Reclaiming Pakistan’s soul
Courtesy Bluechip magazine
In a dream Sain Zahoor saw a hand beckoning him to a shrine. He could not shake off the dream and eventually at the age of 13 left home traipsing from one Sufi shrine to the next. At Uchh he recognized the shrine of his dreams and stayed there, spending his days learning Sufi music and singing. Sain is unlettered, but has memorized hundreds of Punjabi Sufi songs by sketching images on paper. When he started singing at the age of five, his first lessons were in the Sufi kalams (verses of devotional spiritual love). Now nearly sixty, he himself looks like a Sufi saint when he comes onstage clad in long kurta and tightly bound turban with beads dangling down his neck and ghungroos – (bells) tied to his ankles. His is such a compelling presence onstage and so close to what a Sufi really looks like, that Sain Zahoor is adorned on our cover. Playing the centuries old three-string lute,he delivers kalams of Sufi poets like Baba Bullay Shah, Shah Hussain and Mian Muhammad Bakhsh with ecstatic joy and intensity which ends up in a dhamal – a frenzied dance. His first onstage performance only came in 1989 when he was invited to the All Pakistan Music Conference. In 2006 he received the award for the best singer in the Asia-Pacific category at the BBC World Music Festival.
Read the rest here
Sub-Continent’s Berlin Wall
I am posting Shivani Mohan's article where I have been quoted with reference to the recent folklore festival held under the aegis of SAARC. Another piece on the folk performances can be accessed here.
This fortnight saw the 20th anniversary celebration of the fall of the Berlin Wall. So liberating and decisive, when a vast multitude of people chose to see sense and forget trifles that generally incense mankind, when the similarities between two peoples became more important than the differences; when cultural affinity conquered meaningless rivalry.
So it was at the recently concluded SAARC Folklore Festival. Writers, scholars and folklore artistes from eight SAARC countries — Afghanistan, India, Sri Lanka, Maldives and Bangladesh, Bhutan, Nepal, Pakistan- converged to Chandigarh for four days full of rapturous singing and dancing and ?discussing folklore.
SOUTH ASIA: The Ties that Bind: Artists, Writers Forge Peace
CHANDIGARH, India, Nov 18 (IPS) - Imagine writers, scholars and folk performers from eight South Asian countries coming together to share their common heritage and culture while promoting peace and harmony at the same time.
That is precisely what 200 members of the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) did early this month, prompted by a collective aspiration to pursue their common objectives.
The move—which took place in this city—was deemed highly significant in a situation where the political leaderships of these states had been unsuccessful in making any major breakthroughs towards peace.
The Alchemy of Identities
This is such a fine piece by Abdullah Khan- thoroughly delightful and thought-provoking. There is an underlying unease through the text and a hint of sadness but the tone remains curious, optimistic and wondrous. I am so happy to have found this, thanks to author's message via Facebook...(Raza Rumi)
In 1996, a day after India’s fantastic win over Pakistan in the Cricket World Cup Quarterfinal, I was sitting in the offices of a leading English daily in Patna, the capital of the northern Indian state of Bihar. At that time, I used to be a freelance contributor to this national paper’s local edition. The paper’s features team and I were, of course, discussing cricket. Everybody was trying to guess which strategy the Indian team would adopt against a resurgent Sri Lankan team in the semi-finals.
All of a sudden, the discussion meandered to a new topic: is it true that every Indian Muslim secretly cheers for the Pakistan Cricket Team? Later, a more specific question was thrown at me by one of the sub-editors: “Tell us what’s more important to you, being an Indian, or being a Muslim? If you had to decide between one or the other, which one would you choose?”
Iqbal – The Universal Reformer
Blogging without borders
My piece published by the Walkerly Magazine
The internet has demolished the iron curtain between Pakistan and India almost overnight, writes Pakistani blogger and writer Raza Rumi.
I don’t need to tell you about the multi-billion dollar enterprise that is the animosity between India and Pakistan. Suffice to say that the birth of a new nation-state on the Indo-Pak sub-continent was among the bloodiest of all time, entailing the migration of nearly 10 million of the wretched of the earth who had to find a new home.
