Subversive Ideologies: A Parallel between Mukhtari Mai and Hallaj

This:

http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=story_25-3-2005_pg3_3

might be stretching it, but it is educational; especially in what it does to provide background on the link between those of the Sufi way (Tasawwuf, Sufism) and its role and power to, as the old slogan went, subvert the dominant paradigm.

B'land Follow-Up Part Deux

As a follow-up to the entry about Balochistan last month (http://ifaqeer.blogspot.com/2005/02/war-crimes-rape-honor-and-being-pure.html), I reported a few days ago that the Grand Vizier of the Islamic Republic hisself was getting into the act:

http://www.geo.tv/main_files/pick_prog.cfm?page=pakistan.aspx&id=70779

Now we hear that the suggestions coming from one part of the establishment are acceptable to the biggest kahuna in Balochistan:

http://www.geo.tv/main_files/pick_prog.cfm?page=pakistan.aspx&id=71223

And that even the Ameer-ul-Momineen of the Enlightenment may deign to get involved:

http://www.geo.tv/main_files/pick_prog.cfm?page=pakistan.aspx&id=71224

Pakistan Day...and other forms of patriotism

One of the mailing lists I am on, I got a "Happy Pakistan Day" from an Indian earlier in the day. Here's my reply:

Thank you.

Pakistan Pa'indhabaad!
(which loosely translates to "Pakistan For Ever!")

Or as we used to say in Pakistan, God Bless Pakistan--and please hurry!

I've always felt it helps to understand countries and their people by how they came into being; the nature of their formation. Thus:

• The US is a frontier state and still often behaves like a frontier town and often both the nation and individuals will behave out of a sense of justice and fairplay that others would call taking the law into their own hands. And where everyone is fiercely independent and won't brook you getting into their bidness--yet total strangers will stop and help you if you need help in the street...or try to con you into paying them to change your tire. (As happened to me once on 8th Avenue and about 20th street in Manhattan.)
• India is an ancient culture. And cultures are beautiful; cultures have rules...rules that don't have to make sense, rules that can't be questioned, rules that just are.
• Pakistan, on the other hand is a dream; a dream our grandfather's generation saw. A dream of a place where things would be perfect for a community and everyone would live out their lives to their full potential. But then, some crazy sh#$ can happen in dreams. And in the way things really turn out when dreams come true ;)

Speaking of Literature...

I had the honour of speaking about one of Urdu's popular poets in the 20th Century weekend before last, Sahir Ludhianvi. Sahir is the author of Talkhiyaan, a lot of Bollywood's most memorable lyrics, including, for example the poetry used in the movie Kabhi Kabhie. He also wrote one of the most famous and interesting comments on the Taj Mahal; a poem that ends with the quatrain:

Yeh chaman zar yeh jamna ka kinara yeh mahal
Yeh munaqqash dar-o-deevar yeh mehrab yeh taaq
Aik shahanshah nay daulat ka sahara lay ker
Hum ghareebon kee mohabbat ka uraya hai mazaaq

[I'll find a translation I did of this and post it here]

A web page devoted to the event is at:

http://ifaqeer.blogspot.com/2005/03/speaking-of-literature.html

You can read the Press Release and a transcript of my speech (transliteration, actually; the speech was in Urdu, the transliteration is in the Roman/English script) on the "Urdu ke Naam" blog:

http://urdu-ke-naam.blogspot.com/2005/03/sahir-ludhianvi-remembered-on-his-83rd.html

and my speech, as written, at:

http://urdu-ke-naam.blogspot.com/2005/03/address-at-yaum-e-sahir-in-milpitas.html

B'land follow up

As a follow-up to the entry about Balochistan last month (http://ifaqeer.blogspot.com/2005/02/war-crimes-rape-honor-and-being-pure.html), it seems like the Grand Vizier of the Islamic Republic hisself is getting into the act:

http://www.geo.tv/main_files/pick_prog.cfm?page=pakistan.aspx&id=70779