i must offer my words of thanks and gratitiude. it was by a sheer chance tht i came by this blog yesterday. i was looking for some of allama iqbal’s snaps and got logged on. but it was sheer delight. today i also visited ur site of ghalib and it delighted me equally. the backdrop and the poetry togather is simply amazing. i lost my devan of galib long ago and the sight of his verses made my day.
munzer ik bulundee pur aur hum bana suktay
arsh say peraay hota kash kay makan apna
simply elating! its a pitty tht people are nt in touch wth the native litrature anymore. i bet they are missing on so much.so keep on the good work as its crutial.
thanx for taking us out of mundane

Raza – What a wonderful write-up. I could almost taste the mangoes and pomegrandaes! It brought a smile to my face and a yearning to make a trip home…

nice blog. really interesting.

This site is a treasure trove of information with so many dimensions to it. The mellow background sporting an amazing selection of paintings creates an ambience unique to this place. Keep up the good work, please and don’t forget to share it with us :–)

Best,

Asma Khan

Kucha Kakayzai
One small residential district in the walled city of Lahore, incidently is still well preserved . The early Kakayzais who settled in Lahore were Horse traders. They used a non-verbal, coded sign language to sell horses. This language is still used in many parts of Pakistan. There used to be atleast four wells of which only one is still intact. Small Shrines or rather remnants of shrines remain embedded in some corners of the streets of this Kucha , were presntly women and young children burn candles or oil
filled terracotta lamps”Diyas’. This clan women famous for taking up verbal fights across the street
sitting comfortably in ones home and still enjoying
the shouting and war like threats to the opposite household , the important cultural aspect of these
fights was the time management skills these women used in those times. At the time of the childrens arrival from schools they used a symbol of shutting down the fight by displaying a basket upside down
in the window. In this way they could take a break
and tend to the meals of there children and once the house hold chores were completed the verbal fights would resume and the baskets taken of the windows
Imagine such a tribe toady with codes and gestures to regulate daily life activities.

Just discovered your site…. I am very much interested to re-visit it in detail. There is so much more in it than I had expected. Congratulatins!
More later.

Keep up the good work.

Raza, your blog is becoming this enormous repository of amazing stuff — photographs, poetry, historical narratives, thoughtful opinion — about some of the things that matter most to me — India-Pakistan relations, Hindu-Muslim relations, Sufism, globalization’s impact on our heritage, for example. Even more important, I just don’t think there is a collection like this anywhere else on the Internet, and certainly not in any book or magazine.

I hope all of your materials are safely backed up somewhere. It would be a pity for there to be any kind of crash and for all this to be lost.

Salam!

Can you please telle me when Shah Shams Tabrez urs are in Multan?

Assalam o alaykum
Mr Rumi, i loved ur website it contain all tht i want, i want u to put more rumi’s poetry. Anyways, Jazak Allah and i really appreciate ur effort.:)

Thank you for your words of encouragement at terminal therapy. I am really glad to make your acquaintance and I can see that I will be able to learn and re-learn a lot from your blog.
Zobaria.

Hello,
I came across your website when I was searching for an image of Jehangir’s wine cup. It has been a pleasure to be here. Please keep it up!
Best wishes,
Meher

Dear Raza, This is my first comment, although
i have been a secret admirer since long. It is interesting to note the contrast between our two meetings; one atop Cocos cafe overlooking the grand Mosque and second far away in far east last month. But your sincerity remains the same. Khuda karey zor-ekalam aur bhi ziada. Write on my dear, and we travel with you. Best wishes, Sajid

My Friend,

Muslims are indeed “being demonised and some would say de-humanised”, as are Americans.

America is being demonized because of the utter stupidity of our current leadership. Who knows what further havoc they can wreak in the next two years?

Unfortunately, our current leaders do reflect the ignorance of the American public. It was so obvious that Bush was unread and knew nothing of the world, yet we elected him.

Muslims are demonized due to the horrid deeds of a few. Few bother to remember the Light that Muslims have cast upon this world. Few remember that, when the West was in its Dark Ages, the Muslim world was the only Light on this planet.

About 2% of America is Muslim. That does help us see the other side of the story a little. Furthermore, polls show that over 60% of Americans are dissatisfied with Bush.

I do think that Bush has damages America’s image in the world for the next scores of years. Likewise, I think the Muslim image is damaged.

There is no winner. Both have already lost.

Mike in Chicago.

Faraz: thanks for the comment. I visited your blog and left a comment. Am not sure if you saw it?

Mike: You have raised so many issues. The fractured identity remark was made in the global sense – the way Muslims are being demonised and some would say de-humanised. Your knowledge of South Asian history is impressive.

went through few of your posts, i am impressed, i like your balanced view and unbiased analysis on a wide range of subjects, I like both the content and the presentation.

please feel free to visit my blog: http://farazy.blogspot.com/