By Shafi Ahmad
He is tall but blessed with medium built , speaks sweet and sports a natural smile always but spread more of salt than pepper over his head and oval shaped face, which adds grace to the multifaceted man . He has a long nose bridge and thick eye brows. Two medium sized ears add adroitness to the man born in a family of poets, litterateur, men of letters and belletrists. And people with oval faces are perceived to be more extroverted and friendly. Even though people with oval faces might not always be the most social butterflies out there, it’s thought that they’re typically pretty outgoing and know how to put people at ease with their words.
“If someone has really full, thick eyebrows, it means many things: they’re very decisive, they have a natural self-confidence, and they feel like they can figure anything out,” says face expert. “They’re very logical people and tend to be kind of linear in how they do things. They also like to be physically active.” Medium-sized ear holders may be energetic and determined personalities. And who can contest these properties possessed by the dexterous off spring of Nazki family known by the name Ayaz Rasool Nazki.
He set out his foot to study science of animals and completed the highest degree in the field , MSc and PhD in veterinary physiology . The learned man then shifted to teaching and imparting animal science to homosapiens. He rose to the post of professor. Face readers and psycho analysts believe such people are decisive, self confident, and also physically active which probably forces them to take up challenging jobs. So Ayaz Nazki served in university administration as Registrar, Dean at SKUAST Jammu and also first Registrar of Baba Ghulam Shah Badshah University Rajouri. What psycho analysts believe came true when his inherent traits did not allow him to sit idle and after retirement, he served as first Regional Director ICCR for 4 years.
Many people do not read a dozen books their whole life but till now Ayaz Nazki published twenty books including tome, opus and treatise. Out of 20 books published so far, 8 are poetry collections in 3 languages. A novel in English, a travelog in Kashmiri, 2 books of translations, one each in poetry and prose, a book of Urdu columns, and rest compilations. As if one or two languages did not give him full satisfaction he invaded three, English ,Urdu and Kashmiri to express himself on one hand and serve the languages on the other. One of his translations is titled ‘Echo ‘ in which couplets have been rendered into English from Kashmiri ,originally written in Quatrain form by his father Gulam Rasool Nazki, the master craftsman.
Then to sum up Kashmir spread over five thousand years with modern treatment ‘Sati Sar; The Valley of Demons’ his first novel took shape . And interesting thing about this novel is that the plot remained in the computer carried over shoulders for years together but the writing was completed in thirty days (days and nights) .That is how he spent sleepless nights .
“Songs of Light” the English language poetry collection was published by Writer’s workshop Kolkata, a well known co-operative publishing house.
Hold on , he uses his talented hands somewhere else also. Listen from horse’s mouth , “I do a bit of painting, have 2 solo exhibitions to my name and participation in few.” Landscape and doodles (sketches) are his likings in the art section.
Come on he is not tired yet ,he can lift some more load still and carries on the burden popularly known as history , memory and manuscripts which are his additional interests.
Enjoy the depth in poetry in couple of his poems hereunder ;
The Blood (an Urdu Poem)
Throw a little of water
It is washed away
Turns into soil and
Mixes with the soil
And the blood
On the highways
Movement stops a while
And resumes
And the blood
Throw a little water
It is washed away.
Last Rose (an English poem)
It is the last rose
Standing on a frail branch
On top of the bush
The defiant last soldier
In shining armour
Guarding the fort
Holding on to the last post
All those withered away
Petal by petal
And fell one by one
Dust to dust
The last rose
remains there
Reassuring those who pass by
Humans, cattle ,and the flying birds
The solitary butterfly and the bee
Of infallibility of life
And mortality of death.
Post Script :
The mammals neigh, bark, mow, bleat, mew, bray etc ; may be his smiling face was not accepted longer by the animals . That is why he shifted to teaching humans the art of treating animals. Allegations are rife that the poet/writer veterinarian, while checking BP of animals , rendered a few stanzas as alternative medicine.
Shafi Ahmad is a writer and columnist.
