Khalid Irfan: Humorous Urdu Poet from New York

Guest Post by Shahran Asim

I recently called up on Khalid Irfan and requested him to appear on Urdu Talk Radio, to which he graciously agreed upon. Urdu Talk Radio – now available on the internet- is one of the oldest Urdu talk show services in Noth America and airs live every Sunday from 1pm-4pm EST time. It is hosted by Dr. Mujahid Ghazi besides a few other volunteers including myself.

Khalid Irfan lives in Queens, New york and he is undoubtedly one the top tier poets of Urdu humour today. Over the years I have had the privilege of listening to him and I have always been very impressed with his poetry. In the past, he had been associated with the Pakistan Post newspaper also. He also wrote columns for this newspaper. One of his segments called ‘Mirza Ghalib Jackson Heights par’ became very popular.

As Khalid Irfan appeared on the Urdu Talk Radio show and started reciting his poetry in his own unique style, I was laughing non-stop because I found the poetry too humorous. Here is an example of a ‘sher‘ written in a North American background.

An approximate translation of above verse means:

I accept your invitation but please be reminded

You can serve beer of any brand but I’d like Chicken Fried as ‘halal’ only

Another of his ‘qataa’ on the topic of asylum goes like this:

Another one on green card says:

Khalid Irfan’s humorous poetry has a tinge of satire in it. He has not only penned verses on the traditional issues, but also the current ones such as political and social issues faced by the society not only in Pakistan but also in the US.

Khalid irfan is not only a humorous poet but he has also written a very touching poem on Pakistan’s earthquake, which leads me to believe that being a poet he is a very sensitive person. Zalzalay too nay mairay baagh kay ghunchay thoray (Earthquake, you plucked the flower buds in my garden

I want to share his poetry in his voice and style which I am pretty sure would make you laugh out loud. He appears in the third hour of the show so you can download the complete file of the show and forward to listen to it. By the way, I would suggest you to listen to the complete 3 hour Radio show. This radio station offers songs , talks, interviews and many other interesting segments. The radio has just finished 10 years of broadcasting.

Click here to listen to Khalid Irfan’s interview and his poems on Urdu Talk Radio.

Click here to listen to complete 3 hour broadcast of Urdu Talk Radio on Jan 21, 2007.

About the author: Shahran Asim is a New York based Electrical Engineer and a former NEDian. Among his hobbies one is to volunteer for the programming of Urdu Talk Radio.