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SohailMentionsErrorsInDr.Angelee’sArticle

Corrections and mentions by Sohail Ahmed Siddiqui on the Online Post of Dr. Angelee Deodhar of India
The able writer appeared to ignore my article on the origin of Haiku in not only Urdu, but also Indo-Pak which clearly mentioned: Tracing the links between Japanese and Urdu poetry, one comes to know that first pieces of Japanese poetry were translated into Urdu in 1922. This was done by Barrister Syed Hassan Abid Jafri, for NIGAAR, the prestigious Urdu literary journal of India. He introduced Haiku, Tanka and some other Japanese verses in his article, titled, “JAAPANI SHA’YERI PER IK NAZAR” [A RANDOM LOOK AT JAPANESE POETRY].

In 1936, a whole ‘Japan Number’ was carried out by the most established literary journal, SAAQUI (Delhi), covering translations and introductory articles on Japanese poetry, especially Haiku. Shahid Ahmed Dehlvi, a well-known penman of his time, edited this journal. Noorul Hasan Berlaas was the man behind all that great work. The translators included Aziz Taman’naee, Fazle Haque Qureshi and Ali Zaheer. These translations were free or somewhat prosaic. At that time, our penmen showed very little interest in it. In the next decade, Hameed Nizami, a renowned Urdu journalist took pain to translate few Haiku. Meerajee, another famous poet is reported to have followed him. These were the initial efforts to introduce this genre in Urdu. It was all that done before the independence in 1947.
(excerpted from my article, ‘ JAPANESE POETRY IN URDU’ self-published in my brainchild, Haiku International, Karachi, Book VI, 2001)
Sohail Ahmed Siddiqui
Founding editor/Publisher, Haiku International
Karachi, Pakistan

Actual Text, posted on www.museindia.com by the learned Haiku expert, Dr. Angelee Deodhar:

Haiku: An Indian Perspective
Written by Dr. Angelee Deodhar
India, with eighteen officially recognized languages, uses English as an additional official language. The Indo-Aryan languages evolved from Sanskrit. Hindi is the official language of the Government of India, and is also the official language of six states. Hindi has several dialects. Haiku has not gained popularity in India for several reasons. Although the haiku poem was known to poets, as far back as the beginning of the twentieth century it did not become popular and the spread of Haiku poetry was sporadic. The Indian Nobel Laureate, Rabindranath Tagore, who wrote eloquently about Japanese culture and literary heritage. He was aware of the haiku poem and his collection of haiku like poems ‘Fireflies’ was published in English and Bengali. In 1916 the other national poet – Subramania Bharati wrote a long under the title -Japaniyat Kavitai (Japanese poetry) which was a lengthy critical appraisal of haiku where Bharati examined at length the opinion on haiku poems expressed by a Japanese poet, Yone Noguchi.A three day seminar on ‘Impact of Haiku in Indian literature’ was held at the Institute of Asian Studies based in Chennai (Madras) from 29th-31st of March 2000.Several poets from India and Japan participated in this seminar but till now the abstracts of papers presented there are still not available. The pioneer of haiku is India’s first Japanese scholar Prof. Satyabhushan Verma – whose first translation of Japanese haiku into Hindi – ‘Japani Kavitaian’ was published in 1977.

In 1981 Prof. Verma started a newsletter in Hindi called ‘Haiku’. This was in the form of an aerogramme. This publication was discontinued in 1989. Prof. Satya Bhushan Verma, a professor emeritus of Jawaharlal Nehru University, was chosen for the Masaoka Shiki International Haiku Prize in 2002 .He shared the one million yen prize with an American poet – Cor van den Heuvel.The second Indian whose efforts are to be commended is Prof. B.S. Aggarwala who publishes a Hindi quarterly journal called ‘Haiku Bharati’, started in 1998 and continuing till today. There are about 300 poets writing in their native mother tongues associated with this quarterly Hindi journal. Some haiku are translated from the original into Hindi, and then published. Prof. Aggarwala, the author of several books in Hindi is currently working on a history of haiku in Hindi.English language haiku in India is slowly finding a foothold and there are quite a few haijin writing in English, but most of these poets’ haiku is being published abroad. Some poets are bilingual or multilingual but haiku written in one language does not get easily assimilated into another. One sees every recognized form of the English poem taught in schools all over India,but haiku is not taught.Unfortunately, India does not have any formal haiku association or club. There are some Indian poetry magazines in which haiku are being published in English; however the Indian haiku scene is still far from satisfactory and needs all the help it can get. Books about haiku are still almost non existent and difficult to obtain. Unless haiku is introduced into the schools it will not gain the attention it deserves. The language for the study of haiku in India will have to be English, so that Indian poets can communicate and share haiku with poets worldwide.