Millions of deaths and three wars later, the bitterness refuses to go away and the interaction of the two countries’ populations has been very limited over 60 years. As a result, not all Pakistanis have the privilege of visiting India. I happen to be one of those who, by sheer coincidence, have been visiting India primarily for work or cultural exchange.
My forays into journalism coincided with my alter ego as a blogger. Purely by accident, I discovered the world of blogging, driven by the desire to post my pieces published by The Friday Times (TFT), a weekly Pakistani magazine. Trying to avoid creating a paid website, the blog template came to my rescue.
Borderless world: Musing on South Asian folklore
Jaskiran Kapoor's report on the recent folklore festival that I attended in Chandigarh
It’s a borderless world, veins and arteries connected to one heart, one soul; scholars at the Saarc Folklore Festival seminars bring down the walls & spearhead a cellular movement
Nepal's struggling with a change in power. Bangladesh is coming to terms with hunger and poverty while Pakistan is still grappling with the Taliban attack. If Raza Rumi finds the Vande Mataram fatwa ‘nonsense’, then Prof Abhi N Subedi is not kicked by Monisha Koirala joining Nepal’s political wing. On the other hand, writers Selina Hossain, Rakshanda Jalil and Sayman Zakaria are trying to bring in change with the power of the written word. It’s a confluence of culture, of tradition,
Coffee, tea and revolution
Before his death in July 2009, KK Aziz had accomplished one mission that he had set for himself, i.e. to write about the Lahore Coffee House, the glorious nursery of ideas. Luckily, despite his failing health, Aziz finished a draft that was meant to be a shining part of his autobiographical kaleidoscope. “The Coffee House of Lahore: A Memoir, 1942-57” was published in 2008 and Aziz, in the opening chapters, tells us about the genesis of his passion to document this memorable phase of our contemporary history.
Whenever an intellectual, cultural and literary history of Lahore (or the Punjab and Pakistan) is written, the diverse circles which met and discoursed in the Coffee House will have to be described in detail and the ever-widening waves of their influence recorded. As nothing has been written so far on the subject and I don’t see anything in the offing, I give below a list of the important persons who I can recall.
Quite diligently, Aziz sets forth to list two hundred and six names that would include a wide array of thinkers, scholars, artists, writers and even some CSPs who obviously changed their life course despite the influence of their Coffee House days. For those who want to know about Lahore and its not-so-old diversity, KK Aziz’s memoir is a must-read. It is
Anchorless rambling
My piece published in The Friday Times
We did it again. A hallmark of Hillary Clinton’s visit to Pakistan was her meeting with the stars of the Pakistani media – the all-knowing anchors who have taken it upon themselves to be the “representatives” of Pakistan. Forget the President elected by all the legislatures, the Prime Minister who enjoys the confidence of the National Assembly, and even the Foreign Minister, who at the end of the day was elected from a constituency with a huge majority and nominated by the ruling party.
Such constitutional niceties are of little value. What we witnessed with a motley group of top anchors was a repeat of their daily performance on the idiot box, and the discourse with America’s second most powerful politician was familiar and disappointing. A senior journalist based in Lahore remarked that even the young students at the Government College University came up with better questions than the exchanges aired on television.
Who are we? Muslim, South Asian, Arab? No clear answer, because we are ten different things at the same time, and while the rest of the world is comfortable with multiple identities, Punjab’s urban middle classes crave a singular Islamic identity but want it with all the world’s frills. This is why we cheer the blowing up of the World Trade Centre and at the same want to live in New York. This is why the Islamo-fascist hate-America crowd is at ease with their progeny studying in the United States
Crimson Gharara – tragedy in Rawalpindi
I am posting a lovely poem by Foqia composed after the horrible tragedy in Rawalpindi.
I queuing at the Bank,
for my monthly salary.
Image of crimson gharara, its goata lace,
dancing before my eyes.
My four year old Sara in my arms,
I saw it in the market a week ago.
The Message of The Quran : By Leopold Weiss [Muhammad Asad]
Media misogyny
My piece for The Friday Times
Pakistan’s electronic media is not accountable to anyone except to the barons and the market. And let us not forget that the barons, the mafia and the market are great bedfellows
Stereotype sells and its reinforcement is a popular cause. Perhaps this is why the electronic media has taken the inherent sexism of mainstream Urdu media to new heights. A new culture of real-time degradation of women is in vogue – all in the name of entertainment and the vague estimation of ratings that guarantee commercial earnings.
