Today, 18 August, is the 37th death anniversary of the inimitable Shaz Tamkanat, whose poems were sung even by nautch girls.
Published Aug 17, 2022 | 11:13 PM ⚊ Updated Jan 04, 2023 | 1:55 PM
Renowned Urdu poet Shaz Tamkanat presents an award to a student in the University of Karachi (Supplied)
Shaz Tamkanat quipped to his friend Moin Farooqi, “Tu mujhe kya samajhta he re? Mei bahut bada shayar hoon (What do you think of me? I am a very big poet)”.
They were both just ninth-standard students then.
Call it self-belief or over-confidence, Tamkanat, born on 31 January 1933 in Hyderabad, went on to become one of the most noted Urdu poets of the 20th century.
And Tamkanat’s childhood friend Farooqi? He later became the editor of the Urdu daily Angaray.
Syed Inamur Rahman Ghayur, Hyderabad-based freelance journalist and poet who narrated the above anecdote to South First, said that though the remark was made half in jest, there was a lot of conviction behind the young Tamkanat’s words.
Today, 18 August, is the 37th death anniversary of the literary giant, who was highly popular even during his lifetime.
“Shaz was dearly loved at the Bachelors’ Quarters room number 17 and Orient Hotel, the two common hubs of poets in Hyderabad,” Shaz’s friend Anwar Moazzam, a retired professor who served as the head of the Islamic Studies Department at Osmania University, told South First.
But Tamkanat’s fame was not confined to just the circle of poets.
Shaz Tamkanat with a young Javed Akhtar, the famous poet and Bollywood lyricist (Supplied)
His works had become popular among the masses at large and even among the nautch girls (singing girls), Ghayur said.
“His poetry used to be sung at the kothas. Mr Verma, who was the vice-principal of the Anwar ul Uloom college where Shaz was then a lecturer, told the poet that his works were sung in the area where these kothas are present,” Ghayur narrated.
Verma asked the Urdu poet to come with him to hear his works being sung. Tamkanat initially demurred and said he had never been to such a place.
“Finally, they went to a kotha a little late in the night. And they were told that the kotha timing was over and no singing programme would be held since it was late. Then the girls were informed that Mr Shaz had also come there to listen to his poetry being sung. The girls then again opened up shop, set up a recital, and performed upon their request,” Ghayur said.
Such was his fame as a poet, the journalist-poet noted, and added, “This honour was available to many great poets such as Mirza Ghalib. But in contemporary times, our modern era, it was Shaz Tamkanat’s poetry that was so well received that the singing girls would go to the extent of organising a special programme for him even after business hours.”
Remembering his routine walks with Tamkanat from Mallepally to Abids (a distance of around 10 km), or to have tea at Orient Hotel, Moazzam called them the “golden days” of his life.
Shaz Tamkanat performing at a mushaira (Supplied)
“Shaz could have easily been a lyricist in movies. He even met Dilip Kumar once on a visit to Mumbai. But he stuck to mushairas (poetic symposiums) all over the country and kept winning the hearts of people by reciting beautiful nazams and kalam,” said Moazzam.
The retired professor added that Tamkanat had a unique subtleness to his poetry and was a master of coming up with new “tarkeebein” (ideas).
To mark the 37th death anniversary of Tamkanat, artists and others in Hyderabad paid tribute to him on 10 August at Lamakaan, a cultural centre in the city.
Tribute to Urdu poet Shaz Tamkanat at Lamakaan in Hyderabad on 10 August. Urdu literature professor from the University of Hyderabad Rafia Begum recites the ghazals of Tamkanat (Ajay Tomar/South First)
Ghayur, who spoke there, stressed upon the wit of Tamkanat. He recalled an instance at the wedding of Tamkanat’s brother where the poet was seeing off guests and asking whether they liked the dinner.
“An old gentleman, from the English Department of the college where Shaz was a lecturer, told him that the chicken were aged. To which Shaz quickly replied that birds of the same feather flock together,” Ghayur told the audience, eliciting non-stop laughter.
