Bismillah...

In the Newsline--

http://cities.expressindia.com/archivefullstory.php?newsid=249319&creation_date=2007-08-05

On walking up the stairs to Kalbe Abed Plaza, Chowk and asking a bystander where one might find Hashim Akhtar Naqvi, the bystander’s face immediately lights up. “Hashim bhai!” he beams and without much ado guides you to Iqbal Manzil. “Is this the house of the famous calligrapher, Hashim Akhtar Naqvi?” one asks, nodding his head the guide confirms the obvious and takes you into a courtyard with pomegranate trees and henna bushes.

Just back from office, Mr. Naqi smiles as his wife Shehna points at a large creeper painted on the purple wall, “He painted that creeper and he shaded that wall too”. The large leaves of the creeper look life like while the tri-shaded wall, which is in lemon, green and yellow lights up their dining room. “It needs a touch up”, says Hashim modestly.

This architect, who studied architecture at the government college of arts and crafts Lucknow is listed in the Limca Book of Records for writing a single verse from The Koran “Bismillah-ir-Rehman-ir-Rahim”over five thousand times in different designs. “No two designs have been repeated,” he says with a sparkle in his eye, “Many people ask me how I remember whether I’ve made a design before or not. I have no answer to that question, when I sit down to write it is a form of prayer to me”.

Hashim Akhtar Naqvi was inspired by the calligraphy of his father, the Late Hasan Akhtar, who died when Hashim was barely two years old. In school, Hashim was fond of writing names in English and Hindi in different styles, “I started writing in Urdu much later” he laughs, remembering how his friends would coax him to write their ‘notes of love’ because his of his beautiful handwriting.

A painting of his most innovative design, a house designed in such a way that each letter of the Bismillah inscription forms a part of it, is mounted on one of his walls. There is another painting of a tree with 170 leaves, each of which is different from the other reads as Bismillah. “I was reading The Koran one day and thought of writing the verse 786 times, since the Arabic equivalent of Bismillah is 786”, he adds.

His first exhibition was in 1986 and he has had three since, “It is difficult to find sponsors for my work but it is Shamsi & Sons who have always encouraged me to continue with my passion for calligraphy” he says. In 1989 Hashim was awarded the first prize for “Innovative Calligraphy” at the All India competition of calligraphy organized by the Jammu and Kashmir Academy of Arts in Srinagar. He has received no official recognition from the state or the Urdu Academies at Lucknow so far. Hashim believes that such an art has no future in the era of graphic design. But with glee he adds, “I have been invited to Iran to exhibit my works this year!”

But Shehna quickly quips“Very few people in our own neighborhood know he is a calligrapher”. Shehna is an extremely creative lady herself, “She is known to make dolls from vegetables” laughs her husband. Their daughters, Mansha, Kisa and Eema enjoy art as a hobby while Naqi’s mother’s hand made dolls are on exhibit at a museum in Delhi.

Hashim is also credited for making efforts to ‘Indianise’ Bismillah’s inscription, “I have written Bishmillah in every regional language and some foreign scripts such as Chinese and Hebrew as well” he muses. While out of the 113 Bismillah inscriptions used by the Dar-ul-Quran publishers, Bombay for their “Al Quran” 52 designs used are Naqi’s.

As he gathers his designs and puts them back into their shelf, he softly says that the verse means “In the name of God the merciful and compassionate” and so is his art.