In the recent weeks, we were shamelessly entertained by a reality-TV-esque squabble between two parliamentarians who called each other names. Dr Firdous Ashiq Awan, a sitting federal minister of the ruling party, and Kashmala Tariq, a doyenne of the Musharraf regime entered into an argument over switching of political loyalties. Kashmala had a fair point: Dr Awan switched her party before the 2008 election and joined the PPP. Once confronted with this uncomfortable truth, she became abusive to the extent of questioning Kashamla’s ‘character’, a generally male-defined view of women’s sexuality in Pakistan.
Love God for something other than Him
Dehumanized: When math and science rule the school.
Mark Slouka, Harper’s, September, 2009
Many years ago, my fiancée attempted to lend me a bit of respectability by introducing me to my would-be mother-in-law as a future Ph.D. in literature. From Columbia, I added, polishing the apple of my prospects. She wasn’t buying it. “A doctor of philosophy,” she said. “What’re you going to do, open a philosophy store?”
A spear is a spear—it doesn’t have to be original. Unable to come up with a quick response and unwilling to petition for a change of venue, I ducked into low-grade irony. More like a stand, I said. I was thinking of stocking Kafka quotes for the holidays, lines from Yeats for a buck-fifty.
And that was that. I married the girl anyway. It’s only now, recalling our exchange, that I can appreciate the significance—the poetry, really—of our little pas de deux. What we unconsciously acted out, in compressed, almost haiku-like form (A philosophy store? / I will have a stand / sell pieces of Auden at two bits a beat), was the essential drama of American education today.
Urdu short stories – ‘The Myna of Peacock Garden’
Published in The Friday Times last week:
A new collection of translated short stories reminds us how Urdu literature needs to connect with a global audience, says Raza Rumi
As I hold the recently published “The Oxford Book of short stories” in my hands, I cannot help bemoan the fact that Urdu literature has been almost invisible from the arena of global literature. Admittedly, translation is difficult; the tediousness of translation daunts many a brave heart. Having said that, there have been a handful of remarkable translators such as Khalid Hassan, Alamgir Hashmi, CM Naim, Aamer Hussain, Umer Memon and Rakhshanda Jalil, to name a few. But a wide corpus of Urdu literature lies forlorn and hidden from global readership, which alas is dominated by English language readers. For this very reason, Amina Azfar has done a remarkable job of compiling a collection of Urdu short stories. Her earlier translations have been competent and quite often lyrical. For instance, Akhtar Hussain Raipuri’s Gard-e-Rahh (the dust of the road) and Sajjad Zaheer’s Roshnai ( the Light ) are noteworthy for their tone.
The book has a nice little foreword by Aamer Hussain, who is correct in stating that Azfar’s collection provides a fine introduction to the genre of the Urdu short story. The stories selected encompass a range of various experiments undertaken by the great Urdu writers. The stark realism of Munshi Premchand is counterpoised by Khaleda Hussain’s two short stories that are allegorical and somewhat postmodern in their sensibility. Iftikhar Arif, the renowned poet-bureaucrat, in his formal introduction quotes Dr Jamil Jalibi, terming the selected short stories “in the category of the very best”.
When will my beloved visit my courtyard
The soulful poetry of Khawaja Ghulam Farid (1845-1901) best represents the essence of Seraiki language. Diwan-e-Farid, a collection of the poet’s verses, happens to be an outstanding masterpiece of Seraiki mystical poetry that reaches the poetic excellence and transcendence found in the messages of Rumi and Iqbal in terms of exploring the metaphysics of knowledge and being.
Shahzad Qaiser has undertaken a major labour of love by rendering the Diwan-e-Farid into English and issuing another separate volume – The Metaphysics of Khawaja Ghulam Farid – that explores the vastness of meaning in Khawaja Farid’s poetry. It is rare these days to find a civil servant who can spare time to devote himself to the cause 
of letters. In contrast to past traditions, present day civil service has become a vehicle for playing along with palace intrigues and extracting opportunities from the vicissitudes of power. Rejecting this trend, Qaiser appears to have shunned the ordinary power-mongering culture and delved deeper into the mysteries of divine love. Therefore, his endeavour to search for the inner meanings of Khawaja Ghulam Farid’s poetry has been eminently successful. These two volumes are highly readable and well-presented for specialists and lay readers alike.
