Veteran
Urdu
poet
Anand
Mohan
Zutshi
'Gulzar’
Dehlvi
passed
away
on
Friday
afternoon,
five
days
after
he
recovered
from
COVID-19.
He
died
at
his
Noida
home
and
was
a
month
shy
of
turning
94.
"His
corona
test
came
negative
on
June
7
and
we
brought
him
home.
Today
he
had
lunch
and
at
around
2.30
pm
he
passed
away," his
son
Anoop
Zutshi
told
PTI.
"He
was
quite
old,
and
the
infection
had
left
him
very
weak.
So
doctors
are
thinking
it
was
possible
a
cardiac
arrest," he
added.
A
freedom
fighter
and
a
premier
'inquilabi’
poet,
Dehlvi
was
admitted
to
a
private
hospital
on
June
1
after
testing
positive
for
coronavirus.
Born
in
old
Delhi''s
Gali
Kashmeerian
in
1926,
he
was
also
the
editor
of
'Science
ki
Duniya’,
the
first
Urdu
science
magazine
published
by
the
Government
of
India
in
1975.
Remembering
her
fond
memories
of
Dehlvi,
historian-writer
Rana
Safvi
recalled
seeing
the
poet
at
most
'mushairas’
in
Delhi.
"I
cannot
express
how
big
a
loss
it
is.
We
used
to
see
him
at
every
'mushaira’
in
Delhi.
It''s
a
big
loss
to
Delhi
and
the
world
of
poetry,"
Safvi
said.
She
also
took
to
Twitter
to
express
her
condolences.
"Sad
to
hear
about
Gulzar
Dehlvi
saheb''s
demise.
He
was
the
quintessential
Dilli
waala.
May
he
rest
in
peace,"
she
tweeted.
According
to
Delhi-based
poet
and
lawyer
Saif
Mahmood,
Dehlvi
was
"the
presiding
bard
of
Delhi",
following
in
the
footsteps
of
iconic
poets
like
Mirza
Ghalib,
and
Mir
Taqi
Mir.
His
death
is
the
'end
of
an
era’,
he
said.
"No
one
knew
the
nooks
and
crannies
of
Mir
and
Ghalib''s
Delhi
like
him.
Gulzar
saheb
claimed
that
his
father,
Allama
Pandit
Tribhuvan
Nath
Zutshi
'Zaar
Dehlvi’,
was
a
disciple
of
the
renowned
poet
Daagh
Dehlvi,"
he
said
while
reminiscing
his
meeting
with
Dehlvi
three
years
back.
The
poet
had
recited
a
still
unpublished
'sher’
(couplet)
then,
Mahmood
said,
which
seems
more
relevant
now
in
the
aftermath
of
his
demise.
"Mere
baad
aane
waalon,
meri
baat
yaad
rakhna/
mere
naqsh-e-pa
se
behtar,
koi
raasta
nahin
hai".
(Those
who
come
after,
remember
what
I
say/
there’s
no
better
way
than
to
follow
my
footprints).
"He
was
a
true
exemplar
of
not
just
the
Urdu
language
but
also
of
the
Urdu
culture.
In
fact,
he
was
a
living
and
breathing
form
of
Urdu
tehzeeb,"
Mahmood
said.