Shakeb Jalali

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Shakeb Jalali's real name was Syed Hassan Rizvi. His ancestors were from a small town, Saddat Jalali, near Aligarh, India. In accordance with the well known Poet, Writer and authentic Critic Mr. Ahmed Nadeem Qasmi, Shakeb was said to be born on October 1, 1934 but his wife Syeda Mohiddisa Khatoon gives his year of birth as 1935 or 1936.

Shakeb was the only son of his parents. When he was ten years old, his mother died in an accident. This unexpected incident and suspension from his job due to Hindu Muslim conflict in India totally disturbed his father and died a little before the death of Shakeb Jalali. He passed his Matriculation Examination from Badayun (Uttar Pradesh) and then moved along with his sisters to Rawalpindi. He passed Intermediate Examination from Rawalpindi and B.A. Examination from Sialkot.

He arranged publication of different Urdu magazines, worked in many literary magazines and later moved to Lahore. Owing to economical crises, Shakeb joined Thal Development Authority and was posted at Joharabad and Bhakkar. During course of transit he stayed at Sargodha where he committed suicide on railway tracks on November 12, 1966, due to some unexplained psychological disorder. He was married in 1956 and left behind a son Syed Hussain Aqdas Rizvi (Aali) and a daughter Hina Batool.

His life as a poet began in 1947 (when he was only 15 years old), he gave an entirely different and unique grace to Urdu Ghazals. His Nazms have a new style; he also tried his hands in Rubai, Qitaat, translation, etc. His poetry work was published after his death: Rooshni Ay Rooshni in 1972 by Maktaba-e-Fanoon and several additions by Mavara Publications and Kuliyat e Shakeb Jalali in 2004 by Sang-e-Meel Publications, Lahore.

Shakeb is perhaps the most underrated poet in the Urdu language. Poets like Irtikhar Arif And Adeem Hashmi are found paying high tributes to Shakeb in their reviews but other than that Shakeb is one of those names which got suppressed more than anything for being too attactive. Adeem Hashmi being a contemporary went two miles extra since Adeem too suffered from similar oppression from the writers' community, to openly acclaim Shakeb's supremacy over the Urdu Ghazal in the '70s and '80s. Adeem's Ghazal's even though catching more lime light and focus, were purely a humble extension to the new meter invented by Shakeb. Adeem even though known to blow every other ghazal from even great names for its flaws, was found on every forum recognizing Shakeb.

in 1979 Adeem was accused of writing only on Shakeb where he held a mushaira in Lahore on Shakeb's poetry and recited ghazal's which people confused as Shakeb's. Since Adeem had not written on Shakeb so openly before. This created a little controversy since Shakeb was not known by many. Adeem's tributes are one of the few very channels of knowing what Shakeb Jalali's poetry actually held within its fresh and new appeal.