SAMAA TV telecasts interview of SOHAIL AHMED SIDDIQUI on Haiku

On the eve of 27th Annual Urdu Haiku Mushaaira (Recital), held under the auspices of Japan Cultural Center of the Consulate General of Japan, on 20th March, 2010, the SAMAA TV, a local TV network had recorded an exclusive interview with Sohail Ahmed Siddiqui, the founding editor of Haiku International, the pioneer & only multi-lingual Haiku journal of South Asia, since 1998. Sohail Ahmed Siddiqui had shed light on the past, present and future of Haiku, the most compact genre, imported from Japanese into Urdu and other world languages, besides briefing about his efforts to promote the same in various languages. It may not be out of place to mention that his brain-child, Haiku International has set a unique record of publishing Haiku-related stuff in 25 world languages & dialects.

Talking about YouTube – What really hit on 9/11

That’s what happened exactly!

Жанна Zhanna P. Rader translates Haiku of Sohail Ahmed Siddiqui- 25 July

by سہیل احمد صدیقی on Sunday, 25 July 2010 at 09:36

My flimsy dreams!
She sparkles and disappears
Like a lonely star.

Призрачные мечты!
Она блеснула и пропала,
Как одинокая звезда.

Big and shiny mangoes
I remember, time and again
Her healthy buxom

Большие, атласные манго –
я вспоминаю
её тугую грудь.

A jasmine flower *
Simple, sober, pretty, attractive
Unforgettable you are!

• Jasmine-the national flower of Pakistan

Цветок жасмина –
проста, привлекательна,
незабываемая ты!

Talking about YouTube – Shami Towers 02

 

Shami Tower, Dubai Presentation scripted by Sohail Ahmed Siddiqui, the then Copywriter at Kimco Advertising; voiced over by Sohail and Mahjabin Zahid.

YouTube – Shami Towers 02
  

Talking about Few Firsts of Sohail Ahmed Siddiqui

 

Quote

Few Firsts of Sohail Ahmed Siddiqui

• Won the first car in Neelaam-ghar (recording-wise) in the year 1987,  (However, it was the 13th in all).
• Pioneer Quiz champion in Pakistan to host a TV Quiz programme, Mash’al Quiz,  (Inter-collegiate), based on his own concept and research, while acting as the Producer and Teams’ coordinator, too. It was aired by Dhoom TV & Vibe TV, from 2nd Rabiul Awal, 1430 AH/28th Feb. 2009 to 13th Rabiul Awal, 1430 AH/11th March, 2009.
•  You are requested to spare few moments and watch my maiden appearance as TV Quiz-master, after earning so many laurels, including a Pak-Suzuki Car in Neelaam-ghar in 1987. Mash’al Quiz was conceptualized and materialized by me, single-handedly. Pls. review: www.youtube.com/user/khushkun.
• Created history of conducting/recording 6 (out of 12) episodes of Mash’al Quiz, in a row, i.e. in a stormy spell of 3 hours and few minutes.
  
• I had asked extempore questions in several episodes, esp. the entire last 5 ones, where I was running short of prepared questions. This is certainly an enviable feat for any showman in Pakistan.
• Included in 3 US-based world anthologies, through free verses in Engish, in 1992, 1993 and 2002.
• Invited to the World Haiku Festival, held at London-Oxford (August 25-30, 2000) by World Haiku Club, UK, being the only from Pakistan and the entire Urdu-world.
• Participated in World Haiku Essay Contest and Haiku Contest, organised by the aforesaid Club.
• Included in the world Haiku anthology, "Wild flowers-New leaves", published by the afroresaid Club.
• Launched, edited and published the foremost and only multi-lingual Haiku journal of South Asia/Urdu-world in 1998.
• Created history by publishing Haiku-related stuff in 15 regional and foreign languages/dialects in one single issue, i.e. Haiku International, Book-V in 2000; published its second edition in 2001.
• Set a unique world record of publishing Haiku-related stuff in 25 world’s languages in his Hiaku International.
• Launched the online edition of Haiku International, recently; the only one of its kind in literary world.
• Launched online edition of his Urdu Haiku anthology, Khushkun hai Patthjar, recently; the only one in the world, till date.
• Introduced English teaching of Pakistan Studies in The City School, Matric Branch, at a time when there was no officially approved text-book approved in English and I did it without any support of a proper book, in 1989.