Background
Mahmood was born in Rudauli, Barabanki District, Uttar Pradesh, (then United Province, British India) to Abdul Ghaffar Khan and Tahira Khatoon.
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Arif Mahmood
Edit Profileauthor Nominated Director poet
Education
He graduated from Agra University, Agra, Uttar Pradesh, India.
Career
Following the Partition of India in 1947, Mahmood"s family decided to remain in India. At an early age, Mahmood developed an interest in contemporary poetry, and was inspired by many notable poets of the era, particularly in the Urdu genres. He then moved to Kanpur due to its more central location.
He also briefly lived in Noida, close to the capital New Delhi, but returned to Kanpur soon after.
Living in Uttar Pradesh, where Urdu is considered to be an official language, influenced his interest in the language and he became fluent early on in life. After graduating from the Agra University, Mahmood worked in a private limited company for approximately 30 years as Accounts and Factory Manager.
Following this, he joined a public limited company in 1991 as General Manager. From 1994 to 1995, he served as Nominated Director.
After his retirement, Mahmood serves as the vice president in this company.
His hobbies and interests include Urdu literature, prose and poetry. He is a freelance journalist and fiction writer, and has published several short stories such as satires on controversial topics and political comments and articles in local Urdu weekly and daily newspapers. He became most notable after the recent release of his Urdu book named Mein bhi hazir tha wahan (Urdu: ﻣﯿﮟ ﺑﮭﯽ ﺣﺎﺿﺮ ﺗﮭﺎ وﮨﺎں), published in 2013.
The Hindi version of this book has now also been published.
In addition, he is also a prominent social worker within the community, having been part of an initiative to provide 60 local school children with sweaters for the winter.
Membership
He has also been an active member of the "Progressive Writers" Association" since 1960, and during the early 1980s, he was nominated general secretary of Progressive Writers" Association. He is also a member of the Urdu Press Club.
