Monthly Archives: February 2008

I need a lover and a friend
All friendships you transcend
And impotent I remain

You are Noah and the Ark
You are the light and the dark
Behind the veil I remain

You are passion and are rage
You are the bird and the cage
Lost in flight I remain

You are the wine and the cup
You are the ocean and the drop
While afloat I remain

I said, “O Soul of the world
My desperation has taken hold!”
“I am thy essence,” without scold,
“Value me much more than gold.”

You are the bait and the trap
You are the path and the map
While in search I remain

You are poison and the sweet
You are defeated and defeat
Sword in hand I remain

You are the wood and the saw
You are cooked, and are raw
While in a pot I remain

You are sunshine and the fog
You are water and the jug
While thirsty I remain

Sweet fragrance of Shams is
The joy and pride of Tabriz
Perfume trader I remain.

Rumi -

Persian transliteration follows (more…)

I have been working on this composition for quite a while. I was angered, rather revolted by what the Taliban were doing in the pristine Swat valley that has recently undergone full scale war. What has the peaceful and serene Buddha to do with the war on terror and US imperialism in Afghanistan? I have friends who try and explain that the regrouped and re-energised Taliban represent the angst against the US occupation of the Pashtun lands. Perhaps there is some truth in this. But my Gautam, what was his fault? He only talked of peace in this region and only asked us to traverse and preserve our humanity.

Who are these butchers of culture? What Islam they follow? They have no religion except barbarity and tribal notions of revenge and blood-letting. There is no excuse for the vandalism against our vital heritage – Pakistan will be a poorer place if these mad, roving fundamentalists would remove all the signs of our pre-Islamic heritage and ancient cultures.

So this painting evolved in those days of anguish. I remembered a broken Buddha head that was discovered from Swat decades ago and thanks to my useful library I got the picture. So I took the Taliban flag background, which is tri-coloured (that should be black in my not so humble opinion); and transposed the Buddha on top and to indicate my fears, I painted the star and the crescent on the green portion to represent the Muslim part of the Pakistani flag.

So this is the little story that led to the painting above. My partner likes it and a few friends who saw it, also appreciated it. I have to thank my art teacher for guiding me through the shades and shadows with little [master] strokes here and there..

I plan to do a series on it. But I will have to travel to Swat; and I am not sure when will situation normalise there. In the meantime, I plan to rely on my Gandhara books and twopence imagination.

First published here

Read the symbol-laden verses of Bulleh Shah with the translation contributed by Shahidain:

RaateeN jaageyN kareyN ibaadat
RaateeN jaagan kuttey teython utey

bhonkanon band mool naa hundey
jaa ruree tey suttey, teythoN uttey

khasam apney da dar na chhaddey
bhaaweyN so so wajjan jutey

Bulleh shah kooee rakht weyhaaj ley
baazee ley gaey kuttey tethoN uttey

———————-

You wake and keep praying throughout night
Dogs also keep praying throughout night
They are superior to you

They do not stop barking
and ultimately sleep on a dirty pile of waste
They are superior to you

They do not leave their master’s door even
if they are beaten by shoes.

Bulleh Shah! perform good deeds otherwise dogs will supersde you.
They are superior to you.

Mystica Music contacted me and introduced their website that sells amazing music. I am not promoting their sales nor do I have any mandate to do so; but the range of titles is impressive and most significantly (for me at least) they have a few selections on mystical music.

One I liked a lot is called Zikr – Call of a Sufi. The artist is Anandmurti Gurumaa and it is in Hindi/Urdu.This is what the website had to say about the CD:

Zikr is a beautiful Sufi meditation cd which weaves together very intoxicating and invigorating meditation techniques with the Sufi art of whirling and worship. Listening to the tracks intently with utter mindfulness can open the door to the divine for a seeker, at any moment.
Enjoy the magical experience and offering of Zikr, from the unblemished hands of beloved Gurumaaji herself .

Call of the Heart
This opening track calls for utmost attention of the listeners as this can be the beginning on the path for those who are drunk with Love. Allah’s grace is being sought, as one who surrenders to the Lord will receive the bountiful shower of Bliss. While listening to it, pray that your heart opens up and hidden mysteries get revealed. (more…)

The other day, I translated my poem in Urdu written after the events of 27 December, 2007. It has been published by this blog. I am reproducing it here.

In this island of grief
Where all journeys stand directionless
Fragrant Roses adorn your image
And, We, your murderers, impotent accomplices,
Cast guilty shadows across this barren land

O, the gifted leader, that inimitable image
You had given a new meaning to resplendence
Dragging your worn feet
and covering your bare head
You had borne invective upon invective
And the half-dead people of this city
gaped at your strength

This was the murder of all my visions
And all my dreams cracked
as you entered hades*,
beneath the weight of roses

Though a grave shall unfold its fragrance
We the ashamed,
fighting our tears
holding the placards of our dreams
Will analyse, compose elegies

And the bleeding wound shall scar
all the paths
The moon shall keep waxing
As the illumining candles of your tomb
reveal an endlessly humiliated Yazeed**

There is just a little request
Enact another wonder
what the city of Yazeed could not do
Forgive those
Who could not forgive you
and pushed you over the edge of Euphrates***

And today,
locked in the mist of wistfulness
gripping their torn shirts
they search for their forsaken hearts

* the underworld kingdom in Greek mythology inhabited by the souls of the dead.
** Yazeed (645 – 683), the second Umayyad ruler who established monarchy and killed Husain and his family members, the grandson of Prophet Mohammad who had challenged the principle of rule without the consent of the ruled.
*** The location of the legendary battle of Karbala.

