APPROACHABLE ADMINISTRATOR WITH A FLAIR FOR LITERATURE

MOOSA Raza, the former chief secretary of Jammu and Kashmir and prominent educationist who passed away in Chennai on Wednesday was not only a distinguished IAS officer and fire-fighter for the government but also a polyglot who made important contributions to literature.

- SIDDHARTH PRABHAKAR

Fluent in Persian, Urdu, Arabic and English among other languages, the 87-year-old, a Padmabhushan awardee, had translated the 19th-century poet Mirza Ghalib's 500 Persian couplets into Urdu and English. The book, 'Smile on Sorrow's lips,' was published in 2015.

Raza was also a supporter of Sanskrit language. In an interview to TNIE in 2015, he termed Sanskrit as the "mother of most European languages". Proficiency in the language could "unlock" literary treasures, science and philosophy buried in its literature, he opined.