Nazeer Akbarabadi

Nazeer Akbarabadi was an unique urdu poet. In 18th century era, when everybody was writing difficult classic urdu, mostly 'ishq related' ghazals, Nazeer wrote for and in simple common man language. In that time period, poetry in small 'bahar' (like of Mir Taqi Mir) were valued but Nazeer wrote in long 'bahar'. First time when I read his "sab thath para reh jawe ga, jub laaad chale ga bangera" in 10th grade, I loved his 'laffazi'. Ye woh umer hoti hai jub lafzon ka khel dil ko bohat bhata hai. Than, there was a point, I thought - what a big deal writing in such long lines? But when I gained more sense of world (did I?), I realized that his "laffazi" and long "bahar" make sense, as it send a strong message of core meaning. I doubt, he ever wanted to be famous. It is said that, 98% of his work was never found.

For any literature/writer/poetry we all go through 3 phases 1) enjoying its obvious flavour 2) criticizing it 3) understanding its core and value