Mangos! the incomparable Pakistani delight
// July 3rd, 2009 // No Comments » // All, Misc, Pakistan
Oh how I miss those post dinner mango fiestas, ice cold water, cold juicy mangoes in the summer heat of Karachi. According to SG, the mangos alone redeem the Karachi summer. They now have a new convert:
It felt excitingly illicit, arranging for my brother-in-law’s supplier to include me in his latest score from the fields of Pakistan via the mean streets of Brixton, and certainly Tony had talked about the mangoes as if they had hallucinogenic properties. He even advised me on the best way to eat them. It is iredeemably suburban, apparently, to peel a mango. And forget the tired old advice that you should do it in the bath. Instead, the seasoned mango addict rolls his fruit vigorously on a flat surface, then cuts off the tip and sucks out the liquidised flesh. Crack mango, if you like..
Lo, in yon brilliant window-niche
How statue-like I see thee stand,
The agate lamp within thy hand,
Ah! Psyche, from the regions which
Are Holy Land!
-Edgar Alan Poe (To Helen), 1845
Tech: Free the future of the internet
// July 2nd, 2009 // No Comments » // Tech
Over at the FT’s blogs (which have perhaps the most apathetic readership on the internet, a comment is a true event) is a soggy debate over Chris Anderson’s new book Free: The Future of a Radical Price. Basic thesis (I havent read the book yet :): that the low marginal price of content delivery on the internet means that companies can, and must give away products. Either that, or :
Many internet companies employ freemium, from Skype, which charges customers to make computer-to-phone calls, to companies that charge for more versatile versions of software. Many of them, however, are still experimenting to see what, if anything, works.”
I agree, and this is actually the core of the book. When I refer to a “new economic model”, I’m not referring to slapping advertising against stuff, which dates back centuries. Instead, I’m talking about the underlying economics that allow Freemium to work. Freemium is the inversion of the traditional free sample. Rather than giving out few percent of your product away for free as marketing, hoping to sell the rest, you give away most of your product for free as marketing, hoping to sell to a minority. This is only possible in the online realm, where the marginal costs of production and distribution are close enough to zero to “round down.”
I know we all want to sell books – thankfully for Chris, we arent giving those away free yet- but slightly skeptical this is an unprecedented business model (despite the new web 2.0 compliant name). And its not ‘free’ if you are couching it in an economic vocabulary. Take skype: free skype to skype calls? sure, but thats because the traffic is routed over the internet directly to the other client. Free? not particularly, since you pay for the bandwidth. The illusion is perpetuated because superficially you arent paying the company that provided you the client, and THAT is because of competition, not low marginal costs as is Chris’ argument. Skype knows that software over the internet has such low barriers to entry, that if they dont do it – competition will pretty much automaticlaly bid down prices to zero.
Sky (here in the UK) provides satellite cable TV, and they are by far the largest player. The marginal cost of providing an additional home with the service IS next to zero (we ignore hardware, as above), but has that hasnt translated into them giving it away free precicely because that isnt the driver here. Its competition. And they have next to none.
To Ramona, Bob Dylan
// July 1st, 2009 // No Comments » // Music
Video from Dylan’s 1965 England tour.
Lyrics:
Ramona, come closer,
Shut softly your watery eyes.
The pangs of your sadness
Shall pass as your senses will rise.
The flowers of the city
Though breathlike, get deathlike at times.
And there’s no use in tryin’
T’ deal with the dyin’,
Though I cannot explain that in lines.
Your cracked country lips,
I still wish to kiss,
As to be under the strength of your skin.
Your magnetic movements
Still capture the minutes I’m in.
But it grieves my heart, love,
To see you tryin’ to be a part of
A world that just don’t exist.
It’s all just a dream, babe,
A vacuum, a scheme, babe,
That sucks you into feelin’ like this. Continue Reading
Ma zaey (pushto pre-requisute)
// June 30th, 2009 // No Comments » // All
Absolutely amazing, pushto song sung by the Afghan singer nashnas. Its pretty low on audio quality, and I have no idea whats going on with the camp video that this is dubbed over. I think the idea is to engender the atmosphere of tragedy (as in the greek tragedy) ;)
Hopefully after paimona, there will be a greater acceptence of pushto / dari music. If nothing else, think of it as ‘world music’.
Is this based on a hindustani raag?
Google Books – catalogue your home library
// June 28th, 2009 // No Comments » // Books
http://books.google.com/googlebooks/mylibrary/
A feature, which may have existed for a while – but I’ve just discovered on google books is the ability to add the books you already own to an online catalogue on google books.
