Jaun Elia LAHORE: He presented a faade of darkness and morbidity.

His face was lined with stress and ill temper, and his behavior was crude, harsh, and rough, often angering many who were close to him, while tolerated by several others because they admired him too much. But despite this the brilliant verses that fell from his lips and left indelible marks from his pen, the verses that were punctuated with unique poetic meters and enriched with many words and phrases that he often coined himself; verse, whose expressions jolted young people with their splendor of heavy existentialism they will always keep reminding of one of the greatest poets of all times, especially in the subcontinent. (alternate: they have immortalized him as one of the greatest poets of all times, especially in the subcontinent.) November 8 is the death anniversary of Jaun Elia, who passed away in 2002 leaving many mourners behind and admirers, who rose from the dead, it seemed, to come to his funeral. Born Jaun Asghar in 1931, Elia later adapted his fathers last name. Jaun belonged to a very prestigious family of Amroha. Both his brothers Rais Amrohvi and Syed Muhammad Taqi were well known in literary circles. His former wife, Zaheda Hina, is also a known scholar and columnist. He dabbled in communism during his growing up years, and was averse to the partition of the country, but succumbed later and shifted to Karachi in 1957 for the rest of his life. Once in Karachi, his poetry began to attract many fans. He was held in both admiration and opprobrium, being rather direct, outspoken and bold in his approach. Perhaps the most dominant feeling that Jauns poetry betrays is his sense of loneliness. In fact, it would not be wrong to say that he was in reality a lonely man, separated from his immediate family, including his children, but at the same time, being flocked around by several dozens of admirers. He loved being the centre of attention, but at the same time yearned for solitude.

ajeeb hai meri fitrat, keh aaj hi maslan Mujhay sukoon mila hai tiray na aanay se (Strange is my nature, for today, only, I felt relieved, that you never came) And aik shakhs jo mujh se waqt le kar Aaj aa na saka tou khush hoa hoon (A person who set time with me today Made me happy by not making it). This indicates that Jaun was a perpetually dissatisfied individual, never completely happy with any one situation. In fact, happiness to him was temporary but he was contemptuous towards grief itself too. The most important facet of Jauns poetry is his use of colloquial words, inviting not just those well versed in poetry to his work, but even the ordinary person. Most of his fan circles had young people in them, already dealing with their existential crises, and finding in Jaun someone who said exactly what they felt. His themes involved pain and suffering; yearning for a lover (Jaun often yearned for his ex-wife, as told by many who were close to him), his existential dilemma, romance and sex (often Mantoesqe in expression), and coughing up blood. This last was a known obsession with Jaun, sometimes rather darkly humorous for listeners. In one of his write-upsb, literary critic Salmaan Peerzada, who has a strong hold of what Jaun is about, writes: He (Jaun) manages to produce the weirdest, yet convincing of praises for his beloved that one can imagine in Urdu poetry. Kiss liye dekhti hoaina Tum tou khud se bhi khoobsurat ho (Why do you gaze into the mirror When you are even more beautiful than yourself?) Who would say to his beloved that 'you are more beautiful than

yourself?' What would that signify? Still, it appears to be the most powerful way to eulogize the mehboob. Openly nihilistic, sometimes Jaun mixed love or obsession, with a fierce kind of destruction: Woh mera khayal thee so woh thee, Main uss ka khayal thaa, so main thaa, Ab dono khayal marr chukay hain. (She was because she was in my imagination, I was because I was in hers. Now both imaginations are dead.)