Four Pakistani poets to ‘rhyme and reason’ at Delhi mushaira

“I stood there and recited poetry to a very receptive audience. The fact that people here associate with the richness of poetry and welcome me with so much love is enough. There are such fond memories that I return and come to the conclusion that talking to each other is the only way of figuring a solution to Indo-Pak problems,” says Qasim, who is also the Chancellor of Karachi’s Nazeer Hussain University.

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He, along with poets Amjad Islam Amjad, Rehana Roohi and Ababs Tabish, will be a part of Delhi-based mushaira Jashn-e-Bahar which will be held at DPS Mathura Road Friday.

The visit comes in the wake of the recent Pathankot attacks, border tension, protests by Shiv Sena over Ghulam Ali’s concert in Mumbai, forced cancellation of Pakistani band Mekaal Hasan’s concert and the denial of a visa by Pakistan to actor Anupam Kher.

With intrepid brush strokes and elements of inscription and poetry on a 16×4 acrylic-on-cloth mural created by M F Husain — which will form the backdrop of the event — the evening will draw from a 500-year-old classical tradition that can be credited with producing some of the most extraordinary and sublime Urdu verses.

All four poets had to change their travel plans due to the chaos that has ensued in Pakistan over a strike by the country’s ailing national airline, PIA. They travelled from Karachi to Lahore and then crossed the border into Amritsar. They finally arrived in Delhi Thursday.

Roohi says her family wasn’t keen that she visit India considering the current atmosphere of problems and attacks. “I cannot negate the fact that the artiste fraternity is troubled and our families aren’t the most comfortable when we visit India. But we can’t get scared and sit at home and stop upholding the good work being put in by people like Kamna Prasad (Founder of the Jashn-e-Bahar Trust) who organised this mushaira. The affection of people in this country, every time I have visited, has been so overwhelming that I didn’t have any issues in saying yes to the mushaira. Poetry is the medium and message and this is work in progress to help correct all that is wrong between the two countries through the amicable ways of art,” says Roohi.

The annual mushaira will also include other popular India poets such as Wasim Barelvi, Aligarh-based Johny Foster, Nusrat Mehdi and Alok Shrivastav among others.