As I was commenting on the Pak Tea House, I just recalled Faiz’s wonderful poem Subh-e-Aazaadii, a masterpiece of our times.
I am posting the Urdu version with translations here:
Ye daagh daagh ujaalaa, ye shab-gaziida sahar,
Vo intizaar thaa jis-kaa, ye vo sahar to nahiiN,
Ye vo sahar to nahiiN jis-kii aarzu lekar
Chale the yaar ke mil-ja`egi kahiiN na kahiN
Found this interesting post on Shunya
The road to Dholavira goes through a dazzling white landscape of salty mudflats. It is close to noon in early April and the mercury is already past 100F. The desert monotones are interrupted only by the striking attire worn by the women of the nomadic and semi-nomadic pastoral tribes that still inhabit this land: Ahir, Rabari, Jat, Meghwal, and others. When I ask the driver of my hired car to stop for a photo, they receive me with curious stares, hoots, and giggles.
This is the Rann of Kutch, an area about the size of Kuwait, almost entirely within Gujarat and along the border with Pakistan. Once an extension of the Arabian Sea, the Rann (“salt marsh”) has been closed off by centuries of silting. During the monsoons, parts of the Rann fill up with seasonal brackish water, enough for many locals to even harvest shrimp in it. Some abandon their boats on the drying mudflats, presenting a surreal scene for the dry season visitor. Heat mirages abound. Settlement is limited to a few “island” plateaus, one of which, Khadir, hosts the remains of the ancient city of Dholavira, discovered in 1967 and excavated only since 1989.
Entering Khadir, we pass a village and find the only tourist bungalow in town. It hasn’t seen a visitor in three days; I check in and head over to the ruins. I’ve planned this for months; even the hottest hour of the day cannot temper my excitement for the ruins of this 5,000 year-old metropolis of the Indus Valley Civilization. While hundreds of sites have been identified in Gujarat alone, this is among the five biggest known to us in the entire subcontinent, alongside Harappa, Mohanjo-daro, and Ganeriwala in Pakistan, and Rakhigarhi in India. Read more here
A reader – Joe 31 – has rendered a great translation of Faiz’s poem – “Intesab”. I am posting it as a separate blog entry for all those who read and enjoy Faiz Ahmad Faiz, Pakistan’s eminent poet. This poem appears as an introduction to one of his early collections of verse. This timeless poem is relevant even today as it celebrates the resilience and courage of Pakistani proletariat.
Dedicated to these times, and the sorrow of these times.
The pain of today, that is set against the plentiful garden of life.
The forest of dead leaves, that is my land.
The collection of pain that is my land.
Dedicated to the gloomy lives of clerks
Moth eaten hearts and words.
Dedicated to the postmen
Dedicated to the coachmen
Dedicated to the railway workers
Dedicated to the innocent beings in the factories. (more…)
Rumi once again…
Be off and know
That the way of lovers is opposite all other ways.
Lies from the Friend
Are better than truth and kindness from others.
For Him
The impossible is commonplace,
Punishment is reward,
Tyranny is justice,
Slander is the highest praise. (more…)
I do not blame the young men and women of our age – they have been indoctrinated by the pernicious text-books, Zia’s ideology and the infiltration of Jamaat-i-Islami and jihadis into every nook and corner of Pakistan. This is why Pak Tea House (an e-zine I edit) as a voice of reason, faces the dual challenge of tackling the right wing and handling the global stereotyping of Pakistan as a jihadi haven. Not an easy challenge by any account — Raza Rumi
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Haligoli, (2001), a miniature by Saira Wasim – collection of |
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Peshawar, a city destroyed |
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IDPs returning to their homes |
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Wherever I went to eat, there was a meat-fest in waiting. There comes a time in life when you want to give up meat forever and that moment arrived on a dark, load-shedded night in Peshawar |
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As if a non-vegetarian diet was not enough, the scare of being smoked out by the Al-Qaeda goons was even more disturbing, dare I say, indigestible. A happy-go-lucky and overly-healthy host, as he drove us into the by-lanes of the old Peshawar that must have been beautiful once, gregariously referred to all the sites where bombs had erupted were a little disturbing. Not that I am scared of dangerous places, for I have braved a post-war Kosovo with a fair measure of bravado. But the hysterical “outsiders” ranting about how insecure we were in Peshawar was a little dampening for a Lahori soul. We do live in interesting times, made even more interesting by naïve security experts and people fed on Western media reporting on Pakistan being a truly dangerous pit-hole of the world. Sometimes the propaganda war does conquer your senses, I must confess.
