September
15, 2006
Khalid
Khaja - an Eminent Urdu Poet, Writer & Speaker
He needs no
introduction; for, he is undoubtedly a bright star
in the firmament of Urdu literature of North America.
Khalid Khaja is based in Southern California but
is quite well known among Urdu societies and literati
through out North America. He is generally identified
as an eminent poet, but the first thing I noticed
about him was his gift of uncanny articulation.
Not many could speak so effectively and with such
confidence as he did. He was speaking, when I first
heard him, about the literary genius of an émigré
Urdu writer and I kept on marveling at his command
of the language, his extensive knowledge of Urdu
and Persian literature, and his ability to marshal
the available data to present them in a highly literary
diction.
This impression became stronger every time, since
then, that I saw him function as the master of ceremonies
at numerous poetic symposia and other literary functions.
Often his inherent humor enlivened his comments
and turned the function into a lively and enjoyable
occasion. His literary twin, Irfan Murtaza, enhanced
further this quality of the literary meets with
his scintillating wit. The two of them, besides
being good friends, complement each other in this
particular respect.
Urdu Writers’ Society is blessed to have them
both. I would be guilty of an act of omission, if
in this respect I did not mention the contribution
of Asadullah Hussaini ‘Chakkar’, another
prominent member of the Society, who has earned
a niche for himself through poetic humor and satire
chiefly on the seamy side of life in this country.
Urdu is not the mother tongue of Khalid Khaja, as
he was born in a Pushtu speaking village at a distance
from Peshawar. It is the language of his choice
and he embraced it like his mentor, Ahmad Faraz,
and declares emphatically: “Urdu is a beautiful
language: it is my language”.
As a poet, he cannot be fitted into any of the traditional
slots. He is not a romantic poet like Jigar or his
own mentor, Faraz; he is not a pessimist like Mir
or Fani; he is not a revolutionary like Faiz or
Makhdoom; he is not a philosopher like Iqbal or
Rumi, although one notices glimpses of all these
facets in his poetry. He is a thoughtful writer
with thought-provoking verses.
He might have taken Ghalib to be his role model.
Like Ghalib, he has adopted the format of ‘ghazal’
for the presentation of his ideas. And, he has been
very selective in the choice of his couplets. For,
most of his ghazals comprise half a dozen or even
less couplets. He has tried to pack each couplet
with some novel idea. He may be miles behind Ghalib,
but the height he has been able to achieve in the
effort is still creditable and is accepted as such
by many of his contemporaries.
Ghazal is usually a conglomeration of couplets carrying
different themes -some even conflicting- but fitting
into a certain meter, rhythm and verbal harmony.
Khalid’s ghazals are almost always in harmony
thematically. The mood of all the couplets in a
ghazal remains almost constant and free of paradoxical
shifts.
Whenever Khalid found the narrow strait of ghazal
unsuitable for accommodating the ideas he wanted
to present to his readers, he has resorted to the
format of free verse. But, such compositions too
are full of rhythm and music, despite the emphasis
being on the contents.
Khalid sounds deeply nostalgic of the simplicity
and honesty of village life where he had spent his
childhood. The hypocrisy obtaining in city culture
offends his sensitivities. He is annoyed to see
the flow of people from villages to cities. He says:
“SharauN ki simth hijrat-i-amboh roknay
Khalid pahard kat kay rastauN meiN dal day”
(To stop the mass migration of villagers to cities,
you should cut up a mountain and place the boulders
on the ways out of the village.)
In another couplet he says:
“Shaher meiN reh kay bhi haq bath he kahney
wala
Meray under hay koey gauN ka rehnay wala”
(Although I live in a city, there is still a villager
within me who impulsively speaks out the truth.)
This does not mean that he is enamored of every
thing that happens in villages. For instance his
free verse poem “Yes, Mom, Something Is Broken”
is a scathing attack on the village ‘mullah’
who seduces a young girl on the pretext of exorcising
and expelling an evil spirit from her body. Khalid
has given a graphic description of the evil mullah’s
tactics.
He has similarly painted a very moving picture of
the plight of a Palestinian girl of tender age who
has lost her father and brother in the conflict
over her homeland and is left alone with her mother
to fend for herself in a hostile environ.
Khalid has been living in this country for almost
a quarter century, but his love for his native land
has remained constant. It has rather become more
intense with the passage of time. Quite a few of
his couplets betray the pangs of the memories of
the land of his origin, particularly of his village
and its milieu.
Khalid was a young Superior Service officer back
home when the military take over of the reins of
government worked as the last straw on the camel’s
back and made him decide to migrate to the States.
Some of his couplets reflect his anguish over the
suppression of human rights there. He says, for
instance: “Shab-parastauN ki hukoomat hai
vatan meiN meray
Unko andesha naheiN koey sahar honay ka”
(The upholders of the darkness of night are ruling
my homeland now. They hardly think that there would
ever be a dawn.)
In his beliefs, he appears closer to the mystics,
the Sufis; for, he often refers to “tariquat”
in his couplets.
He appears to have taken refuge in the lap of mysticism,
as his mind could hardly unravel many a mystery
of life. He kept mulling over these mysteries, particularly
at night, and the only consequence was a searing
mental torture and sleep deprivation.
His compendium was published some time back by a
publisher in Lahore. If you want to acquire a copy,
you might like to get in touch with Urdu Writers’
Society, 4355 E, Addington Dr., Anaheim, CA 92807.
Ph: 714-637-9758
arifhussaini@hotmail.com ph: 714-921-9634
