Introduction
On April 12, 1956, Prof Mohammad Ramzan Shah, popularly known by his literary name Shad Ramzan, was born in the picturesque Aripora village of Kulgam, South Kashmir, to an educated family.
He is nostalgic about Aripora, that stream Vishou he remembers, flowing through his native village where he along with other children would stay for hours, watching the water flow downwards with the sounds of birds around.
Shad says, that besides his father, Khair ud din Mohammad Shah, a Persian scholar, nature has been his best teacher and guide. “I felt an urge at a very tender age to give language to that bewitching beauty of my village and that is how I began writing poetry when I was just 15 years old”. Says he.
Awards
Prof Shad Ramzan is the recipient of the National Literary Award 2014 by Sahitya Academy New Delhi for his poetic collection “Kore Kaakud Gome Pushrith ”. He also received the national translation award for Anhaar Te Aks, 2009 (the Kashmiri rendering of seventeen short stories written in different Indian languages) by Sahitya Academy New Delhi. The work, a lucid and honest rendering, reflects the translator’s clear understanding of the content and spirit of the original writing.” Besides these, his work has been recognized widely in his state and he has received prestigious awards like Khilati Harmuk, Khilat Shabaz, Fhakri Maraz, Khilatai noor, Khilati Moti Lal and Khilati Fazil Kashmiri, and others, which he says are dear to him.
Education
Prof Shad did his doctorate on the theme: “Intellectual Background of Kashmiri Mystic poets from Lal Daed to Ahad Zargar” under the supervision of his guide and guru Prof Rehman Rahi, whom he terms “ Our present to the world of literature”.
Prof Shad taught the cultural history of Kashmir, Sufi poetry, and folk literature at the Post Graduate Department of Kashmiri at Kashmir University for more than three decades.
Earlier publications
Shad Ramzan has written extensively on various themes concerning Kashnmir language and literature He has authored and edited many books published by various national institutions like Sahitya Acadamy, National Book Trust of India New Delhi, and J&K Academy of Art, culture, and Languages.
His work Ath Zulmatus Laal Kya Chhi Tai published in 2005 has four research articles and the rest is criticism. The book is considered a significant contribution towards understanding Kashmiri prose and poetry. Prof Shad has made a path-breaking study on Kashmiri folk literature. His work Sahal Chha mani Bozun is a collection of research articles on various themes relating to Kashmir language literature and folklore. These books have generated a lively debate on various aspects of Kashmiri literature, especially Kashmiri poetry, and helped broaden our understanding of the subject.
The author has assessed the contribution of various eminent Kashmiri poets and prose writers besides evaluating the trends, themes, and treatment of Kashmir poetry in the context of classical and modern approaches to language and literature.
How Critics View Shad Ramzan
Mohammad Maroof Shah noted intellectual, critic, and scholar in his review article ‘Impressions on Prof. Shad Ramzan’s Critical Works’ says, “We have many critics in Kashmiri, for a local audience at least, that deserve to be better known by general readers and students of indigenous language and literature.
And when language is accessible, not too speculative or jargon-ridden, one can’t but be enthusiastic about their wider consumption. Prof. Shad Ramzan’s work illustrates my point to a great extent “adding that his criticism is not what students of Kashmiri literature can afford to ignore.
Shad on Shad
“It has been 45 years since. Days of continuous struggle, learning experiences, ups and downs, achievements. “Life gives you much, but takes away something whose absence haunts you every time,” says Shad Ramzan.
The latest book
In one of the very powerful poems “Wasi Zooni bai Kastan Khabray” from his national award-winning poetry collection “ Kore Kakud Gome Pushrith “ Shad gives powerful expression to that nostalgia:
Zoon Moji Bayi Bi Tarhah Dardigham Bayi Bi Wochha Bali panuk Vishou Aaruk Mueth Shaam Zindagi Samkhem ti wanhus Gas wu rach husnas Jamaal Gach wu sar ishqas jalal (Oh Mother Moon, I yearn to go to that native land of Dardigham again To spend that childhood’s sweet sunset by Vishav banks, If I get to meet life now, I would nurture the bloom of beauty Go and delve into the glory of love)
Some other books from Shad Ramzan
Shad’s themes
Like Mehjoor,s “Meyanow Maloom Kaer Ni Meen Rai” ( They did not ask my opinion) and Momin Khan Momin’s “ Mae khud aaya Naheen laya gaya hoon” (I have not come on my own, but brought ) Shad ramzaans Kori Kakud Goem Pushrith, ( He handed over a blank paper to me ) is in consonance to that idea where life is believed to be a blank canvas, on which Shad like Mark Twain says you need to, “Explore. Dream. And Discover” and paint with all colors available.
