Parveen Shakir: Her Poetry & Persona
By Sumit
Paul, New Age Islam
23
November, 2023
Husn
ke samajhne ko umr chahiye jaanaan
Do
ghadi ki chahat mein ladkiyan nahin khulteen
-Parveen
Shakir
(My
love, it takes ages to understand the beauty or the mystique of a woman / Girls
don't open up in a few moments of desire and longing)
Main
sach kahoongi aur phir bhi haar jaaoongi
Voh
jhoot bolega aur la-jawaab kar dega
-Parveen
Shakir
(I'll
speak the truth, yet will fail/ He'll lie, yet will render speechless)
The
abovementioned couplets of Parveen Shakir bespeaks the feminine sensitivity of
a very high-class poetess, whose birth anniversary falls on November 24. Though
the sphere of poetry in all languages has been 'hijacked' by men, whenever
women wrote poetry, they excelled in it. Whether it was the Greek poetess
Sappho, English greats Sylvia Plath and Emily Dickinson, Mahadevi Verma in
Hindi, Amrita Pritam in Punjabi or Aurangzeb's exceptionally talented daughter
Zeb-un-Nissa 'Makhfi' who wrote in Persian, the kind of native sensitivity they
all evinced through their verses cannot be found in poetry written by scores of
men. Women have a kind of an embedded sensitivity and rare sensibility; men are
often bereft of. Sensitivity comes to women naturally, whereas men have to
acquire it. And what's acquired is never intrinsically yours. There's a
sweet-sounding word in Turkish for feminine sensitivity and poetic sensibility.
The word is, ' Ohan.'
Parveen
Shakir had this Ohan in her poetry. That's why she could give a poetic touch to
her angst. See this couplet, " Kuchh toh hava bhi sard thi, kuchh tha tera
khayaal bhi/ Dil ko khushi ke saath-saath hota raha malaal bhi " (The breeze
was cool and your thought was snug/ Heart was full of joy, yet there was a
tinge of sadness as well). Or this one, " Kaise kah doon ki mujhe chhod
diya hai uss ne/ Baat toh sach hai magar baat hai rusvaai ki " (How can I
say that he left me/ Though it's a fact, but it's a matter of humiliation).
Extremely
sensitive Parveen was highly educated as well. Education adds to poetic
perceptions. " Taaleem agar dhang ki ho/ Sukhanvari mein bhi aati hai jaan
" (If education is sound/ Poetry also has substance). Jaun Elia's couplet
applies to Parveen's profound poetry. She herself accepted the fact and said,
" Ilm ne tasavvur ko ek shakl-o-simt se navaza " (Knowledge gave a
direction and shape to my thoughts). By the way, She received two undergraduate
degrees, one in English literature and the other in linguistics (from Sir Syed
Government Girls College), and obtained MA degrees in the same subjects from
the University of Karachi. She also held a PhD, and another MA degree in Bank
Administration. Not only that, Parveen obtained an MA degree in public
administration from Harvard University.
She
didn't roll in the muck of self-pity. Her poetry was cathartic but not
extremely private or personal. "Gham-e-jahan bhi hai mere asha'ar mein/
Sirf apne aansuon se bhigoyee nahin shayari apni " (My couplets express
the tears and sufferings of the world / My poetry is not lachrymose with my
tears).
Alas,
such a talented person shuffled off this mortal coil at the age of 42 on
December 26, 1994 when her car collided with a bus while she was on her way to
work in Islamabad. The accident resulted in her death along with her driver, a
great loss to the world of Urdu poetry. The road on which the accident took
place is named after her as Parveen Shakir Road in sector F-7 Islamabad.
Lastly, her forefathers migrated to Pakistan from Darbhanga in North Bihar. My
Pakistani professor friend Dhirendra Jain from Faislabad (erstwhile Layalpur)
told me that Parveen could speak a smattering of Maithili!
…
A
regular columnist for New Age Islam, Sumit Paul is a researcher in comparative
religions, with special reference to Islam. He has contributed articles to the
world's premier publications in several languages including Persian.
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