Naresh Kumar Shad

Biography

Naresh Kumar Shad was born in Ahiyapur, Urmar Tanda, District Hoshiarpur on 11 December 1927. His father Nauhariya Ram Dard Nakodari was a prominent and well known Urdu journalist and poet writer very famous back in those days. Having born to a Bhalla family of Nakodar a small Kasba type of a town in Jallandhar, he inherited fluent use of Urdu and Persian from his father. Naresh Kumar Shad did his high school from Govt. High School Chunian, and got Government job and was posted at Rawalpindi and later on transferred to Jallandhar. He was only 22 years old when his first poetry collection book named Dastak was published by a small publisher in Jallandhar in August 1950. Earlier on he used to write under the pen-name of Shad Nakodari, Nakodar being his hometown but later on as he explained in his book named Wijdan in 1966, he chose not to use his hometown in pen-name and chose Shad as his pen-name. His first book named Dastak was very popular in Urdu shayari circles and Shad got instant shot at popularity with its success. By far, his only close rival from Punjab was Sahir Ludhianvi.

Literary career

Naresh Kumar Shad was a disciple of Labhu Ram Josh Malsiyani (1883-1976) who was a disciple of Nawab Mirza Daagh Dehalvi. He wrote ghazals which had become very popular even when he was alive but his forte was Qat'aa and Rubai. His two collections of poetry, Qashen and Kalaam e Muntakhab were published during his lifetime. After his demise Naresh Kumar Shad Memorial Committee in the year 1970 published Shad Namah that contained his poems and articles appraising his literary output. Later on, Shad ki Shayari Shad aur Akhtar ki shayari and Adabi latife came to light.