My Portfolio
My name is Ehsan Elahi Ehsan,.(my email [email protected]) I was born in a small village Tatral, Tehsil and Distt Chakwal Pakistan. My date of birth is 15th March 1941. There are many factors which lead me to make me a poet. Since my boyhood I have been directly experiencing the realities of life. Not only experiencing but also feeling and accumulating in myself whatever I observed or came across. I was 12 years old when my mother died leaving me and my one elder and three younger sisters at the mercy of circumstances. My elder sister was married with a relative of my mother. That was after a couple of years conflict between my father and my mother. My father did not want to marry her where my mother desired. The marriage collapsed after two years. In the meantime my mother died after an ailment of six months. My father was a mason but the work was not frequently available so we suffered poverty and most of the time we had to live from hand to mouth. The elder sister was re-married and I had to arrange all the affairs of home in the absence of my father who had to go and stay out of home in search of labour. In such conditions, I saw strange things to happen. The women of our mohallah frequently visited our home and showed to be very sympathetic, but within the duration of nearly one year, all our households disappeared mysteriously. This awareness had a deep effect on me to have an insight of what kind of human beings we are!.
In the worst circumstances to get education, I did my Matriculation from the Govt High School, Chakwal.
I could not continue regular education due to the poverty of my father, and had to join the government service in 1958 as a clerk. Immediately after getting the ordinary job, I continued my study. I remained in government service for nearly ten years and after doing my M.A. English in 1967, I resigned from the service to join education field. I had a chance to go to Saudi Arabia as a project administrator in 1976 and remained their for five years and came back to Pakistan. After remaining in Pakistan for three years I went back to Saudi Arabia in the same company for another five years. After that I came back to Pakistan and have been running my own educational centre Iqra Quaid Academy, Jhelum Road, Chakwal, Pakistan since 1990 giving education to graduate and postgraduate classes concentrating on English language and literature.
My literary career began in 1962 from Chakwal. In Chakwal, it was first the Urdu Majlis, which provided me opportunity to test my literary and poetic faculties. Urdu Majlis not only provided me a literary stage but also very good friends and models. 1962 was the year when Aslam Ayub and I started our poetic career Aslam Ayub, now, is a well known and famous poet of Chakwal. The prominent writers of this literary organization were Riyaz Chashti, Jamil Hashmi, Anwer Baig Awan, Zakaullah Bismil, Ahsan Akbar, Abid Jaafry, Jamil Yousuf Majid Siddiquee, Sajid Alvi and Bagh Hussain Kamal. Among the other non-poet members included Khawaja Khalid Salim, the father of Khawja Baber Saleem who is running a well known literary organization :Adbiyaat-e- Pakistan and has the honour of arranging many national Mushairas (literary gathering in which the poets recite their poems and get applause from the poets and the audience) An other literary organization which benefited me at that time when I was just a beginner in the poetry was Bazm-e-Sqafat run by a well known poet Iftekhar Natiq whose son Nasir Zaidi is irregularly running Halq-e-Arbab-e-Ghalib.
Urdu Majlis Chakwal arranged a small publication “Sabza-e-Begana” which earned a reasonable reputation. In this book, my six Odes were also included. The biggest achievement of Urdu Majlis was however to introduce the poets like me in it. It also published another famous book “Kalam-e- Shah Murad, proving that Hazrat Baba Shah Murad was the first Urdu poet. On my transfer to Rawalpindi during my service, I had the opportunity to attend the sittings of the “Likhney Walon Ki Anjaman and sometime enjoying the company of Rashid Amjad, Ejaz Rahi, Nisar Nasik and Sarwer Kamran. Among others were Jawwad Kazmi, Akhter Immam Rizwi and Majid-al-Baakri.
When the literary activities in Chakwal cooled down, I and some other friends like Qazi Baqir Wasim and Abid Jaafry thought of laying the foundation of such an organization which should be regular and produce some literary and artistic work visible to the people. So the foundation of Ewan-e-Adab was laid down. Since 1990 Ewan-e-Adab has been regularly holding the bi-weekly and monthly meetings. It also holds musical concerts as well in which the learned scholar Liaqat Ali Khan and Ehtesham Hassan have been fascinating the audience with their musical raptures.
The organizing body of Ewan-e-Adab consists of the following writers.