But Shad cautions, “Despite one’s best efforts, there would never be the culmination of that picture on the canvas of life and here he says, the poetry becomes a representation of that helplessness”.
Good writers have, what Isaac Asimov, a noted US writer calls a “capacity for clear thought,” able to go from point to point in an orderly sequence. This is true of great poets also. If one looks at “Choonth Kulis Tal “ ( Beneath the Apple tree ) a long poem in free verse by Shad Ramzaan written in the usual context of the larger theme “fall of man” Shad beautifully creates a canvas and atmosphere for the reunion of Adam and Eve beneath the same apple tree.
Baar Khudaya Taeth bagus manz Choonth Kolis tal Kar ghachi Azlus Abduds Moel (Oh God, When, In that Garden Under that apple tree Will the beginning meet the end?)
Another poem Toeth Baeth Kanh (A Song Like That), projects a philosophy while the poet longs to be empowered to be able to write a song which, if sung by life turns everything immortal.
Hai khuda wanda bi kasssh Soonchi sudras manz bodeth Lekha toeth Baeth kenh Zindagi gaewhae ti sapdae lazawaal (Oh dear God, if I could sink like a stone, Beneath the ocean of thought, And write a song, Which life would sing, And become immortal) Lekha toeth baeth kaenh boozthi Husnas ti lolus sapdi moel Aami pani sudras ti laghai nayi taar Bali damin obri lung khasha ti Washay rodi choel (I long to write one such song, Which when heard will unite love and beauty, Shall ferry across the river ‘a boat with tender thread’. A cloud shred could ascend, From the lap of mountains only to Let rain unleash.)
Shad’s Idiom
Like many great poets Shad also believes that the basic component of poetry is language. “It is the language only which leads a reader to an idea and the poet can only be successful when he can make use of the contemporary idiom”.
Shad Ramzaan says. I also believe that a poet should be able to give a personal touch to the idiom and the usage should be original and indigenous. This is where Shad Ramzaan has succeeded. Shad’s Mastery of rhyme and rhythm is such that he often creates a new vocabulary, wonderful idioms, phrases, similes, and metaphors using the same old words, yet creating new feelings that are interlinked.
Shad Ramzan has experimented with some expressions with a “novel and indigenous style” woven to help his readers in their imagination of the situations he is trying to put them in: see the beauty of these expressions:
Shad Ramzan’s Unique expressions
Shamma Ti Waaw Gindinaawun ( to make a candle and wind to play)
Sadaiv Sahar (Melodious morning)
Dadsoel Koem (Insect with deep, quenching thrust)
Pazaeb Schroen (Ankle bracelet sounds)
Tapi Toek (A small patch formed of sunlight)
Ungjan Pun Gandun (wearing the thread around fingers to remember something )
Tcheeng Lith Darus Lagin (Suspending a thin beam of light )
Lov fhiris manz aaftab (To absorb sun in a dew drop )
choonth koji tal tapi teach (A patch of sunlight under an apple tree, which is a Reference to Eve)
Great poetry for Shad Ramzaan means a commitment to words. One does not come across much of the abstract, or jargon-inflicted style in his verses. “A poet should be aware of all shades of meaning of a word. Words are part of language and they have historical linguistic, social cultural associations besides our feelings also “.
Poetry as a cry and protest
Shad says that commitment to word is important for a poet to the extent that if he misses it, a statement will remain there, not poetry. He refers to Lal Ded‘s famous lines “Kenh nata kenh nata kenh nata kenh” and says poetry has to be a cry like that. In my world, says Shad it is “Aadim waedhak” (human wailing: with pain grief, or anger). Protest is another powerful component of poetry, and my poetry is full of it, he adds. Saifi Sopori, the great Urdu poet of Kashmir terms Shad an alchemist who carves “golden phrases and metaphors ” out of usual experiences.
