Meg Index | February 2001 Index

Date: 05-Feb-2001
Poet: Parveen Shakir



Parveen Shakir was born on 24th November, 1952 in 
Karachi, Pakistan. She was highly educated with two 
masters degrees, one in English literature and one 
in linguistics. She also held a Ph.D and another 
masters degree in Bank Administration.

She was a teacher for 9 years before she joined the 
Civil Service and worked in the Customs department.
In 1986 she was appointed the second secretary, CBR
in Islamabad.

A number of books of her poetry have been published.
In chronological order, they are Khushboo (1976), 
Sad-barg (1980), Khud-kalaami (1990), Inkaar (1990)
and Maah-e-Tamaam (1994). Her first book, Khushboo, 
won the Adamjee award. Later she was awarded the 
Pride of Performance award, which is the highest 
award given by the Pakistan government.

On 26th December, 1994, on her way to work, her car 
collided with a truck and the world of modern Urdu 
poetry lost one of its brightest stars. 

Parveen Shakir initially wrote under the pen-name of 
'Beena'. She considered Ahmed Nadeem Qasmi her 'ustad'
and used to called him 'Ammujaan'. She was married to
Dr. Nasir Ahmed but got divorced from him sometime 
before her untimely demise in 1994. They had one son 
- Murad Ali.


cheharaa meraa thaa nigaahe.n us kii
Khaamushii me.n bhii vo baate.n us kii

mere chehare pe Gazal likhatii ga_ii.n
sher kahatii hu_ii aa.Nkhe.n us kii

shoKh lamho.n kaa pataa dene lagii.n
tez hotii hu_ii saa.Nse.n us kii 

aise mausam bhii guzaare ham ne
subahe.n jab apanii thii.n shaame.n us kii

dhyaan me.n us ke ye aalam thaa kabhii
aa.Nkh mahataab kii yaade.n us kii

faisalaa mauj-e-havaa ne likkhaa
aa.Ndhiyaa.N merii bahaare.n us kii

nii.nd is soch se TuuTii aksar 
kis tarah kaTatii hai.n raate.n us kii

duur rah kar bhii sadaa rahatii hai
mujh ko thaame huye baahe.n us kii