By TCN News,
New Delhi: Noted Urdu poet and Sahitya Akedemi Award winner Mazhar Imam breathed his last on 30th Jan. here at Mayur Vihar area. He was 84. A writer since the age of 13, Mazhar Imam will be remembered as one of the leading Urdu poets in the sub-continent for over half-a-century. He was born in 1928 in Bihar’s Darbhanga district.
His father Syed Amir Ali was a post master. Imam did his post-graduation in Urdu and Persian before going to Pune for diploma from TV and Film Institute. In 1951, he joined a daily newspaper Karvaan that was published from Calcutta. Later, he became a schoolteacher and then joined All India Radio and remained associated with it for over three decades.
He retired as the senior director of Doordarshan but his real passion lay in reading and writing. Mazhar Imam had thirteen books on Urdu poetry published. Mazhar Imam is considered the founder of Azad Ghazal genre in Urdu poetry. He is recipient of many awards like the prestigious Sahitya Akedemi Award, Ghalib Award, Delhi Urdu Academy Award, Maulana Mazharul Haq Award and All India Mir Academy Award.
Some of his best couplets:
1. Rashk karte hain jeetnein waale/ ham ne is tarha maat khaayee hai
2. Apna hi faisla thaa ke ghar chhod kar chale/ Mud mud ke phir ye kyoon dar-o-deewar dekhnaa
A person, who worked tirelessly all his life, breathed his last on Monday. He will be laid to rest at Mayur Vihar, Phase -1 ‘qabristan’ at 12.30 p.m. on 31st January 2012 in the presence of family and friends.