With his early demise from life’s stage on the 4th of April 2012, Izhar Wani, the Agence France-Presse (AFP) Bureau Chief in Kashmir, left his friends and relatives in pain because he loved them, and they knew it.
Two things made Izhar big. He grew up in his profession rather than just growing old with it. Second, he shared his skills with youngsters empowering them and becoming their leader. That is what the twenty-first-century mantra for leadership is all about.
MERC Days
I met Izhar in 1989 when I joined the Media Education Research Centre (MERC), University of Kashmir for my Postgraduate course in journalism and mass communication. Izhar was in the last leg of his PG course. One would see him along with his batch mates either in the MERC library scanning different magazines, or in the Naseem Bagh canteen, a favourite place of all media students back then.
(Photo Credits: Department of MERC, University of Kashmir.)
Those days MERC was housed in a single-story wooden structure in the historic Naseem Bagh of the University campus, and despite a total lack of infrastructure the centre was bubbling with life. Thanks to the great leadership qualities of its founder Head, Manzoorul Amin, who left for his heavenly abode just a few years back. Izhar impressed me the most during the introduction session we had from this senior batch.
A friend in need
He impressed me with that infectious smile and sense of belonging. We soon became friends. And today when I am writing tribute to that friend my heart goes out to thank his other batch mates who guided us during our first semester at MERC.
Then I used to meet Izhaar at Court Road Srinagar every afternoon after 4 pm in the office of an English weekly “submission”. That was it and a few other weeklies in English, which were the only platform for MERC students at that time.
(Photograph taken from the Facebook wall of Morifat Qadri)
We had some popular and prominent broadsheet newspapers then in Urdu, like Aftab, and Srinagar Times but MERC pass out were most inclined towards English journalism or television production only. The trend continues. Izhar would write the cover and other prominent stories for the weekly and me and also some of my batch mates would handle social cultural heritage or other narrative pieces. This was December 1989. This was the time when the seeds of English journalism were being sown in Kashmir.
Izhar’s batch mates on the other side of the court road in Bharat Hotel came out with a monthly current affairs multicoloured Magazine. There was jubilation at MERC when we saw the first issue. It was discussed and shown to us in class as well. Some other tabloids and magazines were also published from the Press colony.
Growth of English press in Kashmir
But it was all in bits and pieces till 1993 when English Journalism saw a big leap forward. One of the newspapers which was being published as a weekly in tabloid format from 1987 shifted to being a daily. Izhar was among the pioneers there to work with.
This was followed up by at least 10 English broadsheet newspapers which saw the light of the day. The standard of these broadsheet newspapers was good as most of the people working with them were pass-outs from the MERC Kashmir University.
(Photograph taken from the wall of Khursheed Wani, Journalist)
Things grew, and today English journalism in Kashmir has come up well, struggling to be there though. Izhar was not only a witness to its two decades of growth, but an active participant to help it grow. His services and guidance were needed everywhere. I was also with him in a broadsheet daily English newspaper. There I can never forget the way he would make the newsroom lively by his soft jokes. He would always prefer to refer or call me by my second name shafi, I never knew why, but I loved it.
In the newsrooms, Izhaar would hardly raise his head till he finished his story. He would joke even while he kept on typing which showed his professionalism.
Izhar Wani, colleagues and the newsroom gossip
We had, what was called (I do not know why) 386, and 486 computer systems those days run by Microsoft disk operating system MS(DOS) system. Those days unlike today saving your inputs on the computer was a task you had to give your attention to, unlike today where things can work for even a chronic “adikayur (lazy man)” like me.
Thanks to Microsoft Windows 95 and its subsequent versions from the last 20 years. And I remember Izhaar often turned his head towards me and other colleagues and said “Save karsa baya saeet saeet (keep on saving simultaneously.) ”. It may sound simple to others today. but I knew the value of these words then, given the agony, one would face if we lost the data to an improper shutdown and if we had to do our work over and over again.
Izhar never stopped after this. He had offers from many quarters asking him to have his services, but he chose to work with the local bureau of AFP ( Agence France Presse) as a reporter. AFP Kashmir bureau was then headed by veteran journalist Surinder Oberoi. Izhar became his successor when Oberoi shifted to Delhi for some bigger assignment.
And frankly speaking, I don’t find better words than one spoken by his boss, the Director of AFP South Asia Giles Hewitt on his sudden demise. “Izhar Wani was quite simply one of the most decent, wise, unassuming, and life-affirming people I have ever met.”
Love, humour and Izhar Wani
Izhaar had an infinite capacity for loving, in fact, all of us have. But sometimes we start thinking about love in “zero-sum terms” and to quote Anne Wilson Schaef “We start parcelling our love like we pay the bills at the end of the month and meet our “love obligations“and even try to save something for an emergency. Controlled love is no love instead it is an energy that has to be shared because we have it.” And in Izhar love was never something as obligatory, it was spontaneous, not manufactured, of course, it was limitless.
(Photograph taken from the Facebook page of Late Izhar Wani)
And then his deep sense of humour, that would cut through the meat of things. And he believed like many thinkers of our times that “humour adds colour to a life which I believe has really ‘gone grey’ with inattention and the pressures of modern day ‘ruthless living’.
And then how men who matter look at their professional lives. The men I met thought that Izhar’s news stories would continue to be important documents for historians, budding journalists and students of journalism. These will continue to remain important blueprints, that will guide and inspire them to the “what” and “how” of the stories.
MERC Times, an in-house journal of the Media Education Research Centre University of Kashmir, published a special issue on the life and times of Izhar Wani. Young budding trainee journalists poured their hearts out in the write-ups in this special issue paying rich tributes to the person who helped them grow in their field.
Cover page of the special edition of MERC Times published by the University of Kashmir as a tribute to the life and times of Izhar Wani.
(Courtesy: Department of MERC, University of Kashmir)
Izhar Wani was born in 1966 in Sonawar Srinagar to a middle-class family. His father Ghulam Rasool Wani a devoted Muslim worked as a scientific officer at the Kashmir University till he retired from University services and left imprints for his commitment, dedication to work and humility. Like his dad, Izhar Wani was also a devout Muslim and a proud father who loved his family traditions and values, especially being social. He is survived by a wife and two daughters.
God bless them all. May God bless Izhar’s soul.
Culmination
Izhar Wani lived a short but full life. The life he lived is the culmination of an era. An era where young, University graduates in large numbers were struggling to get their feet grounded in the glaring news media. This was the time when the country began to tread the path of economic liberalisation. Cable Television was introduced throughout the country. Broadsheets, newspapers, tabloids and magazines which were published earlier in very small numbers now came in bulk. We were at the threshold of taking a big leap. And Izhar was here in Kashmir among the first media professionals who made it big through his hard work.
The hallmark of his life is that he did not do it for himself only but made others go ahead in life and succeed. His life story is the culmination of achievements as an individual and helping his friends and colleagues to move ahead with him towards a road of prosperity, progress, fulfilment and satisfaction. Hundreds of young media professionals, presently working with big media organisations can never forget Izhar’s intervention in their success.