Syed Nusrat Zaidi (1923 – March 2020) was a

British Indian British Indians are citizens of the United Kingdom (UK) whose ancestral roots are from India. Currently, the British Indian population exceeds 2 million people in the UK, making them the single largest Ethnic groups in the United Kingdo ...

and later Pakistani poet who primarily wrote classical tradition poems in

Urdu language Urdu (; , , ) is an Indo-Aryan languages, Indo-Aryan language spoken chiefly in South Asia. It is the Languages of Pakistan, national language and ''lingua franca'' of Pakistan. In India, it is an Eighth Schedule to the Constitution of Indi ...

. He also participated abroad in poetic concerts during his visits to

Los Angeles Los Angeles, often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, most populous city in the U.S. state of California, and the commercial, Financial District, Los Angeles, financial, and Culture of Los Angeles, ...

, Iran, Canada, and Dubai.

Biography

Nusrat was born in 1923 in British India,

Uttar Pradesh Uttar Pradesh ( ; UP) is a States and union territories of India, state in North India, northern India. With over 241 million inhabitants, it is the List of states and union territories of India by population, most populated state in In ...

at Memon village, and later in 1943 came to Pakistan where he lived in

Lahore Lahore ( ; ; ) is the capital and largest city of the Administrative units of Pakistan, Pakistani province of Punjab, Pakistan, Punjab. It is the List of cities in Pakistan by population, second-largest city in Pakistan, after Karachi, and ...

. He initially worked for a

newspaper A newspaper is a Periodical literature, periodical publication containing written News, information about current events and is often typed in black ink with a white or gray background. Newspapers can cover a wide variety of fields such as poli ...

''Partaab''. After the

partition of India The partition of India in 1947 was the division of British India into two independent dominion states, the Dominion of India, Union of India and Dominion of Pakistan. The Union of India is today the Republic of India, and the Dominion of Paki ...

took place, leading to the split of

Indian subcontinent The Indian subcontinent is a physiographic region of Asia below the Himalayas which projects into the Indian Ocean between the Bay of Bengal to the east and the Arabian Sea to the west. It is now divided between Bangladesh, India, and Pakista ...

into two sovereign states he worked as a

white-collar worker A white-collar worker is a person who performs professional service, desk, managerial, or administrative work. White-collar work may be performed in an office or similar setting. White-collar workers include job paths related to government, co ...

in Pakistan military accounts department at a low profile position "

clerk A clerk is a white-collar worker who conducts record keeping as well as general office tasks, or a worker who performs similar sales-related tasks in a retail environment. The responsibilities of clerical workers commonly include Records managem ...

" and continued until he retired or resigned. He was actively involved in literary events where he met

Ehsan Danish Ehsan Danish (, 17 November 1914 – 22 March 1982), born Ehsan-ul-Haq ), was an Urdu poet, prose writer, linguist, lexicographer and scholar from Pakistan. Ehsan Danish penned over 100 scholastic books of poetry, prose, linguistics, lexico ...

and took part in different poetic symposiums with

Habib Jalib Habib Jalib (; 24 March 1928 – 13 March 1993) was a Pakistani revolutionary poet and left-wing political activist who opposed martial law, authoritarianism, military dictatorship and state oppression. He wrote several poems in Punjabi and ...

. During his clerk career, he was transferred to several areas, including

Peshawar Peshawar is the capital and List of cities in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa by population, largest city of the Administrative units of Pakistan, Pakistani province of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. It is the sixth most populous city of Pakistan, with a district p ...

and then

Rawalpindi Rawalpindi is the List of cities in Punjab, Pakistan by population, third-largest city in the Administrative units of Pakistan, Pakistani province of Punjab, Pakistan, Punjab. It is a commercial and industrial hub, being the list of cities in P ...

where he was introduced to Urdu poets such as

Ahmad Faraz Syed Ahmad Shah (), better known by his pen name Ahmed Faraz, ( 12 January 1931 – 25 August 2008) was a Pakistani Urdu poet, scriptwriter and became the founding director general (later chairman) of Pakistan Academy of Letters. He wrote ...

, Jamil Yusuf, Khatir Ghaznavi and Fariq Bukhari. An Urdu language magazine ''Humdam'' published one of his poems for a sovereign ruler of

Swat A SWAT (''Special Weapons and Tactics'') team is a generic term for a police tactical unit within the United States, though the term has also been used by other nations. SWAT units are generally trained, equipped, and deployed to res ...

who in return offered him PKR500 of that time.

Personal life

Nusrat was born to his first mother. He had two sisters born to his second mother. He was married in 1963 to Mumtaz Fatima in

Khairpur Khairpur ( Sindhi, ) is a city and the capital of the Khairpur Mirs District of Pakistan's Sindh province. History The Talpur dynasty was established in 1783 by Mir Fateh Ali Khan, who declared himself the first ''Rais'', or ruler of Sindh, a ...

. His wife died in . He had one daughter Najamus Sadaf Zaidi.

Literary career

Nusrat started his poetry during his

childhood A child () is a human being between the stages of childbirth, birth and puberty, or between the Development of the human body, developmental period of infancy and puberty. The term may also refer to an unborn human being. In English-speaking ...

at fifteen. He was influenced by

Mustafa Zaidi Mustafa Zaidi (born Syed Mustafa Hasnain Zaidi; 10 October 1930 – 12 October 1970) was a Pakistani Urdu poet and a civil servant. Early life In 1954, he passed the competitive examination and was sent to England for training before being gi ...

and Ehsan Danish. From 1945 to 1946, he worked for ''Daily Pratab'' and used to write articles for the newspaper, and subsequently the director of information Pakistan offered him a job for writing four articles monthly at RKR25 each. After the country came under

military dictatorship A military dictatorship, or a military regime, is a type of dictatorship in which Power (social and political), power is held by one or more military officers. Military dictatorships are led by either a single military dictator, known as a Polit ...

, he was detained for refusing to write an article against an editor. He actively wrote poetic books, including ''Tabsara-o-Tajziya'' which earned an award in Canada. His publications and books include ''Azarkada (1959)'', ''Kuliyat-e-Mustafa Zaidi'', ''Hurf-e-Qudz'', ''Intikhab-e-Kalam-e-Mustafa Zaidi (2009)'', ''Yad Kare Gi Duniya (2017)'', and ''Harf-o-Sada (2011)''.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Nusrat, Zaidi 1923 births 2020 deaths Urdu-language poets from Pakistan Poets from Lahore Pakistani people of Indian descent Muhajir people Pakistani Shia Muslims Twelvers Urdu-language writers from British India Poets from Uttar Pradesh Indian emigrants to Pakistan