C.M Naim sends along a world exclusive to the CM audience about a copy ad written by none other than the Muhammad Iqbal. This is big, folks. If Walt Whitman had endorsed a New England Clam Chowder company, it wouldn't be as big:
While looking around in a forgotten public library at Shimla I came upon a file of an equally forgotten Urdu magazine called Nairang-i-Khayal for the year 1929. That is nine years before Iqbal passed away. One of the issues had an advertisement for green tea. I reproduce it below:
کيا Ùرماتے Û•ÙŠÚº ملک الشعرا
جناب علامە ڈاکٹر سر Ù…Øمد اقبال صاØب اسکي تعري٠ميں
چاے سبز است کيمياے شباب پير صد سالە را جواں سازد
مشتهر: Øاجي Ù…Øمد دين Ùيروز دين ØŒ چاينە ەاوس ØŒ ڈبي بازار ØŒ لاهور
Translation
See how it is praised by the Poet Laureate
Janab Allama Dr. Sir Muhammad Iqbal:
"Green tea is the Elixir of Youth + It makes a hundred year old man young again."
Advertiser: Haji Muhammad Din Feroz Din, China House, Dabi Bazaar, Lahore.
A rejuvenation of Mashriqi Mard into Mard-e Kamil via Sabz Chai. Brilliant. My thanks to Naim Sahib. (Dabi Bazaar is in Old Lahore, Rang Mahal. )
COMMENTS
bilalt | April 23, 2010
cheers!
Metameat | April 23, 2010
Sepoy, are there any good Englishings of Iqbal out there?
Quizman | April 23, 2010
Good lord. The original Tea Party endorsement.
sepoy | April 23, 2010
Metameat: Try these two: http://www.columbia.edu/itc/mealac/pritchett/00urdu/iqbal/index.html
Nikolai | April 23, 2010
BEST POEM EVER from now on, advertisements should only be written by poet laureates