And here is a beautiful example of Indo-Islamic culture.

horii hoye rahii hai Ahmad jiyaa ke dvaar
Hori hoye rahi hai Ahmad jiyaa ke dvaar
Hajrat Ali kaa rang banaa hai Hasan Hussain khilaaR
horii hoye rahii hai Ahmad jiyaa ke dvaar

(horii : holi; Ahmad : another name of Prophet Muhammad; Ali : Cousing and son-in-law of Prophet Muhammad; Hasan : elder son of Hazrat Ali; Hussain : younger son of Hazrat Ali and the martyr of the battle of Karbala)

aiso horii kii dhuum machii hai
aiso horii ki dhuum machii hai
chahuuN or paRii hai pukaar
aiso anokho chatur khilaaRii
aiso anokho chatur khilaaRii
rang diiNyo sansaar

(chahuuN or : in every direction; anokho : unique; chatur : smart)

“Niaz” piyaraa bhar bhar chhiRke
“Niaz” piyaraa bhar bhar chhiRke
ek kii rang sahas pichkaar

(piyaraa : bowl; sahas : thousand)

horii hoye rahii hai Ahmad jiyaa ke dvaar
horii hoye rahii hai Ahmad jiyaa ke dvaar

Lyrics: Hazrat Shah Niaz
Singer: Abida Parveen
Album: Raqs-e-Bismil

Through a post by Adnan, I got to know about Iftikhar Naseem. He is a Pakistani born poet who writes fine Urdu poems and lives in Chicago. He is homosexual by nature and it takes courage to come out, especially when one belongs to South Asian society and I admire him for that.

Recently, I issued an anthology from the library that contains a few Nazms and Ghazals written by Intikhar Naseem. I especially liked the one titled ‘mere baabaa’ (my father) in which he delves into the issue of his sexual preference. I found the poem quite touching and one can feel the pain of not being able to fulfill the roles our society has come to expect from us. The translation (for whatever it’s worth) is mine.

mere baabaa

mere baabaa
sab kahte haiN
merii shakl
aap se miltii-jultii hai

merii aaNkheN
merii peshaanii
mere hoNT
meraa lahjaa
baateN karne kaa andaaz
uThne-baiThne
chalne-phirne ka andaaz
mere haathoN kii harkat
sab kuch aap hii jaisaa hai

maiNe sunaa hai beTaa
baap kii nasl kaa vaaris hotaa hai

mere zehn meN ek savaal ubhartaa hai
maiN jo bilkul aap par huuN
to phir merii tarjiih-e-jins
aapse kyuuN is darja alag hai?

My Father

My father,
everyone says
my appearence
resemble yours.

My eyes
my forehead
my lips
my accent
the way I talk
sit around
the way I walk;
movement of my hands,
everything is like yours only.

I have heard that the son
is the heir of his father’s lineage.

A questions comes to my mind.
If I am exactly like you
then why my sexual preference
is so much different from yours?

Iftikhar Naseem

aadaab arz hai !

From 1-15 July, Aligarians.com would be organizing Jashn-e-Ghulam Ali, a fortnight of beautiful Ghazals and Nazms sung by the maestro. Every day a new composition would be posted on the Radio alongwith its lyrics and meaning of difficult Urdu words.

We hope that such online festivals would help the admirers appreciate the music of Ghulam Ali better. If possible, different versions of the same Ghazal/Nazm would be posted, so as to allow people understand the finer nuances of singing. Apart from the popular numbers of Ghulam Ali, a few not-so-popular-but-great-nevertheless would also be posted.

To kick off the festival, one of the most popular Ghazals renditions of Ghulam Ali, dil meN ek lehar sii uThii hai abhii, has been presented . There are four different versions available on the Radio, a live concert version (9:31 mins), a long version (17:31 mins) and two other versions of 6:08 mins and 7:22 mins each. To top it all, an Asha Bhosle version has been posted as well.

Enjoy and spread the word !

