Sometimes rumors can be true - like the Aligarh Alumni Association of New England (AAANE) presenting a musical event in addition to their annual Mashaera. Engaging, Entertaining and Educational -  their fundraising event for their scholarship program: 'Sir Syed Excellence in Science Award  (SSESA)', was all three. The event was very successful and largely attended.

Dr. Sadia Chaghtai AAANE's Event Coordinator, in thanking all who helped in shaping this event, also stressed the significance of advancing educational opportunities for women. She introduced the President of AAANE, Dr. Syed Mohsin Alvi and Siraj Khan the director of the musical segment of the event, Aaina.

Siraj Khan welcomed the Chief Guest Mrs. Nayyar Masoom Reza and shared with the audience her strong connection with AMU, (her paternal grandfather Aftab Ahmad Khan Esq, was the distinguished VC of AMU from 1924-1926 ) and family connections going back to Sir Syed Ahmed Khan himself. Dr. Alvi in his welcome speech "AAANE was created in 2002. It is a secular, non-profit, non-political alliance of the alumni and supporters of the Algarh Muslim University(AMU). In reference to the unique scholarship program SSESA he said, "it helps students and faculty seeking higher education in US universities."

Chairman of SSESA, Dr. Syed Mussarat Ali, PhD, revealed that more than fifty students have been placed in foreign universities, mostly in the US. He further added, "the most important aspect of this program is the one-on-one guidance from the professional Aligarh alumni living in United States."

Another high point of the evening was the recognition of senior Aligarians. AAANE's Vice President, Dr. Noman Siddiqi made the inference in his speech, "We are also using this opportunity to recognize our seniors from AMU who live in this area."

Dr. Ashraf Khan and Mrs. Homaira Naseem introduced the following senior Aligarh Alumni who were recognized in the program, inviting each of them to the stage and presented with bouquets: Professor Surriya Husain, Tofique Fatehi, Dr. Shehla Moonis Raza, Professor Kaniz Fatema Maswooda Adhami, Mrs. Tahira M Servaes, Mr. Syed Zainul Abideen, Dr. Naeem Siddiqi,  Mohammad Nasim Ansari.
 
We can only imagine the incentive this must have given to the young female generation of that era. when they witnessed these women first seeking higher education in the 1940s and 50s and then applying them in their professional lives. This is truly commendable.

The final and perhaps the most awaited high point of the evening came with the musical segment scripted and directed by Siraj Khan, a connoisseur of South Asian film music.  The list of creative literary and musical events that he has coordinated and directed, goes on and on a long way. Siraj recalled that in one of his musical programs, he quizzed the audience to name the poet of a very famous song from the film C.I.D, and no one knew who the poet was. That's when it dawned on Siraj that poets get little or no recognition. When Mohsin came up with the idea to Siraj of showcasing the contribution of Aligarh poets to Bollywood, the collective thinking switched on and AAINA was born.

AAINA was created featuring poets of AMU like Ali Sardar Jafri, Jan Nisar Akhtar, Javed Akhtar, Kaifi Azmi, Majaz Lakhnawi, Rahi Masoom Reza, Ravindra Jain, Shahryar and Shakeel Badayuni. Bollywood movies that benefited from their work run into hundreds if not thousands and some of them like Mughal-e-Azam, Ganga Jumna, Mere Mehboob, Silsila, Chitchor, Chaudvin ka Chand, Razia Sultan, Umrao Jaan, Pakeezah and Veer Zara attained epic status.

The format followed was that first a poem of each poet was recited then selected Bollywood songs of the poet were rendered by the local artistes.
The selected songs were rendered by vocalists Dilip and Meesha Acharya, Meena Sundaram, Pankaj Shah, Jolly Bhatia, Asad Chaghtai, Meenakshi Rana, Tehniyat Hakim, and Zafar Nafis Naqvi.

Poetry recitals were provided by Mohsin Alvi, Fozia Qamar, Homaira Naseem, Farooq Ansari, Shoaib Khan, Mariyam Reza, Sadia Chaghtai, Filza Chaudhry and Siraj Khan himself. Sound engineering was by provided by Sameer Bhambhani.

Siraj Khan and Ghauri Chandna of The Foundations TV kept the audience fully engaged and energized throughout the evening with their amusing anecdotes weaved between the poetry and songs.

The musical evening commenced with the spotlight on Jan Nisar Akhtar and a recital of his well-known ghazal by Mohsin Alvi. This was followed by a number of his songs written for films. Meena Sundaram, got things to a very melodious voice with Mubarak Begum's Bemurawwat Bewafa’ from the film ‘Sushila’ - which set the tone for the rest of the evening. People hearing Meena sing for the first time, were completely mesmerized. The cardiologist won their hearts right from the beginning. When later on she teamed with Meenakshi singing ‘Mera Mehboob mein kia nahin’ penned by Shakeel Badayuni for the film ‘Mere Mehboob’, both ladies and accompanying chorus girls sent the applause meter needle all the way till the end.

Tehniyat was next with ‘Ae dil-e-nadaan, arzoo kia hai’ from  ‘Razia Sultan’ and Meenakshi built the momentum with  ‘Bekasi had se jab guzar jai’ from the movie ‘Kalpana’. This song struck a chord with Siraj Khan because by his own submission,  “this is the only song composed by OP Nayyar in today’s list of 25 songs”  Siraj Khan runs the OP Nayyar Memorial Trust, with a passion.

