The Organic brew; pakistan, photography, qawwali, poetry & a general acerbic sentiment.

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 kya

Pher hijar kee lumbee raat yahaN, sanjoog key toe bus aik ghaRhee
Joe dil maiN hay, lub par Aanay doe, sharmana kya, ghabrana kya

Iss dil kay dareeda daaman maiN, dekho toe sahee, socho toe sahee
Jiss jholee maiN saw chaid hou’ay uss jholee ka phelaana kya

Shub guzree, chaand bhee doob gaya, zanjeer paRee darvaazay par
KyuN dair ga’ay ghar Aa’ay hoe, sajnee say karo gay bahaana kya

Rehtay 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

Odd, perhaps, that a photograph from Soho doesn’t feature any people at all (actually, thats not strictly true, if you look carefully). But what struck me was precisely how out of place this well scrubbed, well lighted and quite empty little alley was in comparison to its surroundings..

Hairat Se Tak Raha Hai Jahan-e-Wafa Mujhe
Tum Ne Bana Diya Hai Mohabbat Mein Kya Mujhe

Har Manzil-e-Hayaat Se Gum Kar Gaya Mujhe
Mud Mud Ke Raah Mein Woh Tera Dekhna Mujhe

Kaif-e-Khudi Ne Mauj Ko Kashti Bana Diya
Hosh-e-Khuda Hai Ab Na Gham-e-Nakhuda Mujhe

Saqi Bane Huye Hain Woh “Sagar” Shab-e-Visaal
Is Waqt Koi Meri Kasam Dekhta Mujhe

Poet - Sagar Nizami

Composer - Master Madan

Singer - Master Madan

The Fulfilled World Is Staring At Me In Wonder
In Love What Have You Reduced / Transformed Me Into

From Each Destination of Life I Was Rendered Distracted
Your Oft Turning And Your Glancing At Me On The Road

The Charm Of Ego Has Turned The Wave Into A Boat
I Am No Longer A Boatman, Now I Sense The Almighty God

Sagar, On The Night Of Union, He Has Adorned The Role Of Bartender
At This Moment I Swear on Myself That Someone Would Have Looked At Me

Phenomenal rendition by Master Madan, the child virtuoso who was poisoned (allegedly by a jealous fellow singer at All India Radio, who added aresenic to his daily glass of milk) when he was only 14, leaving behind a handful (7, I think) of recordings. But they proved to be more than enough to immortalise his talent.

Hazaaron saal nargis apni be noori pe roti hai
Badi mushkil se hota hai chaman mein deedawar paida

-Iqbal

Yes, indeed - the great OB was down again over the past week. Both of the outages (and the loss of the posts) was due to a shaky host. I’ve learnt my lesson, and moved to a more reliable (and more expensive!) host, this should, I hope, mean that no man shall be deprived, even for the most infintestimal of moments, of the pleasure of reading our potent narratives on humanity.

Rejoice!

Mohan Roy is of course famous for the Brahmo Samaj, more on Guru Wiki (although the Brahmo Samaj post doesnt quite do them justice):

Ram Mohan Roy

Brahmo Samaj

KO on the Houbara Bustard hunting parties in Pakistan & our shameless obsequious panderings to the Arabs.
KO :: Hunting with the Sheikhs

Daily Times - Site Edition
There was once a small but vibrant community of Jews in what is now Pakistan. Most of them left Pakistan decades ago in circumstances that were not comfortable for them and a matter of some shame for us

A facinating and slightly sadenning account of Pakistani jews- reflect as it does the slow erosion of pluralism and tolerance that was a hallmark of the societies that directly proceeded ours.

Having heard of it some time previously, I tried to look up the Karachi Magain Shalome synagogue; but, as the article informs us that was pulled down some time ago. There exists a jewish cemetery in the area though apparently, and it might be interesting to go and document that - before bloodthirsty ‘developers’ build another ’super delux’ shopping plaza “like city center dubai”.
Whilst on the subject - I found Paul Kriwaczek’s book In search of Zarathustra to be a facinating account, not only in terms of putting Zarathustra’s (Zoraster) ideas in context, but also because Paul explains in some detail the link between ideas first seen in Zoraster’s teachings and their eventual inclusion in Jewish thought, which in turn formed the framework for all Abrahamic religions. Plus personally, I’ve always found Judaism and Zorostrianism very intruiging and facinating religions. I dont know why, perhaps its the fact that they dont allow conversions which has allowed them to evolve such a distinctness of culture and identity not all of which is just about the religion, but I suppose more athropological.

