BENGALURU: On one hand, the present civilisation touches the stars through technological strides and on the other, it is unable to tame the beast,” said poet and scholar Ayaz Rasool Nazki, who comes from a family rooted in literature. On Sunday, Nazki addressed the audience at Equal - Voices For A Common Humanity held at Ranga Shankara, where he spoke on humankind dividing itself into groups.
At a time where equality is viewed through a foggy lens and misguided ideology, he feels equality still remains a mirage and an illusion. “We have had inequalities throughout history but for the first time, these aberrations are poised to become a norm and that is disturbing,” said Nazki.
Born in Srinagar, Jammu & Kashmir, Nazki’s first publishing was a volume of translations of a selection of his late father, Ghulam Rasool Nazki’s quatrains from Kashmiri to English titled ‘Echo’, a son’s tribute, and was released on his first death anniversary in April 1999. This was followed by his first collection of Urdu and Kashmiri poems and later, he published two volumes of Urdu poetry. Recently, a book of historical fiction on Kashmir, Satisar - Valley of Demons, was launched in 2018.
He recalls the memory of his late father as an influential presence with his command over various languages and steady flow of literary material at home. He was a prominent poet, scholar and broadcaster at All India Radio, often been described as ‘Jamiulkamalat’ - the multidimensional achiever. “My father was a colossus, he appeared to tower over everything. I was always overawed by his persona, he appeared unattainable and even with the longest ladder, one couldn’t touch his height,” Nazki said.
He cherished the time when prominent poets and scholars of the time would visit his father and along came Urdu journals of various reputes published in the subcontinent. “From my early days, I would leaf through magazines such as Sidqejadeed from Lucknow, Aajkal Delhi, Saba Hyderabad, Shair Bombay, Naya daur Lucknow and Mahi Nav Pakistan.
Poets like Muhammad Alvi, Aadil Mansuri and others impressed me and at the outset, I began composing verses in their style,” he added.Talking about possible influences on his work, Nazki said, “I am not consciously aware about influences on my poetry, although some well meaning critics have talked about many modern and classical influences in my poems.”
He further expressed his love for poets from the old and new era with likes of Ghalib (urdu), Bedil and Gani Kashmiri (Persian), Lalla and Shamas Faqir (Kashmiri). He added, “Among Indian poets who write in English, I am a fan of Ranjit Hoskote, Gopal Lahiri and a few others.”
Speaking on the situation in the Valley, Nazki expressed a sense of grief which he feels will carry on to the foreseeable future. “This will continue to hurt, for a long time. However, I am an eternal optimist and believe there is a silver lining on the horizon and this long and dark night will eventually lead to a dawn of peace,” he said.