Postcard from Agra « Jahane Rumi

31Mar/094

Postcard from Agra

Published in The Friday Times

As Indian TV channels broadcast stories on Pakistan's domestic infighting, and rumours of a new coup d' etat, my less perturbed alter-ego is calmed by Agra - the run down city that was once the capital of the Mughal empire. I have spent three days with a delightful group of South Asian writers, poets and academics who have congregated to celebrate the SAARC writers' festival organised by Ajeet Caur, the legendary Punjabi writer whose love for Lahore has not waned despite the iron curtain erected sixty one years ago. Caur has been managing the Foundation of South Asian Writers and Literature (FOSWAL) since 1992 and single-handedly she has challenged the many geographical and political barriers that have been erected. FOSWAL is now a platform for writers and poets on the margins of power-drama, lighting little lamps of hope. (picture above left : SAARC writers with Pakistani delegates Ustad Akhtar (middle), Parveen Atif (second from left) and Zahid Nawaz (extreme right)

I had been reading Caur's earthy, profound stories for decades, and always wondered if I would ever meet her. Therefore, receiving an invite from her a month ago, was a long cherished wish come true. In a few, scattered and sparkling conversations she told me how she had found me through my writings urging for Indo-Pak amity which, in the words of my cynical friends, are dreamy rants asking for the impossible. This March, the gods overseeing visas and border crossings were not too cantankerous. So I made it to Delhi the day before the conference was due to start.

After spending a night at the serene, sparse International Gandhi hostel, located near the Samadhi of the Mahatama, we reached Agra. Delegates from Pakistan included two Punjabi poets, a young writer Nayyara from Karachi and the seasoned story writer Parveen Atif. Ustad Akhtar Khan, dressed in an achkan and payjama was also a travel companion. The Ustad, who could not remember his phone number, has a voice that glows with divine flashes - of love and humanity. During the festival he joined another artist to present a Bhagat Kabir-Amir Khusrau musical ensemble. Eminent writer and Chairman Academy of Letters Fakhar Zaman, also participated in the event.

This year, following the rancour generated by the Mumbai killings of November 2008, the theme of the conference was literature and terrorism. The sessions dwelt on the importance of poets and intellectuals in resisting the menace that collectively haunts us. During the first day, despite the occasional indulgence in the blame-game, especially by an Afghan poet wearing dark glasses, there emerged a consensus that terror, terrorism and militancy were shared and collectively owned as processes. It was also stressed that there was no singular cause nor was a single state responsible for the situation.

I have to sadly report that the local journos on the sidelines resorted to the popular media mantra on Pakistan as the 'hotbed' of terrorism. Such sweeping statements were isolated, cacophonous rumblings, for the poets know better. The ones from Sri Lanka praised the Pakistani policemen who saved their lives; the Indians referred to dialogue and the Bangladeshis wanted to reclaim what they shared with Pakistanis and Indians, for the tales of loss were monumental and drowned what has been achieved in the name of nation states.

On day two of the event, my paper, 'Silhouetted silences - contemporary Pakistani literature in the age of terror' was well received. However, the challenging part, after my paper, was to dispel the impression that I was a fiction writer, an academic, a hack or whatever for the identity game always makes me feel limited and boxed in.

In my paper, I attempted to explore whatever little has been written since Pakistan has been bleeding in the aftermath of the US invasion of Afghanistan. The dilemmas of Pakistani writers not to be identified with the unpopular and imperial policies of the United States have inhibited direct statements. But the eerie silence is now breaking, I said. Nothing could better illustrate this trend than a Pashto poem How could I be silent by Iqbal Hussain Afkar.

That my land; A paradise,
My lovely heavenly garden,
Is struck by strife and wiping me out,
I'm turning into dust and ashes,
Friends! How could I be silent!
Speak! How could I be silent!

Ajeet Caur later rebuked me for mentioning The Reluctant Fundamentalist in my paper. She rightly said that the audience for books in English from Pakistan in the main comprised Western readers and those who were already aware of the complex issues and nuances that define our age. I tried to explain my choice of citations and quotes, as Ajeetji and I faced the adroit camera of Gauhar Raza, the filmmaker, and debated literature and its value when the world seemed to be falling apart. (Picture right: Author with Ajeet Caur)

During the festival, Gauhar Raza showed his film on Bhagat Singh, the hero of the independence movement and the Punjab who laid down his life in 1930. The film entitled Inquilab traced Bhagat's life and passions, ably guided by the book authored by Irfan Habib. The film was neither sentimental nor hyped with platitudes. It evoked an era of ideology and hope in a matter-of-fact style. Both Irfan and Gauhar were like that too: understated, refined intellectuals with a rather wry sense of humour. The same evening we strolled in the lawns, fresh with spring flowers, at the Grand Hotel Agra, lamenting the loss of sense and laughing a little at ourselves - the subcontinent's Muslims.

