THIS ABOVE ALL
Popular poet of his time
KHUSHWANT SINGH
Sad
news from Pakistan.
Ahmed Faraz is dying or dead. He was, or is, the leading Urdu
poet of his time and drew large crowds of poetry lovers in
Pakistan and India in mushairas. I had the privilege of
spending many evenings with him when I was in Islamabad the last
time. When in Delhi, which was often, he made a point to come to
my home and join me for drinks.
Faraz was a tall,
well-built, handsome, Pushto-speaking Pathan. He was born in
Nowshera in 1931 and studied Persian and Urdu in Peshawar
University. He took to composing Urdu poetry early in life. His
role-model was the revolutionary poet Faiz Ahmed Faiz. Like Faiz,
he fell foul with the authorities and was put in jail. Like Faiz
he had to flee his country for some years and lived in Europe
and Canada. And like Faiz and many other Urdu poets from Ghalib
down to Majaz, he became a hard drinker.
I recall while in
Islamabad, our High Commissioner Lamba took care that I was
never short of Scotch and had a bottle or two sent to my room in
the hotel every day. Faraz joined me in the evenings. I am a
moderate drinker. Faraz kept company with me. He had a curious
habit of dunking his cigarettes in whisky before lighting them.
Like Faiz he was also a chain smoker.
Ahmed Faraz has left a sizeable corpus of poetry, prose and drama now available in four volumes.
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Invariably after
sessions were over, he took the bottle still three-quarters full
to finish at home. The pattern was somewhat the same when he
visited me in Delhi. He was welcomed in many Indian houses and
won a great many hearts. On earlier visits he stayed with Zainab
Chauhan. Later, because of his many admirers dropping in to see
him at odd hours, he stayed at the India International Centre.
Amongst his devotees was the late Pushpa Dogra, who danced to
his compositions, Ritu Singh of Air India, whom he described as
Kohinoor, and Sadia Dehlavi, who had to foot his bill of the
centre.
He was the star
performer at Kamna Prasad’s annual Indo-Pak mushairas. His
visits became less frequent when he sensed the growing
intolerance of religious fanaticism in India. He never minced
his words in criticising governments or societies—Indian or
Pakistani.
At home in
Pakistan, one dictator followed another. General Zia-ul-Haq had
put Faraz behind bars. It did not silence Faraz. General Parvez
Musharraf thought it wiser to flatter him with a title and
perks. In 2004 he was conferred with the title of Hilal-e-Imtiaz.
He was later made chairman of the Pakistan Book Foundation with
a bungalow, office and car thrown in. For a while Faraz was
mellowed.
When his term
finished he refused to vacate his office or bungalow. He was
ordered to do so. He returned the honour conferred on him and
censured the government’s authoritarian ways. He was at his
best as a warrior fighting against odds. Although he said he
only wrote when inspired, Faraz left a sizeable corpus of
poetry, prose and drama now available in four volumes.
In India and
Pakistan his fame rests on the soulful rendering of his poems by
Mehdi Hassan. Perhaps the most popular of all is his Ranjish
hee sahee, dil hee duknaaney kay liye aa.
Another equally
popular verse is: Ab key ham bichchrey to shayad
kabhee khwaabon mein milein, Jis tarah sookhey phool
kitaaboon mein milein.
Prayer for
victory
Prime Minister
Manmohan Singh ended his speech in favour of the confidence
motion for his government with the stirring lines of Guru Gobind
Singh: Dey Shiva bar mohe hai, shubh karman tay kabhen na
taron (Lord Shiva, grant me the boon that I never hesitate
to perform righteous deeds).
For the benefit of
readers not familiar with the original, which is found in the
Guru’s Chandi Charitr (ode to goddess Chandi) of his Dasam
Granth, I give my translation in English:
O Lord, these
boons of thee I ask;
Let me never shun
a righteous task;
Let me be fearless
when I go to battle;
Give me faith that
victory will be mine;
Give me the power
to sing Thy praise;
And when comes
time to end my life;
Let me fall in
mighty strife.
Errant
husbands
What should a
woman do when she finds out that her husband is cheating on her?
Most would say "kick him out, leave him, sue him for
adultery and demand a huge alimony." Not so, writes Sonam
Kalra. In her lavishly illustrated book How to make your
husband’s mistress cry—the new rules of revenge, she
lays out a set of commandments in Biblical language how to ruin
the illicit liaison by resorting to mischief and enticing the
husband back to live in matrimonial fidelity.
Suggestions
include ringing up the fire brigade or the ambulance from a
public telephone booth, asking them to come immediately to the
place where her husband and mistress are up to no good. That
will put a damper on their illicit passion and the husband will
come home.
Sonam has a wicked
sense of humour. So has Prabhjyot, her illustrator, who portrays
her scantly clad men and women in as compromising positions as
censors of public morality will tolerate. In addition, the two
ladies have produced The naughty girl’s book of secrets—over
50 tips to make him pant for you. Both are amusing,
readable and permissible light porn, which will keep the reader
smiling all the way.
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