Urdu Academy Pays Tribute to Ustad Qamar Jalalvi
By Abdus Sattar Ghazali
Urdu Academy of North America dedicated its monthly literary session to pay tributes to renowned Urdu poet Ustad Qamar Jalalvi. The literary event was held on August 19, 2018 at the Pakistan American Community Center (PACC), Milpita, CA.
The event was presided over by D. Umbreen Wakil while Sarwat Iqbal acted as the MC. She presented a well-researched maqala about the life and work of Ustad Qamar Jalalvi who was born as Syed Muhammad Husain Abidi Al-Hamdani.
As usual, a number of Urdu enthusiasts read the poetry of Ustad Qamar Jalalvi, inclluding Mobeen Khalil, Mahmudul Hasan, Tasadduq Hussain Attari, Zafar Yusufzai, Mukesh Kackar, Hatem Rani, Mahboob Alam, Sohab Hamdani, Kausar Sayed, Dr Umbreen Wakil, Muneeba Zeeshan, Dr Priya Satia and Nagesh Awadhani.
Dr Priya Satia and Nagesh Awadhani mesmerized the audience with their melodious presentations.
Dr Umbreen Wakil spoke about the importance of Urdu in preserving culture.
Dr Ghazala Ansari, visiting California from the East Coast, attended the literary event after a long absence. She has been a popular MC of the Urdu Academy of North America.
Ustad Qamar Jalalvi was born in Jalali near Aligarh, India in 1887, and died on October 4, 1968. After the creation of Pakistan in 1947, he moved to Karachi.
Qamar Jalalvi is regarded as one of the best classical Urdu ghazal poets. His ghazal poetry has unique simplicity of expression.
A poet from the age of eight, Qamar Jalalvi's writing had become quite popular by the time he was in his 20s.
He lived a life of financial hardships working for many years at bicycle repair shops.
In India and Pakistan, a teacher of arts is known as Ustad (master), and the term is also loosely used to refer to any type of skilled worker. Qamar Jalalvi was initially called Ustad because of his bicycle expertise. Popular with critics for his mastery of poetry as well, they dubbed him Ustad Qamar Jalalvi, once his poetry became popular.
Ustad Qamar Jalalvi died in Karachi, Pakistan on 4 October 1968.
His work has been published as “Rashk-e Qamar”, “Aoj-e Qamar”, “Tajalliyat-e Qamar” and “Gham-e-Javedan”.
Most of the ghazals of Qmar Jalalvi were very popular, but the following two became very famous:
Mareez-e-Muhabbat unhi ka fasaana
Kab mera nasheman ahle-chaman
Dabaa ke qabar main sab chal diye, na dua na salam,
Zaraa si dair main kya ho geyaa zamaane ko…
At the end of the literary event, Abdus Sattar Ghazali offered a vote of thanks to the organizers, in particular, to Muneeba Zeeshan, to make this event successful. He also thanked Pakistan American Community Center Milpitas CA for hosting the Urdu Academy’s literary events.
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