Shakespeare’ of Kupwara: A Management Graduate whose veins are injected with the art of writing

Peerzada Zubair

Ishtiyaq Hussain Shah, usually known by his pen name Shah Ishtiyaq Mehfooze is a management graduate from Muqam-i-Shahwali in north Kashmir’s Kupwara district. His fondness in literature and writing has got him the name ‘Shakespeare’ among his friends.

Shah did his schooling from Jawahar Navodaya Vidyalaya Kupwara before moving to Baba Ghulam Shah Badshah University where he nearly won Gold in the department of Management Studies is an epitome of writing with a mission.

His skill of writing the toughest or the biggest idea in the simplest of words is appreciated by many.

Ishtiyaq Hussain Shah has always been an extraordinary prospect right from his childhood, spending time in the JNV Library reading novels, short stories and poems from famous poets and novelists which, according to him, seeded inspiration into him to become a writer.

“I have read almost everything that Shakespeare has written and even adopted his style of writing in my own which inspired students at Baba Ghulam Shah Badshah University to call me by his name, but I soon forsook his style after learning that there cannot be another Shakespeare for his greatest services to English drama, poetry and literature as a whole would always remain unmatched,” Ishtiyaq told Webstory..

He is still known to many BGSBU alumni as ‘Shakespeare’.

He credits his writing credentials to the atmosphere in JNV Kupwara where he luckily got considerable opportunities to interact with the world’s greatest writers through their best-selling and inciting works. He would spend most of his time reading and learning the art of writing prose and poetry by thoroughly analyzing the techniques, parameters and devices used by great authors in their poems and prose.

He developed a tremendous yearning for literature when he was only twelve and even wrote his first poem “My Love” dedicated to his mother written at the same age when he was feeling homesick in the JNV kupwara hostels.

Ishtiyaq went on to write many more including an award-winning poem “The Caterwaul” written in Rajouri during his BBA from Baba Ghulam Shah Badshah University. He’s planning to publish his Anthology soon.

While still in college pursuing MBA he completed his debut novel “A Road Through Bushes” which instantly got published in many parts of the country making him one of the youngest novelists having written a romantic novel on debut.

In his book published when he was only 19, he revealed that the topic selected to write the book on was perhaps too hot to handle and too challenging to do justice with.

Although he completed his MBA from the University of Bangalore with promising grades, he never preferred working for any company besides getting several lucrative jobs, one of those being a Marketing Officer for a US-based Multinational Company.

His grades combined with phenomenal communication and writing skills proved too good to fetch him a lucrative job in Greenply as a Recruitment Officer but he resigned straight away after serving two months at the office.

Shah said that he is made to write and aspires to be one of the greatest writers from the valley.

Brazilian author and lyricist Paulo Coelho and Kenyan Novelist Ngugi wa Thiong are his inspirations because of their long-lasting struggles and for their never quenching thirst to become what they have.

‘Paulo Coelho through his struggles has taught me never to accept failure if you are to become something in life, start from somewhere; if you think you can do it don’t listen to anyone. Whereas Ngugi wa Thiong has taught me to be patient enough to get the good,” he added.

Other literature giants who, according to Shah, have inspired him are Rumi, J.K Rowling, John Keats, William Shakespeare, Leo Tolstoy, O Henry, Walt Whitman and John Galsworthy.

He is a punctual reader and has read approximately 400 novels to date, rating Leo Tolstoy’s “Anna Karenina” published in 1877 and Paulo Coelho’s “The Alchemist” published in 1994 as the greatest novels he has ever read.

Among the books the youth should not stop reading for personality development are Dean Carnegie’s “How to Win Friends and Influence People” and Robert Kiyosaki’s ” Rich Dad Poor Dad”, he recommended.

Mehfooze has established himself as the epitome of English Mentor and a grammar wizard in his area for over half a decade now, he has trained hundreds of students and taught personality development, public speaking and communication skills to them. More than grades he has always believed in the above skillset.

Currently, he is working on a few of his new books and is a full-time scriptwriter for two MNCs. He is also an Expert on Chegg India. He can flawlessly write poems, short stories, novels, textbooks and columns, thanks to his dedication, attitude and determination.

Ishtiyaq is a consistent reader as for him it is the only medicine that can improve a human to be the best version of himself.

“If anyone wants to write, they need to do the bulk of the reading. The 400 novels that I have read fetched me something that I wouldn’t have been able to find in 400 rebirths, he stressed.

A day without reading is a day deliberately and mercilessly wasted, he confessed.

He said that the talent once identified needs to be dearly looked after, nurtured and worshiped. It can fetch you anything in life, just keep learning and improving and have patience, one needs to plunge into oneself and carry a deep analysis and then take the hard steps, only a matter of time to see glory in the long run.

“I have been ridiculously patient with my talent going forward to make a successful professional career out of it. I have been booed and criticized for thinking too much ahead about my writing career. I faced criticism for leaving lucrative jobs for being jobless at home staring at my writing dashboard to bring laurels,” he added.

Shah said that he wants to make people and young aspiring writers understand that it is very hard to aspire to become a writer, it needs courage to stick to it because it starts late.

He said that a writer’s career takes off at the retirement age of a sportsperson. Hence, it needs patience, attitude and dedication and a stout heart to go along with the passion for writing.

“It is very heartening to see youth coming up and writing something but my suggestion to them would be not to rush to it, don’t make haste to become a writer for it is more of a sensitive affair than we think. Invest in yourself, think, learn, read and then write”, he concluded.