BBC News has this article written by a young Indian soldier stationed in Kashmir where he talks about a system that has gone horribly wrong. A must read.

And then something like this happens, and there are villagers and more villagers protesting on the street, asking for freedom from this kind of oppression.

Obviously they will protest. Anybody would.

Even if there is no solution in sight one cannot just go and pick up people from the street and kill them. And if they do this there will be never be any solution.

On a related note, please check out these stunning images of everyday life in Kashmir by a young photoblogger, Akshay Mahajan.

I found this video on YouTube.com. He sings rather well, I must admit.

I never thought I would see Inzamamul Haq and the Pakistani cricket team on the front page of New York Times. But then we live in interesting times.

Good job Darrell Hair, it was not possible without you.

Here is the story.

Today morning when I opened rediff.com, there was a very surprising headline at the top, “US didn’t have guts to offer us same N-deal : Pakistan”. Now, based upon previous record, at least one thing is certain; the Pakistani establishment is not known to talk to USA like this. So, I was literally shocked. When I clicked the link, it was actually about Yashwant Sinha (ex-Foreign Affairs Minister, GOI) raving and ranting on how the current Indian government has sold out on the nuclear deal and that the US didn’t had guts to offer the same deal to the NDA government!

The headline remained there for many hours. Finally, somebody decided to drop ‘Pakistan’ from it. Link for the story is here.

ai Khudaa ab tere firdaus pe meraa haq hai
tuune is daur ke dozaKh meN jalaayaa hai mujhe

O God! Now, I have a right on your paradise
You have scorched me in the hell, that is this era

Ahmed Nadeem Qasmi (1916 – 2006)

After rightfully staking his claim on paradise and stamping his authority on the world of Urdu literature, Ahmed Nadeem Qasmi passed away on 10th July in Lahore at a ripe age of 90. He was one of the last surviving doyens of progressive writers movement that included Majaz, Faiz, Makhdoom, Jazbi, Jafri among others. Majaz left us early in 1955 and Faiz, even though died in 1982, continue to inspire us. Ahmed Nadeem Qasmi was a versatile personality with contributions to Urdu poetry, journalism, short story writing and literary criticism. Apart from his own writings, he mentored an entire generation of young writers through his literary journal, Fanoon. Parveen Shakir considered him her teacher and used to call him Ammu. The last 7-8 years have been particularly severe for Urdu poetry lovers with Ali Sardar Jafri, Moin Ahsan Jazbi, Majrooh Sultanpuri, Khumar Barabankvi, Jaun Elia and now Ahmed Nadeem Qasmi, all leaving us one by one.

One of the poetry anthologies I am reading these days considers him senior to even Faiz. One of the reasons he is not so well known in India is that he has not been sung much by Ghazal singers like Ahmed Faraz and Nasir Kazmi have been. Also, mushaira audience in India did not get enough chance to hear him in person. Thanks to internet, more people worldwide would get a chance to explore his poetry. Here is a collection of my favourite couplets of Ahmed Nadeem Qasmi:

maiN tujh ko bhuul chukaa thaa lekin ek umr ke baad
teraa Khayaal kyaa thaa ke choT ubhar aayii
—–

talaash-e-husn kahaaN le chalii Khudaa jaane
umang thii ke faqat zindagii ko apnaayeN

(talaash-e-husn : search for beauty; faqat : only)
—–

sar-e-baazaar hai yaaroN kii talaash
jo guzartaa hai Khafaa lagtaa hai

(sar-e-baazaar : in public)
—–

ab to visaal-e-yaar se behtar hai yaad-e-yaar
maiN bhii kabhii fareb-e-nazar kaa shikaar thaa

(visaal-e-yaar : meeting with beloved; fareb : deceit; nazar : sight)
—–

ab aik baar to qudrat javaabdeh Thehre
hazaar baar ham insaan aazmaaye gaye

(qudrat : nature, creator; javaabdeh : answerable)
——

vo aur chiiz hai hote haiN jis se dil shaadaab
nirii bahaar se viraanii-e-KhizaaN na gayii

