Naseer Turabi was one of my mentors, and I had the privilege of learning the intricacies of literature from him. Jaun Elia, Obaidullah Aleem, Parveen Shakir and Iftikhar Arif were other legends of the era who contributed to not only theme-laden poetry, rich, articulate and exceptional to this day, with a personified edge in ghazals (ode) in their own unique style. The era from 1980s, and till the dawn of the new century, also saw a mosaic of mushairas not only on television (the sole PTV then) as well as at the Karachi Arts Council, Aero Club and educational institutes.

A specialty of those days was the cross-border interaction with India wherein poets and prose writers, including Bollywood-fame artists, frequented Pakistan. To name a few: Manzar Bhopali, Kaifi Azmi and his daughter, Shabana Azmi; the spell-bounding Javed Akhtar, Om Puri, the exceptional Naseeruddin Shah, the great Dilip Kumar, Saira Bano and the perfectionist Amir Khan.

Faiz Festival, Lollywood flicks, Basant and corporate invites, including Shaukat Khanum fund-raising events under........

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