I don’t drink but I love these ads of Malibu rum. There are four of them and this one with the melon is my favorite.

Of the rest, one is with the fish and one with the phones. I am still looking for one with the watch.

Naseem Ahmed, the current Vice Chancellor (V.C.) of A.M.U. is also an alumni of the institution. Urdu department of A.M.U. organizes a sherii nashist (small poetry recital gathering) on the eve of Independence Day and Republic Day every year. Usually, the V.C. is the chief guest and is invited to say a few words to the audience, which mostly comprises of the staff and the students.

When Naseem saahab’s turn to speak came, he started by saying that, “jab maiN yahaaN par paRhtaa thaa, us vaqt mujhe shaayerii ka itnaa zauq nahiiN thaa aur mujhe samajh meN bhii nahiiN aatii thii. lekiN ab itne saaloN ke baad mujhe shaayerii bhii samajh meN aane lagii hai” (When I used to study here, then I did not have a taste for poetry and I also didn’t understand it. Now, after so many years I have started to appreciate the poetry). To which one of the students commented:

“haaN, ab shaayerii ka mayyar bhii bahut gir gayaa hai” (Yeah, the standard of poetry has also deteriorated a lot).

You just can’t get away with A.M.U. students !

I have always maintained that Outlook does a better job at non-political cover stories than it does at the political ones. Its latest issue is about the 20 best Bollywood songs ever. May be the recent demise of Naushad prompted such an exercise. It is not a public survey rather the choice of an expert panel of 30 lyricists, composers and playback singers. Each panel member was asked to nominate 10 favourite numbers in no order of preference.

The best song ever, according to the panel is actually a bhajan written by Sahir Ludhianvi and sung by Mohd. Rafi from the movie Chitralekha (1964). Mohd Rafi tops the charts with 7 nominations, 5 solos and 2 duets (one each with Lata and Asha) including the top three songs. Lata has 6 songs, 5 solos and 1 duet. Asha has 2 songs, 1 solo and 1 duet. Kishore Kumar has 2 songs, both solos. K.L. Saigal, that sonorous voice of the era bygone has just one nomination. Hemant Kumar has 3 and of the present day singers, there is just Sonu Nigam with a song from Kal Ho Na Ho.

In the lyrics department, Shailendra has 5 songs in the list, Kaifi Azmi has 4, Sahir has 2, Anand Bakshi has 2 and, Javed Akhtar and Gulzar have 1 each. Guide is the most popular movie with 3 of its songs nominated by the panel. Father S.D. Burman has 5 compositions while son R.D. has 4.

I think it is a decent listing. There would always be some songs that some people feel should not have been included and some that should have been. Also, I think Outlook could have conducted a public survey as well to determine the popular choice.

What do you think of the compilation? Is there any song that you feel has been left but should have been in the list?

Update: Here is the complete list of top 20 songs.

1. Man re, tu kaahe na dheer dhare
Singer: Mohammed Rafi
Film: Chitralekha (1964)
Music: Roshan
Lyrics Sahir Ludhianvi

2. Three songs tied for the second position
Tere mere sapne ab ek rang hain…
Singer: Mohammed Rafi
Film: Guide (1965)
Music: S.D. Burman
Lyrics: Shailendra

Din dhal jaaye, hai raat na jaaye…
Singer: Mohammed Rafi
Film: Guide (1965)
Music: S.D. Burman
Lyrics Shailendra

Kuch to log kahenge logon ka kaam hai kehna… Singer: Kishore Kumar
Film: Amar Prem (1971)
Music: R.D. Burman
Lyrics: Anand Bakshi

3. Three songs tied for the third position

Waqt ne kiya kya haseen sitam…
Singer: Geeta Dutt
Film: Kaagaz ke phool (1959)
Music: S.D. Burman
Lyrics: Kaifi Azmi

Jo vaada kiya woh nibhana padega…
Singers: Rafi-Lata
Film: Taj Mahal (1963)
Music: Roshan
Lyrics: Sahir Ludhianvi

