It was yesterday once more,as noted Urdu lyricist and poet Nida Fazli held forth on the third day of the Chandigarh Arts and Heritage Festival. The poet rendered his famous lines such as Kabhi kisi ko mukammal jahaan nahi milta,kahin zami to kahin aasmaa nahi milta,and Hoshwalon ko khabar kya,bekhudi kya cheez hai at a session organised by the Chandigarh Sahitya Akademi on Monday. Through his words,Fazli explored a world of emotions from pain and love to ecstasy. Writing verses for almost half a decade,Fazli kept the audience rapt by reciting poem after poem,doha after another,ghazal after ghazal. When the torrent of poetry stopped,the audience engaged him in a lively conversation,not just about his poetry but also on issues ranging from the language used by poets to the politicisation of literature,from the literature of Partition to the commercial aspects of lyricism today. Fazli made frequent references to writers and poets such as Amir Khusrau,T S Eliot,William Wordsworth and Walt Whitman from across the globe. At the same time,he admitted to bonding strongly with the common man and being deeply committed to literature,repeatedly emphasising the need to respect men of letters. He said that the worth of a society may be measured by the respect it shows to its writers. Fazli seemed convinced of a common human spirit pervading mankind,no matter what religion and background one belongs to. Duniya jise kehte hain,jaadu kaa khilona hai,mil jaaye to mitti hai,kho jaaye to sona hai, he summed.