Once done, and if google has already ocr’ed the book, you can search for content in your library (ie. from the actual text of the books). So if you cant remember where you read that recipe for mongolian yak milkshake, google could probably help.
Brilliant!
(Apparently you can also import your books by scanning the barcodes)
User generated ads
// June 27th, 2009 // No Comments » // All
It’s a brilliant Nokia ad – the sort of simple, well-executed idea that agencies charge six-figure sums for. Only this one wasn’t made by an ad agency – it was made by Hiroki Ono, a 23-year-old film student from Yokohama, Japan, who’d never made an ad before. The film, “Feel the globe”, took just two days to make.
via FT.com | Tech Blog | Spike Lee: With user-generated content, who needs ad agencies? .
Zeb and Haniya – Paimona at Coke Studio
// June 27th, 2009 // 2 Comments » // Music, Pak. Pop, Pakistan
Zeb and Hania are the upcoming duo from the NWFP that have been a bit of a sensation of late, with a reviews / mentions of their recent debut album plastered all over the pakistani interwebnet. So somewhat hard to miss.
Following a youtubing i conducted back then however, I decided their music wasnt really for me – its sort of this desi / jazz mix, which sounds, i suppose good on paper but in the practice with synthesised beats and not-so-sympthetic mixing sounded pretty tawdry.
In any case, which brings me to this post: Rohail Hayatt running the Coke studio, a funky CocaCola sponsored TV show that get pakipoppers revisiting their songs, in studio with sometimes interesting results.
Zeb and Haniya’s rehash of their Paimona, based on an Omar Kayyam rubbai is, to my ear far superior to the version they have on the album (which also included bits of pushto).
Give it a listen, a bit sacharrin at first but it really grows on you – and it helps that they appear to actually speak dari, so the accent is a lot more natural that desi renditions of farsi usually are.
and a youtube version with a (basic) translation
Update: appears the coke studio website has been hacked by anti capitalist protesters (its currently down). Particularly inane because what coke studio is doing, supporting pakistani musicians, particularly the traditional ones is actually attempting to correct a market failure of capitalism – its inability to adequately support art and culture.
The word saccharin has no final “e”. The word saccharine, with a final “e”, is much older and is an adjective meaning “sugary” – its connection with sugar means the term is used metaphorically, often in a derogative sense, to describe something “unpleasantly over-polite” or “overly sweet”. Both words are derived from the Greek word ???????? (sakcharon, German “ch” sound), which ultimately derives from Sanskrit for sugar, sharkara (??????), which literally means “gravel”
Dawn Editorial: Bank interest is not ‘riba’
// June 26th, 2009 // No Comments » // Articles
This is a very important point, and its good to see Dawn weighing in here. Many of the most exacting (and arguably detrimental) injunctions are generally potrayed as being cut and dried. Music, interest and so on.
On a purely logical point, the nature of ‘interest’ has changed dramatically. From usury that implied severe (often physical) trauma to modern interest and bankrupcy laws and debtor protection regulations that safeguard those in financial distress. This, to my mind means that equating the two is pretty disingenious.
And this also raises the point of whether companies, as merely legalistic entities (and thus, not facing any distress from default) really do need to abide by the same conditions at all?
PS. I havent read these as yet in any detail, but it seems the article cited in the editorial is this one, and a further google books result here.
The controversy about the permissibility or prohibition of bank interest started in the colonial times, in the 19-century onwards, when banking institutions came to the Islamic world.
The controversy first raged in Egypt. It is said that the Grand Mufti of Egypt, Muhammad Abduh, had permitted interest on postal savings though the fatwa issued by him is not available now. Today, many still ask if bank interest is prohibited in Islam. Most of the jurists maintain that it is not permissible, and Muslims should not accept interest on their bank deposits.
In the latter part of the 20-century many Muslim intellectuals came out with the concept of Islamic banking based on mudaraba and profit-sharing. A number of Islamic banks were started in Muslim and non-Muslim countries with a large Muslim population. Still the question continues to be asked if banking interest is permissible, and there is no unanimity of opinion on this question.
Yet, there are many Islamic scholars who feel that banking interest is not prohibited by Islam. Many modern commentators of the Quran also translate riba as usury and not as simple banking interest. From Pakistan Prof Fazlur Rehman, who had migrated to the US and taught at Chicago University for a number of years, wrote a very well-argued paper on the permissibility or otherwise of banking interest. He came to the conclusion that banking interest is not prohibited. Even those who do not agree with this view must read his article. It is very scholarly and based on original sources.