Khawaja Ghulam Farid was born in Chachran, located in the south of present day Pakistan’s Punjab province. His spiritual ancestry was somewhere linked with the revered Baba Farid Ganj-e-Shakar of Pakpattan and hence he was named after the master saint of the family. It is the metaphysical understanding which talks of reality as the divine essence and removes the difference between Ahad and Wahad and one and many that constitutes the doctrine of ‘oneness of being’
To that Beloved
Old boys’ homecoming
Sumegha Gulati, Hindustan Times - October 10, 2009
Humayun Khan, 77, stood outside the imposing mahogany doors of the Irwin Hall inside Bishop Cotton School (BCS), Shimla, his crinkled old eyes darting around, as if trying to remember the last time he was here 62 years ago. The door, its huge brass knobs polished to a fine gold, was shut.
Was Hussaiyn bin Mansour Al Hallaj inspired by India?
Discovering Five Dials
Accessibility of Five Dials: As for new technology, Five Dials is a very lean and flexible entity. We do not need to worry about paper stock and production cost. Unlike Granta, we’re able to turn around issues
Parveen Shakir – ‘coins of my truthfulness’
 |
|
 |
|
|
Parveen Shakir with her mentor Qasimi whom she called Ammu |
|
 |
|
|
Young Shakir at a mushaira |
|
 |
|
|
Fifteen years later Shakir remains intensely popular. Her poetry has been reinterpreted and critics who dismissed her as a poetic lightweight have realized that there was much more to Parveen's poetic vision than just henna-dyed hands |
|
Parveen Shakir (1952-1994) has defined the sensibilities of several generations and beyond. At the relatively young age of 42 years, Parveen Shakir died on an empty Islamabad boulevard, as if this was an essential part of her romantic persona. But she had lived a full life where poetry and tragedy intersected each other and became inseparable from her being.
As a young student in high school, I was introduced to Shakir’s romantic poetry, which was best represented by her first collection of poetry ‘Khushbu’. I had won an essay writing competition in Urdu and a delightful award came in the form of this tender volume of poetry. Since then I have always returned to bits and pieces of Khushbu. It may not be according to the cannons of literary theory, but it is spontaneous, fresh and almost dreamlike. Shakir was bearly 24 years old when Khushbu was published and since its first edition, this book has been a best seller wherever Urdu poetry is read or appreciated.
Khushbu turned Shakir into a celebrity. Aside from mushairas, newspapers and public fora, she was ever-present on the Pakistan television, perhaps as its only saving grace during the rigid years of Zia-ul-Haq’s Martial Law. Shakir had a natural talent for public speaking, reciting poetry and just being herself. I remember one monsoon evening in Murree when we were hooked to her presentation on Pakistan’s Independence Day. There was a distinct tenderness in her voice that was in sharp contrast to the platitudes being churned out. Above all she was beautiful. I remember she would read verses from her own work and from the great masters of Urdu poetry with complete ease and immense refinement. In the short period of time that she lived as a poet, Parveen did rather well and was quite prolific. Her later collections comprised Sad Barg (marsh merrygold), Khud Kalami (conversing with one’self), Inkaar (refusal), Maah-e-Tamaam (full moon) and Kaf-e-Aaina (edge of the mirror).
Her raw romanticism runs through her poetry. For instance, yay haseen shaam apni is a love poem of rare beauty; and has always been a favourite of mine. It is composite, taut and melodic; and here is my translation.
This melting evening of ours
Where everything dissolves
The scent of your clothes
The blossoming sprouts of my dreams
A deferred vision, this is
In a little while,
A star will emerge on the horizon
To gaze at you meaningfully…!
