Premi Romani - A Poet and a Critic

Hailing from a family of litterateurs, Premi Romani has inherited all the characteristics of a good scholar from his father, Dr Brij Premi, a reputed short story writer, researcher and an authority on Sa'adat Hasan Manto, and his grandfather, Pandit Sham Lal Aima, a poet and short story writer of repute. The inheritance has paid good dividends to this able student of literature. Premi was born in Rang Teng, Ali Kadal, Srinagar, Kashmir (J&K State) and was named initially as Subhash Chander Aima. It was only after he started wielding a pen that he adopted the name of 'Premi Romani', perhaps under the influence of his fathers name Brij Premi.He completed most of his education in Kashmir valley but was forced to migrate to Jammu while pursuing his doctorate on Allama Iqbal in Kashmir University due to onset of militancy in the valley. Later he completed his PhD from Jammu University on a different topic, 'Mazhar Imam-Hayat aur Fun' which was subsequently published in 2006. Fortunately, he did not let his toil go waste and published his work on Iqbal in the form of a book, 'Iqbal Aur Jadeed Urdu Shairi' in 2004. The book has been received well in the field of literature and the book has been awarded by many urdu Academies and Literature organisations of India . Premi Romani served the State Education Department and retired recently from the post of Principal of a Higher Secondary School. Premi started his literary career at the age of fifteen with the publication of an Urdu poem for children titled 'Tare' published in Pyame Talim by Maktaba Jamia, Delhi. Initially, he was fortunate to be under the guidance of famous poet of Kashmir, Hakim Manzoor But he was initially encouraged by famous poet Akber Jaipuri . Ghazal is his favourite genre though he writes thoughtful Nazms too with continuous narrative. He tried his hand at Urdu Short Story as well with the help of his father and published a few stories mostly in local daily 'Aftab' and, Srinagar Times, but later on he realised that he was more suited to poetry. However, as a student of literature he could not escape prose writing and wrote critical essays and biographical sketches of many reputed Urdu writers as also dissertations mentioned earlier. His first critical essay was titled ' Sheharyar and Jadeed Nazam. His writings reveal that he has a penchant for Modernist School of Urdu Literature like Akhtar Ul Iman, Shehryar, Balraj Komal, Nida Fazli, Wazir Agha and Mazhar Imam. Premi also diversified into writing in Kashmiri Language, his mother tongue. He has written number of ghazals in Kashmiri, some of which have been sung by reputed singers of the valley. Besides writing, Premi was also associated with a few newspapers and magazines as also participated in All India Radio and Doordarshan, Srinagar programmes and even worked as a free lance correspondent for the latter for a brief period. The number of books published by Premi is quite large which however can be conveniently divided into four categories. First, books which try to complete the unfinished task of his father who unfortunately died very young. These books contain collected, compiled and edited essays written by different writers on Late Dr Brij Premi's life and works; second, his Poetry books exhibiting his own creativity, third, his books in prose containing critical and other essays which display his analytical and critical abilities, and last but not the least, books edited and compiled by him and not included in earlier three categories as also the ones written in Kashmiri language. a) Books on Dr Brij Premi; Brij Premi-Ek Mutala'a (1993); Manto Katha in {Sa'adat Hasan Manto ki Shaksiyat aur Fun](94); Brij Premi-Shaksiyat Aur Fun(2003), Brij Premi--Hayat Aur Adbi Jahat (2015) ,Sadat Hasan Manto--- Hayat Aur Karnamy(11 nd Edition ) Chand Tehrerain2nd Edition ,Jammu-v - Kashmir me Urdu Adab Ki Nashu Numa ( 4 editions), Zouqi-Nazar (2006),Mubahis(1997)etc b) Books of Poetry; Sange Meel(2001).Khushboo Ka Shahr(2014),Aareh Palan Chhayih (collection of Kashmari poems). c) Books of Critical and Other Essays: Jadeed Urdu Shairi-Chand Mutale(1980); Auraq(87); Intekhab Mazameen(87); Tehreer-o-taqreer(89); Rade Amal(94); Tasurat(97);Pesh Raft(2002); Iqbal aur Jadeed Urdu Shairi(04); Meezan(06); Mazhar Imam-Hayat Aur Fun(06); Aitraf (08), Tasurat (97),Fikri Zaviye(2017),Arjan Dev Majboor(A manograph in Kashmiri,Published by Sahitya Akademi,New Delhi ,2016) d) Compiled and Edited Books: Samad Mir(Kashmiri Language,1990); Jammu wa Kashmir Mein Adab ki Nisho Numa (92,2000 & 04); Mubahis(97); Afkare Wali , Kalam Amar Chand Wali 98); Zauqe Nazar(2000); Virasat(03);Bhagwan Gopi Nath-Aqayad wa Afkar(06); Prem Nath Pardesi-Ahad, Shaks Aur Funkar(09).,Mashar-i- Adab Kay Khatoot--Brij Premi Kay Naam (2010),Kashmir;Kuch Sanskritik Pahalu (Hindi in 2015) As has been mentioned earlier Premi Romani is a modernist who internalises his thought process and expresses it in verse. His poetry frequently mentions loneliness, root lessnesss, alienation, helplessness, and often touches the realms of existentialism. His ideas are his own and not copied from others as is generally seen with the contemporary poets. Some of his verses are reproduced hereunder: Pani ka bulbula hai haqeeqat mein zindagi Phir bhi main wahimon mein para hun galat hai Behisi ke is safar mein bebasi ka baar hai Shahr sara so chuka he ab kis ke ghar jaye gi raat His forced migration from his place of birth due to militancy has given a sharp edge to his poetry. He is often nostalgic about his Lost Paradise and the good old days. A few couplets: Ura lai chaman se jo hawa woh khushk pata hoon Rahe dashte bala mein dekhiye kab tak guzar apna Jhelum ki mauj Dal ki fiza le gaya koi Mere shahr ka rang ura le gaya koi Basti khali har ek dar par tala hai Mere shahr mein kis ne daka dala hai Premi Romani has been contributing to prose in a big way. He does intensive research on topics he choses and writes in detail about them. As already mentioned earlier he has written theses on Sir Mohd Iqbal and Mazhar Imam. In his book on Allama Iqbal, 'Iqbal Aur Jadeed Urdu Shairi', he not only traces the influence of Iqbal on his contemporaries but also on following generations. He has particularly discussed some Iqbal's contemporaries who were inspired by Iqbal's ideas and thinking like Seemab, Amin Huzin, Jigar, Tabassum, Hafiz, Mulla, Asar Sehbai, Asad Multani, Jameel Mazhari and Mahirul Qadri. In addition he also throws light on the style and diction of N M Rashid, Sardar Jafri, Ehsan Danish, Shorish Kashmiri and Jagannath Azad who followed and picked the baton. It is a fact that while Iqbal has been reverred as a phlospher-poet by Muslims, his tilt towards Islam and his Pakophillia estranged him to majority of Hindus though they still feel pride to sing his famous poem, 'Sare jahan se achcha Hindustan hamara'. Premi Romani has attempted to remove many misunderstandings about this great poet of last century. His thesis on founder of Modern Ghazal, Mazhar Imam, is equally well researched and enlightening. Professor Mohd Asadullah Wani has collected number of articles regarding Premi Romani and compiled it into a book titled, 'Premi Romani- Fikr-o-Fun' which throws light on this multi dimensional personality who all his life has been nurturing Urdu Literature. Some impressions of writers and critics in the book are translated and quoted hereunder which are self explanatory. He has studied the literary trends and schools of criticism of his time very thoroughly and presented his impressions without any hesitation. (Prof Sulaiman Athar Javed) I am happy on this account that till now he has kept himself only attached to the ethical standards of literature and has not associated himself with any particular literary group as such. (Prof Masood Hussain Khan) His critical essays have a uniqueness of their own which without doubt point to his critical abilities.(Prof Alam Khundmiri) He has studied the poets with objectivity. Premi Romani has presented his impressions, not his prejudices. (Mazhar Imam) Premi Romani has grown and developed in the fragrant soil of Paradise of Kashmir. From this angle it can be safely said that Urdu is not his mother tongue. But his urdu writings do not make you feel anywhere that Urdu is not his mother tongue. (Mohd Ayub Waqif) To sum up, Premi Romani has been a silent scholar of Urdu dedicated to his work irrespective of whether he is rewarded or not. In essence he believes in the teaching of Gita that is to do one's Karma and leave the outcome to God. He has still miles to go and many a pasture to explore and I hope he will maintain his pace of work as at present.