What is riba then? The Quran strongly condemns the institution of riba. It says, “Those who swallow usury (riba) cannot arise except as one whom the devil prostrates by (his) touch. That is because, they say, trading is only like usury. And Allah has allowed trading and forbidden usury. To whomsoever then the admonition has come from his Lord, and he desists, he shall have what has already passed. And his affair is in the hands of Allah. And whoever returns (to it) — those are the companions of Fire: there they will abide.” (2:275)
Continue Reading
Michael Jackson no more: Le Roi est Mort, Vive le Roi
// June 25th, 2009 // No Comments » // Music, Pak. Pop
“I hope history will be more kind to him” Rev Al Sharpton
The talented, eccentric Michael Jackson, who defined music in the era I was growing up, has of course tragically died today. Even as far away as Pakistan, in the 80’s and the 90’s (and to this day), his was a universally recognized name-and brand like no other. His moonwalk, appropriated by the rich and poor alike.
Perhaps if I’d lived through the days of the beatles or Elvis, I would have known something similar, but he was in his halcyon days unmatched in a way I’ve seen no other celebrity rival. Impossible then, to ever even contemplate his fall from grace, and tragic, sad death in near bankruptcy.
Et in arcadia ego.
And as signature showed in a recent Britan’s Got Talent (they made it to the finals), Michael Jackson and his dance still made for great copy:
PS: The ads on this page (served by google) are showing tickets available for his upcoming shows in London at the o2….
Continue Reading
Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan: nami danam che manzil
// June 25th, 2009 // No Comments » // Poetry, Qawwali
Nami Daanam Chi Manzil from Tasawwuf on Vimeo.
Nami danam chi manzil bood shab jaay ki man boodam;
Baharsu raqs-e bismil bood shab jaay ki man boodam.
Pari paikar nigaar-e sarw qadde laala rukhsare;
Sarapa aafat-e dil bood shab jaay ki man boodam.
Khuda khud meer-e majlis bood andar laamakan Khusrau;
Muhammad shamm-e mehfil bood shab jaay ki man boodam.
I wonder what was the place where I was last night,
All around me were half-slaughtered victims of love,
tossing about in agony.
There was a nymph-like beloved with cypress-like form
and tulip-like face,
Ruthlessly playing havoc with the hearts of the lovers.
Read the rest here: http://www.alif-india.com/love.html
Obama, a connoisseur of Urdu poetry. What next?
// June 25th, 2009 // No Comments » // Pakistan, Poetry
Even to the initially somewhat cynical, like me, Obama does have a way of growing on you. Undoubtedly due in no small part because of the sheer depth of experiences he has had, which makes him so interesting and multi-faceted.
I previously posted a snippet from his interview with Dawn, the major english daily in Pakistan. Apart from everything else he discussed, this was was the bit that the cognoscenti have picked up on most:
‘Any plan to visit Pakistan in the near future?’
‘I would love to visit. As you know, I had Pakistani roommates in college who were very close friends of mine. I went to visit them when I was still in college; was in Karachi and went to Hyderabad. Their mothers taught me to cook,’ said Mr Obama.
‘What can you cook?’
‘Oh, keema … daal … You name it, I can cook it. And so I have a great affinity for Pakistani culture and the great Urdu poets.’
‘You read Urdu poetry?’
‘Absolutely. So my hope is that I’m going to have an opportunity at some point to visit Pakistan,’ said Mr Obama.
Obama’s (admittedly tenuous) links to pakistan have been of mild interest to many, not least because, it ensures that he must therefore know that pakistanis, like, i suppose any country aren’t a monolithic entity, and that despite the news being hijacked by a rabid, crazy fringe – these nutters are indeed a minority. And the rest of us just want to get on with it, and delve in our own idiosyncrasies.
Ive been travelling pretty frequently recently, and I come across a number of people, who, once they get to know me a little better, obviously want to see what I make of the situation in that bit of the world that seems to get a new, more cryptic and dehumanised acronym everyday (crucible of terror, af-pak.. etc). And I suppose its an obligation on me to point out the obvious: we cant all be gargoyles.
But to the soundbytes like “they are a minority”, perhaps because of their abuse by politicans, almost inevitably lead to glazed eyes and a feeling I’m attempting to avoid the issue. Far better, is the subtly of Obama’s approach. Discuss literature, the arts and culture – even if only to contrast, and it would be a blind man who doesnt see that for each of us the tribulations, joys and wonders of life and living are pretty much the same.
Hath not a Jew eyes; hath not a Jew hands, organs, dimensions, senses, affections, passions; fed with the same food, hurt with the same weapons, subject to the same diseases, healed by the same means, warmed and cooled by the same winter and summer that a Christian is?
woah..
