Bashir Badr dies at 91, leaves behind a legacy written into everyday life
Bashir Badr, one of Urdu poetry's most relevant voices whose words reflected the complexity of life and politics, leaves behind a legacy that travelled far
Bashir Badr, one of Urdu poetry's most relevant voices whose words reflected the complexity of life and politics, leaves behind a legacy that travelled far beyond literary circles and found their way into everyday conversations, political speeches and popular culture. Badr, who died at his Bhopal home at the age of 91, had stepped away from the limelight several years ago following the onset of dementia. But his poetry drew the Badr name out of the shadows. Those who didn't know his name perhaps knew his lines, and those who weren't familiar with the delicate nuance of Urdu poetry were aware that this was a literary giant who mattered. Read Full Story Badr's passing has left a void in Urdu poetry that will be hard to fill. The talent began to sparkle early in life. Born on February 15, 1935, in Faizabad (now Ayodhya), he was just seven when he started writing poetry. One of his most cited couplets -- "Ujale apni yaadon ke hamare saath rehne do, Na jaane kis gali mein zindagi ki shaam ho jaye (Let the light of your memories remain with me /Who knows in which alley the evening of life may descend)"-- was penned when he was a teen. As his son Syed Badr put it, "This couplet is a representation of his life; it is his trademark. I would like all of you to celebrate this. His poetry is the poetry of love and life." Known for the use of highly contemporary Urdu in his ghazals, Badr brought conversational simplicity and emotional range to poetry that painted love, loneliness, separation, and human relationships in a language that was both accessible and familiar all the way from political corridors to college canteens.
From reels to social media posts and from old fashioned letters to movies, the words went out. Writer and lyricist Varun Grover used Badr's couplet in the much appreciated 2015 film "Masaan". Another Badr admirer is filmmaker Vishal Bhardwaj who used Badr extensively in "Dedh Ishqiya". In many videos, still surviving on internet, Badr can be seen reciting his lines with great flourish. He was, for his friends, the soul of mushairas. "He had dementia and had not been part of any mushaira for the past 10 years. That was his conscious decision because he was a showman so he wanted that his image remains at its peak," Syed said, adding that his father's writings acquired a life of their own. Badr received his education, from graduation till PhD, from Aligarh Muslim University. It is said that his early poetry and couplets were added to the MA (Urdu) syllabus at AMU even before he had finished his own postgraduate studies. Tayeb Badr, another son, recalled that Badr failed a viva because the examiner disagreed with his interpretation of a popular couplet -- as it turned out, it was Badr's very own writing. "Abba jee explained the couplet to the examiner during the viva without letting him know that he was the author of the couplet But to his utter surprise, the examiner completely disagreed with his explanation," Tayeb told PTI. In 2018, Badr' words echoed in the Lok Sabha. Congress leader Mallikarjun Kharge quoted the Urdu poet and said, "Dushmani jamkar karo lekin ye gunjaish rahe, jab kabhi hum dost ho jaayen toh sharminda naa ho. (Be enemies with all your might, but leave this possibility alive /That if we ever become friends again, neither of us feels ashamed)." It's a couplet Badr is believed to have written after the Shimla Agreement in 1972.
The BriefWire