Urdu Satire That We Miss

(By: Kanwal Krishan Lidhoo)

The present generation of modern men and women clawing in their hands their metal bricks which flicker shades of blue and red in their faces, their attention having long deserted them could never be able to comprehend the sublime romance of Urdu language with its stories so terribly unique and genres so fulfilling, the jewels of the insights contained therein remain unfortunately hidden from them.

There may have been a trickling down of Urdu poetry that supposedly may have satiated their senses a bit but the enormous joy and laughter that Urdu satire with its originality and stand aloneness of its Indian identity brings forth, that seems to be hidden from them indefinitely. Time was when last drop of the juice was sucked by the readers when they came across a Fikr Taunsvi essay, or a one-liner that would be a treasure of humour and satire for days to savour or cherish. Born as Ram Lal Bhatia on 7^th October 1918 to a shopkeeper Dhanpat Rai in Taunsa, now Pakistan he had to migrate to India and passed away in 1987.

Noted Urdu writer and critique K.K. Khullar writes about him  “By far the greatest satirist in modern Urdu prose he challenges comparison with Swift and Shaw. If his words are barbed, his humour is vivacious drawn as it is from real life”. The intensity of his humour according to Khullar was such that as a general rule he never wished anyone a Happy New Year on the plea that happiness is an occasional episode in the general drama of pain, which the life is. He therefore wished friends and foes a `Less Unhappy New Year’ .

Fikr Taunsvi’s rare gift to Urdu lovers

Fikr Taunsvi unfortunately seems to have passed into obscurity but the fact remains that by not making him an important part of our reading habit we are missing something so profound and very deep empathetic human attributes.

Kashmir Rechords can proudly claim to have in its possession a very rare book about this great Urdu literary giant. This book is a special edition published by “Chingari “the fortnightly Urdu magazine that used to be published from Delhi during 1970s and was essentially the baby of progressive writers. Fikr Taunsvi himself edited major portions of the book. This book actually is a treasure house of Urdu literature that can ignite passions and has the potential to stir movements even at this stage. The progressive writers of that era who ate, slept and breathed revolution generally suffered for getting their works published, however, the fire in their heart made them somehow gift to history a brilliant compendium of satirical essays.

The book is actually the team effort and labour of love of all these illustrious men and women of whom a mention is being made and the book contains rare jewels carved out by them. This list in addition to Fikr Taunsvi includes the greats like Rattan Nath Sarshar, Ismat Chugtai, Safdar Mirzapuri, Khwaja Hassan Nizami, Haji Laq Laq, Shawkat Thanvi, Saadat Hassan Manto, Khawaja Ahmad Abbas, Ibn Insha, Mujtaba Hussain, Jahan Qadr Chugtai besides others.  The book is printed in stencil style and its font is calligraphic unlike the standardised Urdu font of modern day computer software.

After going through the book, everybody is sure to exclaim long live Urdu!.

Fikr Taunsvi and Daily Milap

Going down his memory lane, veteran Journalist Vijay Wattal remembers Fikr Tounsvi   as a simple and noble soul  who would write  a daily satire column in Daily Milap (Urdu)  newspaper.

“Fikr Tounsvi  in his normal clothes would  land  in the Office  in the afternoon, sit on one  chair  and put both of his legs on another chair  to start writing.  He would not speak to anyone  and after finishing the write-up, would leave the Office’’, recalls  Vijay Wattal.