Thursday, May 12, 2011

Faiz, the poet of nowhere

This Faiz Ahmed Faiz hysteria with most Indians, gay Pakistanis and confused firangis resulted in me exasperatedly asking my father (the average expat desi not illuminated by the literati) if he ever related to Faiz during his younger days and his poetry; he responded;


Gulon mein rang bhare baad-e-naubahaar chale
Chale bhi aao ke gulshan ka kaarobaar chale

'Thats the only piece of poetry apart from 'mujhsey pehli si mohabbat' that i remember from him only because Mehdi Hasan and Noor Jahan made the two songs popular respectively.

He was gay poet who was popular with communists and special class of rich people who had all the time on their hands.

I think Iqbal, poet of the East was a better poet and if main stream is concerned Ahmed Faraz'.
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With due respect to the intelligence of Faiz fans, Faiz is known to have stood up to corrupt regime and is said to have swore in Gen Yahya's office while waiting for him with the words 'tell that dog to hurry up' - if anecdotes are to be relied upon.