr Ahmad believes in a dynamic and revolutionary conception of Islam, and in this regard he is a disciple of Maulana Abul KalamAzad and Maulana Sayyid Abul A`la Maududi.
For the last forty years or so, Dr. Israr Ahmad has been actively engaged not only in reviving the Qur'an-centered Islamic perennial philosophy and world-view but also reforming the society in a practical way with the ultimate objective of establishing a true Islamic State, or the System of Khilafah. He has widely traveled abroad and the audio and video tapes of his Qur'anic discourses in Urdu and English languages have circulated in thousands throughout the world.
A master's thesis, entitled Dr. Israr Ahmad's Political Thought and Activities, was written by Ms. ShaguftaAhmad in the Islamic Studies department of Canada's Mac Gill University. This thesis is available from Markazi Anjuman Khuddam-ul-Qur'an Lahore.
Dr. Israr Ahmed relinquished the leadership of Tanzeem-e-Islami in October, 2002 on grounds of bad health and HafizAakifSaeed is the present Ameer of the Tanzeem to whom all rufaqaa of Tanzeem renewed their pledge of Baiyah.
Saadat Hasan Manto' (May 11, 1912 January 18, 1955) was a South Asian Urdu short story writer, most known for his Urdu short stories , 'Bu' (Odor), 'Khol Do' (Open It), 'Thanda Gosht' (Cold Meat), and his magnum opus, Toba Tek Singh'.
He was also a film and radio scriptwriter, and journalist. In his short life, he published twenty-two collections of short stories, one novel, five collections of radio plays, three collections of essays, two collections of personal sketches.
He was tried for obscenity half-a-dozen times, thrice before and thrice after independence in Pakistan, but never convicted. Some of his works have been translated in other languages.
Saadat Hasan Manto was born in a Kashmiri Muslim family of barristers, on May 11, 1912, in Samrala in the Ludhiana district of the Indianstate of Punjab.His father, Ghulam Hasan Manto was a Sub-Judge in Amritsar, while his mother, Sardar Begum, a prior widow, was the second wife to Ghulam Hasan.This never gave the Saadat and his sister Nasira, the requisite place in the Manto clan, and things took a turn for the worse for them, when their father,took an early retirement in 1918.
He received his early education at Muslim High School in Amritsar, but he remained a misfit throughout is school years, rapidly losing motivation in studies, ending up failing twice in matriculation. His only love during those days, was reading English Novels, for which he even stole a book, once from a Book-Stall in Amritsar Railway Station.
In 1931, he finally passed out of school and joined Hindu Sabha College in Amritsar, which was already volatile due the independence movement, soon it reflected in his first story, 'Tamasha', based on the Jallianwala Bagh massacre as witnessed by a seven-year old boy.
After, his father passed away in 1932, he sobered up a bit to support his mother, though the big turning point in his life came, when in 1933 at age, he met Abdul Bari Alig, a scholar and polemic writer, in Amritsar, who encouraged to him find his true talents, and read Russian and French authors.
Within a matter of months he produced an Urdu translation of Victor Hugo's 'The Last Days of a Condemned Man', which was published by Urdu Book Stall, Lahore as Sarguzasht-e-Aseer (A Prisoner's Story) [16] and soon joined the editorial staff of 'Masawat', a daily, published from Ludhiana. His 1934 Urdu translation, of Oscar Wilde's Vera, got him due recognition amongst literary circles. Still at the continued encouragement of Abdul Bari, he published a collection of Urdu translation of Russian stories, as 'Russi Afsane'.
This hightened enthusiasm pushed him to pursue graduation at Aligarh MuslimUniversity, where joined in February 1934, and soon, got associated with Indian Progressive Writers' Association (IPWA). It was here that he met, writer Ali Sardar Jafri and found a new spurt in his writing, got his second story, 'Inqlaab Pasand', published in Aligarh magazine in March 1935.
There was no turning back from then on, and his first collection of original short stories in Urdu, 'Atish Pare' (Sparks; also Quarrel-Provokers) was published in 1936, at age 24.
He left Aligarh within a year, initially for Lahore and ultimately for Bombay.
"A writer picks up his pen only when his sensibility is hurt."
