![Insha Insha](http://www.sadpoetry.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/09/insha4.jpg)
Ghazal's Ibn-e-Insha. Insha G utho ab kooch karo. Iss shehr me g ka lagana kya. Wehshi ko sukoon se kya matlab. Jogi ka nagar me thikana kya. Iss dil k darida daman me. Dekho to sahi socho to sahi.
This evening I found myself humming an old ghazal.
Show me one self-respecting Pakistani who grew up watching PTV who does not know of or heard Ustad Amanat Ali Khan, and I’ll show him/her this:
And of course, one of my favourite patriotic songs.
Ustad Amanat Ali Khan (1922-1974) moved to Pakistan soon after Independence, a worthy classical singer and representative of the famous Patiala gharana.
‘Insha ji Utho’ was penned by Ibn e Insha, a leftist Urdu poet, humorist and columnist who also moved to Pakistan from Indian Punjab.
I can’t tell you much more about this song except that it means, ‘get up Insha ji, let’s leave here…no use setting your heart on this city’ (or something to that effect)
But while searching for it on Youtube, I stumbled across a video of Amanat Ali Khan’s son Asad singing ‘Insha ji utho’ for his first live performance on PTV, sometime in the 70’s.
And the reason why I share it here is because of the audience….
How many people did you recognize? 🙂