This was the first week of May 1938. Urdu lovers were yet to overcome the grief of the death of Shayar-e-Mashriq Mohammad Iqbal (Allama Iqbal) that another thunderbolt hit them. Newspapers carried the news of the death of Jigar Moradabadi. The undisputed king of Ghazal, who held the distinction that nobody would write his name without prefixing Hazrat (an honorific term) before his name.
The Urdu fraternity in particular and the Indians in general went into mourning. The Delhi station of All India Radio decided to pay tribute by broadcasting a special programme where Majeed Malik would give a talk, his poems had to be recited and a musical song was composed to remember Jigar.
The date was fixed as 8 May which was also a Sunday. The whole staff of the Radio received a pleasant shock when they saw Jigar walking into the station a few hours before the scheduled broadcast. People were joyous and it was decided that the broadcast would be a celebration.
The program was broadcasted. But, as the All India Radio reported, “’Listeners who had tuned in to mourn the ‘death ’ of the great poet were pleasantly surprised and immensely relieved to hear the announcer declare in solemn tone that Hazrat Jigar Muradabadi was alive and that he was present at the Studios to read out to his admirers the very verses which would have been recited by another in his memory.”
The talk by Majeed was broadcasted as usual with Jigar himself reciting Ghazals for the audience.
