Mushairas in Delhi: Poets and Urdu couplets

Almost every day there is a grand 'mushaira' somewhere in the country apart from numerous small ones in the towns, however, Delhi being the capital plays host to a number of important mushairas.

The major mushairas in the national capital recently were organised by Urdu Academy, Anjuman Farogh Urdu and Aalami Urdu Trust-Ghalib Institute. It is still not rare to hear couplets that stay with your for sometime and can lift your mood instantly.

Eminent poet Shahid Meer is always a hit among the poetry aficionados and here he struck chord with auidence when he recited in his unique style.

KhamoshiyoN ko rakha hai mizaaj meN shaamil
Ham is tarah bhii hue ehtejaaj* meN shaamil [ehtejaaj: Protest]

Veteran Zubair Rizvi's ghazals and nazms were intense:

visaal paa gaye sab murshidaan-e-kuu-e-juunuuN
malaal ye hai ki dahliz-e-aashiqaaN bhii gayii

Saleem Shahzad's couplets were also liked, especially when his ghazal reached this couplet:

hamaari raah meN hai gar-che Kufa-o-Farat
pukaartaa hai magar shahar-e-Alif Layla bhii
[Kufa=Al-Kufah City, Farat=Euphrates river]

And what would you say about Iqbal Ash'har's couplet:

Use bhii Shah ne musaahib bana liya apna
Ek aadmii se tavaqqo thii lab-kushaii kii
[He, who was expected to speak up, also became the ruler's stooge and sewed his lips]

For decades Shahpur Rasool has been among the most innovative poet.

mujhe bhii lamha-e-hijrat ne kar diyaa taqsiim
nigaah ghar kii taraf hai, qadam safar kii taraf

Sironj-born Khalid Mahmood, who is today a big name in Urdu poetry, recited a beautiful ghazal. Andjustice can't be done to it by producing just a couplet here.

baRaa naadaan hai, bahkaa huaa hai
ye bandaa Khuld ka bigRaa huaa hai

Another veteran poet who is a master in his own right, Bashar Nawaz, avoid popular gatherings but whenever he does attend a mushaira, his presence brings gravity to the programme.

yahii chehraa, yahii aaNkheN, yahii rangat nikle
jab koii Khwaab taraashuuN, terii muurat nikle

Shams Ramzi, about whom Shair recently published a special issue, is a critic and poet in equal measure. One couplet alone can give you an indiaction of his poetic calibre.

farishto! aao merii darsgaah meN baiTho
bayaan-e-rutba-e-insaaN karnaa chaahtaa huuN

However, romanticism isn't dead either though Urdu poetry touches contemporary issues.

basii huii hai yeh kaisii khushbuu mujh meN
shaayad aa kar baiTh gayaa hai tuu mujh meN
[Shams Ramzi]

hazaaroN taare haiN terii hatheliyoN meN magar

tuu mere ghar se magar chaaNd kyuun churaata hai
[Shaista Yusuf]

ham to mustaqbil kii khaatir jab bhii sanjiida hue
zindgii ke masle kuchh aur pechiida hue
[Shahbaz Nadeem]

And a couplet that challenges the self-styled master poets' [read veterans or asaatiza] poetic imagination:

kohna-mashqi hi hasiiN sher kii zaamin to nahiiN
shaaKh-e-kohna pe bamushkil gul-e-tar lagtaa hai
[Irfan Jamali]

Some couplets evoke thunderous applause but are later forgotten. Others are jotted down and travel though emails and SMSs across the globe. You may not like the couplet which I find astonishing or a ghazal which you like may not appeal to me, as it depends on one's mood, mental state and certain other factors, however, poetry regales and relaxes at the same time.

Just a couple of months back, legendary Makhmoor Saeedi rendered a ghazal which brought tears to the eyes of the audience. And today Makhmoor is no longer with us. A few weeks back he also departed, leaving Delhi and Urdu poetry poorer.

bujh gayii dil ki roshnii raah dhuvaaN dhuvaaN huii
subah chale kahaaN se the, shaam hameN kahaaN huii

[Makhmoor Saeedi]

Empowering Eves or Elites: Will women's reservation work at ground level in India?

