Friends, I take great pleasure in inviting you to our monthly series of talks entitled 'Why It Speaks to Me'. Held in collaboration with the Attic, this monthly series features an eclectic range of speakers. This month we have Ashok Lal telling us why the Buddha speaks to him through Ghalib.
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'Monthly Monologue: Why it Speaks to Me?'
Hindustani Awaaz, in collaboration with The Attic, presents a monthly series of monologues: poetry, literature, short stories, plays, essays, nazms, ghazals. On the last Thursday of each month, a series of eclectic speakers present/sing/recite their favourite Urdu text and explain why the text ‘speaks’ to them the way it does. They share their passion for a poet, a text, even a fragment and tell us why, from all they have read, those particular set of words speak to them with a familiarity that is at once unique and insistent.
monday 31st march
6.30 pm 'Why Buddha Speaks to Me Through Ghalib' by Prof. Ashok Lal
Born in a family of Urdu poets and literateurs (English, Urdu/Hindi) and civil servants, Ashok Lal learnt ‘aadaab’ (appreciation) of ‘Urdu shairee’ (poetry) from childhood, thanks to the frequent exposure to ‘nashists’ (Soiree) and ‘mushairas’ (social gatherings to read Urdu poetry). He started writing poetry, mainly Mazaahiya Kalaam while still a teenager. He pursued his academic studies in Science and Management and later a successful career in international business management for over two decades. After retiring from management he took up writing and teaching. He was Professor of Communication and Strategic Management at leading B-schools
Ashok’s creative urges also found expression in scripting, directing, acting, and voicing over- for stage, cinema, electronic and print media. He has also written some significant plays ‘Ek Mamuli Admi’ ‘Nahar Singh’, Classical Chinese plays- Cheeni Chashni, which have been performed at prestigious platforms nationally and internationally.
His books include publications for Rural, Urban and Continuing Education programmes; translations of Ikeda’s ‘The World is Yours to Change’ and Makiguchi’s ‘Education for Creative Life’
His active interest in poetry endured with a limited audience consisting of his elder brothers (Subodh ‘Saqi’ and Pramod ‘Yakta’), father, Vinod ‘Talib’ and Kaifi Azmi. With their guidance, Ashok had matured into a serious poet. He has written nazms, ghazals and geets for festive occasions like Holi and Mehndi, besides lyrics for his plays, Tazmeens and, lately, Dohas.
In the nineties. Ashok took to Buddhism and his poetry also took a new turn. He found that a Buddhist precept would lead to a couplet by Ghalib and vice-versa. The fascinating and intense connection between the sage and the poet found expression in his tazmeens of a few of Ghalib’s couplets. This led to an essay/book on the subject,- ‘Buddha Ghalib’ and a play ‘The Enemy Within’, based on the Buddhist legend of India’s ancient King, Ajatshatru.
Ashok lives in New Delhi with his wife, Kumkum, a known exponent of Odissi dance.
Nazir Akbarabadi (Wali Muhammad) (1735–1830) was the Father of Nazm, (a genre of Urdu poetry). His mother was the daughter of the governor of Agra Fort then known as Akbarabad.
