evening (revised) and dha mosque

an evening by the sea shore
time, tide, child
forever move forward
delete tide
it comes forward, recedes
delete child too
child grows old
then turns child again
journeying from one womb
to another
is that moving forward?
that leaves time all alone
as the straggler at the fair
wandering alone when
everyone has left the grounds
time - ever in short supply
we have aplenty
seemingly

***
musjid tO banadi pal bhar maiN....

Expansion of Sea View mosque
in accordance with Sharia: DHAdL wrote: The Brit Desi is an odd creature. Similar to the North American version at a very basic level in the sense that they are all immigrants. But beyond that they seem to have evolved into complex disparate societies. The pull of home on first generation Pakistani’s (can’t comment on South Asians as a whole) seems a lot stronger in Britain - maintained no doubt by the insular set ups around mosques - schools - communities that they have established. In the immortal words of a Pakistani Embassy employee "hum ney to apna chota sa pakistan banaya hua hay ... yehean tak key paan bhi nahien ch’hora". And the final insult was the chappie who came back to his desk ... to a beeping fax machine. It had just churned out a whole application including passport copies. The chap picked up everything ... waved it in the air ... called out "fax fax aya ... kissseee ka hai" . This to a room populated by just two waiting individuals ..... then chucked the whole pile into the bin .... and calmly went back to a remarkably strong smelling lunch.

I have no issues with the lunch ... or the paan ... but in the "rarified" environs of grosvenor square it jarred ... just a little.

What it does is make you wonder about the definition of civilization. What is it that makes the madness that defines our cities not so civilized ? Who decided spitting paan or refusing to queue is not quite civilized ? And what is it that makes places like chandni bar, southall seem odd in england ... maybe if we were chinese, we’d find china town which no western city seems to be without equally odd ...

and why does it seem odd and slightly sad when 40 (or any other) something desis sit around throwing fivers at delectable young things ... maybe because we know how hypocritically conservative they are in the sacred environs of their own homes ...

***
dL:

...imho it all boils down to responsibility... for brevity’s sake would you allow me to use one word desi to describe all south asians?...the desis display this innate sense of responsibility which is uniquely locale based...as if something in the ground they are standing upon triggers their behaviour pattern...

but first let me tackle responsibility...

* it is a behaviour pattern cognizant of consequences
* it is inculcated and bred through familial & cultural conditioning
* once cultivated and grown it should not change (ok this needs to be qualified...but you get the drift?)

notice the irony in the bold up here?

the desis disobey and break minor laws ( e.g traffic violations) in desiland without any impunity...and yet the moment they are in a land with better regulated laws they fall in line and most of them become good corporate citizens...hence my illusion earlier to locale based sense of responsibility...

and now in context of the execution of this responsibility by the desis ...am veering between dichotomy and dilemma...the one you captured so well in the embassy clerk:)...(will stay away from tackling the civilisation bit for now)...the dichotomy bit have already outlined earlier wrf to locale based sensibilities...

and...the dilemma...that could be a manifestation of the severe identity crisis...(now i will further narrow down the definition of the desi to mean the pakistanis...the indians would have to come up with their own rational for their aberrant behavior;))...following a religion that they have been told is the key to here and hereafter...and how glorious it is they fail to see any manifestation of it around them...what they see is mere lip service paid by everyone around them...and real worldly success eludes the true believers...and the more disillusioned they become...instead of pulling themselves up by the boot-straps they are advised (almost) to give up...to pray...as if naozobillah Allah is a fool who would tolerate this....so back to the dichotomy...they mean to be good...a good father/husband/muslim whatever...yet cannot give 100 % effort required...so as you pointed out they pretend to be what they aren’t...good...in places where they can act it out without effort...citing dogmas...home mostly, social settings, mosques...and when they do not want to pretend...then they find outlets...

(notice, i had a hard time resisting using the said person following the said dictum said this or did that;))

...what the clerk did in the pristine ( am sure) surroundings of the embassy block...or what desis do at halal wedding receptions...yes, halal food, and no no liquor to be served...and their intermittent rush to the parking lot...with one car serving as the dry-bar...or the begumaat in karachi sipping drinks from tea cups so as not to violate some obscure sensibilities...somebody please stop me...

dichotomous detrimental dilemma ..what else?