A woman who was fed up of running from pillar to post, just to get the certificate that she was poor, attempted suicide in Ashok Nagar when the nation was busy celebrating the International Women's Day.

For millions of poor Indian women [and men], these are the horrendous realities of life, which include corrupt officials not issuing BPL certificate and refusing to sanction widow pension [For those who may not be aware, BPL certification gets you basic commodities at a cheaper rate]. Even innumerable women working in Congress' scion Rahul Gandhi's pet NREGA scheme don't get their due wages.

I can't forget the sight of the woman who was in the final months of her pregnancy with certain complications and wanted to avail the government scheme for delivery as Caesarian [operation] costs Rs 20,000 at a private hospital and this amount she couldn't dream of depositing in her lifetime.

Daughters of Dynasties

Will the reservation of 33% seats help this section of women? I sincerely hope and prey that this should happen though I have my own doubts. Across the political horizon, the daughters of dynasties are ready to take over. They are educated and belong to elite section and have never faced what ordinary middle-class, lower-class or poor women face. And they perhaps can never realise the real issues or understand these daily struggles.

From Sharad Pawar's daughter Supriya Sule to Sunil Dutt's daughter Priya Dutt, from Agatha Sangama to ABA Ghani Khan Chaudhary's niece Mausam Noor, the list of the Elites* keeps growing. As more seats get allocated for women, on rotation basis, the 'MP-Patis [hubbies]' will be proxy MPs and the politicians' wives and other kin will take over.

The first lady who I incidentally met Women's Day was a 24 year-old-girl, who lives 24 km away from her office and can't afford to travel in taxi as her salary is just Rs 7,500. She is quite a middle-class girl but barely gets to save money as there is no transport.

If she comes by her two-wheeler, her salary will evaporate in a fortnight on fuel alone. In crowded three-wheelers that are full of molesters, it's a daily struggle. Yes, Delhi despite its notoriety has an infrastructure but rest of the Indian towns don't even have basic public transport and women have to squeeze themselves between men in three-wheelers, auto-rickshaws, vans and matador buses.

My only worry is that politicians are just getting too sophisticated. They are not coming from grassroots. They do care for making grand statements and increasing their perks but are disconnected from the real problems of the large section of populace.

Higher education, sophistication not the sole key

Too much is made of education. But in Indian system, you need a politician who understands who things can be done, someone who can't be fooled by secretaries, middlemen and bureaucrats, one who understands the pulse of majority.

He may not tweet but should know how bureaucrats fool citizens and siphon off funds. The *Elites who never travelled in buses, who have never been to municipal corporations, never stood in queues and have no idea about the difficulty in getting ration card or how long women wait at fair priced shops to get a few litres of kerosene, are now filling our parliaments and assemblies.

State is hiding poverty, taking poor to outskirts

The poor is just being shifted. We can't see him. If there is Commonwealth, the slums would be shifted. Across India, slums are dislocated as per whims, while skyscrapers built in gross violation of rules are allowed as their owners can afford to pay 'compounding' charges and penalties.

On the International Women's Day, the Upper House passed the Women's reservation bill and clearly a majority of women appeared overjoyed, which is quite understandable. I sincerely hope that women, who are not disconnected, get elected and I wish that they at least see for once the scramble for getting kerosene--the most visible sight in every Indian city.

Perhaps, they will have a realisation then. Channels don't show such things as they don't sell. We don't see them as clusters don't fall in our way and we have little time or because these women and children go and stand at such shops from as early as 5 pm. But that's the harsh truth.

No one in Indian politics speaks [or cares] about it. 'Educated' Men and Women care about education and forget that MBAs, BEs, MBBS degrees are no longer for the poor or the lower-middle class at all. Government hospitals are meant for just the poor and the vocal middle-class doesn't go there, so they are in shambles across India.