Abid Jaafry Chairman
Malik Bashir Jaafer
Vice Chairman
Ehsan Elahi Ehsan President(myself)
Nasik Ejaz Vice President
Aslam Ayub
Vice President
Qazi Baqar Wasim Secretary General
Natiq Jaafry Joint Secretary
Farzana Yasmin
Secretary Press and Publication
Noor Ali Shakoori Legal Advisor
The women wing of Ewan-e-Adab is being run under the presidentship of Uzma Sadaf.
Ewan-e-Adab has so far made the following publications
Rishta Hai Kowee Manzoor Haider Shah
Ye Khawb Mairey Khiyal Mairy Ehsan Elahi Ehsan
The Lost World Ehsan Elahi Ehsan
Naqsh-e-Ragey Jaan Abid Jaafry
Harf-e-Tammana Noor Ali Shakoori
Besides, the following books of the Ewan-e-Adab’s members are published by other publishers.
Ashq-e-Duaa Natiq Jaafry
Main Phir Bhee Chup Raha Nasik Ejaz
Apart from the above literary organizations, and literary persons, the study of English literature has contributed a lot in shaping me a poet. It has fascinated my imagination and set decent example and models before me how to express myself. Wordsworth, Keats anong the Romantics are the poets who have influenced me. The Victorian novelists like Charles Dickens, Hardy, George Eliot have taught me how the impacts of the society affect the individuals and the families. Shakespeare has developed a tragic vision in me and T.S. Eliot has told me the basics of literary criticism. I am thankful to all friends, elements and most of all God Almighty Who has ultimately shaped me a poet of Urdu, English and Punhabi languages and cultivated in me the qualities to make me a writer.
I have the material of two new books ready for publication, one of Urdu Ghazal (Odes) and the other a long poem "Mujhey Tum Bhool Hee Jaana. This long poem is attributed to my lovely grand daughter Noor-ul-Huda Zahra. Both the books are waiting for the availability of an appropriate publisher who can publish these books giving me a reasonable royalty.
My activities are focussed on two aspects; one literary and the other educational. On literary side, it is the Ewan-e-Adab and on educational side, it is the Iqra Quaid Academy. Through Ewan-e-Adab I myself and other literary friends have been making efforts to keep the literary traditions alive. Under the wise and benevolent leadership of our Chairman and Chief Patron Abid Jaafry, we have succeeded in bringing many literary personalities together. So far numorous poets, and literary writers, apart from the regular organizers of Ewan-e-Adab, have been participatingin the weekly, biweekly and monthly gatherings. These poets and writers include Manzoor Haider Shah (late0 Liaqat Soofi, Ehtesham Hassn Munawar Aziz, Saeed Akram, Ahraf Asif, Ejaz Ajiz, Kabul Jaafry, Ahmed Noor Mooley,Tahir Jaafery, Tahir Hamid Anjum, Marrof Akber Jaafery, Naeem Shahid, Raghib Ali Maula, Tabish Kamal,Iabal Shah, Noor Mohummad Nawik, Raghib Maula, Kamran Kazmi, Tabish Kamal, Babar Saleem, Aslam Ayub, Nisar Jameel (late) Sahibzada Sultan Ali Zulfi(late), Abdul Rabalwi,Mowarz Khan,Jaji Sakhawat, Ferzana Yasmin, Shireen Sahar,Iqbal Feroze(short story writer),Faiz Sultan(short stroy writer). Saail Ehsan (short story writer) and others from Chakwal and Aarif Farhad, Sakib Jaafry, Zee Shaan Haider and otherz s from Rawalpindi and Islamabad and Raza Tiwana from Muzzafergarh.
On educational side, Iqra Quaid Academy, besides coaching a lot of students of Intermediate and B.A. students have enabled many students to get postgraduate degrees from various Universities of Pakistan. These students include the following:
Uzma Sadaf, Tariq Mahmood, Farkhanda Jabeen, Wasi Haider, Faiz Sultan, Saail Mahmood, Shakeel Ahmed, Ghulam Abbas, Riaz Ahmed, Anila Shaheen, Fakhira Batool, Shireen Syyida, Saira Begum, Samina Begum, Aansa Benazir, Naveda, Rizwana Imtiaz, Aftab Ahmed, Rizwana Chaudry, Afsheen Yousuf, Ferheen Yousuf, Ibtesaam Javed, Iram Shaheen, Shahnaz Begum, Shomaila, Farhat, Aalia Hafeez, Shagufta Shaheen, Saira Chaudry, Saira Faiz, Tabassam, Atia Mumtaz, Atia Mustafa, Zareen, Humaira Javed, Saira Tasleem Farhat Begum, Shah Begam, Shakila, Zobia Zoofishan and Rizwana Raza.