URDU REVIEW
Small quatrain, deep thoughts
Saroop Krishen

Insan Bano
by A.C. Bahar. Educational Publishing House.
Pages 267. Rs 200.

Amir Chand Bahar’s Insan Bano draws the reader’s attention, as it consists of quatrains only. The book is an impressive collection of 410 quatrains covering a vast array of subjects. The quatrain is a particularly difficult branch of literature that calls for strict discipline of the mind and precision of thought as whatever has to be said has to be contained in four lines of poetry.

In fact, the writing of quatrains can be compared to the jeweller’s art, where work has to be undertaken on a very limited "canvas" with care and precision, and even one false touch spoils the entire effect. And Bahar has excelled in this art. Not that he is a stranger to excelling in other branches of Urdu literature either; on the contrary, he has distinguished himself in every branch to which he has turned his attention. This becomes clear from the string of prestigious awards showered on him over the years. In fact, he has been a veritable magnet for such awards.

Bahar’s quatrains, it may be noted, are not the customary rose-and-nightingale variety of poetry. Instead, they are based on his serious-minded concern about the social and political evils that plague the society, and his anxiety eradicate them.

Bahar has this notable achievement to his credit in spite of exceedingly poor health and intense chronic pain: he is even unable to hold the pen in his fingers without having to rest them ever so frequently. Actually, it is a tragic case like Bahar’s that leads one to the thought that in Nature’s scheme of things anything like justice seems to occupy a very low place, and the broad picture is reminiscent of Shakespeare’s "Like flies to wanton boys are we to the gods/They kill us for their sport". If it had been Bahar’s lot to have even near-normal health, he would have been able to enrich the literary world ever so much more.

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