Hamid thinks that India is more jingoistic than Pakistan. There were some interesting moments in the interview as the quote below indicates. Full entry here >>

Saw this insightful piece by a Pakistani researcher in the Baltimore Sun.

Read more >>

One day after the tragic bomb blast on the peace train, life goes on. The resilience of people in our part of the world is remarkable. Full entry here >>

Blast kills 67 on India-Pakistan friendship train PANIPAT, India, Feb 19 (AFP) At least 67 people burned to death after a blast aboard a train from India to Pakistan that officials said Monday was intended to damage the peace process between the two neighbours.  Article here >>

Mayank Austen Soofi in Delhi is an interesting character. A good writer and a prolific blogger, he is also fascinated by Pakistan. One of his blogs is called Pakistan Paindabad.

Read article here >>

Sachar Committee Findings: A Story of Betrayal

by Sadia Dehlvi
The findings of the Sachar committee report on the status of Indian Muslims are being termed   as explosive and shocking.  They come as no surprise to me or anyone else who is in touch with Indian realities and   have been troubled about the condition of Indian Muslims. These   facts have been staring at us all these years but the country has chosen to ignore them. However, the committee’s findings has awakened the nation’s conscience to the marginalization and plight of the Muslim community.

A major objective achieved by the report is that   it demolishes the minority appeasement theory forever. Be it the Congress, Left or any other political party, the truth is that their secular rhetoric has not translated into economic realities for the Muslim community. The Muslims have been the victim of vote bank politics and the genuine will to improve their lot has been lacking. The figures in the reports tell a very sad story of victimisation, neglect and discrimination. The story was not the   same   at the time of partition and we must accept that something has drastically gone wrong in free India. It is a betrayal to those Muslims who chose to remain in India and had faith in the secular ideals enshrined in our constitution.  

We must acknowledge religious discrimination just as we should   acknowledge caste oppression in Modern India for only then can we seek remedial measures. I firmly believe that reservation has the potential to bring about a new face of India .The great Indian dream cannot lie in a handful of IIMs, some glitzy malls and multiplexes but in giving the children of those who toiled to make those structures a chance to change their lives and the lives of those around them. Whatever caste or religion they belong to, the underprivileged   have every right to claim a stake in education, governance and employment.   The nation needs its privileged   citizens to make some sacrifices and   take the higher moral ground. India’s tale of freedom is laden with sacrifice and the youth need to be cautioned against the I, me and myself syndrome which is a morally bankrupt Western doctrine.    
 

Sadly, battle lines on the basis of caste are already drawn and we can only hope the debate on reservations for Muslims does not turn communal.  It is therefore necessary to emphasise   that the Muslims are not asking for reservations on the   basis of religion but to be measured on the same scale as the other backward classes in the country. The demand for reservations is hardly a matter of pride for the Muslim community but a humiliating admission of backwardness stemming from helplessness.

A percentage reserved for Muslims within the OBC quota could vary from region to region according to the percentage of Muslim population and according to the level of their backwardness.  We need to broaden the concept of reservation beyond caste and have an economic classification. Some states like Kerala, Karnatka and Tamil Nadu have reserved jobs for Muslims resulting in a qualitative difference between the north Indian and south Indian Muslim. In Kerala the Muslims constitute 22 of the population and there are 12% jobs reserved for them. These jobs are available to families earning less than two and a half lac rupees annually. In Karnataka the Muslims are able to avail of 8% of jobs from three different categories including general, community and profession.

Reservation is just one corrective measure but if the issue is used to play divisive politics, it will result in a communal backlash which will hurt and further alienate an already bruised community. 

A specific multi layered program upliftment program is what the Muslims need. Primary education must be made available in Muslim ghettos, coaching classes for Muslim graduates to enable them to take part in the competitive exams for government employment is another necessity. A large number of India’s artisans are Muslim and they need help in creating contemporary   designs  with their craft which can cater to the high end market since the low end market has been taken by China rendering thousands jobless. Vocational training workshops will help the uneducated youth to get employment. Muslim entrepreneurs should be able to avail of small loans with ease. Corporate India should be sensitized to the minority’s   problems and could help in the form of scholarships and employment.  The private sector could be given some incentives to encourage providing  jobs for Muslims not necessarily in managerial positions, but as drivers, guards, peons and at other such positions.