On day three, established Bangladeshi writers, Selina Hussain, Nasreen Jehan, Mohammad Samad, and Khonkader Ashraf Hussain, recited poems that spoke of love, of discovering peace within us. A surprising poem from an Urdu poet-journalist from Delhi, Waseem, addressed the audience during the unpacking of the sadness that the poor mother of Ajmal Kasab, an accused arrested after the Mumbai killings, must have experienced after her son had been arrested and her small house in a Punjabi hamlet became the centre of global attention. Poets succeed where news-journalists fail us.

I have to sadly report that the local journos on the sidelines resorted to the popular media mantra on Pakistan as the ‘hotbed’ of terrorism. Such sweeping statements were isolated, cacophonous rumblings, for the poets know better. The ones from Sri Lanka praised the Pakistani policemen who saved their lives; the Indians referred to dialogue and the Bangladeshis wanted to reclaim what they shared with Pakistanis and Indians, for the tales of loss were monumental

Ajeet Caur has expanded the definitions of South Asia by inviting delegates from Myanmar and Afghanistan. A few amazing poems from these countries made the festival especially memorable.

At the end of the festival, several resolutions were passed condemning terrorism and restating the role of conscientious writers and intellectuals in troubled times. The media persons were fishing for answers to political questions at the press conference on day three. We told them that we were neither politicians nor spokespersons for state and military industries. They nodded in half agreement. It was clear that Pakistan was a matter of concern for all regional countries: the anguish of Swati children and women was shared by all, and so were the travails of common Pakistanis. As Jasbir Jain from India said, nation states propel violence, and one could not but agree. Jain was categorical and forthright about the socio-economic violence within India and how it had generated what is known as terrorism. Pakistan is not alone in these times of crises: its friends and well-wishers are many, as in the comity of writers.

I am preparing to leave Agra. As I write these lines, I am overwhelmed by Ajeet Caur's affection, distraught at what is happening in Pakistan, and I think whether Shah Jehan, the builder of the Taj Mahal, could ever have envisioned that his beloved capital would turn into a venue for deliberating regional peace three and a half centuries later.

Tagged as: Agra, Ajeet, Ajmal, authors, Bangaldesh, Caur, festival, India, Kasab, Lanka, Pakistan, poem, poet, SAARC, Sri, terror, terrorism, writers Leave a comment

Comments (4) Trackbacks (2) ( subscribe to comments on this post )

Helmand
April 1st, 2009 - 15:31

it is very nice that for the first time i read of this sit. it is very nicely written, with the good information. thx
Sidhusaaheb
April 6th, 2009 - 11:36

An island of peace among the chaos, populated by poets and writers, is how it was, it seems.

BTW, I have heard of Mr. Fakhar Zaman before. He is or has been the chairman of World Punjabi Congress ( http://www.worldpunjabicongress.org/ ), it seems.
Dastagir
April 8th, 2009 - 07:23

Itihaas | Akhilesh Mithal

The Nexus between RSS and the British

Varun Gandhi and his RSS mentors continue to spew the “divide and rule” poison brewed by the British to rule India. They are not aware of the damage they cause by falling victim to an alien power’s divide and rule policy.

The nexus between the British rulers and the RSS was first revealed in1947 when Rajeshwar Dayal, ICS, as the first Indian home secretary of UP suddenly became privy to most confidential information.

In his A Life of Our Times [Orient Longman 1998, Page 77] he states:

“I must record an episode of a very grave nature…

“When communal tension was still at fever pitch, the Deputy Inspector General of Police Western Range a very seasoned and capable officer, B.B.L. Jaitley, I.P. arrived at my house in great secrecy.

“He was accompanied by two of his officers who brought with them two large steel trunks securely locked. When the trunks were opened, they revealed incontrovertible evidence of a dastardly conspiracy to create a communal holocaust throughout the western districts of the province.

“The trunks were crammed with blueprints of great accuracy and professionalism of every town and village of that vast area prominently marking out the Muslim localities and habitations.

