SHE AND I, a poem by Dr. Shahzad Rizvi

Your world and mine
Are worlds apart.
Day in and day out,
We affirm our differences,
Yet, we go on together.
What is the glue that binds us together?
What is it that makes us care for each other?
What is the rhythm, that through all the mutual din,
Keeps us syncopated?
Perhaps the opposites in us, on the fulcrum of life, balance us— My hope for your despair,
My optimism for your pessimism,
My joy for your sorrow.
Thus, in a precarious balance,
In the shadow of love,
Buffeted by our inner storms,
Our lives go on.

Fire, a poem by Dr Syed Imrana Nashtar Khairabadi

Fire

BY Dr. Syeda Imrana Nashtar Khairabadi

Fire fire everywhere,fire here,fire there

Fire of hunger,fire of anger

Fire of enmity,fire of hostility

Fire of violence,fire of tolerance

Fire in mind,fire in heart

Dr Shahzad A. Rizvi’s translates Muslim Saleem’s ghazal “Ham phool gulsitaan mein…”

HAM PHOOL GULISTAN MEIN CHUNEIN

A poem by renowned litterateur Mr. Muslim Saleem
English translation by:  Dr. Shahzad Rizvi

Our good fortune brings us joys while others suffer
Eyes are averted when they happen to fall on him

Our voices do not echo and they seem to get lost forever
As if the rocks on which they fall may have drunk them to quench their thirst

Oh God, are you collecting my prayers day after after day
So you can bestow your blessings on the Day of Judgment

Collective half dead conscience is being kept alive on artificial respirator
It seems society is replete with cadavers in motion

East and West are no longer different from each other
The entire planet is contaminated now

SHORT STORY “BREAKUP” BY Dr. SHAZAD A RIZVI

Dr. Shahzad A Rizvi is a great writer based in Washington. He has been penning novels and short stories with great aplomb and verve and has attained much popularity. Here is one of pieces of his fine works – a short story titled as “Breakup”

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Mary stopped coming home directly from work, as she had always done. As an explanation, she said, “I’ve met a couple. I stopped by their house. They live on the way home.” It didn’t sound very satisfactory, but I didn’t probe.

Jafar Askari on Muslim Saleem

Jafar Askari is the son of famous Urdu critic Prof. Syed Ahtesham Hussain. He spent a considerable time in Allahabad where Muslim Saleem had a chance to meet him regularly at his Khuldabad house. Later, Jafar Askari moved to and settled in Lucknow. He joined Shia College there and has now retired as Urdu reader. Here is what Jafar Askari thinks about Muslim Saleem and his poetry.

(Short story) A WINDOW IN THE WALL By Dr. Shahzad A. Rizvi

Since I’d rented the room, I’d often wondered about the window. Why was it built? Who built it? On one side, it opened into my room. And on the other, I was sure that it opened into some interior part of the mansion next door. For some unknown reason, it was built into the common wall and did not perform any of the usual functions of a window by providing light, air, or an outside view.

Poem “Sitaray” by Dr Syeda Imrana Nashtar Khairabadi

نظم “سِتارے

ڈاکٹر سیّدہ عِمرانہ نشتر خیرابادی

یہ چمکتے سِتارے

چراغ ہیں مِری چشِم تر کے

بہہ گئے ہیں جو سیل میں غم کے

Critical note on “The Last Resident”, a novel of Dr. Shahzad A Rizvi by Maria S. Rost

“The Last Resident”

By Dr. Shahzad A Rizvi. Critical note by Maria S. Rost

(Here is a review of Dr. Shahzad A. Rizvi’s book “The Resident” by noted American Professor and critic Dr. Maria Rost, who taught English Literature for many years.)

Dr. Shahzad A. Rizvi’s latest novel, The Last Resident, is set in the northern city of Bhojpal, India.  Its young hero, Nigel Hadley, is a British diplomat who is given the responsibility of overseeing Bhojpal in the office of “Resident” during the last days of British rule over India, and is hence the last British civil servant to serve in that capacity.  It may be difficult to decide where in a modern book store this work should be shelved, for it is a romantic novel as well as a cross between historical fiction and fictional history.

Dr. Syeda Suhela Nashtar Khairabadi’s tribute to deceased brother

یادیں

ڈاکٹر سیّدہ سُہیلا نشتر خیرابادی

[اپنے مرحوم بھائ سیّد اِرشاد احمد رضوی کے نام]

یہ کون چلا گیا؟

دِل خا لی کر کے

گھر خالی کرکے

جِس کی  یادیں بس

دِل میں بستی ہیں

Dr. Syeda Suhela Nashtar Khairabadi’s tribute to deceased brother

یادیں

ڈاکٹر سیّدہ سُہیلا نشتر خیرابادی

[اپنے مرحوم بھائ سیّد اِرشاد احمد رضوی کے نام]

یہ کون چلا گیا؟

دِل خا لی کر کے

گھر خالی کرکے

جِس کی  یادیں بس

دِل میں بستی ہیں

یہ یادیں

نہ گاتی ہیں

نہ گُنگناتی ہیں

نہ ہنستی ہیں

یہ یادیں

ایک پاگل وحشی دیوانے کی طرح

سر پٹکتی ہیں گشت لگاتی ہیں

میرے خالی دِل کے سنناٹے میں

= o =

Memories

[dedicated to my  brother late Syed Irshad Ahmad Rizvi]

Dr. Syeda Suhela Nashtar Khairabadi

Who has gone away?

Leaving the house empty

Leaving the hollowness in my heart

Now,only his memories reside in this heart

These memories

Do not sing

Do not hum

Do not laugh

These memories,like an insane

Thrash around,hasting their head

In the desolation of my heart