-- Manto to a court judge
After 1936, he moved to Bombay, where he stayed for the next few years, editing 'Musawwir', a monthly film magazine, and also started writing scripts and dialogues for Hindi films, including 'Kisan Kanya' (1936) and 'Apni Nagariya' 1939). Soon he was making enough money, though by the time he married Safia on 26th April, 1939, he was once again in dire financial conditions. Despite financial ups and downs he continued writing for films, till he left for Delhi in January 1941.
After the writers who had migrated from various Indian cities settled in Lahore, they started their literary activities. Soon Lahore saw a number of newspapers and periodicals appearing. Manto initially wrote for some literary magazines. These were the days when his controversial stories like Khol Do (Urdu: کھول دو Open it) and Thanda Gosht (Urdu: ٹھنڈا گوشت Cold Meat) created a furor among the conservatives. People like Choudhry Muhammad Hussain played a role in banning and prosecuting the writer as well as the publishers and editors of the magazines that printed his stories. Among the editors were such amiable literary figures as Ahmad Nadeem Qasmi, HajiraMasroor and Arif Abdul Matin. Soon the publishers who were more interested in commercial aspects of their ventures, slammed their doors shut to Manto's writings. He, therefore, started contributing stories to the literary supplements of some newspapers. Even this practice could not go on for long. MasoodAshar who was then editing the literary page of "Daily Ehsan" published some of his stories but the conservative owner of the paper soon asked him to refrain from the practice.
During those days, Manto also tried his hand at newspaper column writing. he started off with writing under the title Chashm-e-Rozan for daily Maghribi Pakistan on the insistence of his friends of Bombay days Ehsan BA and Murtaza Jillani who were editing that paper. But after a few columns one day the space appeared blank under the column saying that due to his indisposition Manto couldn't write the column. Actually Manto was not indisposed, the owner was not favourably disposed to some of the sentences in the column.
The only paper that published Manto's articles regularly for quite some time was "Daily Afaq", for which he wrote some of his well known sketches. These sketches were later collected in his book Ganjay Farishtay(Bald Angels). The sketches include those of famous actors and actresses like Ashok Kumar, Shayam, Nargis, Noor Jehan and Naseem (mother of Saira Banu). He also wrote about some literary figures likeMeera Ji, Hashar Kashmiri and Ismat Chughtai. Manto's sketch of Quaid-e-AzamMuhammad Ali Jinnah was also first published in Afaq under the title Mera Sahib. It was based on an interview with HaneefAzad, Qauid-e-Azam's driver of Bombay days who after leaving his job as driver became a well known actor. The article included some of the remarks related to the incident when DinaJinnah married Wadia. Later when the sketch was included in the book these lines were omitted.
Manto created a new tell-all style of writing sketches. He would mince no words, writing whatever he saw. "I have no camera which could wash out the small pox marks from Hashar Kashmiri's face or change the obscene invectives uttered by him in his flowery style," he wrote.
Manto once tried to present the sketch of Mulana Chiragh Hasan Hasrat in a literary gathering organized in YMCA Hall Lahore to celebrate the Maulana's recovery from heart attack. The sketch entitled Bail Aur Kutta was written in his characteristic style exposing some aspects of Maulana's life. The presiding dignitary stopped him from reading the article and ordered him to leave the rostrum. Manto, however, was in 'high spirits'. He refused to oblige and squatted on the floor, and was with difficulty prevailed upon by his wife, Safia, to leave the stage.
Those days Manto was writing indiscriminately in order to provide for his family and be able to drink every evening. For everything he wrote, he would demand cash in advance. In later days, he started writing for magazines like Director. He would go to its office, ask for pen and paper, write his article, collect the remuneration and go away. This Manto was different from the one who arrived in Lahore in 1948.
The Manto in 1950 had a glowing Kashmiri complexion and a thick crop of long brown hair on his head. He was wearing a light brown gabardine shirwanee with a silken trousers and saleem shahi shoes. He came to Government College, Lahore to read his article How Do I Write a Story.
But the necessity to earn his livelihood consumed him very fast. In a few years, his complexion became pale and his hair turned grey. We saw him reading his story Toba Tek Singh at YMCA Hall at the annual meeting of Halqa-e-Arbab-e-Zauq. He looked older than his years wearing an overcoat with collars turned up. The big eyes that darted out of the thick-rimmed glasses looked pale and yellow. But he read his story in his usual dramatic style and when he finished reading it there was pin drop silence in the hall and there were tears in everyone's eyes.
