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.
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.
PREMIER GILANI MADE NO MENTION OF MINORITIES IN HIS FIRST ADDRESS NOR HE ASSURED THE NATION OF ANY HUMAN RIGHTS ISSUES SAME LAPSE WAS SEEN IN THE OPPOSITION LEADER”S ADDRESS
I will appreciate if someone can transcribe these couplets in Roman. I can understand Urdu but cannot read it. Reading English translation is like smelling a fruit but not being able to taste it.
Thanks in advance.
PAKISTAN PARLIAMENT DOES NOT REPRESENT MINORITIES
Capital Talk programme on GEO by Hamid Mir today discussed equality rights of minorities in Pakistan in the light of the Holy Prophet of Islam Rahmatul Lil Aalameen SAW and not Rahmatul Lil Muslimeen or Sunnis only. All the participants including Baber Awan a truthfull and bold person agreed that all minorities in Pakistan should be given equal rights as a Ummate Wahida and their places of worship be protected. They also admitted that the current Parliament does not represent minorities. There are no elected members from Hindo, Sikh, Parsi. Those are there are only nominated by political parties. SHAME SHAME SHAME
Muzaffar Mansoor
Hi friends !
Just a note on Urdu pronunciation,,,,,,,,,,
Urdu is a mixture of many languages such as hindi, persian, arabic, turkish, punjabi, english, etc. It may not be possible to do away with intermingling of english words with other in urdu and their pronunciation may also differ. As for the pronunciation of words of arabic or persian origin there is hardly any difference in pronunciation from the original words or roots and the same is followed by poets while writing or scanning poetry. Now, with the advent of cyber age it is impossible for urdu to keep pace with the increasing amount of newer words inducted in the english language so much so that Urdu, as a language, is compelled to adopt it finding no other alternate than to import alternate words from arabic , persian or other languages. Similarly, as you might know, english has also borrowed many words from hindi or urdu as well as other languages,and excluding english words from Urdu would only tend to make Urdu an imitation of Arabic or Persian languages with too lenghty, compounded , difficult and unfamiliar words acceptable for the Urdu readers,particulrly those involved in professional and technical studies,,,,,,,,,,,
Poets are the best judge of any language as they have to comply with the rythm and rhyme factors governing poetry. These factors are monitored in Urdu by stresses on words
such as ZER, ZABBAR AND PESH !
Does someone has a Nazam on Nawaz Shareef
” Sehra ke Shaikh le gaye mairay Watan ke Chor”
Please forward it to me.
Thanks