A special evening with an Urdu and Persian scholar of international repute -Dr Syed Taqi Abedi, was organized by the Writers’ Forum, Kuwait, on November 3, 2017 at the residence of its President—Mrs. Maimuna Ali Chougle.
Dr Syed Taqi Abedi who is an Indian-Canadian poet, orator, critic, journalist and a scholar in Urdu language, in addition to being a physician by profession, was the guest of honour for the evening. His notable achievements are a compilation of a two-volume book, ‘Kuliyat-e-Ghalib Farsi’, collecting the poetry of Mirza Ghalib in Persian; he has also extensively researched poetry in praise of Prophet Muhammad by various Hindu poets; and has produced Encyclopaedic work on the life and thoughts of Faiz Ahmed Faiz—which includes 40 articles which he himself has written on Faiz. The second guest of honour was Mr. Kidar Nath Kidar, a noted Punjabi and Urdu nonagenarian poet. The evening was presided over by Mr. Umesh Sharma, the former President of WFK.
After a brief welcome address by the Forum’s General Secretary—Rajesh Verlekar followed by the presentation of mementos and the Forum’s published book, ‘Navratna’ by the President Maimuna Ali Chougle and Mr. Umesh Sharma, respectively, to both the guests, Saeed Nazar Kadpavi invited Maimuna Ali Chougle to formally introduce Dr. Abedi and she expressed the importance of his work for the present and future generation. Later Dr. Abedi was invited to speak on the works of Mirza Ghalib. Describing Ghalib as a ‘progressive writer’, Dr. Abedi gave a scholastic talk on the life and times of Ghalib and his poetic journey. He explained the innate importance of Ghalib to Urdu and Farsi poetry as it marked the beginning of an era of a path-breaking style of Urdu poetry. He recited a number of couplets of Ghalib and brought to light its hidden facets and depth in great detail. Ghalib, he said is one of the three great things that happened during the Mughal period. He also thanked WFK for extending an invitation to speak on Ghalib.
In order to introduce the Guests of Honour to the literary activities of the WFK, the floor was opened for recitation of poetry by its members. Saeed Nazar Kadpavi, Dr. Radhika Bhardwaj, Maimuna Ali Chougle, Sabir Galsulkar, Sunil Sonsi, Syed Qamar Minto, Ameeruddin Ameer, and Umesh Sharma read their works. One of the guests of honour— KidarNath Kidar also recited his poems. In addition to the WFK members, some of the guests also read poems.
In his concluding remarks, the President of the meeting—Umesh Sharma, thanked Dr. Abedi for accepting to deliver a lecture and expressed great appreciation over the depth of his research work on the literary giants like Ghalib, Mir Anis and Faiz. He further said that the memories of this scholastic evening will be forever etched on his mind. The Jt. Secretary Sunil Sonsi concluded the evening with a Vote of Thanks and especially thanked Mr. Ali Chougle and his family for organizing the meeting.