Tributes pour in for Urdu poet of Chinese origin Shaida Chini

Jamshedpur : He was perhaps the only Chinese who dared to raise his voice against his country�s aggressive stand in 1962.

And his poems were his weapons of choice to convey his profound messages. Y.V. Liu, the famous Urdu poet of the steel city, better known to his admirers as Shaida Chini. Shaida raised quite a few eyebrows when he penned his bold nazm, Mazdoor Awaz, in which he expressed his disapproval of China�s policy and role in the war.

Born in Calcutta, Shaida moved to the steel city after World War II. The 84-year-old man, who enthralled his admirers with his romantic ghazals and patriotic nazms, died on Friday.

A dental expert by profession, Shaida started to pen poems when he was in school. His first Urdu poem was published in Nizan, a newspaper published from Dhaka. He was a 16-year-old boy then. There was no looking back for Shaida after that as mushairas became an integral part of his life.

�He was studying in KMPM Inter College when he started participating in mushairas. But, since he I came from the Chinese community, the Urdu literary circle was not ready to accept him in the beginning,� recalled SRA Rizwi Chabban of Anjuman Taraqqui Urdu e Hind, adding, �but, he slowly started showing his potential in the language. He startled critics with accent and thoughts expressed in my work.�

In an irony of sorts, a war (the 1962 Indo-China war) gave him the opportunity to prove his mettle as a poet. His works got him offers from the country�s literary organisations to participate in mushairas. Shaida visited cities like Delhi, Patna, Calcutta and Hyderabad where he won the hearts of the audience with his creations.

�He was the cynosure of all eyes during the Chinese agression. Though he was a man of Chinese origin he used to recite poems against China and that too in Urdu, which used to take the listeners by surprise,� said Chabban.
In memory of Liu a prayer ceremony was organized on Sunday at St Mary�s Church in Bistupur.

People from different walks of life participated in the ceremony. He was rest in peace at Beldih cemetery at Northern Town. Chini, was felicitated with Firaq Gorakhpuri national award and by Anjum Tarraqui Urdu-e-Hind, for his contribution in the field of Urdu poetry.