// June 25th, 2009 // No Comments » // All
experimenting with a new, minimalist look for the site.
I can now also directly add tweets! sweet! now to find a twit that can cram in something profound in 140 chars (because it sure cant be me)
Obama’s interview with Dawn Pakistan
// June 24th, 2009 // No Comments » // Bachelor's guide to cooking without Shan, Pakistan, Poetry
Experted below, bits of the discussion from Obama’s interview with Dawn, in which he (now famously on the interwebnets) revealed an interest in.. wait for for it.. keema, daal and urdu poetry. Good life! more of my rambles on dawn interview here
Mr Obama then explained how he plans to further expand the peace process he introduced in Cairo.
‘So what we want to do is just begin to open up a dialogue around which we can constructively work together to deal with significant issues,’ he said, acknowledging that ‘part one of those issues is the issue of the Middle East.’
Mr Obama explained that he has been ‘very aggressive’ in saying that Israelis and Palestinians have to resolve their differences and create two states that can live side by side in peace and security.
He said he also has put forward a special envoy, George Mitchell, a former majority leader of the US Senate, to work with the parties involved.
Raqib se – Faiz Ahmed Faiz
// April 15th, 2009 // No Comments » // All, Poetry
Faiz’s seminal ‘raqib se’ (ie. to the competing suitor), which in some ways turns on its head the traditional, somewhat belligerent (or completely resigned) air of such poetry with a subtle melancholy that glimmers with a sparkle of hope
Listen to Noor Jahan’s unplugged rendition, with the transliterated text of the full poem appended below.
aa ki vaabasta hai us husn ki yaadeN tujhse
jisne is dil ko pariiKhaana banaa rakhaa thaa
jiski ulfat meN bhula rakhii thii duniaa hamne
dahar ko dahar ka afsaana banaa rakhaa thaa Continue Reading
Ahmad Faraz
// February 13th, 2009 // No Comments » // Poetry
Ye kaisa vasl hai tu samnay hai aur hamein
Shumar ab se judai ki saa’tain karni
Ye kya ke sub se bayan dil ki haaltain karni
Faraz tum ko na aayain mohabattain karni
Phir koi aaya? Faiz
// October 1st, 2008 // No Comments » // Music, Pakistan, Poetry
Perhaps somewhat appropriate for a blog as regularly updated as this…
Tum aaye ho na shaab e intezaar..
// July 6th, 2008 // 1 Comment » // Music, Poetry
tum aaye ho na shab-e-intazaar guzarii hai
talaash me.n hai sahar baar baar guzarii haijunuu.N me.n jitanii bhii guzarii bakaar guzarii hai
agarche dil pe Kharaabii hazaar guzarii hai
Continue Reading
the more things change
// April 13th, 2008 // 4 Comments » // Poetry
tarq e raah e rasm o junoon kar hi chuka tha
kyun aagai aiisay mein teri larzish e pah yaad
The painted veil – Shelly
// December 6th, 2007 // 1 Comment » // Poetry
Lift not the painted veil which those who live
Call Life: though unreal shapes be pictured there,
And it but mimic all we would believe
With colours idly spread,–behind, lurk Fear
And Hope, twin Destinies; who ever weave
Their shadows, o’er the chasm, sightless and drear.
I knew one who had lifted it–he sought,
For his lost heart was tender, things to love,
But found them not, alas! nor was there aught
The world contains, the which he could approve.
Through the unheeding many he did move,
A splendour among shadows, a bright blot
Upon this gloomy scene, a Spirit that strove
For truth, and like the Preacher found it not.
Shelley
Sahir Ludhianvi
// October 28th, 2007 // 1 Comment » // Music, Poetry
An interesting poem by Sahir with an meter that is reminiscent of Ghalib’s very lyrical style, but somehow also reminds me for some reason of Momin Khan Momin’s, kabhi hum bhi tum bhi..
Sung by Mohd. Rafi for Guru Dutt’s pyaasa – Indian cinema at its very acme, as it straddled the best of its own past and present..
ta.ng aa chuke hai.n kash-ma-kash-e-zindagii se ham
Thukaraa naa de.n jahaa.N ko kahii.n bedilii se hammaayuusii-e-ma’al-e-mohabbat naa puuchhiye
apano.n se pesh aaye hai.n begaanagii se ham[ma'al=consequence]
lo aaj hamane to.D diyaa rishtaa-e-ummiid
lo ab kabhii gilaa naa kare.nge kisii se hamubhare.nge ek baar abhii dil ke val-vale
go dab gaye hai.n baar-e-Gam-e-zindagii se hamgar zindagii me.n mil gaye phir ittafaaq se
puuchhe.nge apanaa haal terii bebasii se hamallaah re fareb-e-masahiiyat ke aaj tak
duniyaa ke zulm sahate rahe Khaamoshii se ham[masahiiyat=God's will]
ham Gam-zadaa hai.n laaye kahaa.N se Khushii ke giit
de.nge wahii jo paaye.nge is zindagii se ham
Shibuya’s desi
// October 28th, 2007 // No Comments » // Photographs, people
Plugging an Indian restaurant in Shibuya, Tokyo.
