Saqib Lucknawi

Saqib Lucknawi (1869–1946), born Mirza Zakir Hussain Qizilbash in Akbarabad (Agra), was the model Lucknow-school poet of the neo-classical tradition — "the very model of a Lakhnavi shayar." Raised in a family of Persian descent, he was educated in Arabic, Persian and Urdu, and in English at St. John's College, Agra. After his father's death left the family in difficulty, he tried his hand at business in Lucknow, served as personal secretary to the Iranian consul in Calcutta, and finally — in 1908 — accepted a post at the court of the Raja of Mahmudabad in Sitapur, where he remained until his death. His succinct, polished couplets — many of which attained the status of Urdu proverbs — made him beloved; the filmmaker S.U. Sunny was so taken by "Bade shauq se sun raha tha zamana" that he used it as the recited motto of his films *Mela* (1948) and *Kohinoor* (1960). His diwan, *Tajalli-e-Shahab-e-Saqib*, was published in 1936. He died at Sitapur on 24 November 1946.