The Hypocrisy

"The Congress' leadership has always been drawn from the upper castes. The same is true of BJP and strangely enough the Left....There is a distinct possibility that upper caste women can use their female identity to apeal to women and transcend caste identities, a little bit like rich Muslim leaders of the Muslim League appealing to poor Muslims exclusively on religious basis, bypassing class considerations.", writes Jaithirth Rao in Indian Express.

"Many have argued that the women's movement in US has done a disservice to blacks. By combining issues of racial discrimination with issues of gender discrimination, the beneficiaries have been white women and this has been detrimental to African-Americans". "We have discriminatory laws, for instance, women pay less income tax than men.....If Congress-BJP-Left combine to push through this measure, I believe that the opponents will have a strong case to get it struck down by Supreme court", the article further says.

Politician from grassroots is needed

With due respects to Brinda Karat, we need women politicians who may not have directly reached Lok Sabha or Rajya Sabha, but such leaders who have at least won a municipal ward election so that they know what are the real problems of poor women & children [and men] in India.

As far as Muslim representation is concerned, the fact is that the less the Muslim MPs the better it is. Slavish Congress politicians and glamdolls are useless. Further, its non-Muslims who raise Muslim issues better. In the last six decades barely 14 Muslim women have been elected in the dozen-odd Lok Sabha elections.

The Congress is back to being a bully. The BJP simply played along and the poor arm-chair communists from JNU too happy to oblige. Mulayam Singh, Lalu Yadav and Ram Vilas Paswan would love it. Bihar polls are nearer and Ejaz Ali has arrived as the new 'fighter'.

MPs must have concern, social understanding

Whoever will be elected would surely keep getting their perks enhanced. In this case there is total unanimity in the Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha [as also Vidhan Sabhas or Parishads]. Lets hope that as more women get elected, at least some of them would come from the grassroots [chances are very slim, as only multi-millionaires can fight elections].

And some of them who get elected will have concern for the society. Concern, genuine concern. Kerosene, Widow pension, Destitute allowance, Public transport, Health are just a few things. Otherwise we will keep twittering, facebooking and blogging as usual. On this note, welcome the women.

Ashram Tragedy: Inefficient administration to be blamed, Media fails to fix responsibility for 63 deaths in UP's Pratapgarh

Just when TV channels and media are expressing outrage over the unfortunate murder of a three-year-old Indian child in Australia, the apathy towards fixing responsibility of local administration in the tragic death of 63 persons including 26 children shows how dumb we are as a nation, especially our middle-class that has pretensions of knowing everything.

The incident angers me because it reflects absolute failure of media, which not just failed in inform citizens as to who is the real culprit but instead goes ahead passes the buck on others including the hapless devotees.

The news channels didn't for once said that who is to be blamed for lack of arrangements at the Ashram, rather they was busy giving clean-chit to officials, even praising them.

For instance, a paper reported, 'Rescue operations took off quickly and the injured were rushed to the trust hospital in the vicinity. The district administration, too, made quick arrangements for the injured to be rushed to the primary health centre.'

In fact, I can't restrain myself further and must say that the reporting gave the impression that 'you poor devotees, you go to such places and you deserve to die'. And reports say that, 'Administration had not been informed by Ashram Authorities about the crowd'. This is the height of absurdity.

It was not a political event. Temples and mosques don't inform the police about devotees and the likely strength of the devotees on Tuesdays, Thursdays or Saturdays [Friday in case of Mosques]. And if the administration is not aware of the event, the top officials must resign.

Media keeps citizens ignorant about real fuctions and duties of the officials who are rarely held accoutable. In any case, the administration and police is always aware of all functions and crowded events in coming days. All journalists know that daily reports are prepared by local district-level intelligence, district administration, state intelligence and other government arms.

