Found this poem and its translation by Makhdoom Mohiuddin here
Our city is strange –
it whispers in the
nights when you
walk on roads
calls you to show
its wounds as if
the secrets of
its heart
its windows shut
alleys quiet
walls tired
doors locked
only the corpses stayed
in rented houses for years.
-tr. Ravi Kopra
————————————————————
apnaa shah’r
ye shah’r apnaa, ajab shah’r hai
ke raatoN ko
saRak pe chaliye tau sargoshiyaaN sii kartaa hai
bulaa ke zakhm dikhaataa hai
raaz-e-dil kii tarah
dariiche band
galii chup
niDhaal diivaareN
kivaaR muh’r-balab
gharoN meN mayyateN thahrii hu’ii haiN barsoN se
kiraaye par —— !
-Makhdoom Mohiuddin
Makhdoom a people’s poet: Abid Hussain Special Correspondent
Former Indian Ambassador to US recalls association with poet
†PHOTO: NAGARA GOPAL
remembering a legend: Abid Hussain at the inaugural session of seminar on Makhdoom Mohiuddin
HYDERABAD: Makhdoom Mohiuddin, poet-revolutionary of Hyderabad, was so pained by the Spanish Civil War (1936-39) that he actually wanted to go to Spain to fight the fascists.
The civil war appeared to have had a lasting impression and one could see change in form and content of Makhdoom’s poetry.
This turning point was discernible in his poem AndheraÂ.
His biographer Aleksey Sokhavich recorded how the Communist and trade union leader always had on his writing table, a copy of Guernica by Picasso.
Several such little known facets from the life and times of Makhdoom like this one by Ali Zaheer were in full flow at the two-day seminar organised by the Alam Khundmiri Foundation in association with National Council for Promotion of Urdu Language (NCPUL) and AP Urdu Academy as part of his centenary celebrations here on Thursday.
Makhdoom’s associate B. Narsing Rao, in his paper, recalled the poet’s foray into writing plays, translation of Bernard Shaw and Anton Chekhov’s works and even staging them.
“His daring action was to stage Chekhov’s ‘Cherry Orchards’ translated by him into Urdu as Phool BanÂ. Freedom fighter and poet, Sarojini Naidu’s daughter, Lila Mani had a role in it, the first time ever for a woman, in Hyderabad’s then conservative society.
Abid Hussain, former Indian Ambassador to US, who inaugurated the seminar, recalled his association with Makhdoom and described him as a poet who won the hearts of the masses. His greatest gift was towards love. When love took the form of verse, poetry flowed. When it took the form of activity, it triggered revolution.
His stream of thinking revolved around love, lyrics and revolution, he said. Ali Javed, Director of NCPUL, said Makhdoom struck a balance between being a party activist and a poet which even Faiz Ahmed Faiz, Pakistan poet, could not.
The year-long centenary celebrations would see conduct of seminars in all important cities. State CPI secretary K. Narayana and State CPI (M) secretary B. V. Raghavulu spoke, while scholars from New Delhi, Aligarh and Kolkata besides Hyderabad presented papers.
Another ghazal
ap kii yaad aatii rahii raat bhar
chashm-e-nam muskuraatii rahii raat bhar
raat bhar dard kii shammaa jalatii rahii
Gam kii lau tharatharaatii rahii raat bhar
baa.Nsurii kii surilii suhaanii sadaa
yaad ban ban ke aatii rahii raat bhar
yaad ke chaa.Nd dil me.n utarate rahe
chaa.Ndanii jagamaatii rahii raat bhar
koii diivaanaa galiyo.n me.n phirataa rahaa
koii aavaaz aatii rahii raat bhar