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<section class="gmail-title_section gmail-clearfix"><h1 class="gmail-heading1">Hyderabad's GST Commissioner Faheem Ahmed says he's enslaved by the lafz and beher of Urdu</h1><div class="gmail-brandwire_txt"></div><span><a target="_blank" class="gmail-auth_detail" rel="author" href="https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/toireporter/author-Donita-Jose-479250761.cms">Donita Jose</a></span><span class="gmail-time_cptn"> | <span><span>TNN</span></span> | <span>Feb 4, 2018, 06:00 IST</span></span><div class="gmail-leftsocial gmail-sticky"><div id="gmail-widget-two"></div><div class="gmail-toiwidgets_social"><span class="gmail-fb gmail-show_sprite gmail-toishare"></span><span class="gmail-twitter gmail-show_sprite gmail-toishare"></span><span class="gmail-gplus gmail-show_sprite gmail-toishare"></span><span class="gmail-linkedin gmail-show_sprite gmail-toishare"></span><span class="gmail-pinterest gmail-show_sprite gmail-toishare"></span><span class="gmail-comment-slider gmail-show_sprite gmail-toishare" style="background-color:rgb(202,202,202)"></span></div></div><div class="gmail-topsocial gmail-actions"><div class="gmail-toiwidgets_social"><span class="email gmail-show_sprite gmail-toishare"></span><span class="gmail-print gmail-show_sprite gmail-toishare"></span><span class="gmail-fontd gmail-show_sprite gmail-toishare"></span><span class="gmail-fonti gmail-show_sprite gmail-toishare"></span></div></div></section><section class="gmail-highlight gmail-clearfix"><img src="https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/thumb/msid-62771379,width-400,resizemode-4/62771379.jpg" alt="Hyderabad's GST Commissioner Faheem Ahmed says he's enslaved by the lafz and beher of Urdu" title="Hyderabad's GST Commissioner Faheem Ahmed says he's enslaved by the lafz and beher of Urdu"></section><div class="gmail-article_content gmail-clearfix"><span><div class="gmail-section1"><div class="gmail-Normal">
GST commissioner of Hyderabad by day, <a class="gmail-key_underline" href="https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/topic/ghazal">ghazal</a> writer and Urdu poet by night, <a class="gmail-key_underline" href="https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/topic/S-Faheem-Ahmed">S Faheem Ahmed</a>,
IRS, straddles two diverse worlds indeed. the 1990 batch officer admits
that he loves number crunching, but it's the lafz (words) and the beher
(meter) of Urdu that have him enslaved.
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"I am a Hyderabadi; my entire schooling has been in Urdu. so it's only
natural that I turn to Urdu whenever I need to find expression," says
the proud alumnus of Osmania University.
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Recently, Faheem penned down five ghazals, which will soon be brought
to life by singers such as Manjari Nair, Altamash Faridi and Anwesha
Dutta. this isn't his first musical venture though. the officer has
previously released an album with eight ghazals on unrequited love in
2015.
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"Very few people actually write Urdu poetry seriously. It's not as
easy as people make it out to be. Urdu poetry isn't just about penning
down some thoughts," he says, explaining that Urdu, has over 300 formats
of rhyme and meter. "Nowadays people restrict themselves to two-three
formats.
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Their practice of Urdu poetry follows a samaat, which means a
'listening format'. So they force their thoughts and words to fit
popular poetry formats, even if it does little justice to the emotions.
The result is very ineffective and verbose poetry," says Faheem, who
spent close to 30 years learning the various formats and mastering the
art of ghazal writing. Bahere Mizaare, Bahre Mujattis, Bahre Kaamil are
some of the formats he uses predominantly.
<br>
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His passion for words has its roots in his thirst for history, says
Faheem. "It never started with poetry. I was fascinated with the
language in its early forms which go back to over a 100 years ago. Back
then, Urdu was the language even for the government, so a major part of
the many years I served in the tax department saw me sifting through
legal and government texts from the Nizam's era in Urdu."
<br>
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Faheem possesses a rare collection of government documents like the
'Taziraat-e-Gwalior', or Penal code of Gwalior formulated in 1895, which
he collected when he was serving as the Narcotics commissioner from
2008-11, a copy of the infamous 'Ibn Battuta' in Urdu, and a rare
collection of lectures on Indian Education from the year 1857, in Urdu.
<br>
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Faheem has also translated two works — Asghar Veloori's Rubaiyat from
Urdu to English and former Indian ambassador to Saudi Arabia,
<br>
Mahmoudin Mohammed's Fantasia to Urdu.
<br>
<br>
<strong>Urdu needs more study</strong>
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With Urdu being declared as an official language for the state of
Telangana in 2017, Faheem is glad the language would get its due at
last. However, he claims that without the language finding a place in
the academia and public in general doing a serious study of the same,
chances of a fruitful survival are limited.
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"Survival of any language depends on government support. So a language
policy supported by government is very important as only oral culture
can't take it forward," says Faheem. He also laments that most Urdu
researchers focus on famous Urdu poets like Iqbal and Ghalib.
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"Urdu won't flourish if we keep it centred around shayari and ghazals
of Iqbal and Ghalib and an analysis of their poetry. We need more
doctoral researches on topics like 'Urdu and Employment', or how Urdu
dictionaries haven't been open to newer words etc.," says Faheem, adding
that language experts in the city have failed to do justice to the
language and contribute to its prosperity.
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"The Urdu language experts in the city, the academics and others must
ask themselves, are they really doing justice to the language from their
end?"
<br>
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<br clear="all"><br>-- <br><div class="gmail_signature" data-smartmail="gmail_signature">=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+<br><br> Harold F. Schiffman<br><br>Professor Emeritus of <br> Dravidian Linguistics and Culture <br>Dept. of South Asia Studies <br>University of Pennsylvania<br>Philadelphia, PA 19104-6305<br><br>Phone: (215) 898-7475<br>Fax: (215) 573-2138 <br><br>Email: <a href="mailto:haroldfs@gmail.com" target="_blank">haroldfs@gmail.com</a><br><a href="http://ccat.sas.upenn.edu/~haroldfs/" target="_blank">http://ccat.sas.upenn.edu/~haroldfs/</a> <br><br>-------------------------------------------------</div>
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