On May 27, 2020, Famous Urdu author, humorist and satirist Mujtaba Hussain who returned his Padma Shri passed away at the age of 84, after a prolonged illness in Hyderabad, Telangana. He was born on July 15, 1936, in Hyderabad, Telangana.
Key Points:
i.About Mujtaba Hussain: He was often described as the Mark Twain of Urdu. Hussain began his literary career from “Siasat”, a leading Urdu daily published from Hyderabad.
ii.Mujtaba Hussain was the brother of famous writer Ibraheem Jalees and veteran journalist Mahbub Hussain Jigar, who was associated with ‘Siasat’.
iii.Books: The account of his life has been published as a book titled “Mujtaba Hussain Jaisa Dekha Jaisa Paya” and “Mujtaba Hussain Aayeinon ke Beech” (deals with his art and styles). The books were published by the Educational Publishing House, Delhi.
iv.He also authored several books and travelogues, including ‘Japan Chalo Japan’ considered one of his biggest contributions to Urdu literature as the book covers rare and amusing insight into Japan.
v.His works were translated into Oriya, Kannada, Hindi, English, Russian and Japanese languages. Many PhDs (Doctor of Philosophy) were done on him by different scholars from across India during his lifetime.
Notable works:
Autobiographical satire titled Apne Yaad Mein, and his other writings like Urdu ke sheher urdu ke log, Behar hall, Safar lakht lakht and Mera Column.
vi.Awards: The Government of India (GOI) awarded the fourth highest civilian honour of the Padma Shri to Mujtaba in the year 2007 by then-president Dr Abdul Kalam. In 2019 following the Citizenship Amendment Act, he returned his Padma Shri as he was not happy with the situation in the country.
About Telangana:
Capital– Hyderabad, Telangana
Governor– Dr Tamilisai Soundararajan.
Chief Minister (CM)– Kalvakuntla Chandrashekhar Rao.