“There were also detailed instructions regarding access to the various locations, and other matters which amply revealed their sinister purport.”

Dayal took the incriminating evidence to Chief Minister Pandit Gobind Ballabh Pant.

“There, in a closed room, Jaitley gave a full report of his discovery backed by all the evidence contained in the steel trunks. Timely raids conducted on the premises of the RSS [Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh] had brought the massive conspiracy to light. The whole plot had been concerted under the direction and supervision of the Supremo of the organisation himself.

“Both Jaitley and myself pressed for the immediate arrest of the prime accused Shri Golwalkar, who was still in the area.”

Pandit Gobind Ballabh Pant postponed action by deciding to put the matter before his Cabinet. The presiding officer of the Legislative Council, Atma Govind Kher was a sympathiser and his sons were known to be members of the RSS.

No arrest warrant was issued. A letter asking Golwalkar for an explanation as to why the RSS had collected blueprints marking Muslim majority localities with details of entry and exit points, was sent. As could be expected, Golwalkar slipped away and the couriers could not deliver the letter to him.

The next paragraph, on page 94, speaks for itself: “Came 30th January 1948 when the Mahatma, the supreme apostle of peace fell to a bullet.”

Timely action may have averted this calamity.

This evidence clearly shows the nexus between the British and the RSS. Maps of such accuracy, quality and detail could have originated only in a professional institution such as the Surveyor General’s office in the Government of India. This was an age when there were no satellites in the sky. Administrations all over the world guarded maps with passion and dedication. The British rulers of India were paranoid in this matter. That these maps were made available to the RSS is evidence of the link between the British and this anti-Congress, anti-freedom organisation.

The RSS is a product of the British divide and rule policy. As natural allies of the British they concentrated all their energies and hatred in fighting Indian Muslims.

The British came to power by defeating the Muslim rulers of India beginning with the Nawab Nazim of Bengal, Sirajudaullah, at Plassey in 1757. This victory gave them access to the richest state in the world and funded their conquest of the rest of India and most of the world. By defeating Tipu Sultan in 1799 the British gained access to some of the richest areas of South India. The Marathas were next disposed of, and when the Punjab fell in 1849 British domination of India was complete.

Although both the Christians as well as the Muslims profess a religion originating in the Prophet Abraham they have always been and continue to be at loggerheads. The Crusades of the 10th century had arisen from anti-Muslim prejudice and reinforced it. The Arabs and their African allies had conquered Spain in the 8th century and Constantinople fell to the Turks in 1453. The British could not understand how the Hindus who were in a majority and had been rulers before the advent of Turkic and Pathan tribes in the 10th-12th centuries, could co-exist with Muslims peacefully.

Sir Henry Elliot wrote his The History of India as Told by its own Historians with the professed objective of making Hindus aware of the atrocities committed by Muslim rulers throughout their period of rule. Hindus had to realise that the British [against whose rule they had already started complaining] were “the best rulers they ever had”.

Around the same time the British suffered a major disaster in Afghanistan and came back defeated, but carrying with them the doors of the mausoleum of Sultan Mahmoud of Ghazni as a trophy under the mistaken impression that they were the doors of the temple of Somnath. These doors — mounted on a platform and covered with a colourful marquee — were paraded around the length and breadth of North India. After sounding trumpets and beating drums to ensure the collection of a crowd, the gates were exposed to view. The formal announcement was then made that the doors which had been looted from the temple of Somnath by Mahmoud in order to insult Hindu sentiment, were brought back by the British to show their devoted friendship for Hindus.

As the Indian education system was largely intact, these attempts did not succeed in dividing the Hindus from the Muslims.

When the Bengal Army [31% Brahmin and 34% Rajput] revolted against the British East India Company in 1857, its Meerut Regiment marched all the way to Delhi and forced the 82-year-old Emperor Bahadur Shah Zafar — without power, treasure, soldiers, or experience of war — to be their supremo, despite the fact that he was a Muslim.

The defeat of 1857 saw the country ravaged and over ten million Indians killed. Terror of the white man became a conditioned reflex. The education system installed by the British was designed to produce clerks, unlike the earlier system which nurtured leaders.

Hindus and Muslims learnt to accept the British view of their own history. The Muslim League and the RSS basked in this moonshine and flourished. The Varun Gandhis continue to dance to the divide and rule tunes, although the piper departed 61 years ago. Alas!

Akhilesh Mithal is a Dilliwala
fluoguels
June 22nd, 2009 - 19:30

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