Ali Haider Joshi

Ali Haider Joshi

INTELLECTUALS, poets and philosophers have a profound impact on literature and on people’s thinking. When they die, they continue to live on in the hearts of the masses. Their death marks a new phase in their life — their physical presence ends but their work keeps their name alive.

The legendary Pushto poet, Ali Haider Joshi, was one such personality who died on January 6 after a prolonged illness and was buried in Ismalia (Swabi). He was 90. The poet and artists community has described his death a loss that will be felt for ever and the vacuum created with his demise may be very difficult to fill.

Born in 1914 in Ismalia, 10-kilometres from the district headquarter in a poverty-stricken illiterate family where no one knew the importance of poetry and literature, Joshi was a poetic genius. He started writing poetry when he was just 12 years old. Though he received education up to the sixth class, he rendered verses extempore on any topic on any occasion. In a very short time he became very famous across the Pushto speaking areas of Pakistan and Afghanistan. All the Pushto vocalists considered it a pride to sing his lyrics.

Joshi has written 25 books. Among his works Diwan-i-Joshi and Yousaf Khan Sher Bano, a versified folk love story, become very popular. Some of his works had also been translated into English. Joshi took an active part in the freedom struggle against the British colonials and twice suffered imprisonment. He was fully committed to his cause and had the moral strength to suffer for it. However, after independence from the British he withdrew from politics, but continued to oppose the unequal distribution of wealth and advocated stability in the country. He was a beacon of light in the ocean of darkness for the oppressed and agonized souls waiting for the promised new dawn of life. Joshi had remained a fighter against injustice till the very end.

Joshi was the only Pushto poet who composed the famous folk story “Yousaf Khan Sher Bano” while producing the first-ever Pushto movie, which is still very popular in the Pakhtoon community. This movie was mostly filmed in Karamar Mountain (Yousaf Khan and Sher Bano lie buried on its peak) and other areas of the district where the real story occurred. “The versification of Yousaf Khan and Sher Bano’s love story became the cornerstone of his poetic career. “The credit of popularity of this wonderful Pushto folk story also goes to Joshi,” says Dr Raj Wali Shah Khattak, the director of Pushto Academy, University of Peshawar.

In recognition of his services and contribution to Pushto poetry and literature the government of Pakistan conferred on him the pride of performance in March 2001. He was also awarded the Fakhar-i-Mardan and Fakhar-i-Takhtbai awards in 2000.

Although a majority of Pushto poets have received recognition after their death, Joshi was lucky in that respect. He gained fame during his life time. Joshi occupies a special place among the Pushto poets. He was a master in extempore versification. Only a few brave souls could compete with his commanding idiomatic usage of Pushto language. Joshi was the most popular of the Pushto folk poets who used simple, fluent language of the masses, reflecting the genuine feelings and emotions of the Pakhtoon in a befitting manner. His biggest asset was that the common people understood the spirit of his poetry. His simplicity of expression made him a distinguished figure of the literary club that left a great influence on Pushto literature.

Joshi was in the front rank of those poets who popularized and gave a new attractive twist to Pushto songs. He emerged at a time when there were distinguished Pushto poets making a mark. He carved out a distinct niche for himself in the domain of Pushto literature with his well laced verses with a majestic poetic style.

His approach to life is simple. He exhorts the readers not to raise imposing structures in this mortal world which they have to leave. A roof that does not leak will suffice.

He thanks God that man would only enter heaven by virtue of his pious acts and wealth will not entitle man to heaven. Otherwise only the rich would have gone to paradise

Though greatly influenced by the gentle poetry of Rehman Baba and Khushal Khan Baba, Joshi developed a style of his own and injected new life into Pushto ghazal and folk poetry. Later many Pushto poets drew inspiration from his poetic talent.

A literary luminary like Joshi is born once in centuries and the vacuum created by his death will be very difficult to fill because his services to Pushto language and literature were inimitable. Joshi was the central spirit of every literary programme.

A sad chapter of his life came when Joshi was forced by circumstances to leave his ancestral village and shift along with his family to Takhtbai (Mardan) where he spent the last 23 years of his life. The reason was a family feud which even led to the death of a person. Once he departed from his ancestral home, Joshi never returned except in death only to undertake his eternal journey.