(shaadaab : fresh; bahaar : spring; viraanii-e-KhizaaN : loneliness of autumn)
—–

In the following two couplets, he beautifully weaves the Islamic legends with his thoughts and creates amazing couplets. It is believed that Adam was exiled from the paradise after he ate the fruit of the prohibited tree. Qasmi saahab has used that legend in the couplet.

nikal se Khuld se bhii aadmii na pachtaayaa
zamiiN pe bhii chaman-aaraa’ii-e-gumaaN na gayii

(Khuld : paradise; chaman-aaraa’ii : creating a garden; gumaaN : hope)

Also, it is Islamic belief that on the day of judgement, the Sun would be at a very close distance to earth. Now, read the following couplet and enjoy!

jab bhii aaNkhoN meN terii ruKhsat ka manzar aa gayaa
aaftaab-e-vaqt neze ke baraabar aaya

(ruKhsat : parting; manzar : vision; aaftaab-e-vaqt : Sun of that time; neze ke baraabar : very close)
—–

Qasmi saahab was also a poet of Nazms and has blessed us with some gems. I hope to post some of his Nazms at Aligarians.com in the days to come but sample the closing lines of his nazm, izhaar.

apne badle mirii tasviir nazar aa jaatii
tuune us vaqt agar aaiinaa dekhaa hotaa

hauslaa tujh ko na thaa mujh se judaa hone kaa
varnaa kaajal tirii aaNkhoN meN na phailaa hotaa

Some of his Ghazals have been put to music and I absolutely love this rendition by Nayyara Noor of his famous Ghazal:

andaaz huu-ba-huu terii aavaaz-e-paa kaa thaa
dekhaa nikal ke ghar se to jhoNkaa havaa kaa thaa

(andaaz : style; huu-ba-huu : exactly similar; aavaaz-e-paa : sound of feet)

Click here to listen:
[See post to listen to audio]

Ghulam Ali has also sung some of Qasmi saahab’s Ghazals, seemingly earlier in his career because the Ghazals are not well-known.

1.) shaam ko sub’h-e-chaman yaad aa’ii
[See post to listen to audio]

2.) vo ko’ii aur na thaa chand Khushk patte the
[See post to listen to audio]

3.) mujhse kaafir ko tere ishq ne yuuN sharmaayaa
[See post to listen to audio]

But perhaps his most popular Ghazal is ‘kisko qaatil maiN kahuuN, kisko masiihaa samajhuuN‘, from the album Sajda of Jagjit Singh and Lata Mangeshkar.

[See post to listen to audio]

I especially like this particular couplet:

zulm ye hai ke hai yaqtaa terii begaanaaravii
lutf ye hai ke maiN ab tak tujhe apnaa samajhuuN

(zulm : injustice; begaanaaravii : indifference; lutf : pleasure)
—–

Most of the obituaries on the Blogosphere have quoted this immortal couplet of Ahmed Nadeem Qasmi,

kaun kahtaa hai ke maut aa’ii to mar jaauuNgaa
maiN to dariyaa huuN samandar meN utar jaauuNgaa

but I would like to mention another beautiful couplet:

maruuN to maiN kisii chehre meN rang bhar jaauuN
“Nadeem” kaash yahii ek kaam kar jaauuN

Indeed, Qasmi saahab. May your soul rest in peace!

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

A lot of people my age stepped into adolescence listening to Purani Jeans by Ali Haider. The following music video is neither the original composition nor does it captures the innocence and pristine charm of the song. Also, it has been bollywoodized to a large extent. But still, it is worth giving a try to refresh some memories. A khaRuus school-teacher, that beautiful girl next door, the first puff of cigarette and more.

Enjoy !

Adil Najam saahab was kind enough to direct me to an interesting video produced by him on Pakistan. With Iqbal Bano’s powerful and famous rendition of Faiz’s nazm ‘ham dekheNge’ in the background, the video offers a window into Pakistan’s history through sounds and images. It also tells us that the claims by military strongmen to restore democracy to the people are neither new nor credible. There are some pertinent audio clips by Faiz Ahmed Faiz interspersed as well.

Overall, a job well done.