A brief chat with Urdu poet Tarannum Riyaz will call your attention to the immense beauty of Delhi in spring, something often overlooked in the dreary daily routine.
Pointing to the golden-green neem tree visible from the balcony of her house in Jangpura, the Kashmiri poet shares what she likes most about the capital. “Yahaan khiza nahi aati,” she says. “Or you could say autumn is very brief. Look at the fresh leaves that are sprouting alongside the ones turning yellow. By the time the yellow ones fall, fresh ones would have taken their place,” she says.
Riyaz says the greenery in the capital also provides ample opportunity to indulge her love of watching birds and discovering new species. “Here in Delhi I saw some birds that are not found in Kashmir, such as the koyal. Every morning when I have my tea, I sit in the balcony and watch these birds play. It is my joy hour,” she says.
A noted poet, writer and critic, Riyaz moved to Delhi from Srinagar in the 90s due to insurgency. She says the city’s extremes of temperatures have also changed some habits. “In Kashmir, we did not nap in the afternoons, but now in Delhi’s sweltering summer it becomes essential to rest for a while in the evening,” she says.
Riyaz received the SAARC Literary Award in 2014, which is given to an illustrious writer from among the eight member-countries every five years. She is also a Senior Fellow with the Ministry of Culture and has won a number of other awards.
The city has given her a lot to love. “My students who researched my work, my readers... And it was here when my two sons started going to school that I started focusing on my writing,” says Riyaz, who wrote short stories and poetry while in school.
Another thing she learnt after shifting to the capital was naturopathy and the rich cultural heritage of India. “Naturopathy teaches you how powerful nature can be. Our sanskriti is thousands of years old; look at practices such as yoga. I did not know so much about this tehzeeb of naturopathy in Kashmir,” says the writer who did her Phd on the educational philosophy of Acharya Abhinavagupta, a great Kashmiri philosopher, literary critic and proponent of Kashmiri Shaivism.
Riyaz has authored more than 15 books, which include short story collections, novels, poetry, novellas and criticism. She is working on a new book of poetry Zehrey Sabza Mehve Khwaab.
Riyaz is married to Padma Shri awardee and academician Dr Riyaz Punjabi.