Simultaneously he had embarked on a journey of self-destruction. The substandard alcohol that he consumed destroyed his liver and in the winter of 1955 he fell victim to liver cirrhosis. During all these years in Lahore he waited for the good old days to return, never to find them again.He was 42 years old at the time of his death. He was survived by his wife Safiyah and three daughters.
On January 18, 2005, the fiftieth anniversary of his death, Manto was commemorated on a Pakistani postage stamp.
===Manto collection (Books)===
*Atishparay -1936
*Manto Ke Afsanay-1940
*Dhuan-1941
*Afsane Aur Dramay -1943
*Lazzat-e-Sang-1948
*Siyah Hashiye-1948
*Badshahat Ka Khatimah-1950
*Khali Botlein-1950
*Nimrud Ki Khudai -1950
*Thanda Gosht-1950
*Yazid-1951
*Pardey Ke Peechhey-1953
*Sarak Ke Kinarey- 1953
*Baghair Unwan Ke-1954
*Baghair Ijazit-1955
*Burquey-1955
*Phunduney-1955
*Sarkandon Ke Peechhey-1955
*Shaiytan (Satan)-1955
*Shikari Auratein - 1955
*Ratti, Masha, Tolah-1956
*Kaali Shalwar-1961
*Manto Ki Behtareen Kahanian-1963 [1]
*Tahira Se Tahir-1971
'Diptee' (Deputy) NazeerAhmad was a leading urdu writer who was also a social and religious reformer, and a prominent scholar. He was a pioneer of Urduliterature whose novels are today a basic part of the educational curriculum in the Indian sub-continent (ie., India and Pakistan).
Nazir Ahmed (1830 -1912) came from a distinguished family of religious scholars, maulavis and muftis of Bijnor (Uttar Pradesh) and Delhi.
His father was a teacher in a small town near Bijnore, who taught the boy Persian and Arabic, and in 1842 took him to study with Maulvi Abd ul-Khaliq at the Aurangabadi Mosque in Delhi. In 1846, the boy had the opportunity to enroll at Delhi College, he chose its Urdu section, he later said, because his father had told him 'he would rather see me die than learn English' and studied there till 1853. During this period he also discreetly arranged his own marriage, to Maulvi Abd ul-Khaliq's granddaughter.
He began his career as a teacher in Arabic, in 1854 he joined the British colonial administration, in(1856) he became a deputy inspector of schools in the Department of Public Instruction in Kanpur. And at the end of 1857 he was appointed to a similar deputy inspectorship in Allahabad. Later, for his superb translation of the Indian Penal Code in Urdu, he was nominated for the Revenue Services. He was posted as deputy collector in what was then called the North-West Provinces (i.e. modern U.P.), and hence the name 'Diptee (Deputy) Nazir Ahmad by which he is popularly known.
In 1877 Nazir Ahmad was offered a well-paid administraive position in the princely state of Hyderabad. He remained there until 1884, when court politics forced him to resign and return to Delhi, where he lived for the rest of his life. He died of a stroke in 1912.
Nazir Ahmad studied at the Delhi College from1846 till 1853.
===Literary Works===
He was the pioneer of Urdu novel. He was prolific writer and published books in varied genres.
Mirat-al-Urus (The Bride's Mirror) 1868-1869 is regarded as the first novel of Urdu. After its release in 1869, within twenty years it was reprinted in editions totalling over 100,000 copies; and was also translated into Bengali, Braj, Kashmiri, Punjabi, and Gujarati.It has never been out of print in Urdu from that day of its first publication. In 1903 an English translation was published in London by G. E. Ward.
Bina-tul-Nash (The Daughters of the Bier, a name for the constellation Ursa Major),is another great Novel by Deputy NazeerAhmed. It was his 2nd novel after Mirat-tul-uroos. Like Mira-tul-Uroos, this novel is also on education of women and their character building.
Taubat-un-Nasuh (Repentance of Nasuh)1873-1874- Deputy NazeerAhmed earned a good name in writing novels for developing moral values and guidance of young generation. His entire work is full of teachings of moral values.
Fasaana-e-Mubtalaa (1885) another novel for developing moral values and guidance of young generation.
Ibn'ul Waqt 1888 according to one opinion novel was based on Sir Syed Ahmad Khan, but Deputy NazeerAhmad strongly rejected this allegation.
Ayyamah (1891) Ruya-e Sadiqah (1892).