Sahir Ludhianvi's lyrics floated into this event beautifully through Duniya kare sawal’ and Hum intezar karenge from the Jan Nisar Alhtar movie ‘Bahu Begum'. Meesha Acharya rendered these beautifully as a two-in-one item.

Fozia Qamar presented Ali Sardar Jafri and recited his nazm and Pankaj Shah enthralled the audience with the poet's ‘Sham-e-gham ki qasam'. This song from film Footpath was sung by Talat Mahmood and pictured on Dilip Kumar in the movie. Pankaj delivered this song so effectively that some eyes in the hall appeared teary.

Homaira Naseem eloquently introduced Majaz Lakhnawi who was known for his romantic and revolutionary poetry. One of his romantic song that Majaz wrote was sung by Asad Chaghtai: Chhalke teri ankon se Sharaab aur bhi ziada - sung by Mohammad Rafi in the film ‘Arzoo’. Someone complimented  Asad in a poetic way:  ‘Chhalke teri awaz se Mohammad Rafi aur bhi ziada’ - This reflected the audience being fully engaged and absorbing every drop of music like a sponge. The next song ‘Ae gham-e-dil kia karoon’ by Pankaj Shah from the film ‘Thokar’  was also well received. .

Farooq Ansari, recited a poetry of one of the most recognized name in the film industry; Shakeel Badayuni, who penned numbers for around 89 films. Discovered by music composer  Naushad, together they became one of the most sought after composer/lyricist partnerships in the Indian film industry. Jolly Bhatia sang the title song of the movie ‘Chaudvin ka chand’ and ‘husn wale tera jawab nahi’ from the film ‘Gharana’
A voice from the audience was heard, “gaane wale tera jawab nahi”.
The event was dedicated to Ravindra Jain - poet and celebrated composer - who passed away just a week earlier. He studied at the Blind School of AMU from where he received his Sangeet Prabhakar degree.  He may be likened to Stevie Wonder, but unlike Stevie, he is a linguist (12  languages). He penned lyrics and composed songs for more than 100 movies and was perhaps the only Bollywood composer who almost always wrote his own lyrics. Shoaib Khan recited a popular ghazal of the poet and three absolutely captivating compositions were presented by Meenakshi Rana, Pankaj Shah and the singing couple Dilip and Meesha Acharya.  The audience were simply blown away by the richness of delivery.

Mariyam Reza recited a heart-touching ghazal of her father Dr. Rahi Masoom Reza, known more for his dialogue writing and scripts specifically Mahabharata. Dilip playing the Harmonium sang the poet's highly popular 'Hum to hein pardes mein,' originally sung by Jagit Singh. Sadia Chagtai was next reciting Shahryar's iconic Zindagi Jab Bhi Teri Bazm Mein in tarrunum. Sadia said that she has a special respect for Shahryar, “He was a good friend of my father’”. It was a surprise to many when it was found that Shahryar’s niece was also present in the large audience and had made this special trip from New York. Meenakshi, Dilip and Meesha rendered songs from the Film Umrao Jan, Gaman and Anjuman respectively, the last being recorded in the voice of Shabana Azmi. Umrao Jan‘s highly popular ghazal ‘In ankhon ki masti ke’ also struck a chord with the audience.

Filza Chaudhry recited a ghazal of Javed Akhtar to start off the poet's component. 'Ye kahan aa gaye hum' originally of Lata and Amitabh followed. Jolly amazed the audience with his vocals of Amitabh Bachchan. ‘Kuch na kaho’ from the movie ‘1942 - love story’ was sung by Zafar Nafis Naqvi with such control and high spirit that you couldn’t find anyone in the audience not swaying his/her head back and forth and fully immersed in the song. Naqvi is a faculty at Harvard Medical School, his expertise is in Psychiatry/Addiction - with this song and Javed Akhtar’s ‘Mitwa’ he probably made use of his profession to addict the audience with his songs.

Siraj Khan read some of his favorite selections from Kaifi Azmi's anthology Kaifiyaat.  Meena Sundaram soulful rendition of 'Zara si aahat hoti hai to dil sochta hai' and 'Hai tere sath meri wafa mein nahi to kia' were very moving, the latter dedicated to Siraj's mother, who had died just last month. Asad provided glimpses of Rafi with his 'Tumahri zulf ke saye mein' but it was young Tehniyat Hakim who cast the spell on the audience with her heart-touching rendition of ‘kuch dil ne kaha’ from the movie ‘Anupama’.

Siraj shared with me that he felt his mother's presence that evening. " I felt her presence twice during the evening. First, during the first half, when somebody was reciting a poem and I seemed to have seen a flash/glimpse of her in the audience perhaps in one of the front rows. The second time, I felt a light flutter towards the tail end of the program. when Meena was singing 'Hai tere saath'" Siraj recalled that back in 2007, his own mother offered condolences to him on the passing away of OP Nayyar who her son was very close with. Fond memories.
 
Some Remarks from the Audience:
“Very good composition” - Shahid Ikram
“Memorable - took me back in time” - Amir Sharif
“Aligarh Alumni runs in the family, first my Khalid and now his wife Bushra is going to take AAANE forward.“  - Naeem Ansari, Senior Aligarian
“Nicely executed. Since grade 12 I got interested in music. I learned the Harmonium on my own” - Dilip Acharya.
“The lively and participative audience makes such a difference” - Pankaj Shah
 
The resounding successful event can simply be captured in two words -   "Evening Extraordinaire".
 
Acknowledgement to Siraj Khan who also contributed to the content and Saqib Zulifiqar and Ashraf Afzaal for use of their photographs.

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