Intikhab-e-Kalam: Tilok Chand Mehroom

This is a representative selection of Tilok Chand Mehroom’s poetry. With no formal training or instruction and very limited access to literary works, it is remarkable that he developed a love for poetry and achieved acclaim as a poet himself. He found, read eagerly, and was inspired by the works of Mirza Ghalib andIbrahim Zauq. He wrote simple couplets whilst still at primary school, but it was in Bannu that he started taking his writing seriously. By the time he finished his studies at Diamond Jubilee School (Bannu), his poems were being published in Makhzan (Lahore) and Zamana (Kanpur). Once he moved to Rawalpindi, he became a frequent invitee to the annual mushairas organised by Khwaja Abdul Raheem in Lyallpur (now Faisalabad). Regulars at these mushairas included Jigar Moradabadi and Hafeez Jullundhris. After the death of his beloved wife, Mehroom wrote poems reflecting the ephemeral quality of life and the instability of relationships. The most famous of these is “Ashk-e-Hasrat” (part of his collection entitled Toofan-e-Gham). Mehroom's first major publication was Ganj-e-Ma'ani which contained a rich variety of 175 nazams as well as many rubais, qasidas, sehras, and nohas.