Pyar kiya to darna kya…
Singer: Lata Mangeshkar
Film: Mughal-e-Azam (1960)
Music: Naushad
Lyrics: Shakeel Badayuni

4. Thirteen songs tied for the fourth position

Ai qaatib-e-taqdeer mujhe itna bata de…
Singer: K.L. Saigal
Film: My Sister (1944)
Music: Pankaj Mullick
Lyrics: Pandit Bhushan

Ayega, ayega, ayega ayega aane wala…
Singer: Lata Mangeshkar
Film: Mahal (1949)
Music: Khemchand Prakash
Lyrics: Nakshab Jarachavi

Piya tose naina lage re…
Singer: Lata Mangeshkar
Film: Guide (1965)
Music: S.D. Burman
Lyrics: Shailendra

Mai ye sochkar uske dar se…
Singer: Mohammed Rafi
Film: Haqeeqat (1964)
Music: Madan Mohan
Lyrics: Kaifi Azmi

O sajna, barkha bahar ayee…
Singer: Lata Mangeshkar
Film: Parakh (1960)
Music: Salil Chowdhury
Lyrics: Shailendra

Kuch dil ne kaha, kuch bhi nahin…
Singer: Lata Mangeshkar
Film: Anupama (1966)
Music: Hemant Kumar
Lyrics: Kaifi Azmi

Zindagi ke safar me guzar jate hain jo makam…
Singer: Kishore Kumar
Film: Aap ki kasam (1974)
Music: R.D.Burman
Lyrics: Anand Bakshi

Tum jo mil gaye ho to ye lagta hai, ke jahan mil gaya…
Singer: Mohammed Rafi
Film: Hanste zakhm (1973)
Music: Madan Mohan
Lyrics: Kaifi Azmi

Dil cheez kya hai aap meri jaan lijiye…
Singer: Asha Bhonsle
Film: Umrao Jaan (1981)
Music: Khayyam Lyrics Shahryar

Chura liya hai tumne jo dil ko…
Singers: Asha Bhonsle-Mohammed Rafi
Film: Yaadon ki baraat (1973)
Music: R.D. Burman
Lyrics: Majrooh

Tum pukar lo…
Singer: Hemant Kumar
Film: Khamoshi (1969)
Music: Hemant Kumar Lyrics Gulzar

Har ghadi badal rahi hai roop zindagi…
Singer: Sonu Nigam
Film: Kal ho naa ho (2003)
Music: Shankar-Ehsaan-Loy
Lyrics: Javed Akhtar

Poocho na kaise maine rain bitayi…
Singer: Manna Dey
Film: Meri soorat teri aankhen (1963)
Music: S.D. Burman
Lyrics: Shailendra

Aligarh numaaish (exhibition) is an annual month-long event and has become a tradition of sorts down the years. Its cultural events are very well attended and lure away even big artists like Ghulam Ali last year. After reading this post through Desi Pundit, I remembered a very interesting anecdote about the numaaish.

A.M.U. students attend numaaish with much enthusiasm and needless to say, it would be a bland affair without their presence. For the cultural events, the audience section is divided into three parts. The front rows are usually reserved for dignitories and government officials. Normally they are occupied by people who like to throw their weight around. The back rows are divided into two parts, one for the students and other for general public. Some years ago when I was studying over there, Hema Malini was invited to present a classical dance program. Now, I am yet to ‘meet’ a North Indian who would watch a classical dance show with some interest. But since it was Hema Malini’s dance, therefore the front rows were jam-packed. As soon as Hema Malini arrived on the stage one of the students from the back rows shouted:

Basanti, in kuttoN ke saamne mat naachnaa…..

Yes, that is what you have when you fear the number 666. Heck, even that word is fearful. Try pronouncing that.

Today is 06.06.2006. As close to 666 as we can get to. You have been warned.

Meanwhile, the whole blog world is raving about 666.

Update: So, the day passed and nothing happened. I was too busy to notice anything anyway.