Bashir Badr (born Syed Muhammad Bashir; 15 February 1935) is an Indian poet. He was teaching Urdu in Aligarh Muslim University. He primarily writes in
Urdu
Urdu (;"Urdu" '' ghazals. He also wrote a couplet titled ''Dushmani Jam Kar Karo'' in 1972 during Shimla Agreement that revolves around the partition of India. Badr's most of unpublished literary work, including uncertain poems was lost during the 1987 Meerut communal riots, and later he moved to
Bhopal
Bhopal (; ) is the capital city of the Indian state of Madhya Pradesh and the administrative headquarters of both Bhopal district and Bhopal division. It is known as the ''City of Lakes'' due to its various natural and artificial lakes. It i ...
,
Madhya Pradesh
Madhya Pradesh (, ; meaning 'central province') is a state in central India. Its capital is Bhopal, and the largest city is Indore, with Jabalpur, Ujjain, Gwalior, Sagar, and Rewa being the other major cities. Madhya Pradesh is the seco ...
.
Early life and education
He was born in
United Provinces of British India
The United Provinces of British India, more commonly known as the United Provinces, was a province of British India, which came into existence on 3 January 1921 as a result of the renaming of the ''United Provinces of Agra and Oudh''. It corre ...
Uttar Pradesh
Uttar Pradesh (; , 'Northern Province') is a state in northern India. With over 200 million inhabitants, it is the most populated state in India as well as the most populous country subdivision in the world. It was established in 1950 ...
Bachelor of Arts
Bachelor of arts (BA or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts degree course is generally completed in three or four year ...
,
Master of Arts
A Master of Arts ( la, Magister Artium or ''Artium Magister''; abbreviated MA, M.A., AM, or A.M.) is the holder of a master's degree awarded by universities in many countries. The degree is usually contrasted with that of Master of Science. Th ...
and PhD. Later, he served at the same university as a lecturer. He also served at
Meerut College
Meerut College is a state-funded college in Meerut, Uttar Pradesh, India. The college is affiliated to Chaudhary Charan Singh University, Meerut. The college was established in 1892 and has a campus of . The college has glorious history of achiev ...
for over seventeen years.
After his property such as house and books was damaged in 1987 Meerut violence, he permanently moved to
Bhopal
Bhopal (; ) is the capital city of the Indian state of Madhya Pradesh and the administrative headquarters of both Bhopal district and Bhopal division. It is known as the ''City of Lakes'' due to its various natural and artificial lakes. It i ...
.
He is currently suffering from
dementia
Dementia is a disorder which manifests as a set of related symptoms, which usually surfaces when the brain is damaged by injury or disease. The symptoms involve progressive impairments in memory, thinking, and behavior, which negatively affe ...
and is believed to have forgot his
Mushaira
''Mushaira'' ( ur, , Mušā'ira) is a poetic symposium. It is an event (called '' mehfil'', Mushairi) where poets gather to perform their works. A mushaira is part of the Culture of North India, Pakistan and the Deccan, particularly among the ...
years as a result of dementia.
Career
He started writing poems at the apparent age of seven. He wrote some collection of ghazals titled ''Ikai'', ''Kulliyate Bashir Badr'', ''Aamad'', ''Image'', ''Aahat'' and
Devanagari script
Devanagari ( ; , , Sanskrit pronunciation: ), also called Nagari (),Kathleen Kuiper (2010), The Culture of India, New York: The Rosen Publishing Group, , page 83 is a left-to-right abugida (a type of segmental Writing systems#Segmental syste ...
ghazals titled ''Ujale Apni Yadon Ke''. During his career, he wrote two books titled ''Azadi Ke Bad Urdu Ghazals Ka Tanqidi Mutala'' (Critical study of Urdu ghazal after independence) and ''Biswin Sadi Mein Ghazal'' (Ghazals in 20th century) focused on literary criticism.
He has also served at the Bihar Urdu Academy as a chairman.
Influence on politics
His couplets appears to have influence on Indian politicians, and are sometimes quoted in the
parliament of India
The Parliament of India ( IAST: ) is the supreme legislative body of the Republic of India. It is a bicameral legislature composed of the president of India and two houses: the Rajya Sabha (Council of States) and the Lok Sabha (House of the ...
by the leaders such as prime minister of India
Narendra Modi
Narendra Damodardas Modi (; born 17 September 1950) is an Indian politician serving as the 14th and current Prime Minister of India since 2014. Modi was the Chief Minister of Gujarat from 2001 to 2014 and is the Member of Parliament fro ...
Rahul Gandhi
Rahul Gandhi ( ; born 19 June 1970) is an Indian politician and a member of the Indian Parliament, representing the constituency of Wayanad, Kerala in the 17th Lok Sabha. A member of the Indian National Congress, he served as the president o ...
. In 1972, his couplet was quoted by
Zulfikar Ali Bhutto
Zulfikar (or Zulfiqar) Ali Bhutto ( ur, , sd, ذوالفقار علي ڀٽو; 5 January 1928 – 4 April 1979), also known as Quaid-e-Awam ("the People's Leader"), was a Pakistani barrister, politician and statesman who served as the fourt ...
.
Awards
Badr has received the
Padma Shri
Padma Shri ( IAST: ''padma śrī''), also spelled Padma Shree, is the fourth-highest civilian award of the Republic of India, after the Bharat Ratna, the Padma Vibhushan and the Padma Bhushan. Instituted on 2 January 1954, the award is conf ...
award in 1999 for contribution towards literature and
Sangeet Natak Akademi
Sangeet Natak Akademi (The National Academy of Music, Dance and Drama in English) is the national level academy for performing arts set up by the Government of India.
History
It was set up by the Indian education ministry on 31 May 1952 and ...
Badr is one of the most quoted ''shayar'' in Indian pop-culture.
A popular radio show ''Ujaale Apni Yaadon Ke'' on Vividh Bharti derives its title from one of Badr's most popular ''sher''.
''ujāle apnī yādoñ ke hamāre saath rahne do''
''na jaane kis galī meñ zindagī kī shaam ho jaa.e ''
The 2015 film Masaan contains various examples of poetry and shaayari by Basheer Badr, along with works by Akbar Allahabadi, Chakbast,
Mirza Ghalib
)
, birth_date =
, birth_place = Kala Mahal, Agra, Maratha Confederacy
, death_date =
, death_place = Gali Qasim Jaan, Ballimaran, Chandni Chowk, Delhi, British India
, occupation = Poet
, language ...
and
Dushyant Kumar
Dushyant Kumar Tyagi (1 September 1931 – 30 December 1975) was an Indian poet of modern Hindi literature. He is famous for writing Hindi Ghazals, and is generally recognised as one of the foremost Hindi poets of the 20th century.
Personal l ...
. Explaining this as a conscious tribute, the film's lyrics writer Varun Grover explained that he wanted to show
the character of Shaalu (played by Shweta Tripathi) as a person whose hobby is to read Hindi poetry and shaayari, as this is a common hobby of millennial and generation x youngsters in Northern India, especially when in love, but this aspect is rarely shown in Hindi films.
Rekhta
''Rekhta'' ( ur, ; hi, रेख़्ता ) was the Hindustani language as its dialectal basis shifted to the Delhi dialect. This style evolved in both the Perso-Arabic and Devanagari scripts and is considered an early form of Urdu and H ...