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Naya Nagar’s poetic justice
Updated On: 28 January, 2024 06:29 AM IST | Mumbai | Gautam S Mengle
It’s a town of shayars, not shararti tatv. mid-day spends a day at Mira Road’s neighbourhood sullied by assumed communal disharmony and comes back with the story of a people united by strife, characterised by creativity
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Sahitya Akademi Award winning novelist Rahman Abbas and journalist Mushraf Shamsi, who runs local newspaper Tirchhi Aankh, are as old to Naya Nagar as Nihal Corner in the background. The restaurant serves as the de facto venue for their lengthy baithaks with like-minded friends. Pic/Sayyed Sameer Abedi
Hosh walon ko khabar kya…,” wrote Urdu poet Nida Fazli, “...bekhudi kya cheez hai.” [What do those in their senses know what it is to lose oneself?] The ghazal, immortalised by Jagjit Singh in the 1999 Aamir Khan starrer Sarfarosh, was an instant hit. But while it was picturised on two love birds silently serenading each other, the actual embodiment of selfless love—for words—may be found in a small but bustling locality in Mira Road.
The connection isn’t a tenuous one. Fazli actually lived in this area for several years before moving to Mumbai city. Even Shahryar, another renowned Urdu poet, lived in Naya Nagar for a few months. Other names include National Award winner Abid Surti, Salam Bin Razzaq, Rakesh Sharma and Hriday Mayank. And thanks to their influence, countless houses in this locality home budding or upcoming poets.
Poetry greats like Nida Fazli (centre) have lived in Naya Nagar, and their houses would be the venues of impromptu mushairas. Their influence has led to the emergence of numerous poets and writers from the Mira Road locality
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