Life must be a living hell for the millions made homeless by the recent cyclone and floods in Pakistan. It reminds one of the horrible tragedy of October earthquake in 2006 that thousands are still trying to cope with. This is the time to pray and do all that we can for the victims of this natural disaster. Article here >>

I had posted a poem on Iraq - Halaku, when you will come to Baghdad this time; and today reading the piece by Simon Jenkins brought back that hollow feeling of irreparable loss and destruction of Iraqi civilization,ostensibly, by the ‘civilized’ world.

Full story here >>

Aggrieved by the recent sinister, senseless violence and brutal murders in Pakistan, this is my feeble attempt at poetic expression. I have also trans-created this Urdu poem below titled Adrift.

Jal gaya  tha ik roshniyon ka shaher
Bujh gaye kitnay jaltay aur adh-jalay chiragh
Magar kotwaal-i-shaher ne mur kar na dekha

Jism kis ka, khoon kahan aur maut kaisee?

Yeh qatl na tha dosto
Yeh qatl hai ik ehad ka
Yeh nohaa hai insaniyat ka

Insaniyat ka khatma karnay walay jantay nahee
Insaan marta hai – bhujta nahee

Ahle-hawas aur ahle-dil
Huay sab ke sab, aseer-i-shab-i-siyah

aur ham
roshniyon ke muntazir
bhujtey jugnoo-on ko dhoondtay
thakay haray

gharon ka rasta bhool gaye

Adrift

Once a city of lights, stands ruined
Lamps – lit and half-lit, all extinguished
And the guardians of the city, unmoved

Which body, what blood and whose death?

This was not a murder my friends
This was the murder of our times
A prolonged elegy of humanity

Those hell-bent on erasing humanity, are, unaware
Man dies but cannot be lost

The bleeding hearts and the hearts with no remorse
All trapped in the darkness of the night

And we the forlorn
Wait for the light
Attempting to seek dying fireflies
Tired, exhausted

Lost on our way home…

Thought of Shakespeare while being depressed with events in Pakistan.

When sorrows come, they come not single spies, but in battalions!

Zehra Nigah’s beautiful poem for an Afghan boy, a victim of the war that was waged in the name of world peace but that has brought more anguish and suffering for the ordinary people. This poem makes no overt political statement and yet is one of the best anti-war poems I have read in recent years. The erudite translation posted below is from The Little Magazine.

Full story here >>

I had recently posted a few verses from the last Mughal Emperor, Bahadur Shah Zafar. Read this story by Indscribe that spells a heart wrenching denouement to the dazzling Mughal Empire.

Full entry here >>

Delhi’s Red Fort was once a symbol of Mughal power and the myriad India was ruled for centuries from this fort. Full entry here >>

The warmth of people and the magic of old Dhaka overwhelms you. Having said that, Dhaka is bursting on the seams with a gushing sea of humanity, unregulated construction and traffic jams defining the urban ethos. Read article here >>

Someone sent me these lines that pay a befitting tribute to Bob Woolmer, the dedicated coach of Pakistan’s cricket team who died last week.

Full entry here >>

Came across the chilling works of Colombian artist Fernando Botero last night. A friend at Berkeley University forwarded me this link that led me to the moving images of the recent paintings by Botero called Abu-Ghraib

Botero, 73, is the modern master of Latin American art. His cheerful magical-realist paintings are well-acclaimed in the West and feature in major museums such as the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City.

Read more 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 >>