Meeting Nisar Ahmed

Last week, I got to meet Nisar Ahmed, Kannada poet and critic. He was in Mangalore to inaugurate a book shop. As we got chatting, he said, "How I got the Padma Shree God only knows...I have no godfather..." Then, he told me of how he was told that he would get the Padma Shree. He said that one Mr Sobti, a bureaucrat in Delhi, called him and asked, "Is it Nisar Ahmed ji speaking?". So, Mr Ahmed says, "Yes, it is Nisar Ahmed speaking." The bureaucrat introduced himself. Then, Mr Ahmed said, "Hukum kijiye," to which Mr Sobti replied, "Ji, hukum nahi, ijaazat chahta hoon..." and then he asked whether Mr Ahmed was ok with accepting the Padma Shree. Mr Ahmed said that he still did not believe it and asked Mr Sobti if he had not mistaken him for another Nisar Ahmed (of Urdu literature) but Mr Sobti assured him it was the right Nisar Ahmed that he was speaking to.