***

another sms snippet
t: how r u
cc: theek hooN, aap?
t: chirpy
cc: i knew that
t: how?
cc: am psychic u know
t: yes, i forget;)
cc: ah well, i’m more clever than psychic
t: (puzzled look icon)
cc: and more charming than clever
t: and more chalaakoo than...
cc: no, more graceful than charming
t: did i mention the valve?
cc: yes dear you did to that guy;)
t: (she took the hint)
cc: (what does he take me for)
t: you are quite chirpy too
cc: same sun, same shine here too:)
t: aur kya
cc: u were confrontational on saad board
t: i liked most of his observations except that one sentence but he was gracious
cc: women do get shafted everywhere
t: :)
cc: you snickering?
t: you could have chosen another word
cc: (clenching teeth)
t: look, i do not know about this particular place...but most bars in india are just a front
cc: (he thinks i am naive)
cc: u heard from nawab
t: no, been a while
cc: subroto must’ve dispatched him to the dog house
t: perhaps, he has a cat too
cc: begum?
t: perhaps
cc: gtg
t: cya


***

guilt
guilt driven deeds
momentary relief
irreversible fissure

nidamat
izhar e nidamat
waqti tashaffi
daimi tishnagi

***

yeh kya kya zaalim nay dost bhee m’ray
dushmanON ki tarah muskuranay lagay

***

vain thought
if that
moment
returns
then…

fuzool khayal
gar woh
lamha
lO’tay
tau…..

***

She wears the hijab but says it’s not Islamically mandatory, a position augmented by a big majority of Muslim women in Indonesia, indeed around the world, who don’t don it and feel no less Muslim.

She wants polygamy banned, and also "contract marriages," which give a religious patina to short-term relationships that, inevitably, involve poor women.

She says men needn’t be the legal guardians of women over 21.

***

Beyond the basics of faith, Mulia says, most laws affecting women are man-made. "None of it came as a fax from heaven."

Her campaign against polygamy, for example, is based on the very Quranic verse that permits it but also adds, "If you fear that you will not do justice between them, then marry only one," (4:2-3), and also another, "You have not in your power to do justice between the wives, even though you may wish it." (4.129)

Haroon Siddiqui speaks to religious scholar who blames Muslims, not Islam, for gender inequity

***

yeh jaan
bus kay
bus maiN
hay na
bus kay
ba’her
yeh jaan
aap kay/ki

the last line can be read two ways and changes the whole poem

faraib
bharosa na karna
sha’er e na’tawaaN
ki baat per
mudattON say faraib
bardasht kartay hu’aye
bun gaya hay woh ab
faraib e mujassam

***

after nearly 200 interacts on a journey through our conscience what is the consensus?

after the usual quotes are brought forth from Allah and Muhammed (saw) to cloud the issue...along with machiavellian deflections ....(witnesses, ejaculation, act, punishment, interpretation and re-interpretation) ... and to further obfuscate... cut n pastes from the usual suspects...the male dominated power centres in both the administration and in the clergy do not understandably want to rock the boat...the question that still begs to be answered for the victims remains:

where is the justice for the victims and the perpetrators?

how can the victims get justice here and now not in after life?


***

wanderer writes

How many messed up people is it possible to meet in any one day ? From the socially inadequate, to the mundane ultra conventional, to the narcissistic types, to emotionally starved shopaholics, through to ’woe is me’ manic depressants, I met them all today...

..I need a drink.

hehehe--inebriation is no help in maintaining sanity friend...if you are driven to drink this easily you will soon have to join AA;)