Deputy Nazir was a leading proponent of the education of Muslim women and he took the issue with great determination and persistence against the Muslim mindset of his era, which was generally against the education of women. Deputy Nazir was among the few who were aware of the problems and sufferings of Indian Muslims during those critical decades when the Muslimsociety was in a flux. He fully understood the demands of time in context of Indian Muslims. Through his novels he sought to eradicate social evils inherent in a decadent society, particularly those caused by ignorance, illiteracy and frustration. This was very effectively brought about by his novels and writings.
Born in Bulandshahr, Uttar Pradesh, India in 1940, KishwarNaheed is one of the best- known feminist poets of Pakistan. In a field dominated by traditional male voices, Naheed, writing in Urdu, was a pioneer of a new, distinctively feminine voice and has produced over the span of thirty years a body of work that is innovative, defiant, political, and self-aware. Her poetry dared to go beyond the prescribed accepted 'feminine' realms to include hitherto unmined fields of female sexuality, politics, and social issues. In an interview with Rakhshanda Jalil for the Indian daily The Hindu (11/4/2001), KishwarNaheed explained her writing as an attempt to redefine the man-woman relationship. Rejecting being branded as a radical or a bohemian, she declared herself "a realist" who "never let herself get pushed around by men or by circumstances."
Born into a traditional family that moved to Lahore, Pakistan during the 1947 Partition of the sub-continent, Naheed had to fight to pursue an education in a milieu where women did not go to school and "were not allowed to speak to boys." She studied at home and obtained a high school diploma through correspondence courses, but went on to receive a masters degree in Economics from Punjab University.
Naheed's first collection of poetry, Lab-i goya, published in 1968, won the prestigious Adamjee Prize of Literature. This collection of traditional ghazals was followed by a collection of nazms, by translations of foreign poetry, and by many works in free verse. She also wrote for children and for the daily Jang, published her autobiography in 1994 (it appeared the following year in India), and in 2001 saw her collected poetic work released in a 1312 page volume entitled Dasht-i qais men Lail'a. Her daily columns in Jang were also collected and published in 1999. Her poetry has been translated into English and Spanish and her famous poem "We, sinful women" gave its title to a path-breaking anthology of contemporary Urdu feminist poetry translated and edited by RukhsanaAhmad, published in London by The Women's Press in 1991.
KishwarNaheed has held the position of Director General of Pakistan National Council of the Arts before her retirement, has edited a prestigious literary magazine Mah-i naw, and has founded an organization named Hawwa (Eve) whose goal is to help homebound women become financially independent through cottage industries and the marketing of handicrafts.
The Library of Congress has twenty-five works by Naheed in its collection. She read for the Library in Lahore on December 13, 1977.
Munshi Premchand, (July 31, 1880 - October 8, 1936) was one of the greatest literary figures of modern Hindi and Urduliterature.
Premchand,whose original name was Dhanpat Rai Srivastava, was born on 31 July 1880, in village Lamahi near Varanasi, where his father was a clerk in the post office.He was also known as saala. Premchand's parents died young - his mother when he was seven and his father while he was fourteen and still a student. Premchand was left responsible for his step-mother and step-siblings.
Early in life, Premchand faced immense poverty. He earned five rupees a month tutoring a lawyer's child. He was married at the early age of fifteen but that marriage failed, later he married again, to Shivrani Devi, a balavidhava, (child widow), and had several children, she supported him through life struggles.
Premchand passed his matriculation exam with great effort in 1898, and in 1899 he took up school-teaching job, with a monthly salary of eighteen rupees.
Later, Premchand worked as the deputy sub-inspector of schools in what was then the United Provinces of Agra and Gorakhpur and there is a very lush green park on the name of prem chand - "prem chand park"and government of india has also an autonomous body for research purpose on his literature in Gorakhpur.Uttar Pradesh.
In 1910, he was hauled up by the District Magistrate in Gorakhpur (near Normal school where DIET - Trtaining centre for B.Ed and B.T.C is eshtablished now a days)for his anthology of short stories Soz-e-Watan (Dirge of the Nation), which was labelled seditious. The first story of the anthology was Duniya ka Sabse Anmol Ratan (The Most Precious Jewel in the World), which according to him was "the last drop of blood shed in the cause of the country's freedom". All the copies of Soz-e-Watan were confiscated and burnt. Initially Premchand wrote in Urdu under the name of Nawabrai. However, after the confiscation of Soz-e-Watan. he started writing under the pseudonym Premchand. Before Premchand, Hindiliterature consisted mainly of fantasy or religious works. Premchand brought realism to Hindiliterature. He wrote over 300 stories, a dozen novels and two plays. The stories have been compiled and published as Maansarovar.