The Urdu version can be read below. (more…)

BOOK REVIEW: Investigating the China threat by Khaled Ahmed

The fact that Globalisation has been allowed to sink to the level of a darwinist race among the inward-looking developed economies and third world new aspirants, has imperilled the normal sanity of response

Will Hutton is a British writer, weekly columnist, a governor of London School of Economics, a former editor-in-chief for The Observer in London, and he fears that the US might extend its trigger-happy policies to its troubled economic and strategic relations with China. He thinks America and Britain are particularly vulnerable to this kind of recklessness after abandoning their historical commitment to the ideals of Enlightenment. He thinks China has pulled itself up as it was wont to do in history but is vulnerable to the pluralism its burgeoning economy would require in the days to come. He wants the West to wait for that internal development. (more…)

Junaid has sent this classic ghazal by one of the earlier, eclectic poets of Urdu language, Siraj Aurangabadi. The best part of his email is the translation by his relative – a Toronto based poet – Anis Zuberi. The translation is amazing as it delves into the deeper meanings of this great ghazal.

Anis Zuberi writes:

It is hard to translate classical poets. This ghazal of Siraj is like a flower, full of beauty and fragrance that one should smell and enjoy and not dissect. …Siraj Aurangabadi was one of the earlier poets of Urdu who came after Wali Dukkani. According to his biography for years, he was in a state of trance and used to remain naked. Khabar e-tahayyur-e-ishq is one of the his most famous Ghazals.

Khabar-e-tahayyur-e-ishq sunn, na junoon raha na pari rahi
Na toh tu raha na toh mein raha, jo rahi so be-khabari rahi

Learn oh absorbing love that neither the obsession (for the beloved) is left nor and the object (pari) of love survived. The only thing that is left is a state of self-unconsciousness: where neither you exist nor I exist. (more…)

I am grateful to Minos for sending me the link to this brilliant painting by Lapata. This is a fine composition with a dream-like quality depicting the three unfortunate but towering politicians of our times. And, this also brings together the South Asian dynastic hubris in a neutral, no-politics-in-your-face manner.

Wish I could get this one – hate this consumerist urge; but the struggle is pretty engaging as well. Let me also reproduce the few lines that introduce our accomplished artist:

Lapata (pronounced l¡h-putt-¡h), the artist’s takhallus, or alias, is Urdu for missing, or absconded, as in my luggage is missing,or the bandits have absconded.She also writes for the blog Chapati Mysteryand posts many of her paintings there. Lapata grew up in a family of artists in western Massachusetts, some whose work adorns the surfaces of chinaware and brightens up the waiting rooms of dentists offices, and others whose artistic output has found more select audiences.

It was Gulgee bad luck that he was murdered shortly before the country’s most popular leader Benazir Bhutto was assassinated. His sad end somehow receded in the memory of his compatriots, more so because the tragic death of BB was followed by a reign of looting and destruction. But all said, Abdul Ismail Gulgee, one of the very few titanic figures in this country’s history of visual arts, certainly doesn’t deserve to be forgotten even for a while. (more…)

Moharram reminds us of the Kerbala tragedy; and Imam Hussain’s (AS) refusal to submit to the autocracy of Yazid. This episode is laden with deep symbolism. Imam Husain and his faithful companions preferred to die on the banks of river Euphrates but did not submit to what was wrong.And what was wrong beyond the theological discourses. Hussain (AS) raised the voice of dissent against the emergence of the Empire and the Church in Islam. Hussain (AS) offered his life and that of his family and associates to resist the confiscation of the right of the Muslims to select their leader, to resist the emergence of the Empire and preserve Islam’s tribal egalitarianism against an emergent iniquitous economy.

My piece published in Today’s NEWS (more…)

For Bulleh Shah every symbol of living – spiritual and temporal -is Ranjha, the beloved!

The text and translation have been contributed by Shahidain

Haajee lok makkey nooN jaaNday
Meyraa raaNjhaa maahee makkaa
nee meyN kamlee haaN

meyN te maNg raaNjhey dee hoiyaaN
meyra baabal kardaa dhakkaa
nee meyN kamlee haaN (more…)

“Siavash Mahvis is a contemporary Iranian artist and a university professor. He owes his acquaintance with the world of line and design to realist artists. Daumier, the great French designer, has had a great influence on his mind.

He is fascinated by the bitter social humor and black, white, and gray relationships between the figures of Daumier’s design works. Daumier’s quick etching with a few sharp lines and powerful spots excite him a lot.

(more…)

A Spanish friend with Sufi leanings, Ignacio de Miguel Díaz, has sent two of his poems that are true from his heart and I would like to share them with other readers here.

Ignacio wrote this to me before he sent the poems:

I am interestesd mainly in mystical traditions (but not limited to religion.. I think it to be a personal thing and not a credence with hierarchical institutional organizations) and culture all over the world, trying to respect the spirit that Buddhism expresses as ‘my inner Budha recognises your inner Budha’, a communication based on empathy and comprehension of the other.I believe that’s the only way to live together and enjoy life, don’t you think? (more…)

Sand artist Sudarsan Patnaik creates a sand sculpture of Pakistani  leader Benazir Bhutto, following her assassination, at a beach in Puri, (more…)

By Hina Farooq

LAHORE: An exhibition of the South Asian Association and Regional Corporation (SAARC) students of the Beaconhouse National University on multi art was opened at the Alhamra Art Gallery on Monday.

As many as 23 artists from the SAARC countries participated in the exhibition titled Polytych. They picked various ideas and themes for their work. The art pieces displayed at the exhibition reflected the students creativity, representing their vision about the city and the surroundings that they came across during their stay in Lahore for a year. (more…)