***

Timeless: Ratnagiri upon Tando Allah Yar
today i feel like painting a picture
that in my mind i’ve drawn already
have yet to set up the easel
draw the outline, open the tubes
yet i know what i’ll call it when finished
that image of Truth, Beauty, Peace
will call it timeless
it’ll be the smile on the face of a child
i came across in ratnagiri
a child who could’ve felt just as at home
in the streets of tando allah yar
in rags, slightly disheveled
playing in the streets
with a discarded tonka truck with one wheel
his smile said hope is alive and well
and no amount of injustice and disparity
can kill it

even his smiling eyes will say so

***
nee poda shavi
cc: that age is so long
t: intentional:)
cc: i was waiting for the other shoe to drop
t: he took a long time to produce the card i had to record it faithfully
cc: yeah i read it, poor nurse
t: are you being charming or cynical
cc: am never cynical
t: ah, then why is the screen hotting up?
cc: menu ki pata
t: don’t say that
cc: you want me to say nee poda shavi
t: this sounds even more gruesome
cc: it is! can i ask you something?
t: achcha
cc: when did you get over sylvia?
t: plath?
cc: no the other sylvia
t: i don’t know any other sylvia
cc: and simone
t: simone de beauvir?
cc: nee poda shavi
t: hunh?
cc: joan
t: of arc?
cc: toronto ka kishen kanhaiya
t: kya bakwas hay
cc: and mary?
t: don’t even go there...i’m not that old!
cc: this is fatwa/blasphemy material! so you do confess
t: confess to what?
cc: never mind
t: i just read urstruly recruiting ntsyed
cc: oh they are a tag team
t: who urstruly and ntsyed?
cc: arey nahin urstruly and echoboom
t: that is old news:)
cc: lack of faith makes for strange bed-fellows;)
t: i wouldn’t go that far:)
cc: nee poda shavi
t: some day i will block you

***

age
’where is your health card?’
asked the nurse
with ever so trembling hands
he felt for his back pocket
in a gesture reminiscent
of slow motion pictures
and pulled out a black wallet
the effort apparently exhausted him
he sat down on a chair across from me
and laid his hand clutching the wallet
on his thighs as he took deep breaths
after a minute or two
he began to unzip the wallet
from the bottom, to the side, to the top
and from the now open-jaw wallet
he took out a stack
held by two crossed rubber bands
with ever so quivering fingers
he removed one rubber band
and hung it on his left thumb
then he removed the other band
and hung it on his left thumb
then he looked for his health card
and smiled ever so subtly
as he pulled it out
and placed it on his thighs under the wallet
pulling one rubber band he
stretched it across the stack
and then the other rubber band
vertically across the stack
and placed the stack back in the wallet
he zipped it side to side to side
gently, slowly, carefully
and put it back on his thigh
over the health card
time to rest
and take deep breaths
one, two, three…
he had the same look
on his face that pilots have
as they run a mental check-list
before the take off
then with a unexpected agile thrust
he got himself off the chair
the effort drained him visibly
he just stood there for a minute or two
the wallet and the health card in each hand
then in slow motion he replaced the wallet
back in the rear pocket
and took two steps
towards the nurse’s window
and said, ’here.’

***
click on this link (you will have to sign in on chowk to access)… HERE

this is the stuff our infamous abdul-hate the purveyor of morality and islam aka as echoboom writes as chusni on the unplugged section of off the wall…and FYI he also interacts under some female nicks as well…

so much for his righteous indignations and call to islam and …

***
renewal
famine--of intellect
abundance--of multitudes
light--on essence
shadow--on love supreme
past--a mirage
present--mirroring indulgences
future--hopeful fog

tajdeed
qay’hutt--qay’hutt ur rejaal
ifra’at--jum’may ghafeer
roshni--mahiyyat per
sa’aye--shauq per
maazi--faraib e naz’r
haal--ak’s e riyakaari
mustaqbil--ghubaar e pu’r ummeed

***

Zia Mohyeddin column

Reading aloud

Gielgud’s ’Ages of Man’ was a perfect example of what Reader’s Theatre is all about. One moment you were on the sea-coast of Illyria, the next, in the streets of Syracuse. And whatever the place, the characters emerged as large as life: now a Leontes, seething with jealously; now a Mercutio, with all his braggadocio.

"Reader’s Theatre" is a style of theatre featuring minimal movement and scenery and relying instead on vocal expressiveness of the actor to create a sense of place, character and action. You have to do it all with your voice.

It is easy if you are a Gielgud. He was unique; he could pack more crotchets and semibreves in a single word than there are in a whole aria. Lesser mortals have to acquire vocal expressiveness with patience and hard work. "The divine power to speak," said Walt Whitman, "comes after a long trial".