On the basis of these reports, the SDMs and the DSPs, their subordinates tehsildars and beat policemen are assigned task to manage the crowded places. The system is well-entrenched and in place for at least over 150 years. From the smallest administrative unit--the koTvaar [not kotwal], patwari, tehsildar, revenue inspector, up to SDMs and collectors, it's a complete hierarchy.

The state is not a joke. Arrange a small gathering at a public place or form a new society or group and you will come to know yourself. Local policemen will come and find out details. However, the state government and administration, having failed to ensure order, blame the Ashram and the case has been registered against the authorities.

The media hasn't put things in perspective. The Mayawati government should have taken action against the officials rather than simply registering a case against the Ashram and putting the blame squarely on Kripalu Maharaj's hermitage.

If I just quote from the Police Regulation, the duties of police clearly include arrangements at such public gatherings and fairs where they have to maintain a careful watch, ensure orderly arrangement and assist the Naib Tehsildar or other official deputed by the District Magistrate to oversee the arrangements.

The poor can't be faulted as they went to the Ashram where they expected to get laddoos, lota [utensil ]and Rs 20. You can't blame them for their devotion also. It's clearly the fault of the state, the administration and the society.

Celebritites lend support to campaigns in case of murder of one individual if he belongs to a particular class or section, but when dozens of poor die, no one speaks a word. Shan't an achor like Arnab Goswami take to task the officials who are to be held responsible for the deaths in Pratapgarh?

How can those who shout for hours over petty incidents, remain untouched by the sheer gravity of incident. No less than 26 children died! And if they don't care, then we surely have no moral right to call ourselves educated.

Read past stories on how Indian bureaucrats wield maximum power but shun all responsibilities.

Hoardings in Harmony: Hindu, Muslim billboards in India

Hoardings catch my eyes just like interesting posters, banners, wall graffiti and nameplates.

I just spotted the two hoardings, one of a religious function on the eve of Milad-un-Nabi and the other of a politico-cultural event.

The first is organised by Muslim organisations and invites for a Jalsa and subsequent Juloos [procession]. It is in Urdu and Hindi.


The other hoarding calls for a massive Hindu gathering. One can identify the man visible in the hoarding. He is Keshav Bali Ram Hedgewar, the founder of RSS or Rashtriya Swayamsewak Sangh.

RSS' core beliefs may not have changed but apparently there is a major difference from the Hedgewar or Golwalkar era. Now RSS leaders appear mild and no longer speak against Muslims [though VHP rabble-rousers do it now].

RSS functionaries sometimes attend Muslim conclaves and the ex-sarsanghchalak KC Sudarshan did interact with Muslim clergy, even taking up the cause of Waqf properties in the country, which had raised many an eyebrows.

None of the participants attending any of these events will go to the other programme but at least the hoardings stand together in perfect harmony.

Some other similar posts on this blog:

1. 'Hindu Motorcycle', Muslim Hand
2. Muslim Shop, Hindu God
3. Hindu Ascetic, Muslim Mystic
4. Hindu family taking out Tazia for 130 years
5. Chillas: 'Islamic shrines' in Deccan
6. Hindu Muslim prisoners hug outside jail
7. Is this man Hindu or Muslim?

Blame the Bureaucrat, not just Politician: Corruption of IAS officers' ignored in India!

Chhattisgarh cadre civil servant BL Agarwal is just one among thousands of civil servants in India, but his name hit headlines briefly when the Income Tax department found that he had at least 220 bank accounts and had amassed wealth and assets to the tune of billions of rupees, yes billions, not millions.

He didn't even have a 'reputation' of being an extremely corrupt officer unlike some other IAS and IPS officers. Still, he had accumulated so much unaccounted wealth in a tribal-dominated state where large section of poverty stricken populace barely gets to eat salt with roti, and nobody was bothered about his deeds until the recent raid.

Even after the disclosures, Agarwal's name hasn't appeared much in national media. Or for that matter the names of MP's IAS officers couple Arvind and Tinu Joshi who had Rs 3 crore cash lying in their house. Do you ever wonder why?

