It was a full house at Lamakaan as Raza Mir spoke about the four greatest Urdu poets.
“I have been asked to speak about Ghalib and Iqbal but I thought I will speak about four Urdu poets like there are four American presidents in Mount Rushmore,” said author Raza Mir, who teaches management at an American university.
Beginning with a history of Urdu and how it was moved away from Hindi as part of a colonialism project, Raza Mir shared how Mir Taqi Mir (1723-1810) pioneered the metrical system which is now the norm for ghazals and also ‘seeded’ Persian words in the then nascent language.
“Ghalib brought Urdu poetry to modernity as he was born in Mughal India and lived in colonial India. He used the postal system extensively by writing to a large number of people,” said Raza Mir as he recited some of the better known verses of Mirza Ghalib.
While Iqbal’s secular poetry is well known, Raza Mir recited the spiritual poetry of Iqbal showing another facet of the poet. His quartet of four great poets ended with Faiz Ahmed Faiz and his poetry of hope.