My experiments with Reader’s Theatre, which I have been conducting for some years now, have resulted in the formation of at least two groups who meet every fortnight or so, to read aloud dramatic (and non-dramatic) prose and poetry. Their natural tendency is to go for the effect rather than the meaning of the word.

When you speak publicly you want to make a good impression. The moment you open your mouth your speech will have its effect. You are not merely concerned with pleasing the ears of the listeners, you want to engage their minds as well. Naturally, what you want to do is to display your powers of speech easily and confidently.

Good oral speech results from the use of good speech itself to which you have to add two things: the leading eye and the recurring pause. It goes without saying that while reading you need relaxation, pleasant tone, clear articulation, the telling inflection and ample variety. You also have to know the meaning of the words on the page or else your speech will not be effective.

Good speech alone, however, does not make one a good reader. Reading involves the simultaneous use of the eye, the ear and voice, all co-ordinated by the brain. It is this three pronged aspect of the operation that has to practiced and mastered.

Dr Evangeline Machlin, whose work on Speech Analysis -- in particular, speech instrument, resonance in speech -- is considered to be definitive, says that when we are reading aloud our silent reading habits dominate, and as a result arouse, as she puts it, "inner speech, the speech of thought, not outer speech the speech of sound". Silent reading habits have to be adjusted to meet the needs of the process of speech.

Experts in Speech Studies will tell you that in reading aloud the brain receives the words through the eye and directs the muscles of speech to form them in sound. The ear hears these sounds and feeds them back to the brain through the hearing nerve. The eye, meanwhile, keeps picking up more words with which to continue the reading.

The leading eye (so called because it is precisely that) looks down at the script (text, book or whatever) and out at the audience by turns. If you are a good reader you look up constantly from your script. This skill -- frequently looking up from the page -- is uncommon and has to be acquired. Public speakers learn it because they cannot survive without it. We all know that anyone who reads a speech with his eyes fixed on the page makes a poor impression on the audience.

The leading eye skill makes it possible for you to read almost any text at sight directly, looking at your audience, dropping your eyes on the paper only briefly. The reading therefore assumes spontaneity and you are brought into direct contact with your audience.

You have to make an enormous effort to tear your eyes from the page. At first you feel you dare not do it (for fear of losing your place) and yet you must make an attempt. You must realise that in order to make any kind of an impact you have to take the words into your mind, look up from the page, speak them to the audience and then look down for more. You have to acquire the knack of wrenching your eyes away from the text to make a direct communication.

The clue lies in the snatching up of words into the mind. As the last of these words are being spoken, you drop your eyes to the page and sweep up in your memory another line or half a line. As you grow in confidence you spend less and less time on looking down at the text until you reach a stage when you allow yourself only a fraction of a second for each swoop of the eyes down to the page to capture enough words to refuel your speech so that it may drive on without a break.

The hardest thing to learn is the widened eye-span. Your eye must be able to read 5 or more words at a glance. At first it is only two or three words -- but then you begin to widen the eye-span. For some, it comes more easily than for others. The real secret is to be able to determine at what point the leading eye must break from the audience to become the reading eye -- while the voice continues to speak. The timing must be so skillful that the two are kept in tandem. But the eye must always be ahead of the voice.

Sometimes it is necessary to let your audience wait while your eye gathers a fresh phrase. This silent moment, the pause, allows your audience something to think about, since your last sentence is still ringing in their ears. It enables the listeners to retain what has just been spoken long enough to relate it to the whole scheme of the narrative.

The recurring pause has a dramatic value; it points up the force of what has just been said and it also maintains suspense as to what is to come next. There is actually a kind of stimulus about a pause. But the reader must remember that a pause is an asset for an audience; it should never become a liability for them.

The unintentional pause that occurs because you have lost your place is a different thing. When that happens you have to remain unperturbed. If you become embarrassed your audience will begin to fidget.

Your speech moves faster or slower, louder or softer, range higher or lower, according to the dictates of the text. The superabundance of beauty and power in words has its source in the reader’s spirit -- and skill. When you are at ease with your material you are in a better position to move your listeners to ecstasy, pity or terror.