Your heart shall then reminisce
The echo of a memory
The tale of a separation,
Of an unfinished moment
Of un-blossomed dreams, things unsaid
We ought to have met
In times, considerate
In pursuit of attainable dreams
On a different sky
On a different earth
We ought to have met
On Rumi’s birthday
Journey in yourself, journey out of self
Don’t talk about the journey (Rumi)
A Lahori returns to his city
Take simplicity as your companion
The romance of Raja Rasalu
colonial storytellers, the book twists the narrative in a manner that brings us closer to the origins of our cultural sensibilities. The tales are sheer magic. The romance, the intrigue, the bravery and the integrated nature of human existence where it finds communication even with birds and trees comes to a full life throughout the narrative.Shamshad Begum
Dr. Visho Sharma
In keeping with the promise made by me while writing the mail on Shri Dushyant Kumar, I am here again with a piece of information on the legendary singer Shrimati Shamshad Begum. It was decades ago that the gifted crooner decided to call it a day and lead a private life away from the glitter of the film world. She has seldom been heard of as a person ever since, though her songs continue to be an important part of the Hindi film music lexicon even today. It was, however, a big (and a very pleasant one, too) surprise to find a very well documented article on the media shy artiste in the September issue of the Hindi magazine Ahaa! Zindagi.
The writer of the rare article Shri Rajeev Shrivastav met the affable singer in her Mumbai home and recorded for the posterity many hitherto unknown facets of the life of one of our most admired, and yet least covered, female playback singers. It is a matter of great satisfaction that she was conferred Padma Bhusahn. This gesture, though too late
A TRIBUTE TO KAIFI AZMI
Dr. Visho Sharma has been kind enough to send me this guest post that pays tribute to a legendary poet of the subcontinent who was committed to his principles and ideology throughout his life. RR
Jo bejaan khilonon se bahel jaati haiy
Tapti saanson ki haraarat se pighul jaati haiy
Paaon jis raah mein rakhti hai phisul jaati haiy
Bunkey seemaab hur ek zurf mein dhul jaati haiy
Zindagi jihad main hay sabar kay qabu main nahin.
Jannat ek aur hay jo murd kay pahloo main naheen.
Uski azaad ravish pur bhi machalna hay tujhey
Zeest key aahni saanchey main dhulna hai tujhey
Uth meri jaan mere saath hi chalna hai tujhey.”
These verses are from the Urdu poem “Aurat” (Woman) written by the famous Urdu poet from India , Kaifi Azmi. What is remarkable is that Kaifi wrote this poem in the 1940s before the independence of India . In that era when the Indian society was very traditional and very much a man’s world, such thoughts were almost unheard of. But then Kaifi was always decades ahead of his time.
Pakistani blasphemy laws should be repealed
This is a pertinent post on my blog-zine Pak Tea House. Readers should take a closer look.
It is therefore quite clear that what is purported to be some sort of a defence against blasphemy has become a vehicle of oppression and persecution of minorities in Pakistan. These laws are the most draconian in the world and have no justification even in Islamic jurisprudence. It is time- as one Pakistani MNA said- to repeal them for they have done more harm to Pakistan, Islam and humanity then good. Indeed they haven’t done any good but have only reinforced negative stereotypes about Islam
Recent Comments
- Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan sings Bulleh Shah « Jahane Rumi on Bulleh Shah and Abida Parveen
- miraj on Basant Moods – Lahore and Beyond
- Shaikh Ali Hajweri – Data Saheb of Lahore « Jahane Rumi on I have returned, like the new year (Rumi)
- Farah on Shah Ast Hussain
- Americas Uninsured (Health Insurance) | Individual Health Insurance Iowa on How instability is garnered
- jigme on Old boys’ homecoming
- shayma on Fatehpur Sikri
- shayma on Saadat Hasan Manto- Writer of Stark Realities
- Dastagir on New Education Policy
- Dastagir on Maulana Azad’s interview given to Shorish Kashmiri, 1946
Recent Posts
- How instability is garnered
- Chal Way Bullehya Chal O’thay Chaliyay – Let’s go where everyone is blind
- Eighteen years later…
- Rakhshanda Jalil – Panchlight and other stories
- Who is looking out?
- I have returned, like the new year (Rumi)
- Zolf bar baad – Mohsen Namjoo
- Bahar Ayee (Spring Has Come)
- A poem by Sarmad
- Farewell Haqqani Saheb – forgive your peers and colleagues
- Culture, conservation in Toronto – ideas and plans
- No priests needed – search of a Pakistani identity
- Should we bid farewell to democracy in Pakistan?
