A City of Poets

Himanshu Bajpai, a well-known Dastango (long-form storyteller) from Lucknow tells DOT.in about a famous line, written for the fourth Nawab of Awadh, Asaf-ud-Daula: “Jisko na de maula, usko de Asaf-ud-Daula (Asaf-ud-Daula gives even to those whom God doesn’t).”

After a falling-out with his mother, when he shifted the capital of Awadh from Faizabad to Lucknow in 1775, word of his benevolence spread, attracting settlers from everywhere, but in particular from Delhi, which, by then, was reeling under the crumbling Mughal rule. “Jab Dilli ujad raha tha, Lucknow aabad ho raha tha (When Delhi was a mess, Lucknow was flourishing),” says Bajpai.

It was in such a political climate that Mir Taqi Mir, the Khuda-e-Sukhan (God of Poetry), arrived at the Court of Lucknow, at the Nawab’s behest from his beloved Shahr-e-Dilli (city of Delhi).

Over time, the significant influx of poets (and the consequent flourishing of Urdu) can be traced back to one reason: the Nawabs were true patrons of the art.

“Lucknow ke Nawaabon mein kuch khud shayar the, jaise ki Wajid Ali Shah… aur Asaf-ud-Daula… yahi wajah thi ki unke zamaane mein shayari ko itna waqar mila (Lucknow’s Nawabs, like Wajid Ali Shah and Asaf-ud-Daula were shayars themselves, and that is why shayari received that kind of push at the time),” says Bajpai.

Poetry in Lucknow has never been one single path, it has been many, all running parallel and complementary to each other. The most popular among these are the ghazals and the nazms, linked to mushairas that the city is so well known for. Then there is something more solemn.

“There is a poetic tradition of mourning associated with Muharram – Noha and Marsiya,” says Sabika Naqvi, a young spoken word artist in Lucknow. Some of the most popular of these verses are written by Salamat Ali Dabir and Mir Babbar Ali Anees, whose verses were “very dramatic... very revolutionary.”

Of course, if poetry is around the corner, can stories be far behind? That is where Dastangoi and Qissagoi come in — storytelling of two kinds: the former for epics and the latter for short stories and folk tales.

Interlaced among all of this is politics. “The Progressive Writer’s Movement brought together poets who were also activists and organisers,” says Naqvi. She notes that this thread of poetry seems to be slowly running out, as more and more young artists steer away from politics and find poetic fulfillment elsewhere, most notably in poems about love and heartbreak.

Nowhere is this more evident than in the enduring nature of ghazals. “A ghazal poet inherits a complete set of ready-made conventions — the lover, the beloved, the madness, the mehfil, the tavern, the temple, the heart. This allows a poet to begin composing ghazals without much groundwork,” says Timsal Masud, Professor at Columbia University.

What about social media?

Masud advises caution here: “These platforms have expanded the poet’s reach… they receive appreciation almost instantly…. This is good, but it is also a trap.” The poet must not forget to revisit their poetry before presenting it.

Cautious or not, poetry in Lucknow shows no signs of slowing down. The city continues to nurture a range of artist communities, mehfils, mushairas, literature fests — such as the popular Metaphor Lucknow Lit Fest — or national stages like Spoken Fest by Kommune.

The forms have changed, the language has transformed and so have the media, but one thing is undeniable. Every generation in this city has found its way to the same thing. The poem arrives (as do the poets), one way or another.