Lunch is for wimps..
// September 16th, 2007 // No Comments » // Misc
The point is, ladies and gentlemen, that: Greed, for lack of a better word, is good. Greed is right; greed works. Greed clarifies, cuts through, and captures the essence of the evolutionary spirit. Greed, in all of its forms, greed for life, for money, for love, knowledge — has marked the upward surge of mankind ..
Gordon Gekko, from Oliver Stone’s gritty portrayal of Wall Street and the world of the 1980s corporate raiders in in, Wall Street.
Kis se puchein hum nein kahan.. Begum Akhtar
// April 28th, 2007 // 2 Comments » // Music, Poetry
kis se poocheiN humm ne kahaaN wo chehra-e-raushan deikha hai
mahfil mahfil DhooNdh chuk’e haiiN gulshan gulshan deikha haikisko deikheiN kisko na deikheiN phool bhi haiN kaliyaaN bhi magar
jis se lagaai aaNkh usi ko dil ka dushman deikha hairang-e-bahaar-e-subh-e-gulistaaN kya deikh’e wo deewaana
jis ki nazar ne eik hi gul meiN saara gulshan deikha haiahl-e-wafa ke Khoon ki chheeNTeiN dooR tak uRhkar jaati haiN
meira taRhapna deikhnewaal’e apna bhi daaman deikha haiaaj unheiN jo chaah’e samajh lo warna yahi Taskeen* haiN jinheiN
kal tak humm ne koo’e butaaN meiN Khaak ba daaman deikha hai
I love how Akhtari Begum was able to infuse this this pondering, unhurried pace to ghazals, so it never seems like its rushing past you. Wonderful stuff.
Insha jee aab uttho..
// April 17th, 2007 // No Comments » // All, Pakistan, Poetry
Ibn-e-Insha’s poem, insha jee aab uttho, which saw the three men most closely associated with it (the poet and both Amanat Ali Khan and his son, Asad Amanat Ali Khan, who rendered it widely) die untimely deaths has been placed in a somewhat macabre context and its hard to shake of tang of irony as you read it..
Insha jee utho ab kooch karo, iss shehar maiN jee koe lagaana kya
Vehshee koe sakooN say kya matlab, jogee ka nagar maiN thekaana kyaPher hijar kee lumbee raat yahaN, sanjoog key toe bus aik ghaRhee
Joe dil maiN hay, lub par Aanay doe, sharmana kya, ghabrana kyaIss dil kay dareeda daaman maiN, dekho toe sahee, socho toe sahee
Jiss jholee maiN saw chaid hou’ay uss jholee ka phelaana kyaShub guzree, chaand bhee doob gaya, zanjeer paRee darvaazay par
KyuN dair ga’ay ghar Aa’ay hoe, sajnee say karo gay bahaana kyaRehtay hoe joe hum say door bohat, majboor hoe tum, majboor bohat
Hum samjhoN ka samjhaana kya, hum behloN ka behlaana kya
Jub shehar kay loag na rasta daiN, kyuN bun maiN na jaa bus raam karaiN
DeevanoN key see na baath karay toe aur karay deevaana kya
Source: http://www.paklinks.com/gs/archive/index.php/t-156651.html
In Urdu: http://www.personal.kent.edu/~rmuhamma/Personal/Urdu-Ghazal/Insha/cooch.gif
The last couplet is particularly good, DeevanoN key see na baath karay toe aur karay deevaana kya…
More on Asad Amanat Ali Khan (including videos) here: pakistaniat.com
A couplet from Manaqib Ali, as sung by Nusrat Fateh Ali
// February 18th, 2007 // 1 Comment » // Poetry, Qawwali
Khushk taar o khushk chob o khushk post
Az koja mi ayad in awaaz e dost
Nai ze taar o nai ze chob o nai ze post
Khud bakhud mi ayad in awaaz e dost
Singing strings, vibrant wood, throbbing drums
Whence comes the voice of the Beloved?
Not from strings, not from wood, nor from drum
Of Himself comes the voice of the Beloved
Thanks to Mufti for finally tracking this down and contributing.
