aaj ik aur baras biit gayā us ke baġhair
jis ke hote hue hote the zamāne mere
Born on January 31, 1933 in Hyderabad Shaz Tamkanat was one of a real representatives of the literary traditions of his birth place Hyderabad. After completing his school education, he did his graduation and masters in Urdu language and literature from Osmania University and later in 1983, he was awarded doctorate for his thesis on the life and works of a prominent progressive poet Makhdoom Mohiuddin. Tamkanat had taken up various jobs even when he was studying. Subsequently, he settled down for teaching and after serving in quite a few colleges joined the Department of Urdu, Osmania University as a Reader. His major works include Tarasheeda ( Poetry), Bayaz-e-Shaam (Poetry), Neem Khwab (Poetr), Makhdoom Mohiuddin, Hayat Aur Kaarnaamey (Ph. D. thesis published posthumously). He had won several awards including Imtiyaz-e-Mir and Andhra pradesh Sahitya Academt Award. He passed away on August 18, 1984 in Hyderabad.