- Saadat Hasan Manto – part II
- Saadat Hasan Manto- Writer of Stark Realities
Categories at Jahane Rumi
- Afghanistan (10)
- All My Posts (883)
- Arts & Culture (329)
- Bangladesh (12)
- Blog Babble (69)
- books (71)
- Buddhist (7)
- business and economy (4)
- Central Asia (5)
- China (3)
- Cinema (19)
- Culture (2)
- development (2)
- diaspora (7)
- education (7)
- Egypt (3)
- Environment (4)
- Faiz (2)
- fiction (3)
- folklore (3)
- fundamentalism (23)
- Ghalib (2)
- Globalization (25)
- governance (6)
- Guest Writer (30)
- Health (2)
- heritage (79)
- History (107)
- human rights (17)
- India (128)
- India-Pakistan History (148)
- Indo Pak peace (53)
- Indus (3)
- Iran (10)
- Iraq (3)
- Islam (90)
- Islamophobia (43)
- Journalism (46)
- Karachi (7)
- Knowledge (3)
- Kosovo (1)
- Lahore (45)
- Law (1)
- Left (1)
- Loss (21)
- Love (51)
- Malaysia (2)
- media (39)
- Middle East (11)
- Motivated (1)
- Mughal (21)
- Music (40)
- My paintings (9)
- My poems (1)
- Nature (3)
- new writers (2)
- NWFP (3)
- On Pakistan (264)
- Pakistan (19)
- Pakistani Art (48)
- Pakistani Literature (16)
- Partition (10)
- Peace (30)
- Personal (204)
- Photo stories (65)
- Poetry (258)
- Politics (138)
- Poverty (5)
- published in DAWN (3)
- Published in Himal Magazine (4)
- Published in HT (3)
- Published in The Friday Times (77)
- Published in the NEWS (30)
- Punjab (47)
- Punjabi (1)
- Random musings (139)
- Religion (87)
- Research (6)
- Rumi (136)
- SAARC (3)
- science (4)
- Sindh (21)
- Soul (36)
- South Asian Art (89)
- South Asian Literature (175)
- SouthAsia (3)
- Sport (5)
- Sufi poetry (232)
- Sufism (174)
- Technology (4)
- terrorism (9)
- theatre (2)
- Tragic (24)
- Translations (19)
- Travel (50)
- Turkey (5)
- Uncategorized (83)
- Urdu (101)
- Urdu Literature (76)
- video (19)
- War (36)
- women (1)
- World Artists (52)
- World Literature (122)
- World Writers (131)
- Sufism and Sufi poetry (25)
Raza Rumi @ flickr
- Asim Butt's mural for T2F, Karachi
- T2F remembers Asim Butt
- Haris Gazdar at the memorial
- Asim's friends will always miss him
- George recites his poem
- Sabeen speaking about Asim Butt
- In attendance -
- The tribute to Asim Butt
- Asim's picture published by GT
- Another mural for The Second Floor-Asim Butt
Pak Tea House
- Soviet Lessons from Afghanistan
- Robert Gates’ Visit to Pakistan
- Drone attacks and US reputation —Farhat Taj
- Dr Afia needs justice which is seen to be done: Barrister Amjad Malik
- PAKISTAN: Constant violence against women in 2009
- Former corps commander, 2 ISI officials booked
- Even SC can’t take away president’s immunity: Aitzaz
- Poem: The Dance of Solitude
- Flaws in the judgment
- Is Article 227 indispensable?
Development Industry
- Newinpk
- PAKISTAN: Reinventing microfinance
- Dissent as Democracy
- Pakistan 4th on regional list of adult illiterates
- International Development Law Organization on Davos
- Food, Inc. (2008)
- Free access to Anthropology journals
- Pakistan’s new education policy
- Is aid working? Is this the right question to be asking?
