Kaleem Aajiz

Kaleem Aajiz (birth year unknown–2015) was an Indian Urdu poet from Telhara in Bihar, widely regarded as a classical poet in the tradition of Mir Taqi Mir. A gold medallist in B.A. from Patna College, he took his M.A. in Urdu and his PhD (1965) from Patna University, where he then lectured in Urdu for decades and later chaired the Urdu Advisory Committee of the Government of Bihar. His first book of ghazals was released in 1976 by the President of India, and in the 1960s and 1970s he was the only Urdu poet representing Bihar at the annual Red Fort mushaira. His books include Woh Jo Shairi Ka Sabab Hua, written in the wake of Partition violence that took members of his family, and Jahan Khushboo Hi Khushboo Thi. He received the Padma Shri in 1989 and the Ghalib Award, and died on 14 February 2015 at Hazaribagh in Jharkhand.