The singular place where Muslims are over represented and constitute nearly 35% of inmates are the jails. It is an indicator of the Muslim reality and is a direct result of poverty, illiteracy and social depravation. The problem is serious and leaves no space for political games.  A vision   coupled with the courage and will to act is what is required for damage control. If urgent affirmative action is not taken   the situation can only get worse. Gandhiji  held that a nation be judged by the way it treats its minorities.  If the Muslims are unable to join hands with their other Indian brethren in Indias glorious march to progress, History will read it as the failure of the Indian secular state.
The writer can be contacted at sadia@vsnl.com

Sachar Committee Findings: A Story of Betrayal

by Sadia Dehlvi
The findings of the Sachar committee report on the status of Indian Muslims are being termed   as explosive and shocking.  They come as no surprise to me or anyone else who is in touch with Indian realities and   have been troubled about the condition of Indian Muslims. These   facts have been staring at us all these years but the country has chosen to ignore them. However, the committee’s findings has awakened the nation’s conscience to the marginalization and plight of the Muslim community.

A major objective achieved by the report is that   it demolishes the minority appeasement theory forever. Be it the Congress, Left or any other political party, the truth is that their secular rhetoric has not translated into economic realities for the Muslim community. The Muslims have been the victim of vote bank politics and the genuine will to improve their lot has been lacking. The figures in the reports tell a very sad story of victimisation, neglect and discrimination. The story was not the   same   at the time of partition and we must accept that something has drastically gone wrong in free India. It is a betrayal to those Muslims who chose to remain in India and had faith in the secular ideals enshrined in our constitution.  

We must acknowledge religious discrimination just as we should   acknowledge caste oppression in Modern India for only then can we seek remedial measures. I firmly believe that reservation has the potential to bring about a new face of India .The great Indian dream cannot lie in a handful of IIMs, some glitzy malls and multiplexes but in giving the children of those who toiled to make those structures a chance to change their lives and the lives of those around them. Whatever caste or religion they belong to, the underprivileged   have every right to claim a stake in education, governance and employment.   The nation needs its privileged   citizens to make some sacrifices and   take the higher moral ground. India’s tale of freedom is laden with sacrifice and the youth need to be cautioned against the I, me and myself syndrome which is a morally bankrupt Western doctrine.    
 

Sadly, battle lines on the basis of caste are already drawn and we can only hope the debate on reservations for Muslims does not turn communal.  It is therefore necessary to emphasise   that the Muslims are not asking for reservations on the   basis of religion but to be measured on the same scale as the other backward classes in the country. The demand for reservations is hardly a matter of pride for the Muslim community but a humiliating admission of backwardness stemming from helplessness.

A percentage reserved for Muslims within the OBC quota could vary from region to region according to the percentage of Muslim population and according to the level of their backwardness.  We need to broaden the concept of reservation beyond caste and have an economic classification. Some states like Kerala, Karnatka and Tamil Nadu have reserved jobs for Muslims resulting in a qualitative difference between the north Indian and south Indian Muslim. In Kerala the Muslims constitute 22 of the population and there are 12% jobs reserved for them. These jobs are available to families earning less than two and a half lac rupees annually. In Karnataka the Muslims are able to avail of 8% of jobs from three different categories including general, community and profession.

Reservation is just one corrective measure but if the issue is used to play divisive politics, it will result in a communal backlash which will hurt and further alienate an already bruised community. 

A specific multi layered program upliftment program is what the Muslims need. Primary education must be made available in Muslim ghettos, coaching classes for Muslim graduates to enable them to take part in the competitive exams for government employment is another necessity. A large number of India’s artisans are Muslim and they need help in creating contemporary   designs  with their craft which can cater to the high end market since the low end market has been taken by China rendering thousands jobless. Vocational training workshops will help the uneducated youth to get employment. Muslim entrepreneurs should be able to avail of small loans with ease. Corporate India should be sensitized to the minority’s   problems and could help in the form of scholarships and employment.  The private sector could be given some incentives to encourage providing  jobs for Muslims not necessarily in managerial positions, but as drivers, guards, peons and at other such positions.

The singular place where Muslims are over represented and constitute nearly 35% of inmates are the jails. It is an indicator of the Muslim reality and is a direct result of poverty, illiteracy and social depravation. The problem is serious and leaves no space for political games.  A vision   coupled with the courage and will to act is what is required for damage control. If urgent affirmative action is not taken   the situation can only get worse. Gandhiji  held that a nation be judged by the way it treats its minorities.  If the Muslims are unable to join hands with their other Indian brethren in Indias glorious march to progress, History will read it as the failure of the Indian secular state.
The writer can be contacted at sadia@vsnl.com

Do not go to the garden of flowers!
O Friend! go not there;
In your body is the garden of flowers.
Take your seat on the thousand petals of the lotus,
and there gaze on the Infinite Beauty.

