Remembering poet and lyricist Gopaldas Saxena 'Neeraj 1925-2008

Gopaldas Saxena 'Neeraj (popularly known as Niraj or Neeraj; 4 January 1925 – 19 July 2018) was an Indian poet and author of Hindi literature. He was also a famous poet of Hindi Kavi sammelan. He was born in the village of Puravali near Mahewa of Etawah in Uttar Pradesh, India on 4 January 1925. He wrote under the pen name "Neeraj". His style is easy to understand and considered to be high quality Hindi literature. He was awarded Padma Shri in 1991 and Padma Bhushan in 2007.

Besides writing, he earned his living teaching in a college and was a Professor of Hindi Literature in Dharma Samaj College, Aligarh. Several of his poems and songs have been used in Hindi movies and are considered famous. He wrote songs for several Hindi Movies and attained a unique position as a songwriter who wrote with equal facility in both Hindi and Urdu.

In the television interview, Gopaldas Neeraj called himself an unlucky poet which led to his stopping himself from writing film songs and confining himself to just writing and getting his poems published. The reason for this mentioned by him was that at least two or three prominent Music Directors of the Hindi Film Industry for whom he wrote very successful and popular songs(Kanyadaan, 1968; Prem Pujari, 1970; Sharmilee, 1971; Tere Mere Sapne, 1971), had expired. He mentioned the death of Jaikishan of the music duo Shankar-Jaikishan as well as of S.D.Burman or Sachin Dev Burman, for both of whom he had written highly popular film songs. The deaths of these Music Directors when they as well as Gopaldas Neeraj were at the peak of their popularity, left him very depressed and he made a decision to quit the film industry. He used to perform in Hindi kavi sammelan until few days ago of his demise.

As of 2012, Neeraj was the chancellor of Mangalayatan University, Aligarh, Uttar Pradesh.

On 19 July 2018 poet Gopaldas Neeraj died. He was 93 year old when he died. He was admitted to AIIMS due to lung infection.

Selected Works
Karwan gujar gaya
Kuch Dohe Neeraj ke
Ae Bhai jara dekh ke chalo
Jeevan nahi Mara karte hai