Luminary in love with Lucknow: Yogesh Praveen

Holding Master’s degrees in Hindi and Sanskrit, former lecturer Yogesh Praveen (80) is best known as a walking encyclopaedia on Awadh. He has authored 20 books on Lucknow, is credited for his contribution to films ‘Shatranj Ke Khiladi’, ‘Junoon’ and ‘Umrao Jaan’. He is a playwright and his dance ballets are immensely popular.

An interesting tit-bit about him is that Asha Bhosle sang a song in ‘Junoon’ which was penned by him. A true-blue Lucknowite, his love for the city reflects in his sher:

“Lucknow is liye har lamha muskurata hai, har ek ko apna banane ka hunar aata hai”

(Lucknow smiles all the time because it knows how to embrace everyone)!

EARLY YEARS

“My parents have always lived in Lucknow, in and around Rakabganj area, where I was born in 1938. My mother’s ancestors came from Malihabad, while my parents came from Unnao. We had an academic environment at home. My mother was principal at Swatantra Girls College, Alambagh, while my father was a lecturer at Vidyant Hindu Degree College,” he said.

Later, he went on to become a Hindi lecturer at Vidyant from where he retired in 2002. He has been a medical student at Kanpur Medical College but had to leave medicine studies after he fell ill. Later, he did a double MA in Hindi and Sanskrit and Meerut University awarded him a D Lit for his historical work.

MIRACULOUSLY SAVED!

When Praveen was a medical student, he fell ill and took many years to recover. “My marriage was fixed to a girl in Rakabganj but then I fell seriously ill. After a brain haemorrhage, I used to bleed continuously from the nose and no one was able to cure me. My condition was such that I was laid on the floor and people have put Gangajal in my mouth believing that I was going (to die),” he said.

Then he met a doctor in Maqbara compound (Sibtainabad Imambara) in Hazratganj. “Dr Pepper was a magician. His condition of treatment was that no patient would speak of his ailment nor ask dietary restrictions. His fingers did the magic and he treated people with herbs. With bel-patri juice and surya ko jal chadha kar (water salutation to the Sun) he saved me,” he said. Thereafter, Praveen chose not to marry.

TURNING HISTORIAN

The company that he grew up in developed his interest in the city’s heritage. “There were many encyclopaedias of Lucknow at that time and I was lucky to have ‘baithaks’ (literary discussions) with them. These people lived in Kashmiri Mohalla, Chowk, Baan Wali Gali and Naubasta and cleared my doubts, enlightened me and encouraged me to work in this field. Some of them were Amrit Lal Nagarji, Shaheryar Mirza and Adeeb Saheb (father of Dr Nayyar Masood),” Praveen said.

Amrit Lal Nagar gave him the real boost. “He said to me that he (Nagar) did not belong to Lucknow but he wrote novels here. He said that since I belong to the city, know the language and have all that knowledge, so why don’t I spread this information to the world.

That’s how he started writing. “He encouraged me to work on Lucknow so that all this information becomes part of literature. I started writing columns in newspapers which shaped up as a book and since then I have written some 20 books till date.” ‘Lucknow Nama’ (1980), on 100 buildings of the city, became his most important book and bagged a national award in Delhi. In 2000, he got the President’s Award from then President KR Narayanan and has got several other awards too.

BEYOND BOOKS!

He has been a part of films, written dialogues, songs, plays and dance ballets. “When Satyajit Ray Saheb came to Lucknow for ‘Shatranj Ke Khiladi’, he took my services during the entire shoot and I told him all the spots, where he eventually shot the film. I was with Shyam Benegal Saheb’s crew for the entire shoot of ‘Junoon’ for three months. I wrote the song ‘Sawan Ki Ayi Bahar’ which was sung by Asha Bhosle. In Muzaffar Ali’s ‘Umrao Jaan’ too I was a part. ‘Zarh-e-Ishq’, a poetic story on the mizaj of Lucknow, was shot here with Farooq Sheikh, were I contributed in the set design and penned its dialogues.”

Besides, Udit Narain, Anup Jalota, Sudha Malhotra, Usha Amonkar have recorded LPs which includes bhajan, ghazals and geet which he penned. These are often played from AIR stations. He has written plays ‘Hazrat Mahal’, ‘Badshah Begum’, ‘Jaan-e-Alam’, ‘Ghazal Ka Safar’ and dance dramas ‘Usha Parinay’, ‘Prem Kamal’ and ‘Mahananda’.

His recent popular books are ‘Paraya Chaand’ and ‘Peeli Kothi’. His last book is ‘Lucknow Sadiyon Ka Safar’ while his forthcoming book ‘Dastaan-e-Lucknow’ is in the press. A lot of people have made documentaries on him from India and abroad too.

LOVE FOR LUCKNOW

He gives the reason on why Lucknow is said to be the best cosmopolitan city on the world map. “The reason for this is that people of different regions have always lived here together. The city is a beautiful bouquet which had flowers of many colours and fragrances. And, this is why the city embraces everyone and the people too merge with myriad colours of Lucknow. No city has such a character in the world,” he said.

Praveen gives some examples, “Amrit Lal Nagar (litterateur) was a Gujratai; Shivaniji (litterateur), a Kumaoni; Yashpalji (litterateur) a Punjabi, Bhatkhandey sahib (musician) a Marathi and AP Sen sahib, a Bengali, the builder and creator of heritage of Lucknow. All of them loved and liked the city and became the pride of Lucknow. The city does not care if you are a Hindu or a Muslim, a Shia or Sunni — it wants its beloved — ‘jo usey dil-o-jaan se mohabaat karta hai’ and I wish and want to work more on this front.”

First Published: Jun 17, 2019 15:02 IST