(translation by Tagore)

Fifteenth century India witnessed the coming of age of a process that started brewing with the arrival of Central Asian Sufis who accompanied or followed the invaders from Asia Minor. When Sufi thought, an off-shore spiritual undercurrent to the rise of Islam, met its local hosts, the results were terrific. There was no shortage of fundamentalists and communalists in that cultural landscape; and the gulf between alien rulers and the native subjects was a stark reality as well.

Nevertheless, a synthesis of sorts was navigated by hundreds of yogis, Sufis and poets of India. Very much a people’s movement from the below, Bhakti movement articulated a powerful vision of tolerance, amity and co-existence that is still relevant. This is many centuries before the suave, western educated intelligentsia coined the ‘people-to-people’ contact campaigns. Yes, much has been lost in the tumultuous twentieth century and perhaps the histories and nation states rhetoric are also irreversible. But common ground remains.

Read full entry >>

Do not go to the garden of flowers!
O Friend! go not there;
In your body is the garden of flowers.
Take your seat on the thousand petals of the lotus,
and there gaze on the Infinite Beauty.

(translation by Tagore)

Fifteenth century India witnessed the coming of age of a process that started brewing with the arrival of Central Asian Sufis who accompanied or followed the invaders from Asia Minor. When Sufi thought, an off-shore spiritual undercurrent to the rise of Islam, met its local hosts, the results were terrific. There was no shortage of fundamentalists and communalists in that cultural landscape; and the gulf between alien rulers and the native subjects was a stark reality as well.

Nevertheless, a synthesis of sorts was navigated by hundreds of yogis, Sufis and poets of India. Very much a people’s movement from the below, Bhakti movement articulated a powerful vision of tolerance, amity and co-existence that is still relevant. This is many centuries before the suave, western educated intelligentsia coined the ‘people-to-people’ contact campaigns. Yes, much has been lost in the tumultuous twentieth century and perhaps the histories and nation states rhetoric are also irreversible. But common ground remains.

Read full entry >>

A strange problem
By Kunwar Narain 

I have a strange problem these days
The power to hate with all my heart
Is ebbing by the day
I want to hate the English
(They ruled us for two centuries)
But Shakespeare sidles up
To whom I owe so much
I want to hate the Muslims
But Ghalib stands before me
Tell me, is it possible to stand up
To him?

I want to hate the Sikhs
And Guru Nanak fills my vision
And my head is bowed
And this Kamban, this Thyagaraja, this
Muthuswamy…
A hundred thousand times I tell myself
They are not mine
They’re from some place far South

But the heart does not rest
Till they are made mine
And that lover
Who betrayed me the first time
I’d as soon kill her as look at her!
I do see her, but
Sometimes she is a friend
Sometimes a mother
Often like a sister
And I drink from the cup of love, and am still

All my days
I wander like a madman
In search of someone I can
Hate with all my heart
And ease it for a while
But precisely the opposite happens
Somewhere, sometime
I find someone
I cannot help but love
Day by day, this disease of love is growing
Rooted firmly in the fantasy
That one day my love
Will show me Paradise.

(Translated from the Hindi by Pratik Kanjilal)

This poem was first published on Annie’s wonderful blog.

Kunwar Narain is a leading Indian poet who writes in Hindi.

Great that I discovered this music video on Youtube. This may not be the best of compositions but it has the magical voice of Shubha Mugdal and a heartfelt theme. Ghoom Tana is a larger sufi metaphor representing the wheel-like journey of human life. More on this later..

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6pp4h7tT178]

“Ghoom Taana” reminds us of “our interconnected multicultural human identity even as we remain Indians or Pakistanis by nationality.” Read more about this video here and here.

Here is the roman Punjabi version of Ustad Daaman’s poem that appeared in my earlier post. I found it here. Punjabi readers will appreciate it.

Bha’n-wain Moo-hoon Na Kahyae, Pur Wichoon Wichee
Khoo-aye Tusee Wi O, Khooaye us-ee Wi Aaa’n

Aya-naan Azaadian Huthoon Barbaad Hoona
Hoo-aye Tusee Wi O, Hoo-aye us-ee Wi Aaa’n

Ko-jh Ommeed Aye, Zind-agee Mil Ja-aye Gi
Moo-aye Tusee Wi O, Moo-aye us-ee Wi Aaa’n

Joondi Jan Aye, Mot Dai Moo-nh Undar
Dhoo-aye Tusee Wi O, Dhoo-aye us-ee Wi Aaa’n

Jaagan Waliaan Nay Ruj Kaye Lot-yaa Aye
Soo-aye Tusee Wi O, Soo-aye us-ee Wi Aaa’n
Lali Akhiaa’n Dee Pay-ee Dus-di Aye
Roo-aye Tusee Wi O, Roo-aye us-ee Wi Aaa’n.