In 1921, he answered Mahatma Gandhi's call and resigned from his government job. Then he worked as the proprietor of a printing press, editor of literary and political journals (Jagaran and Hans). Briefly, he also worked as the script writer for the Bombay film world. He didn't think much of the film world and once remarked about film Mazdoor (The Labourer)- "The director is the all in all in cinema. The writer may be the king of his pen, but he is an ordinary subject in the director's empire...Idealism creeps into the plots I conceive and I am told there is no entertainment value in them."
Premchand's first marriage was a disaster. The second time, he married a child widow, Shivarani Devi, which was a considered taboo in India at that time. Premchand had three children - Sripat Rai, Amrit Rai and Kamla Devi Srivastava. Premchand lived a life of financial struggle. Once he took a loan of two-and-a-half rupees to buy some clothes. He had to struggle for three years to pay it back.
When asked why he doesn't write anything about himself, he answered: "What greatness do I have that I have to tell anyone about? I live just like millions of people in this country; I am ordinary. My life is also ordinary. I am a poor school teacher suffering family travails. During my whole lifetime, I have been grinding away with the hope that I could become free of my sufferings. But I have not been able to free myself from suffering. What is so special about this life that needs to be told to anybody?".
Premchand chaired the first all-India conference of the Indian Progressive Writers' Association in April 1936 at Lucknow.
During his last years,he became terribly ill. The money his wife used to give for his treatment was used in running his press "The Saraswati". He was also writing a book "Mangalsutra" which would never be completed. All this had serious impact on his health leading to his early death on 8th October 1936, at the age of 52.
The main characteristic of Premchand's writings is his interesting story-telling and use of simple language. His novels describe the problems of the rural peasant classes. He avoided the use of highly Sanskritized Hindi (as was the common practice among Hindi writers), but rather he used the dialect of the common people.
Premchand called literature a work that expresses the truths and experiences of life impressively. Presiding over the Progressive Writers' Conference in Lucknow in 1936, he said that attaching the word "Progressive" to writer was redundant, because "A writer or an artist is progressive by nature, if this was not his/her nature, he/she would not be a writer at all."
Before Premchand, Hindiliterature was confined to the raja-rani (king and queen) tales, the stories of magical powers and other such escapist fantasies. It was flying in the sky of fantasy, until Premchand brought it on the grounds of reality. Premchand wrote on the realistic issues of the day - communalism, corruption, zamindari, debt, poverty, colonialism etc.
Some criticize Premchand's writings as full of too many deaths and too much of misery. They believe Premchand does not stand anywhere near contemporary literary giants of India - Sharat Chandra Chattopadhyay and Rabindranath Tagore. But it should be noted, that many of Premchand's stories were influenced by his own experiences with poverty and misery. His stories represented the ordinary Indian people as they were, without any embellishments. Unlike many other contemporary writers, his works didn't have any "hero" or "Mr. Nice" - they described people as they were.
Premchand was a contemporary of some other literary giants of that era like Acharya Ram Chandra Shukla and Jaishankar Prasad.
Premchand has written about 300 short stories, several novels as well as many essays and letters. He has also written some plays. He also did some translations. Many of Premchand's stories have been translated into English and Russian.
Godaan (The Gift of a Cow), his last novel, is considered the finest Hindi novel of all times.The protagonist, Hori, a poor peasant, desperately longs for a cow, a symbol of wealth and prestige in rural India. Hori gets a cow but pays with his life for it. After his death, the village priests demand a cow from his widow to bring his soul to peace.
In Kafan (Shroud), a poor man collects money for the funeral rites of his dead wife, but spends it on food and drink.
===Famous stories===
*Panch Parameshvar
*Idgah
*Nashaa
*Shatranj ke khiladi
*Poos ki raat
*Atmaram
*Boodhi Kaki
*Bade Bhaisahab
*Bade ghar ki beti
*Kafan
*Dikri Ke Rupai
*Udhar Ki Ghadi
*Namak Ka Daroga
*Panch Phool
*Prem Purnima
*Ram Katha