Had it been a politician with a few millions recovered, it would have caused anger and outrage. But neither IAS associations uttered a word, nor the citizens feel any outrage. Is it that we accept that it is the right of bureaucrat to earn money and rob this country?

Politician can be voted out, not bureaucrat

The fact is that a politician can be voted out, he can be blamed and even abused. Opposition parties make accusations and there is much criticism in media. The truth is that Indian politician's house is always open and people belonging to the MP's constituency goes to their house and is often served food and tea or their rail tickets confirmed.

Even if they don't do anything, they meet the people and give them assurances. The bureaucrat who gets to rule this nation without getting into limelight, remains aloof, has devised a system where there is never an onus on him and if there is something wrong then the politician will be blamed. The Indian bureaucrat is mostly elitist, arrogant and inaccessible.A corrupt bureaucrat can't be booted out by citizens and will remain in service for at least 30-35 years.

The suave English-speaking bureaucrat, specially the IAS and the IPS, is rarely targeted by media as well. Journalists--including those who wished to become IAS officers but couldn't make it to civil services and turned to journalism or those who aren't paid well, remain in awe of the officials. Unlike politicians who are considered unsmart and mostly rural. Most of the IAS officers at whose residence, raids yielded millions and billions, won't even to pay much for their sins.

No action on corrupt civil servants

In a couple of days everybody will forget it. They will fight cases and in any case they are not terminated or dismissed. The Chhattisgarh government didn't even appear in a mood to take action against Agrawal and it took many days for the Raman Singh govt to take a decision.

What followed was mere suspension. Most of these bureaurats will be back in offices in a few months, at the most their CR would be affected but they would remain in service, keep working as secretaries, principal secretaries, MDs and eventually retire and draw pensions.

In any case, the departmental inqurires are headed by the babus who are lenient towards their own. The cadre cameraderie is another unique factor among Indian babus. Ironically, the bureacrats are supposed to be less corrupt as they are educated, work hard to crack examination and claim in interviews that they want to do something for the poor by joining the services.

Corruption of civil servants harms the nation more

The truth is that the crime of the corrupt IAS officers is much more serious in magnitude than politicians. Those familiar with the system know that often it is the official who tells the Minister how to siphon off funds, how to plan schemes and bring fund only to misappropriate it, how to award contracts to own contractors through their own pointsmen [or dalaal] and how to avoid getting caught.

Mostly, the officials are smart and the ministers, MLAs or minor corporators-councillors get caught. It is not that the less educated politician is a saint. But the bureaucrat mostly shows the way. If the top babus--IAS, IPS and IFS officers are honest, there is no way the subordinate or the minister can bungle the funds.

No responsibility: Will remain in service for over three decades

Strangle, in our democracy, the real blood-suckers who drain this nation aren't identified. Citizens' anger is never directed at them. They never realise that because medicines are not available in hospitals despite huge funds coming from WHO and Centre, nothing is available because of this nexus.

Even in mishaps, mishandling of law-and-order cases, riots, terror attacks and other tragedies, the officers who fail to take action are neither held responsible nor taken to task. The example is 9/11 when media went after Shivraj Patil but couldn't point out the real failure of the bureaucrats who have been with the ministry for years and are in the real charge of affairs, ranging from policy making to intelligence.

Corrupt bureaucrat gives the mantra

The bureaucrat shows the way, the politician plays along. One wonders when there will be enough awareness in this country that citizens would learn to question the 'civilised robbers', question them, fight them and fix them. Channels will be busy with Shiv Sena-MNIK or Hindu-Muslim debates or Cricket-Bollywood, while this nation is being robbed by those who are supposed to be guardians.
 
They are responsible to a large extent towards how India is today plagued with bad infrastructure, corruption and misgovernance despite rich natural resources. Some IAS officers are no doubt honest and work sincerely but overall Indian bureaucracy is a huge letdown and has failed the nation more than any other group or section.

May be, it will take a century to develop a sense of democracy among us.