Monthly Archives: June 2008

This poem (or an excuse of a poem) was written in a flash for a friend who asked for advice whether to meet an old flame or not.

If you have to go to the North, my love
Why not take the first train
To gaze at the autumn sky

Feel the chilly air in your bones
Clear all the dust
A painting has gathered in years.

Stroke the love that is not lost
Even if for the few moments
when you look at the sky

When all the dust has been cleared
Alas, that will be the time to come back
It will be sad, as it was before

But the quivering moments stolen from life
will come back with thee
And, life shall not be all that empty

you will smile at the little treasure in
that wobbling and quavering,
overgrown suitcase of memories

Indian farmers have never committed suicide on a large scale. It’s something totally new. It’s linked to the last decade of globalization, trade liberalization under a corporate-driven economy. The seed sector was liberalized to allow corporations like Cargill and Monsanto to sell unregulated, untested seed. They began with hybrids, which can’t be saved, and moved on to genetically engineered Bt cotton. The cotton belt is where the suicides are taking place on a very, very large scale. It is the suicide belt of India.

And the high cost of seed is linked to high cost of chemicals, because these seeds need chemicals. In addition, these costly seeds need to be bought every year, because their very design is to make seeds nonrenewable, seed that isn’t renewable by its very nature, but whether it’s through patenting systems, intellectual property rights or technologically through hybridization, nonrenewable seed is being sold to farmers so they must buy every year.

More here

My article that appeared in Dawn. here.

THE enthusiasts for the long march towards Islamabad are justifiably feeling let down by the grand posturing, thundering rhetoric and the subsequent retreat from agitation outside the dreary citadels of power in Islamabad’s dark heart.

A Bastille, which was not meant to be? Interpretations abound and explanations are flowing in from the motley groups who ventured to change the contours of state-society relations. The lawyers’ movement is profoundly significant. It constitutes the finest historical ‘moment’ in our troubled history. However, many observers have hinted at its limitations and the problematic phase that the movement has now entered.

Unlike China, Pakistan’s long marches have been nefarious for their results. Orchestrated by political and non-political actors to undermine the democratic process, we are well aware of this stratagem. This time it was different, complex and refreshingly path-breaking alas with similar results: pressurise the beleaguered PPP government still trying to find the proverbial power-ground beneath its truncated legs. In that sense, the march was a roaring success. From the sloganeering against the much maligned Asif Zardari, to de-legitimising three decades of PPP’s valiant struggle against dictatorship culminating in the assassination of Benazir Bhutto.

Irony, that all is now a forgotten snippet of history. What is indeed more pressing, as we are told time and again, are the sacrifices made by the honourable judges. Indeed they have altered the parameters of the state and perhaps buried the subordination of the judiciary to the all powerful executive. Well, one may ask what about Asif Zardari and his eleven and a half years in jail without a single conviction? Therefore the vilification of Zardari by anti-Musharraf sections of the media and by the historical long march is symbolic. It is a testament to the deep-seated middle class trend of demonising politicians and party politics that are prerequisites for democracy and means to establish the ‘rule of law’.

The opportunism of individuals and groups jumping onto the lawyers’ bandwagon is also alarming. It is most convenient to have been all-powerful army chiefs, heads of the ISI and former honchos of the civilian bureaucratic monolith and once the party is over, re-christen yourself as firebrand democrats. The patriotic Hameed Guls, Aslam Begs and Faiz Ali Chishtis and the neo-constitutionalist Roedad Khans and right-wing ambassadors (who slept while Afghans were killed for strategic depth), must be questioned by the anti-Musharraf movement for it was their historical culpability that undermined civilian governance. Is it not important that circumspection be exercised while letting them be the spokespersons of the new vanguard? If Zardari has to be isolated then these dubious characters must also be questioned. (more…)

Jamali is a contemporary artist of Pakistani origin. It was a delight to have discovered his artistic vision.

