Chiragh Hasan Hasrat

Chiragh Hasan Hasrat (1904 – 26 June 1955) (Urdu: چراغ حسن حسرت) was a poet and a journalist from Poonch, Kashmir.^[1]

Chirag Hasan was born near Baramulla, Kashmir, British India in 1904.^[1][2] He began composing poetry when he was still a student at school. He was born in the Poonch district of Jammu and Kashmir but after matriculation, he migrated to Pakistan. Early in his career Chiragh started teaching at various local schools in Urdu and Persian. He wrote 16 books. He was also associated with several newspapers like Ehsan, Zamindar (زمیںدار), Sheeraza (شیرازہ) and Shahbaz (شاہ باز). He used different pen names including Columbus, Koocha Gard and Sindbaad Jahazi.^[1][2]

In 1920, he joined a school at Shimla as a Persian teacher where he met Abul Kalam Azad. He was impressed by Azad and soon left the school to meet him again in Calcutta. Hasrat admitted that he had learned a lot from Azad, not only in the field of journalism but about politics and literature.^[1]

In 1925, Hasrat joined the newspaper Nai Dunya (the new world). Here he used to write a famous column Kalkatte ki baatein under the penname Columbus. Due to this column, he became famous and many journalists like Abul Kalam Azad, Maulana Zafar Ali Khan and Muhammad Ali Jauhar appreciated him.^[1]

After that, he joined Asr-e-Jadeed (the modern age) as assistant editor where he wrote a humor column Mataibaat under the penname of Koocha Gard and it further increased his reputation as a journalist and humorist.^[1]

In 1926, he launched his own literary journal Aftab from Calcutta.^[1] Hasrat also worked for Isteqlal and then Jamhoor, running a campaign for India's independence.^[1]

Hasrat was a supporter of Congress and, in 1928, he supported Nehru Report, writing many columns in favor of it. Since majority of Muslims had rejected this report, backing it caused him to lose popularity among Muslims of India. Hasrat left Calcutta and joined Zafar Ali Khan's newspaper Zamindar in Lahore.^[3]

In 1929, he came to Lahore to work for the newspaper Zamindar with Zafar Ali Khan as its editor. He wrote for various newspapers in Lahore and then launched his own newspaper Sheeraza in 1936. In 1940, he joined All India Radio, Delhi.^[1]

Soon after going to Delhi, Hasrat joined the British Indian Army and rapidly rose to the rank of Major.^[1]

Besides working for various newspapers as a columnist, he also worked for Radio Pakistan, Lahore for a short time in the early 1950s.^[1]

He could not work anywhere for too long and was known as a job-hopper. But then his health deteriorated. Chiragh Hasan Hasrat died in Lahore, Pakistan on 26 June 1955.^[1][2]

He wrote 16 books. Unfortunately, not a single one of his poetic collection was ever published.^[4] Some of his famous books are:

• Kele Ka Chhilka^[1]
• Mataibaat^[1]
• Harf-o-Hikayat^[1]
• Dou Doctor
• Murdum-deeda