What I did find somewhat inexplicable is how dismissive Kriwaczek remains of modern day Parsis being a window into the life of the Prophet they follow. He in passing ascribes this to the fact that Parsis retain only a reconstruction of the religion after the wealth of its knowledge was snubbed into the ground when Alexander sacked Persepolis.

See Wiki for more on Persepolis - including a 3d reconsruction.

Here we go again, the government gives in to foaming-at-the mouth mullahs once again; and sates (temporarily) their hunger for the killing of all forms of (non-violent) joy in Pakistan. I guess we should just learn our lesson and circumscribe entertainment to burning KFCs and roasting motorcycles.

BBC NEWS | South Asia | Kite flyers arrested in Pakistan
Kite flyers arrested in Pakistan

Come, come, whoever you are.

Wonderer, worshipper, lover of leaving.

It doesn’t matter.

Ours is not a caravan of despair.

Come, even if you have broken your vow a thousand times

Come, yet again, come, come.

If you do find it in the orginial Farsi, do post it here.

» Blog Archive » naqsh fary?d?

naqsh fary?d? hai kis k? shok?h?-e tah?r?r k?
k??ha?? hai pairahan har paikar-e tas?v?r k?about

whose mischievousness of writing is the image/painting a plaintiff?
of paper is the robe of every figure of the picture

IMPAK this year will be running a volunteer effort in areas affected by the earthquake in Pakistan. The’ve been doing some very interesting work - and if a summer in Pakistan sounds like something you would be interested in, I would check out their website at www.impak.org

Faiz ki yaad mein is for all Faiz buffs the ultimate compendium of Faiz Sahib’s poetry rendered by the some great Ghazal singers; Mehdi Hassan, Farida Khanum, Iqbal Bano.

I’ve recently rediscovered the CD and listening to Faiz’s inimitible style sung, inimitably by these Ghazal maestros always moves me.

Two of my favourites of Farida Khanum are:

shaam-e-firaaq

shaam-e-firaaq ab na puuchh aaii aur aake Tal gaii
dil thaa ke phir bahal gayaa, jaa.N thii ke phir sambhal gaii

bazm-e-Khayaal me.n tere husn kii shamaa jal gaii
dard kaa chaa.Nd bujh gayaa, hijr kii raat Dhal gaii

jab tujhe yaad kar liyaa, subha mahak mahak uThii
jab teraa Gam jagaa liyaa, raat machal machal gaii

dil se to har muaamalaa karake chale the saaf ham
kahane me.n unake saamane baat badal badal gaii

aaKhir-e-shab ke hamasafar ‘Faiz’ na jaane kyaa hue
rah gaii kis jagah sabaa, subha kidhar nikal gaii

Jinaah Hospital, Karachi
July 1953

This is a gem, Faiz Sahib’s beautiful, but still somehow sad imagery, and Farida Khanum’s soulful ’spartistic’ rendition, that seems so relevant to the ashaar.

Chaand nikale kisii jaanib

chaa.Nd nikale kisii jaanib terii zebaa_ii kaa
rang badale kisii suurat shab-e-tanhaa_ii kaa

[jaanib = direction/side; zebaa_ii = beauty; shab = night]

daulat-e-lab se phir ai Khusrav-e-shirii.n-dahan
aaj rizaa ho ko_ii harf shanaasaa_ii kaa

[lab = lip; Khusravii = regal/royal; shiirii.n = sweet; dahan = mouth]
[rizaa = order/approval; harf = letter/word; shanaasaa_ii = acquaintance]

diidaa-o-dil ko sambhaalo ki sar-e-shaam-e-firaaq
saaz-o-saamaan baham pahu.Nchaa hai rusvaa_ii kaa

[diidaa-o-dil = sight and heart; baham = togetehr/with one another]

Source: http://www.urdupoetry.com/faiz.html