Mystical expressionism is a new mode of art-making that combines the scientific insights of our new age with humankind’s ancient wisdom. Obeying the dream guide who set him on the path to art, Jamali himself has named his life’s work Art & Peace.

The source of Jamali’s art and his life lies in the primordial spiritual traditions of the East. In his birthplace Peshawar, the Asian crossroads city, Jamali drank in Buddhist, Hindu, and Sufi ideas of the sacredness of being. He spent years of his youth with a mysterious desert people who still respect the shaman’s powers. But he also studied modern physics and engineering. Jamali is the first to incorporate the paradoxes of quantum mechanics into contemporary art.

Read more here

This poem composed by Gulzar was beautifully rendered by Asha Bhosle in the unforgettable film Ijazat. Someone forwarded me the text and I suddenly remembered all those evenings, when this song was played and re-played amid friends, beloveds and memories. All the little objects of my room at home (that has changed so many times now), at college, and wherever this song was played suddenly came to life.. Good grief, I am being sentimental. I need to go back to work!
I am not posting the Urdu text – I don’t have a translation; however, I am uploading a video here with my favourite Rekha and the formidable Naseeruddin Shah – those who cannot read Urdu might like to listen to the lilting melody..

The Turkish cleric Fethullah Gülen, winner of the intellectuals poll undertaken by Prospect, has been hailed as “the modern face of the Sufi Ottoman tradition.” The magazine further states that he is “at home with globalisation and PR, and fascinated by science”, Gulen also influences Turkish politics through his association with the ruling AK party in Turkey.

The results of the Prospect/FP 2008 global intellectuals poll can be found here

Is it possible to be a true religious believer and at the same time enjoy good relations with people of other faiths or none? Moreover, can you remain open to new ideas and new ways of thinking?
(more…)

I am growing fond of Tabish Khair’s poetry. Just read this remarkable poem:

Cartoon Wars

Let’s spell out this world.

Generally speaking, we are civilised.
Evil is something others do, mostly.
Not that we are perfect. No, that’s not what I mean.
Occasionally we make mistakes.
Criticism of it should bear that in mind.
It happens: a bomb gone bad, some brutal soldiers.
Doesn’t mean our intentions were not good.
Evil is something others do, mostly.

Germans, or at least Nazis, and communists, Muslims:
Evil is something they do, mostly.
Now the difference between us and them is this:
On every occasion we were willing to meet them, but they
Could not imagine a world with us, with people like us
In it. No, they can’t. That’s the problem. They
Don’t mean what they say, say what they mean. Damn.
Evil is something they do, always.

Discovered that there are multiple methods of carpet cleaning. I thought there was just a single way. Before engaging carpet cleaners, it is important to know a little bit about the various methods of cleaning.

Steam cleaning is the most popular form of carpet cleaning today.  In this method cleaning equipment (usually truck mounted) is used to spray a high temperature detergent solution onto the carpets at high pressure.  The high temperatures and pressures break up the dirt which is then extracted immediately.

In bonnet cleaning method, cleaning products are applied beforehand onto the carpet which is then passed over with a floor machine with an absorbent cotton pad on the base which absorbs dirt from the carpet. (more…)

Rumi’s Quatrain -

Our drunkenness does not come from wine.
The joy of our gathering
does not come from the harp or rubaab.
With no celestial beauty to fill our cup,
Without friends, without singing, without wine,
We burst out like madmen,
rolling drunk on the floor.

– Version by Jonathan Star and Shahram Shiva
A Garden Beyond Paradise
Bantam Books, 1992

Two more versions of this Quatrain
(more…)

I apologise for the shoddy look at the moment.

JC, my technically gifted friend and I are working to fix this site. There were too many bugs, over-formatted corners and silly errors on the website. Well, this is the problem when an IT-illiterate such as myself ventures out to maintain a website.

Ambition, at its worst.

Please do forgive me for this visual disaster..

