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Majaz, the Pride of AMU |
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Written by Masood Haider
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On a bitterly cold day in December, 1955 the news that Majaz, the pride of Aligarh had died at the age of 44, of brain hemorrhage, left on the rooftop level of Kapoor Hotel in Lucknow in a drunken stupor by his friends, gripped the campus with deep grief. Majaz whose poem 'Nazr-e-Aligarh' was adopted as the official 'Tarana' of AMU, was a brilliant member of the collection of progressive poets of that era who had blazed a trail of innovative and original style of poetry. During his student days, he was a romantic figure who evoked the adulation of countless girls, but his life remained barren and unfulfilled; he suffered several psychotic breakdowns and drifted from one mediocre job to another until he met his sorrowful end.
A condolence meeting was called and held in the auditorium of V.M. Hall, which was filled to capacity. Professor Nurul Hasan, who was the provost of the Hall was sitting in the front row. A very youthful Rahi Masoom Raza, sort of a Majaz of the day, who was climbing the spiral of success speedily, rose to recite his elegy.
'Main bhi kiya aap bhi kiya aap bhi kiya aap bhi kaya
Sub nay is saaz ki rug rug say lahoo chusa hai'
'Kitnay hontoon ki hansi sath gaiyi has teray
maut bhi sauch rahi ho gi kay kaun aaya hai'
Professor Nurul Hasan was besides himself, almost half standing at the conclusion of each couplet and uttering an uninterrupted exclamation of 'wah wah, wah wah'.
After the ceremony, all in the audience left, many with tears in their eyes. Ironically, the eulogist poet himself also met death in the prime of his life in Bombay many years later.
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