Raza Ali Abidi

Broadcaster, journalist and author Broadcaster, journalist and author Raza Ali Abidi's published works include travelogues, children's stories and literary books besides several collections of cultural essays. He is known for his radio documentaries on the Grand Trunk Road and the Indus River. There is one part of the world that interest Raza Ali Abidi most and that is South Asia where he hailed from. His long association with the BBC offered him the opportunity to make his first travel on the Grand Trunk Road, from Peshawar to Calcutta, now called Kolkata. The adventure was narrated to his listeners at the BBC Urdu service, aired in the form of a serial. A book about his journeys called Jurnaili Shahrah is a valuable prose narrative with literary value. The BBC entrusted him with a project to make an extensive tour of Pakistan and India and trace old personal libraries, whose bookshelves contain precious old books and handwritten manuscripts. Raza Ali Abidi reached distant places where he made contacts with old families and coaxed them into allowing him to take a look at the collections bequeathed to them by their ancestors. Later, he also wrote an account of it and published it under the title Kutub Khana. Born in Roorkee, India Raza Ali Abidi is a Pakistani national. His manner of speaking has helped him become a popular voice at the BBC. He writes with care in chaste Urdu. Raza Ali Abidi worked with the BBC Urdu Service and retired in 1996.

Compiler: M. Nauman Khan