Tamkanat started writing poems at the early age of 14, after his mother’s sudden demise.
Tamkanat was born into a family of poets. His father and brothers were poets though they never got their works published, his son Farhad Tamkanat, a painter, told South First.
A young Shaz Tamkanat (Supplied)
“While on his way to appear for an exam in school, Baba (father) was listening to some of [renowned 20th century singer] Begum Akhtar’s ghazals as he was her huge fan. His friend asked him to listen to them later, but Baba was adamant. He wanted to finish listening to the ghazals first and only then did he go to school,” Farhad said, adding that Begum Akhtar later sang a few of Tamkanat’s ghazals.
He loved ghazals so much that when his son Farhad was born and was brought into his house for the first time, Tamkanat took his gramophone and played one of his favourite ghazals. Then he quipped that a sense of poetry would always be instilled in his new-born son.
Recounting the above incident, Farhad reminisced that his father used to organise ghazal nights at his house.
Moazzam recalls his friend’s remarkable focus on shayari (poetry) no matter the situation. “Even when he used to call me on the phone, his first question used to be if I wanted to listen to his ghazals (poems). Then, he would always come with follow-up questions about the poem,” he said.
Shaz Tamkanat on his wedding day. He got married in 1959 (Supplied)
While interviewing Tamkanat in the 1970s, Ghayur complimented the legendary poet and expressed surprise over how he was able to write so much.
“I [Tamkanat] don’t think that I write a lot. It may be possible on occasions like weddings and birthdays, when I do it on demand. But that is not the poetry of my choice or satisfaction. The poetry of my satisfaction is when I write while undergoing a situation similar to dard-e-zeh (woman going into labour pain during childbirth),” Ghayur told South First of Tamkanat’s response.
Tamkanat submitted his thesis on the life and works of Makhdoom Mohiuddin (prominent Urdu poet), taught in a few Hyderabad colleges, and was subsequently selected for the post of reader at the Department of Urdu, Osmania University.
Urdu poet Shaz Tamkanat (Supplied)
At Lamakaan, Ghayur told the audience that Tamkanat used to write poems even to express grief.
“When his idol Makhdoom Mohiuddin sahab died, he cried a lot and continuously kept writing until he completed his nazam (rhymed or blank verse in Urdu poetry).”
Tamkanant’s collection of poems Kuttubkhana (Library) was included in the Karachi University syllabus after he recited it there around 1981-82, Farhad said.
His works include Bayaz-e-Sham (1973), Neem Khawab (1977), Taasheeda (1966), and Dast-e-Farhad (1994). The compilation of all his works, Kulliyat-e-Shaz Tamkanat, was published in 2004, well after his death.
He added that the poems were also included in the 10th class Urdu subject syllabus of Hyderabad schools and Urdu literature course of Osmania University.
During his teenage days, Tamkanat used to stay near the house of famous poet Allama Hairat Badayuni in the Mallepally area of Hyderabad.
Badayuni used to receive Urdu journals, magazines, and newspapers almost every day via mail. One day, Badayuni caught Tamkanat returning some magazines, which he should have received, to the postman.
Tamkanat then confessed to Badayuni that he had entered into such an “arrangement” with the postman in order to get a chance to read the book.
Badyuni, who was inwardly happy about Tamkanat’s passion for literature at such a young age, asked him to come to his house and offered access to his library.
This was one of the many anecdotes highlighting Tamkanat’s love for literature narrated by the activist Ashhar Farhan, son of Anwar Moazzam, and co-founder of Bazm-e-Sukhan, an organisation promoting Urdu literature.
Later, Tamkanat built his library. It still exists in their house and has works by some of his favourite Urdu poets such as Josh Malihabadi, Faiz Ahmad Faiz, Firaq Gorakhpuri, and Fana Kanpuri, his son Farhad said.
Farhad said he often listens to many of his father’s ghazals every day, with one of his favourites being Kab Tak Mere Maula, a munajat (prayer).
