Adil Najam
This is an amazing picture (click on picture, or here, to see an enlarged version). Here are just a few of the giants of Urdu literature in this group: Majnoon Gorakhpuri, Mahirul Qadri, Maulvi Abdul Haq, Hasrat Mohani, Saqib Lakhnavi, Seemab Akbarabadi, Hafeez Jullandhari, Dr. Taseer, Josh Maliahbadi, Behzad Luckhnavi, Raja Sahib Mahmoodabad, Tilok Chander Mehroom, Faiz Ahmed Faiz, Col. Majeed Malik, Ghulam Rabbani Taban, Dr. Zakir Hussain, Chaudhri Mohammad Ali, A.D. Azhar, Ishwar Dayal, and many more.
That is a breathtaking list is there ever was one. And it is a breathtaking picture.
Unfortunately, we do not know much about the picture in terms of its details. It has been floating over emails, and I received it from Naveed Riaz. A number of people in the picture remain unidentified. We do know that the picture was published in LIFE magazine, but do not know when and in what issue. If we could find the answer to that, I think a lot of other details will become known too. For example, when was this taken (most likely, this is pre-1947)? And why was this taken? What brought all these giants of literature together? Where? And why?
If anyone knows more about this picture, do please let us know.
This is nice website.
Very interesting picture. But does not seem to be Taraqee pasand Tehrik since many people here were not in that.
Also, I think Watan Aziz’z comment is not malicious, but innocent
Watan Aziz, your Urdu dushmani is known to many on these pages. Pity your ignorance if you’ve not read their works.
I do not even know most of these names. Do all of them any published works? May be ATP can expand and list who wrote what or one of their famous works.
It appears the picture was taken in early 1943.
Faiz looks about 32. (Born 1911).
Josh looks about 45. (Born 1898).
Taseer looks about 42. (Born 1901).
Could be at the Osmania University, Hyderabad.