Happy Independence day to the Indian friends and readers!

Today’s post comprises a few poems that may capture several moods and facets of the profound historical event - independence for India and the end of British imperialism. This momentous day was preceded by unprecedented violence, modern world’s largest migration and a boundary -etched with blood -that still divides India and Pakistan.

I 

Ustad Daaman, the legendary Punjabi poet in an Indo-Pak mushaira recited this impromptu poem. I was delighted to find an English translation by Mubashir Hasan:

The original had these immortal lines:

Lali Akhiaa’n Dee Pay-ee Dus-di Aye
Roo-aye Tusee Wi O, Roo-aye us-ee Wi Aaa’n.

Daaman on Freedom and Partition …..
None of us may utter
but you know and so do we
a great deal have you lost
and so have we;
who was to foresee this struggle for freedom
would tear things apart, destroy so heavily
much pain much suffering have you borne
and so have we;
Yet there is hope
regeneration and new life awaits us
though many a death you died
and so did we;
Those who were awake and alert
robbed, exploited, emasculated us
while for centuries you slept in stupor
and so did we:
These bloodshot eyes bear testimony
many a tear
you did shed
and so did we.

Given the fragile peace process I am also keen to repeat what Ali Sardar Jafri (photo below) said many many years ago:

II 

Kaun Dushman Hai

Tum aao gulshan-e-Lahore se chaman bardosh,
Hum aayen subh-e-Banaras ki roshnee le kar
Himalay ki havaaon ki taazgee le kar
Aur iske baad yeh poochein ki kaun dushman hai?

You come from the garden of of Lahore laden with flowers,
We will come bearing the light of a Benares morning
With fresh breezes from Himalayan heights
And then, together we can ask, who is the enemy?

(Translated from the Urdu by Khushwant Singh)

III 

And finally on a promising note, a song by Tagore - the first Nobel Laureate from the subcontinent. The serenity on his face reflects the inner peace that he sang through his poems…

Where The Mind is Without Fear 

Where the mind is without fear and the head is held high
Where knowledge is free
Where the world has not been broken up into fragments
By narrow domestic walls
Where words come out from the depth of truth
Where tireless striving stretches its arms towards perfection
Where the clear stream of reason has not lost its way
Into the dreary desert sand of dead habit
Where the mind is led forward by thee
Into ever-widening thought and action
Into that heaven of freedom, my Father, let my country awake

IV 

And I conclude this post with a few lines from a poem “Hum Jang Na Hone Denge..” of the former Indian PM, Atal B Vajpayee.  I found this Poem source/translation here

We shall not allow war

Russian bombs or American
The blood spilt is the same.
We have suffered, we will spare our children this fate
Never again will the sky rain fire
Never again will Nagasaki burn
We shall not allow war!

(Vajpayee recited this poem in Lahore (at the Lahore Fort if I correctly recall) during his visit to Pakistan - much has happened since then…yet we don’t where we are headed?)

Writing in the Hindustan Times on July 29, Khushwant Singh yet again infused some sanity into the popular Indian discourse on the recent Mumbai blasts. His column titled Glasshouses and retribution read as follows:

“I think at this stage it is unfair to accuse President Musharraf’s government of having a hand in the ghastly killings of innocent commuters in Mumbai’s trains and suspend peace talks with it. We do not have hard evidence to nail it. Most of the men arrested on suspicion of complicity in the crime are Indian nationals. We are not sure where they got sophisticated time-bombs and training to handle them. The most important fact to bear in mind before drawing conclusions is that the Musharraf government is itself often the target of these subversive elements; it is either unwilling or unable to contend with and let them carry out their nefarious activities in India…..”

He added, “The best we can do is to offer ….. This needs closer cooperation between two neighbours and might prove more fruitful than stop talking to them.”

Cont. [1] [2]

Troubled by the ongoing middle east crisis, the destruction of Lebanon and the acrimony generated by the tragic Mumbai blasts, I am reminded of this poem by Kabir:

Allah and Rama

If Khuda inhabits the mosque,
then whose play-field is the rest of the world.

If Rama lives in the idol at the pilgrim station,
then who controls the chaos outside?

The East is Hari’s domicile, they say,
the West is Allah’s dwelling place.

Look into your heart, your very heart:
That’s where Karim-and-Rama reside.
All the men and the women ever born,
Are nothing but Your embodied forms:
Kabir’s a child of Allah-and-Rama
They’re his Guru-and-Pir

(translated by Vinay Dharwadker in Kabir: The Weaver’s Songs)

A miniature painting of Kabir, c.1825