So we visited the camps where thousands had been packed like sardines and where women recounted stories of bereavement and heavy-duty terror-mongering by the good Taliban as we are told that there is a clear distinction between the good and the bad Taliban. Now if the good Taliban, referred to as “patriots” not long ago, are such barbarians, I shudder to think what the bad Taliban might be like. The children at these camps were suffering even more. The heat could be unbearable and drinking water was not always available. And (more…)
This is a fabulous poem by Fakhar Zaman,currently the Chairman of Pakistan’s Academy of Letters. This poem, has also been quoted by several authors and I am grateful to have found it in Victoria Schofield’s brilliant article entitled CAN DEMOCRACY WORK IN PAKISTAN?*
Nothing describes better the fortitude and bravery of ordinary, disempowered Pakistanis who have suffered through the decades.
How can he who lost his eyesight paint?
How can he who lost his hands sculpt?
How can he who lost his hearing compose music?
How can he whose tongue was cut out sing?
How can he whose hands are tied write poetry?
How can he whose feet are fettered dance?
With muf?ed nose and mouth how can one inhale the scent of flowers?
But all this has really happened:
Without eyes, we painted,
Without hands, we sculpted statues,
Without hearing, we composed music,
Deprived of a tongue, we sang
Handcuffed, we wrote poetry,
With fettered legs, we danced
And the fragrance of flowers pierced our muffled mouths and nostrils.
*Schofield, Victoria(2009)’CAN DEMOCRACY WORK IN PAKISTAN?’,Asian Affairs,40:2,243 — 251
I was most amused in a strange, tragic way as to what nonsense is churned out as ‘opinion’ and ‘analysis in Pakistan’s mainstream vernacular media. I had once written about it as well here. True to his incisive reputation, CM Naim’s piece is extraordinarily well written and revealing. Raza Rumi
By: C.M. Naim – For the past five or six months I’ve been reading fairly regularly the web pages of three Urdu newspapers from Pakistan: Jang, Nawa-i-Waqt and the Express. I glance at the headlines cursorily then immediately turn to the columnists. Most days, each of the three carries a minimum of six columnists. Some of them are big names; they frequently appear on TV shows, get regularly invited to the President’s residence, and travel with the Prime Minister on important trips. These gentlemen never let you forget all that. One or two even give details of the food served on such occasions—there is always plenty of food served, not just a cup of tea, when they visit with any dignitary.
I was quoted in this press story. Also here
Press Trust of India / Islamabad August 20, 2009 - Seeking to give Muhammed Ali Jinnah a clean chit for country’s partition might have caused his expulsion from BJP, but former External Affairs Minister Jaswant Singh’s book has earned him supporters across the border.
I would like to extend heartiest congratulations to Dr Adil Najam, a respected climate change expert and the founder of Pakistaniat blog. It was great to hear a good piece of news amid all the negative stuff one is becoming used to. Dr Najam has been a kind mentor and his encouragement for my twopence blogging was a great source of confidence.
Founding Editor of Pakistaniat.com, our very own Dr. Adil Najam has just been awarded the Sitara-i-Imtiaz by the government of Pakistan for his contribution and public service in the field of environment and development policy…. Read the full story at ATP
Jaswant Singh’s right-wing worldview can be partially pardoned for he has made an attempt to set the record straight. The vilification of Jinnah to the extent of presenting him as a demon in mainstream Indian discourse has received a severe blow. Singh also blames the stalwarts of Congress for Partition and this has been the independent view held by many historians. It is shameful that a right winger had to condone Jinnah but then someone had to take the first step in the popular domain. The earlier voice of H M Seervai was drowned in the cacaphony of nation-state jingoism and because he was from a fringe community, his dispassionate views did not receive much attention. In fact many in India and Pakistan have no clue about Seervai. (more…)
Macca gaya gal mukdi naahi, chaye soe soe jumay pad aai…..
Ganga gaya gal mukdi naahi, chaye soe soe gotay khai….
Bullay shah gal tahiyoe mukdi jadoe mainu dilo gawai…..
This report is a welcome step towards understanding our recent history and could have huge implications for the mist that confounds South Asia.RR
LAHORE: Muhammad Ali Jinnah was a “great leader” and was unfairly “demonised” by India for his role in the Partition, Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Jaswant Singh has said. (more…)
Published in The Friday Times
Lahore’s problems are not intractable, says Raza Rumi after visiting an exhibition organised by OCCO
Attiq Ahmed, the unassuming leader of the Office for Conservation and Community Outreach (OCCO), encompasses both the old traditions of public service and the modern impulse for change. Among his many initiatives, his passion is OCCO. Comprised of a group of motivated urban designers and architects, the organization is a voluntary effort, financed by donations from individuals who refuse to ignore the responsibility that the bizarre “development” of Pakistan, and Lahore in particular, has thrust upon them. (more…)
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