What makes a poet
Creativity, curiosity, and perhaps, eccentricity are natural characteristics of a published poet. One could see curiosity as the dominant trait of Shad Ramzaan’s poetry. Besides, his poetry invokes emotions.
Life for Shad is a meaningful creation of the Almighty and death for him is nothing to be afraid of; instead, he calls it ‘reunion with the God’. Once you have faith, you defeat all fears and life becomes meaningful, says Shad.
Holding the weight of tradition
The chain of Sufi poets in Kashmir started in the 14th century with the famous poetess Lal Ded (Lalleshwari), the grand mystic woman poet of Kashmir who continues to inspire new generations of Kashmir. Hazrat Sheikh Noor-ud-Din Noorani (Nund Reshi) is the next legendary Sufi poet. In a long poem in the form of dialogue, “Kaem chaeth hoek diryaaw“ (who could gulp down a river) Shad vehemently associates himself with the philosophy of these great saints.
Dialogue
The beauty of the poem is that in just two lines beginning with Doupnam (He said ) and Doupmus ( I answered ), the poet touches on the major themes of all those great Sufi poets of this order. Dr Sohan Koul, a critic, while praising the beauty of this poem says, “One who wants to understand the great spiritual tradition of Kashmir in the smallest time frame, should read the poem”
From eternity, the questions about being, the cosmos, and the creator have been eluding man. In a sweeping panorama of inquiry and exploration about cosmos, and the questions on human existence, great poets and thinkers in all times have made these questions the major themes of their writing. And Shad is no exception.
“Kori kakud gowem pushrith“
Reading “Kori kakud gowem pushrith“, one sees that cosmic mysteries and existential questions have been dealt with in detail. Shad believes love makes life beautiful. Love for mankind love of creation and the love of the creator are dominant in his poetry though he laments the transitory nature of life and beauty.
Yim Gul pholaan chi soontus Bar Tim gachaan chi hardas Soi doed chum mae jigrus Soi chum azar waen zaes (The flowers that blossom in spring, wither away in autumn That is the pain in my heart That is my agony, tell her) Thari phoul ghulan ti thaekhay Aasun panun ti wouchhay Bar chus ghachoen bai mousum Hardun hawa chu toshaan (The flower on the stalk, would have felt proud of its being, but for the gaze of autumn wind, which has predicted its doom).
Prof Rehman Rahi says, “Poetry becomes great and universal when a poet succeeds in giving tongue to his poetic language and experience to some personal issue concerning a human being. That should not be just a statement but must be relevant for all times.
Dr. Sohan Koul on Shad
I have read and heard Shad Ramzaan and found this dominant in his poetry”. Noted novelist and critic, Dr Sohan Koul says. ‘Rahi and Kamil have great traditions of poetry in their kitty set to explore its greatest potential vis-à-vis humanity, life, death, and, existentialism. A rich poetic idiom gave birth, particularly a philosophical trend was evolved. After this school of Kashmiri poetry, it was a tough task to register another trend while the set tone, which was already present in the collective psyche of critics.”
“But it was amazing to see that Shad Ramzaan has emerged as a new and parallel voice. He went ahead and gave further elasticity to the genre,” adds Dr. Koul
Social satire
Shad speaks directly, sometimes with powerful satire about the present situation of Kashmir; our lost heritage and values, lost water bodies and archives, and many such losses that concern us.
With a powerful satire, he speaks thus about the now-extinct Nala Maar Canal, and Zainavilas, a TV drama on Budshah, allegedly lost.
Asi zan poosh ne nallai mar te zainavilas path gow tote chi badshah seand zoer bakhtawar (Even if we lost Nallamar and Zainavilaas we boast of being the blessed progeny of Budshah)
Any reviewer of Shad Ramzan’s poetry – Nazams and Ghazals – will conclude that the poet is a zealous wordsmith, who rivets his readers. He informs, educates, and helps restore readers’ faith in life. That is great art. And I believe Shad has mastered it.