The iconic poet Shaikh Ayaz has called Thar as the land of light, tolerance, high human values, insight, wisdom, exemplary interfaith harmony and various other beautiful aspects of the green desert in his poetry. Ayaz has tried to symbolize its natural beauty as a strong thesis for love, peace and human prosperity, this was observed by Prof Noor Ahmed Janjhi during the book launch of his new English book ‘Thar and Ayaz’.
He said that he had authored a new book on the poetry of Shaikh Ayaz with special reference to Thar on the eve of welcoming the new year (2021) by launching a book from the sand dunes of Thar. The writer professor Janjhi during his speech said that Shaikh Ayaz had not only depicted Thar as a land of natural diversity but also as he land of light, wisdom and civility with referring to his couplets from the poetry of Shaikh Ayaz. Shaikh Ayaz has had inspiration from the literary heritage of the world. Shaik but he chose Sindhi for his much fluent expression. However he has composed beautiful Urdu poetry.” he added.
The writer Janjhi said Shaikh Ayaz had started writing from his early childhood. and was an avid reader of world literature, which had influenced his mind and brought changes in his diction of writing both poems and prose and thus rose to firmament of literature as the poet of very high caliber with universal message for mankind for the entire universe . ” He wrote on the different geographical zones of Sindh and envisioned Sindh as a prosperous and peaceful land and he always aspired for the prosperous heartland for which he had to face the trials and tribulations in different regimes during his lifetime ” he added.
Professor Janjhi said that Ayaz had in his poetic work had compared the sand dunes and terrains of Thar with the Iranian carpets because of the change of colours during shifting of sands with the varying directions of the winds. He elaborated the process and contents of the book reflecting a research oriented account on Thar and the poetry of the great Sindhi poet. He said it was his fifth book on the poetry of Shaikh Ayaz and first one in English language on the subject. “This book is for students, researchers and academicians, who are interested in the subject but can not go ahead to accomplish their respective efforts because of language barriers and I have tried my best to present both on Thar and the poetry of Mr Shaikh on its beauty, sufferings of the desert dwellers, culture, traditions, customs and various other aspects of Thar.“
He said that Shaikh had mentioned the flora and fauna of Thar and the cultural richness of the area and was very much impressed and fell in love with the unmatched beauty of Thar during his visits to various areas of Thar. He said that Ayaz had not only composed poetry on the beauty of Thar but also depicted the hard life of Tharis during droughts and famines, which had often brought miseries for the people of desert adding he vowed to keep authoring more books on Shaikh Ayaz and on other topics in the time to come.
Syed Akbar Shah, the station director of Radio Pakistan in Mithi, congratulated Mr Janjhi for his envious commitment and the deep dedication for continuity of the writing and launching a book on the poetry of Shaikh Ayaz to welcome the new year for the past five years. ” Shaikh Ayaz introduced new trends in Sindhi poetry and he greatly motivated us to love nature. and toi understand its subtle intricacies” he added. Mr Shah observed that despite the glorious work by professor Janjhi there was still a need to work on other poets including Shah Abdul Latif Bhittai, who had depicted and portrayed the unmatched beauty of Thar desert and immortalized the patriotism of Marvi and hospitality of Tharis.
He highly lauded the writer for producing the quality content in his fresh book on Thar and Shaikh Ayaz, which he termed as a refreshing addition in the literature an authentic information on Thar in the light of poetry of Shaikh Ayaz on Thar. Ustad Karim Faqir, a well-known Thari folk singer, speaking during the event shared his memories about Shaikh Ayaz during a meeting in Karachi and the latter was very much happy to listen to his poetry from the Thari singers and Shaikh Ayaz discussed with him about late Ustad Sadiq Faqir about the black gold of Thar. He appreciated the books on the poetry of Shaikh Ayaz written by Prof Noor Ahmed Janjhi.
He also paid the glowing tribute to late legendary singer Usdat Sadiq Fakeer for his contribution to spread the message of Shaikh Ayaz and the way he had sung his poetry on Thar. Dileep Doshi Lohano, a young poet and novelist moderated the event and shared the overview of the book. He also talked about the beautiful depiction of Thar in the poetry of Shaikh Ayaz. Doshi said that Professor Janjhi over the years had contributed greatly to the literature and with quality books both in Sindhi and English languages with the missionary zeal to provide the quality content to his readers.
Mama Vishan Thari, Ghullam Hussain Khamisani, Aslam Qaimkhani were among others, who spoke and shared their views on the book and the poetry of Shaikh Ayaz on Thar.