(Raza Rumi)

“The gestures of the calligrapher become an open space, welcoming the words of the poet and the imagination of the onlooker”.

Discovered this image of a calligraphic work and about the Iraqi artist Hassan Massoudy at the JTG Art Blog.

The major part of the compositon is a calligraphic expression of the word “Raza“and interestingly there is a quote by Rumi below with the name Rumi prominently sketched.

Narcisissm or what..I am admiring this image since yesterday and today was compelled to post it here.

About the artist:

Hassan Massoudy is an artist for whom the word itself remains the most sublime creative force. His creations are a subtle mix of present and past, oriental and occidental, tradition and modernity. The words and phrases, which are the inspiration for his calligraphy, are drawn from proverbs, poets and philosophers throughout the centuries, ranging from St. Augustine, Virgil and Ibne Arabi to Baudelaire and Rousseau.

I wonder what is he upto and how have the conditions of Iraq influenced him. Need to find out more. In the meantime, I am glad to have found his works and interact with his brilliance…

More here

Saw this story here a while ago

Christie’s South Asian modern and contemporary art sale here March 20 will feature works of leading 20th and 21st century artists from various countries in the region, including India, Pakistan and Bangladesh. The sale will focus on prime examples of many different movements, styles and highlights and will include works from modern masters M.F. Husain, Francis Newton Souza, Tyeb Mehta, Vasudeo S. Gaitonde, Syed Haider Raza and Ram Kumar as well as works from leading contemporary artists including Atul Dodiya, Bharti Kher and Jitish Kallat.

A 1981 untitled painting by Mehta, the lauded master of Indian Modernism, is one of the sale highlights and is estimated at $600,000-800,000. The painting depicts two female figures intermingled, demonstrating Mehta’s formal and psychological considerations, and the two forms suggest the tangled figures of his later “Mahisasura” series. (more…)

Came across this excellent article by Farooq Suleria that rather candidly talks about the dearth of creativity in Muslims of today. I love the poem by the Syrian poet Nizar Qabbani at the end. First an excerpt from this piece and then the poem:

…the solution to all our problems is always simple: return to an imagined past which, mercifully for the people of the seventh century, never existed. Every time, a scientist in the West is ready with an invention, our readymade answer is: we knew about it 1,400 years ago what the West has found only now. We kill Theo van Gogh when confronted with a film. We burn down our own cities in response to a blasphemous and racist caricature. Still, we refuse to understand that our answer to every “provocation” is either a fatwa or mindless violence – perhaps because creativity is anathema to us. Not because we lack fertile minds, but because we lack liberation and freedom — liberation from self-imposed mental, moral, and cultural censors. And freedom to think and express. Time to heed the great Syrian poet Nizar Qabbani, who said:

Five thousand years

Growing beards

In our caves.

Our currency is unknown,

Our eyes are a haven for flies.

Friends,

Smash the doors,

Wash your brains,

Wash your clothes.

Friends,

Read a book,

Write a book,

Grow words, pomegranates and grapes,

Sail to the country of fog and snow.

Nobody knows you exist in caves.

People take you for a breed of mongrels.

Pak Tea House published a book review of Asad’s book on suicide bombings. In continuation of that series we are posting Khaled Ahmed’s review of the same book. Those interested may wish to check these links on suicide bombings series: narratives of terror; a liberal reaction here; and a psychological analysis here (Raza Rumi)

A counter-view of suicide-bombing by Khaled Ahmed (more…)

Looking for a rubber stamp?

Check out the new RubberStampChamp.com website! On that site, you will find all the great custom rubber stamps and prices we’ve always offered, plus hundreds of new marking and related products for shopping convenience. The customer service Champs are ready to assist you with any questions. Examples include fast, convenient and mobile alternatives to manual hand stamping, embossing, check signing and more. Long lasting performance, accurate timing, quality impressions and durable construction. (more…)