- Outrage as global poverty Ministry racks up £6m business class travel bill
Archives
- February 2010 (8)
- January 2010 (14)
- December 2009 (5)
- November 2009 (13)
- October 2009 (12)
- September 2009 (26)
- August 2009 (28)
- July 2009 (6)
- June 2009 (17)
- May 2009 (42)
- April 2009 (24)
- March 2009 (26)
- February 2009 (20)
- January 2009 (13)
- December 2008 (18)
- November 2008 (14)
- October 2008 (15)
- September 2008 (38)
- August 2008 (19)
- July 2008 (26)
- June 2008 (32)
- May 2008 (21)
- April 2008 (43)
- March 2008 (40)
- February 2008 (31)
- January 2008 (34)
- December 2007 (22)
- November 2007 (28)
- October 2007 (24)
- September 2007 (33)
- August 2007 (25)
- July 2007 (20)
- June 2007 (32)
- May 2007 (39)
- April 2007 (40)
- March 2007 (37)
- February 2007 (56)
- January 2007 (31)
- December 2006 (7)
- November 2006 (15)
- October 2006 (12)
- September 2006 (44)
- August 2006 (47)
- July 2006 (13)
- March 2006 (1)
- February 2006 (1)
- September 2005 (1)
Tags
- West Bengal in turmoil – end of an era? - 2 emails
- Imam Hussain: The Beloved of the Beloved - 1 email
- Shah Ast Hussain - 1 email
- Holi has a Muslim History too - 1 email
- On Bhagat Singh, his vision and Jinnah’s support for his struggle - 1 email
- Voices of the oppressed – Dalit literature - 1 email
Meta
Pages
- “Man-Bitten” Ghalib: introducing himself
- ‘Author’s Plea’- Foreword of Aag ka Dariya by Qurutul-ain-Haider
- ‘O City of Lights’ by Khalid Hasan – A book review
- About Thumri
- Adieu Naguib Mahfouz
- adsense sample
- Amrita Pritam is no more 2/6
- An Essay on Nizamuddin by Marta Franceschini
- Basant Moods – Lahore and Beyond
- Bulleh Shah and Rumi 2/5
- Contact
- Dhaka by degrees
- Dhaka by Degrees – TFT
- Documents Archive
- A little more recogniton..
- A Little poem
- A recent Book on Faiz Ahmed Faiz
- Another accidental painting
- Fresh translations of Faiz
- Glimpses of nineteenth century Iran
- How Art made the World
- How the British Raj took roots in India
- I finally moved here – “You lack a foot to travel?”
- Little Flute, Why So Proud?
- Mother Goddess – Indus Valley
- Murree Ghosts – my recent painting
- New paintings inspired by the golden Bengal
- New translations of Parveen Shakir
- No Tolerance for Richistans – Obscene Wealth is not victimless!
- Ominous shadows
- Pakistani media – an alternative view
- Qurratulain Hyder
- Story of a Painting – Mehrgarh, Indus and Ghalib
- Sufi Zikr – inspiration for a painting
- Faiz translated by Vikram Seth
- Femme Feryal
- Halaku, when you will come to Baghdad this time…
- I found Roses in Konya… 2/3
- I found Roses in Konya… 3/3
- I will meet you yet again – Amrita Pritam
- Ideology of intolerance
- Images from Data Saheb’s Shrine
- Images from Mahboob Ali
- Jal gaya tha ik roshniyon ka shaher
- Kafka Country – published in the Friday Times
- Kafka Country published in the Friday Times
- Links
- More of Bulleh Shah – keep swooning
- Mughal Princess Zebunnissa
- Muslim Bloggers from India
- On Qurratulain Hyder –
- On Vidya Rao
- Peace to Beirut with all my heart… 2/3
- Petal to Petal …..More of Parveen Shakir
- Qasmi – Urdu literature mourns a giant 2/4
- Qasmi, Literary Fueds and National Neglect
- Raza Rumi
- Revisiting Kabir – the Weaver, the Myth, the Master
- Shared visions: Khushwant Singh and Fahmida Riaz 2/2
- Teray Ishq Nachaya – Bulleh Shah – full text
- The Lost Jewel – Rediscovering Hazrat Ali’s Letter
- This world without Dr. Schimmel… 2/3
- Tum bilkul hum jaisey nikley
- Web resources on Qurrutalain Hyder
- Why I love Pakistan? Top 5 reasons
- Darwin and the grand unity of life
