With over 100 awards to his credit, Burhanul Ghani Akmal Aldoori’s service to Urdu through his poetry simply cannot be overlooked. Not just that, his tribute to the Kannada language through translations, deserves a standing ovation!
By Nigar Ataulla,
The world is made up of many types of people. There are some who are the “show-offs” and want to keep boasting about themselves. There are some who want others to keep praising them. While there are those rare few who do lot of good, but keep silent and expect no praise or prize.
Burhanul Ghani Akmal Aldoori belongs to those rare few who do a lot, but keep silent and expect no praise or prize. Residing in Chikmagalur,(A district in Karnataka), but born in Aldur, 83 year old Ghani’s contribution and service to Urdu has to be scripted and carved in gold letters.
Burhanul Ghani Akmal Aldoori
Ghani was born in Aldur, a village, 18 kms from Chikmagalur. His grandfather Hussain Ali was a very famous Persian scholar of those times. During his primary schooling in Aldur which was mixed medium of Urdu and Kannada, short dramas would be staged in the village in Urdu. Ghani had an inborn talent for composing poetry, and when he was still in the sixth standard, he wrote poems for which he received a district award and all his teachers organized a function to felicitate him. He travelled to Mudigere from Aldur to complete the lower secondary examination, then studied in Chikmagalur from the eighth standard onwards, residing at the Muslim Hostel. “The boarding charges every month was Rs five here. There would be a concession if the student skipped three days meals. In order to avail this concession, I would skip meals three days. Such was my economic condition those days,” says Ghani, who has four brothers and three sisters.
“Till I completed SSLC, I used to write poetry as a personal hobby. My Persian teacher and also another boarder in the Muslim Hostel in Chikmagalur encouraged me a lot. Then in 1948, I had an uncle who went to Hyderabad, so I went along with him and took admission in the Darul Uloom college. I began writing some revolutionary poetry too. But reality hit me hard as I had to return to Aldur after doing my intermediate in Hyderabad due to the economic conditions at home. I realised that one has to work hard for money. I became a tobacco merchant and slogged day in and day out, walking even 50 kms for my trade. I was then known well in Aldur as ‘Kadipuri (tobacco) Sowcar’. My hard work brought in some money and in 1957, I bought land from the government and began my own coffee plantation. Even during this period of struggle, I continued my poetry. I shifted with my family, wife and children to Chikmagalur, after I gained some economic stability. My poetry helped me tide over my struggle to stand on my own feet economically. My first book “Saaghare Ikhlas” was released in 1977. Adi Chunchungeri Swamy flew down to Chikmagalur to release my book,” recalls Ghani.
After this, many books were published in Urdu. But Ghani also got inspired by the local language, Kannada. Sarvagna was a very famous Kannada poet. Ghani translated Sarvagna’s 100 vachanas from Kannada into Urdu. People were extremely impressed by this, and further encouraged him to translate Siddaih Puranik’svachanas in 2003, again from Kannada to Urdu. Poet, Jargenahalli Shiv Shanker of the Kannada Sahitya Academy visited Ghani at home and gave him many of his books, out of which Ghani translated one, which was published as “Rishhat-e- Nazm”. Ghani’s own poems in Urdu have been translated into Kannada by another scholar, B.V Gayathri. Youngsters too have gained inspiration from Ghani’s poetic efforts. Noorulla Shariff from the Kuvempu University focused on Ghani’s works for his thesis titled, “Akmal Aldoori Ki Adabi Khidmaat,” in 2009.
As of date, Ghani has won as many as over 100 awards, out of which seven are from the Karnataka Sahitya Parishad. His more than a dozen books have been released not just in Karnataka, but in Mumbai and Delhi too.
“ I was not economically well off, but yet I did not give up. I earned my bread and butter, but at the same time nurtured my love for poetry. My message to youngsters today is not to waste time and their talent as you will be answerable to God Almighty for this. Today everybody talks about the future of Urdu. Urdu is spreading. If you make a heap of Urdu words and call people to pick one word for themselves, all words will be picked up and nothing will be left. Such is the beauty and scope of Urdu. The flag of Urdu will be flying high till this world exists,” says Ghani.
People normally think poets isolate themselves, live in forests, away from the hustle and bustle of life and write their poetry. Ghani has not only created poetry, but is also socially engaged in various activities for the welfare of the society in Chikmagalur. He was not only the chairman of the District Co-operative Central Bank, but also the Taluk Board member. Everyone in Chikmagalur knows him as someone who has given Urdu its deserved status as a language that belongs to everyone. The real task now is if someone can translate Ghani’s works into English, it will help the new generation of youngsters who have no clue about Urdu to also understand the depth and value of looking at life through the language of poetry.