Shauq Bahraichi

Shauq Bahraichi was a humor and satire poet from Bahraich in Uttar Pradesh, remembered as one of Urdu's most prominent poets of tanz-o-mizah. Born into a middle-class Shia Muslim family, he lost his father early, which cut short his higher education, and he took small jobs in the municipality. He began by singing ghazals and gradually worked in all forms of poetry, but his lasting mark is laconic, audacious verse that lampooned social evils, corrupt leaders and hollow pieties with sarcasm rather than sermonising. He was a critic of government and of a desolate society who turned poverty and public life into sharp comedy. His collection *Toofan* (also spelled *Thoofaan*) was collected and published after his death by Shameem Iqbal Khan and Mohammad Shafqat Nadvi.