Delhi-based artist Shiraz Husain has a portal called Khwaab Tanha Collective (solitary dream).
His effort is to revive forgotten poetry of Ismat Chughtai, Majaz Lakhnawi and Ramadhir Singh ‘Dinkar’ and so he makes paintings, post-cards, tee-shirts, tote bags, diaries, etc. with their words on them. Husain’s day time other job is to teach at the Applied Arts department of Jamia Millia University.
Husain says listening to ghazals and poetry at home was a part of growing up.
“I did not quite like them as a kid, but used to end up drawing something after listening to a couplet. The drawing would always complement the poetry in some way or the other,” he remembers. Though he is born and brought up in Delhi, Husain’s forefathers belong to Amroha district near Moradabad, Uttar Pradesh.
His grandfather worked with Abdul Haq, more famously known as Baba-e-Urdu or the Father of Urdu. After completing his graduation and Masters in Applied Arts from Jamia Milia Islamia, Husain says he began thinking about the Hindi and Urdu poetry. But when he tried to look up the lines online, all he found were the illuminated fonts, set in garish backgrounds.
“Those images were okay if it had been the late 1980s or early 1990s, but this was 2011-12 and it looked boring and repetitive. Visual language should be as rich as poetry, and then the idea occurred to me,” he says - the idea of conserving a form of art and a language In 2015, at the Jashn-e-Rekhta, a three-day Urdu Festival which celebrated the centenary of celebrated poet-writer Akhtar-ul-Iman, Husain created installations of authors like Iman, Rajinder Singh Bedi and Ismat Chughtai and exhibited his work for the first time.
“While creating bags, diaries, tee-shirts and post-cards, I kept in mind that any boy or girl from a lower-middle class family should be able to afford them. I wanted these kids to know the names and words of these poets and writers, so that poetry is not forgotten,” said Husain.
The idea behind Khwaab Tanha Collective is also to give Hindi and Urdu fresh lease of life. “One way to revive people’s interest in these languages was to make them read Amrita Pritam, Firaq Gorakhpuri and Faiz. Pablo Picasso died in 1973, but his work has been kept alive in different cultures through varied means. Similarly, we need to do something to keep these languages alive,” he says.
A visual installation is permanent feels Husain. Numerous buyers, who cannot read or understand the languages, have bought the products based on their aesthetic appearance. Recently, Husain sent a free gift to those who bought his merchandise. “If there was a mention of ‘paththar’ in the verse, I sent a stone. If ‘hisaab’ was used I sent the buyers calculators,” he says.
Talking about the recent incidents attacking Urdu and calling it an anti-national sentiment, Husain says, “You cannot take Urdu out of Hindi, and vice-versa. This outlook towards language is not correct. A language does not depend on one religion.”
Husain maintains that, if poetry is around, people will eventually take to it. “The Ghalib tee-shirts and diaries sold out fast at the Rekhta festival. It shows that people will adapt to whatever is offered to them.”
He has exhibited his work around the country at select venues like the MF Husain Art Gallery, Gallery 55 and the Oxford Bookstore in New Delhi.
Know more
Husain’s work is available on his Facebook page called Khwaab Tanha Collective.Requests for purchase can be placed by sending an e-mail at khwaabtanhacollective@gmail.com.
Khwaab Tanha Collective merchandise
Postcards 5 for INR 100
Ghalib Diary INR 180
Poster INR 150
Tee-shirt INR 500
Tote bag (thaila) INR 200
