Poetry stepping

For centuries, Urdu language poets, for instance, had been reading their poems at the mushairas from somewhat worn-out notebooks, called Bayaz in Urdu.

These notebooks had become so synonymous with the poets that it was hard to imagine a poet at a mushaira without a notebook.

These hard bound notebooks, which mostly resembled the home work copy of the school children, also served as a collection of the poet's works. It was a common to see a poet flip through the pages of his notebook to find the poem he wanted to recite.

Some poets, who had a larger collection of poems and could not remember them all, carried more than one notebook.

The smart ones, instead of nervously flipping through the pages, folded the corner of the pages of their popular verses so that it could be found easily and presented to the audience at their farmaaish (request).

Mobile phones are changing all that.

The first time that I saw this gadget at work was at the World Writers Forum's mushaira at the Sheraton Deira in Dubai. Dr. Zubair Farooq, an Emarati Urdu poet, was invited to read his verses on the stage. And I was surprised to see that instead of opening a notebook, he took out his mobile phone from his pocket. Not so well versed with the many ways that the technology could be put to use, I felt that it was bad manners. Is he going to receive a call or is he going to make a call? I asked myself.

To my astonishment, Dr Zubair pressed a couple of keys on his mobile phone, and there it was. The poem he wanted to read was on the screen. Instead of holding a notebook, he held the mobile phone in front of him and read the verses from the screen.

"This is my modern Bayaz. I store my popular, as well as new poems, in my mobile phone. It is small and handy. I can easily slip it into my pocket and I don't need to carry my Bayaz with me all the time," Dr. Zubair later told me.

He disclosed that he was also using the mobile phone to send his poems to other poets, admirers and friends all over the world. "It is saving me a lot of money," he whispered.

Dr. Zubair types his Arabic poems in his mobile phone using the Arabic keypad. He uses the same keypad for his Urdu poems although some Urdu alphabets are not available on the Arabic keypad. "Since it is my poem, I know what I am writing. For instance, if I want to write Pakistan, I will be writing it as Bakistan, but I will read it as Pakistan," he explained.

He said that he also types his Urdu poems in perfect Roman script using the English keypad on his mobile.

Later, at a mushaira organised by the Pakistan Social Centre, Sharjah, in cooperation of the Bazme Urdu, Geo TV newscaster and poet, Masood Raza, was found reading his verses from his cellphone. A guest had requested him to read a particular poem. "It is saved in my mobile," Masood said with a smile, and switched on his mobile.

“The practice of storing poems in the mobile phones is now becoming popular among the poets because new mobile phones have large memory and it is so convenient, ” he said later.

He writes his verses in Urdu on the computer using Inpage software and transfers it to his mobile with the help of Bluetooth or USB cord.

Abdul Razzak Jangdha, businessman-turned poet who mostly writes short poems with religious and national fervour, is also technology friendly. He said that his Nokia Communicator has hundreds of his verses stored in it.

He types his Urdu poems directly on the communicator in Roman script using the English keyboard.

So, Bayaz is slowly becoming a thing of the past. I feel that the day is not far away, when poets will simply carry with them a USB packed with a complete collection of their works, plug it on to the laptop on the stage and recite their verses. Good-bye Bayaz. Welcome USB.