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THIS ABOVE ALL
Spreading the Guru’s message
Khushwant Singh
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Khushwant Singh
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I
met Inni Kaur the first time a month ago when Harinder
Singh brought her to my house. She was born in Kuwait to Sikh
parents and named Inni Dhingra. Her schooling and higher
education were in New Zealand and Australia. Then she went to
the US, married a fellow Sikh and is now settled in Fairfield,
Connecticut.
She is running
a public relations firm. She was single-minded in spreading the
message of Guru Nanak by delivering lectures and participating
in seminars on comparative religions.
She came to
India for the first time when she was in her sixties, to launch
a book on Guru Nanak. She met a kindred spirit in Harinder
Singh, who has undertaken to market her book, Journey With
The Gurus, illustrated by Pardeep Singh. It will make a good
Gurpurab gift for children. It has beautifully brought out some
of the text in the Gurmukhi script. I assumed that it had been
produced in India or America. I was in for another surprise. It
was produced in China.
A new voice
Inni Kaur delivers lectures and participates in seminars on comparative religions |
The name of
Feza Aazmi is new to me. He is an Urdu poet based in Karachi. He
sent me two of his books — Khaak Mein Soortain (Kissa
Aurat Ka), and its translation, To Dust Consigned (Elegy
on the plight of women) done by Hasina Sajun. I found both the
original and its translation highly readable and hope both books
will be available at Indian bookstores. I reproduce one poem in
translated form to whet your appetite:
In the
stillness of an autumn night;
Drenched in
droplets of falling dew;
Distraught by
the battle of life miserable;
By the hurt
painful;
Of human race
anguished;
By the woes of
mankind petrified;
In the solitude
of my courtyard;
As I sit
holding the cup brimful;
Of human
misery;
Images
bloodcurdling and gory;
Scenes of
heartrending brutality;
Stalk my
vision;
Tales of
unrelenting agony;
Pictures
ghastly of civilisations past;
Flash through
my dejected mind."
Breaking wind
Breaking wind
in public is regarded as bad manners the world over. Some
countries have undid it as penal offence. I quote the extract
from Afrik-News of Malawi and published in the February
issue of The Private Eye. "The release of intestinal
gas may be natural, but there just has to be some control",
Justice Minister George Chaponda told the Malawian Parliament in
Lilongwe. "We are determined to mould responsible and
disciplined citizens who do not foul the air, and to severely
punish idle and disorderly persons who behave in the wrong way.
"Under the
Local Courts Bill, farting in public will become a punishable
offence, as will the writing or uttering of naughty words, the
publication of false news, the telling of fortunes, insulting
the modesty of a woman, general naughtiness and refusing to bury
dead family members. "Local courts will be set up specially
to deal with these crimes, but civil matters will continue to be
handled by the magistrates." Opposition to the new Bill has
been led by John Tembo, a veteran member of the Malawi Congress
Party. "How can this government criminalise the release of
intestinal gases?" he enquired.
"Everyone
does that, even if it is in public. There is nothing wrong with
the present court system, and establishing these local kangaroo
courts is not good for democracy. We do not agree with this
Bill." Another MP added: "I had better hand myself
over to the police or something because I just this very second
fouled the air take priority over corruption amongst
legislators. I cannot understand this obsession with
farting."
However, there was widespread
support for the Bill, including one MP who observed that
"sometimes, breaking wind in public, or during a meeting,
can be a disturbance of the peace, and the accompanying sound
and odour can be most unpleasant."
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