Akhtar Ansari

Aligarh's Progressive voice — memory is a torment, so take it away, O Lord. Akhtar Ansari (1909–1988), born Muhammad Ayub Ansari on 1 October 1909 at Budaun in Uttar Pradesh, was an Indian Urdu poet, short-story writer and critic, and a firm voice of the Progressive movement. He was schooled at the Anglo-Arabic School, took his B.A. and teaching degree from Aligarh Muslim University — where he also taught at the university school — and in 1947 took his M.A. in Urdu and lectured in the university's Urdu department, later working at its Training College. He stood by progressive ideas in his poetry and his criticism without joining the movement as an activist, giving its concerns a firm critical and scientific base in his writings. His poetry collections include Naghma-i-Rooh, Aabgeeney (1945), Tedhi Zameen and Suroor-e-Jaan; his stories appeared in Andhi Duniya aur Doosre Afsaane and Nazo aur Doosre Afsaane; and his critical books include Hali aur Naya Tanqueedee Shaoor and Afaadi Adab, besides studies of the ghazal itself. He died on 5 October 1988 at Aligarh, aged 79.