Selected Poems

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One of the finest Urdu poets of the subcontinent, Kaifi Azmi has borne witness to an entire era of social change. Born in 1918 in Azamgarh, Uttar Pradesh, in a zamindar family, Azmi wrote his first poem at the age of eleven. He joined the Communist party when he was nineteen, and wrote for the party paper Quami Jung. Subsequently, he moved to Bombay, and wrote his first lyric for the film Buzdil, directed by Shahid Latif, in 1948. A member of the progressive writers’ movement, Azmi has been an active spokesperson for several workers’ unions and works passionately to rectify social injustices even today. This richness of experience and maturity of perspective is captured in his poems, which reflect the many aspects of Azmi – man, lover, activist and poet. Some of his best verses are about the plight of the exploited, like the famous ‘Makaan’ which highlights a system where the poor, homeless, footpath dwellers build palaces for the rich to live in. At the other end of the spectrum are his love poems, including the memorable lyrics for films – among them, ‘Waqt ne kiya….’ – that haunt the reader with their tenderness and contained passion, proving him to be a master at conveying the various nuances of love. Azmi’s preoccupation with and expert handling of such disparate themes are indicative as much of his zest for life as his sincerity and honesty of experience. Brilliantly translated by Pavan K. Varma, this bilingual selection, published on the occasion of Kaifi Azmi’s eighty-first birthday, brings to a wider audience the wisdom and lyricism of Azmi’s poetry.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR Kaifi Azmi

Kaifi Azmi is the most-awarded Urdu poet in the country. Awards he has won include the Padma Shri, the Sahitya Akademi Award, the Afro-Asian Writers Lotus Award and the Maharashtra Gaurav Award. He has also been honoured with a doctorate from Vishva Bharati University, Shantiniketan. Kaifi Azmi is also the All India President of the Indian Peoples Theatre Association (IPTA). He is married to noted stage actress Shaukat Kaifi and has two children, Shabana and Baba Azmi.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR Pavan K Varma

Pavan K. Varma graduated with honours in History from St Stephens College, Delhi, and took a degree in Law from Delhi University. A member of the Indian Foreign Service, he has served in Moscow, in New York at the Indian Mission to the United Nations, and as India’s High Commissioner in Cyprus. He has been Press Secretary to the President of India, Official Spokesman for the Foreign Office, and is at present Director of the Nehru Centre in London. He is the author of Ghalib: The Man, The Times; Krishna: The Playful Divine; Yudhishtar and Draupadi: A Tale of Love, Passions and the Riddles of Existence; The Great Indian Middle Class; The Book of Krishna; and Maximize Your Life (with Renuka Khandekar), all published by Penguin. He has also translated Kaifi Azmi (Selected Poems) and Atal Bihari Vajpayee (21 Poems) into English for Penguin.

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Bibliographic information

Title
Selected Poems
Author
Edition
1st ed.
Publisher
ISBN
0670911151
Length
xvii+151p., 23cm.
Subjects