Seemab: English Translation of Seemab Akbarabadi’s popular Urdu couplets

by Swati Sani

Seemab started writing Urdu Ghazals at a time when the Urdu Ghazal was evolving. New themes and newer compositions were finding their way into this traditional art form, and Seemab played a vital role in its evolution. Along with ghazals, Seemab, by now, had also started writing Nazms. He was paying more attention to his nazmiya shayari, as it gave him more scope to present his ideas. Seemab’s body of work is tremendous. His poetry encompasses a vast range of emotions, and ideas. His manner of versification (tarz-e-taghaful) is simple and informal and is very appealing. His poetry also has an eloquence and appropriate use of idioms and phrases, all of which entices the reader. Umr-e-daraz maang ke layi thi chaar din do aarzoo mein kat gaye do intezaar mein For a long life I begged, and four days I could negotiate two days of which I spent in pining, and two in wait Seemab was a God-fearing man and believed in the goodness of mankind. In his poetry, one identifies a distinct Sufi style. While most Sufi poets of that era were disciples (murid) of a spiritual teacher (murshid) and wrote poetry in praise of their murshid, Seemab’s Sufism addressed the almighty directly, especially in his Nazmia Shayari. In his lifetime Seemab wrote and published about 300 books. Some more were published after his death. The magazine, Shair, that he started in 1930 is still being published by his grandsons, making it the oldest Urdu literary magazine in publication. One can easily say that Seemab is one of the foremost poets from the pre-modern era of Urdu poetry.

93 pages, Paperback

Published December 31, 2022

About the author

An Urdu poetess and an author, Swati Sani is also an Advertising professional and a software entrepreneur. She is currently translating famous couplets of popular Urdu poets in colloquial English for those who love Urdu poetry but struggle with the finer nuances of the language.

The books, a series titled “Famous Urdu Poets” include poets Mirza Ghalib, Faiz Ahmad Faiz (already published), Seemab Akbarabadi, Firaq Gorakhpuri (soon to be published) and a few more. Each book has a collection of popular couplets of the poets translated in English with the original in Urdu, Devanagari, and Roman script.

A postgraduate in Advertising and Public Relations from the Indian Institute of Mass Communications, New Delhi she completed her Master’s degree in Urdu Literature at 50.
A person with many talents, She decided to switch to being an author after running a software company for 22 years, which was her second career after being an advertising professional. She is also known to document the recipes of the food she cooks, which she intends to bring out in a book form soon.