Widows of Banares

hamidm2#16:
I cant believe that. Not even Urdu poetry? Not even Faiz``s ``Mujh se pehli si mohabbat``? Please tell me it it isn`t so. If so, it must be the Aurangzeb gene in you that wouldn`t go away:-)

temporal,

.......... is there a poetry gene?..... i am serious ..... i consider myself to be a man of discerning taste who swirls single malt whiskey to savour the flavor and will actually read a paragraph over to enjoy the flow of words......... but what is it with poetry - it just doesn`t do anything for me ............ can i take a class or something.....or do i need therapy ?

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gujju:
``The actual numbers won`t be more than a few hundreds - which is insignificant in a country of 1.1 billion people and 850 million hindus.``

How many women are killed in Karachi, Lahore or Islamabad as ``honour killings``? Not many, I would say, yet they are considered a blot on the Pakistani society.
The actual number of such widows may be small but they are indicative of the social attitudes towards the worth of a `vidhwa` in the hindu society. That attitude may be less harsh in the metros now but I dont think it has changed that much in the rest of the country. If it has, let us know!

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Harish Nambiar

An extremely evocative poem on a haunting theme. Well done.

regards

re: ustruly

...you are right...it is better to marry 4 of them, make them walk 10 steps behind you, put them under a black bedsheet, and kill them for honor...

Harish:
I have not been to Benaras but have seen this blot on society at Mathura. A flock of widows -all bengalis- dressed in white, abandoned by their families and now merely existing, waiting to die. They are all euphemistically known as Krishna-daasis or something like that.
Among panjabis at least, widow remarriage is now quite common. But I think the situation is not the same in other parts of India.

Beautiful. Simple. Empathic. Searing.

Ciao

I think Sati was a better alternative to get rid of the waste. But damn those honorable British and maleech Muslims, we have to settle down for shaving their heads.

Harish:
Capturing both the core and the covering is your forte. For me you have spoken between
``The calligraphy of silence`` and ``Tells me no story`` and ``The shadow it casts``...it is in the unstated that one finds your ``dimmer moons``. The height of your threshold might also depend on how far you might not want to see. Reality is often a chimera.

F

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The footnote has described a poignant truth. I am sure Harish would like to discuss it, but please do nor politicise it.

Where is arjun_m ....
arjun you should say something overhere .. see how these bloody pakis are exploiting your culture over here ..

This is really sad. Is anything being done to highlight this problem?

Harish:

...ok…so!…guess this was worth the absence…

...some beautiful lines…(nothing less would be expected nor accepted)…wish not to trivialize it by speaking on the obvious…others have and more will, shortly…

…it would have been gross travesty if you had linked this to a henri portraiture of a widhwa here…you are an artist of different material and mettle…no emulsified film, aperture control, long or narrow depth of field, or determination of speed ( do I hit 1/250th and run or sweet talk her and do 1/8 th--less grainy..and later ... glossy or flat?)

your tools are same as those of any cyber-jihadi…but then my friend your jehad is with pen…not against pen…but am digressing…(what’s new!)…

…through your words i sense three portraits…one after another…shimmering and dark…slowly emerging…as if they had paced themselves…through the concentric circles first emerges the widow…young but of indeterminate age…maps lined on her face…eyes muddy as the water it emerges from…eyes alive and dead…hard to guess those eyes were young and lovely and had embraced smiles, poured love, elicited affection…once…eyes alive in a deadly fashion…camouflaging all traces of liveliness and life imprisoned by them…once…as this portrait emerges and comes nearer and nearer…blurs and moves out of the line of vision the second portrait emerges through the circles…

…widow she may be…you mom…but I see the face of determination…set jaws…refusing to cower or be cowered…the eyes smiling and focused…determined to chart a course herself…myths, dogmas and regressive practices get burned by the laser sharpness of her beams…this is another face of India you bring forth through your words…

…and the third portrait that emerges is that of you…here i do not need to focus…the recognition is instantaneous…‘it is harish’….M and I say in unison…and then other images come forth…but will not discuss them here…(yes, I heard you say, ‘mercifully’ ;))…

rgds,

t

ps: understandably I have no urge presently to discuss the plight of your subject…our closets are full of them too…Qur’an brides…walking widows really and such…but leave that for another occasion…give my love to the sweeter one:)

…

warning

hamidm stay out;)


(harish am writing my thoughts)