Main Bhi Ajeeb Shakhs Hoon, Itna Ajeeb Hoon
Ke Bas Khud Ko Tabah Kar Liya, Aur Malal Bhi Nahi
- Jaun Elia
The mention of Jaun Elia conjures the silhouette of a poet-philosopher whose verses read like the catharsis of a wounded soul.
A man of contradictions, the man famous as Jaun Elia was born as Syed Hussain Sibt-e-Asghar Naqvi—on 14 December 1931, in Amroha, India—was a master of coupling erudition with vulnerability, despair with humour, and the ethereal with the mundane.
His verses, though often soaked in anguish, brimmed with a rare lucidity that bordered on mystical.
Jaun belonged to an illustrious family steeped in intellectual pursuits.
His father, Allama Shafiq Hasan Elia, was a prominent scholar, and his siblings followed similar pursuits. Jaun himself was a polymath, excelling in philosophy, history, and linguistics alongside poetry.
When he migrated to Pakistan in 1957, leaving behind the soil of Amroha that had nurtured him, a profound sense of dislocation permeated his writings.
Yet, it was in Karachi that Jaun began to wield his quill with ferocious brilliance, becoming a towering figure of Urdu literature.
Jaun’s poetry is an intoxicating melange of lamentation and rebellion.
He wielded the ghazal with the precision of a scalpel, dissecting the human condition with a blend of cynicism and romanticism that was uniquely his own. Take his couplet:
"Hamaare Sabon Ke Saath Chale The Jo Guzarte Raah Ke Saaye
Woh Sab Raaste Mein Chhoot Gaye, Woh Sab Raaste Ke Saaye Thay"
This verse encapsulates Jaun’s acute awareness of life’s ephemerality—a leitmotif across his poetic corpus.
Jaun Elia sahab’s first collection, Shayad, published in 1990 when he was nearly sixty, was both a revelation and a revolution.
In this work, he married linguistic elegance with existential despair, reflecting on love, politics, and the futility of existence. His lines, such as:
"Ek Hi Toh Shaks Tha, Isko Kya Bana Diya
Woh Jo Dardmand Tha, Usko Dewaana Kar Diya"
Grappling with the inexorable complexities of life, Jaun’s diction, marked by an almost effortless simplicity, draws readers into labyrinths of profound emotion, leaving them both devastated and enlightened.
Lingering lines of love and loneliness
For Jaun, love was neither a sanctuary nor a salve—it was a battlefield.
His personal life, including his failed marriage to writer Zahida Hina, mirrored the turbulence of his poetry.
Yet, Jaun never shied away from baring his soul.
In his ghazals, love emerges as an unattainable ideal, often tangled in the web of societal expectations and personal insecurities.
"Us Se Kehna Ke Dil Ki Baat Mile
Yeh Milan Ka Suroor Hai, Na Milan"
The tenderness of these lines reveals a poet who understood the agony of unfulfilled longing yet transformed it into an enduring aesthetic.
Beyond poetry, Jaun was a voracious reader and thinker.
His translations of Arabic and Persian texts, as well as his incisive essays, showcase his intellectual breadth.
Jaun had a rare ability to juxtapose classical themes with modern sensibilities, creating a literary voice that transcends time and space.
Jaun Elia’s later years were marked by isolation and melancholy.
He eschewed public acclaim, retreating into a life of introspection, alcohol, and relentless writing.
His death on 8 November 2002 marked the end of an era, yet his poetry continues to echo in the hearts of those who, like him, grapple with existential angst.
His collections—Gumaan, Lekin, and Goya—stand as testaments to his genius, each reflecting a different facet of his soul.
To read Jaun Elia is to embark on a journey through love, loss, and rebellion, guided by a voice that is as unsettling as it is enchanting.
Jaun Elia’s poetry remains a timeless exploration of humanity's most intimate fears and desires.
His verses, imbued with an intoxicating blend of intellect and emotion, have immortalised him as one of Urdu literature's most profound and complex figures.
He was not merely a poet but an experience—a storm of words, ideas, and emotions that continues to haunt and inspire generations.
