THE EXPRESS TRIBUNE
Perhaps Asadullah Khan Ghalib wrote this famous verse, “woh kahen aur suna kare koi” [when she speaks, others must hear], for spellbinders like veteran Urdu poet and scriptwriter Zehra Nigah.
On Tuesday, she got an ovation for her rousing speech on “Why must I follow on the same road? Let’s travel together, arm in arm” hosted by the Aga Khan University as part of its special lecture series. These lectures are part of the university’s multidisciplinary approach to education, aiming to enrich students and the general public with an understanding of the humanities and social sciences.
Nigah was one of the two female poets – the other being Ada Jafri – to pave way and gain prominence in the male-dominated world of Urdu poetry in the post-Partition years. Eventually, the time also arrived when Jafri and Nigah used to recite in mushairas alongside Faiz Ahmed Faiz, Ahmed Faraz and Habib Jalib.
“Nature does not discriminate between a male and a female when it awards competence and abilities,” said Nigah. “It is the society that discriminates between the two and accentuates potential of one at the expense of undermining the others’.”
Nigah started composing poetry at the age of eight or nine. Later, she got inspiration from Ada Jafri. At that time, she said, women poets were very few and most of them were, in some way, linked to the infamous ‘chowks’ or ‘baazar-e-husn’.
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