Bhaiya, Malhar Sunao

This is the most stupid article which I have read !!!! It seems that the author is a dim witted narrow minded hate fanatic. I am not a Hindu or a Muslim, but I am sure that both these religions propogate peace and tolerance, which are qualities glaringly missing from the author. His love of classical music is yet to lift his soul. I would suggest that he sticks to that, and concentrates on developing himself as a person.

Please we dont want such hate trash !!!!

Hamid-
``One taan of mine and Ravi Shankar would probably be `` Baghlain Jhaankain Gay``. ``

Sorry Kid, this arrogance is not good for you! I also had this stupid obsession about ``speed`` and fast taans during my childhood days- that was till I tried to play some of the taans of Nikhil Banerjee. Try this and let me know if you can play an 8 matras fast sapat with this mizrabs-

``Da- rDA dirDa DaDa rDA DaRa rDA rDA``

I bet you would be going ``Dir Dir Dir Dir`` and moving your fingers on the pardas like some monkey.

Infact Ustad Mohiuddin Dagar used to tell us to play alaaps as slow as possible in order to touch the correct srutis. Unfortunately the Pakistani singers have a singular obsession with ``fast taans`` and are always ready to jump in the wrestling pit .

#11 by hamid_81 on August 7, 2004 5:28pm PT

`` I guess then you will realize what the word ``Hindustan`` means. (Hint, Hint: Look at the first 5 letters of the word...``

Kid, you know nothing about India or Bharat- You do not even know that it is a secular republic and is not a counterpart of Pakistan for the Hindus!!

Thanks Dalit for sharing that informed article with us. Thanks Hamid for hitting our nerves with this beautiful, yet sad and horrific story. It was just a story, but it depicted a true picture of the current state of Indian Muslims. Most of them live in fear and under oppression of those who claim India for Hindus. We should not be jumping up to criticize something if it goes against our beliefs.

Let’s be practical. It was not necessary for anyone to be in India to see the horrific crimes committed against humanity during the Gujarat genocide of Indian Muslims. I, for one, lived here in the states while I felt for the innocent lives taken in the name of religion. My Muslim friend flew back to India when he heard of this massacre. He had come to states for education leaving his parents in India. After a whole month, we came to know that he was brutally murdered with sticks on the streets of Gujrat by so called reformers of modern India when he was trying to chase the authorities for justice as his family had been burnt in their own house before his plane even landed in India. Neighbors had tried calling the police when they saw Hindus ripping my friend’s house in India, but police only showed up hours later to inspect the ashes of those burnt and colored India that day among other thousands who met the same fate only because they went to a mosque instead of a temple for their daily prayers.

What do you call this? I did not see any of my hindu gujrati friends even sweating as to what was happening in India could possibly impact their families there. Everyone kept saying that the part the violence has broken is not near their houses. Should I intellectually infer that the massacre was only targeted for Muslim communities? Did they somehow were assured that this unfortunate event would leave out their families? Why were there only the Muslims squirming every time when they heard that more have been killed in Gujarat due to vicious attacks in the name of religion? Why were they the only one trying to reach their beloved ones back home? Why? Hindus were also killed but their numbers were like a drop in the huge Atlantic. Irony is that it should have had been other way around since Hindus are a majority in India. But, it shows that who the targeted party was.

To all those who think Hindus in Pakistan meet a similar fate. I can only laugh at the ignorance of such individuals as I hope no one thinks that in this modern time of open press, BBC or CNN would be hiding out such details because they are happening in Pakistan? Or maybe they are doing it to protect Pakistan’s image since it’s helping out the world in fighting the terrorism, awwww!. ***note the sarcasm about protecting Pakistan’s image.

Yes, you can not have AIDs in six months, but does it matter? Maybe the girl died because she could not survive the images when she was violated and her brother watched and couldn’t do anything. Maybe she lived, but her soul ate her alive by reminding her of those moments every day and every second of her remaining live. What a shame that we try to divert our attentions to an off-matter subject when the point was clearly to demonstrate the painful series of events. Pity!!!

It is sad what happened and has been happening to Muslims in India. But it would be sadder if we don’t accept what’s true and try to improve ourselves so we could live in peace and harmony and not worry about whether we are Hindus or Muslims.

Hamid: So, how many times have you been to India? I bet I could produce a few heart-wrenching accounts by Pakistani Hindus talking about atrocities committed against them and living in fear. Anecdotal accounts are powerful but they are not the whole story and not the only story. Dalit, the accounts in the newspaper might be true but again they are not the only truth. Perhaps you have to live in a secular democracy to understand the plurality of views and that awful, heinous viewpoints and coexist with hopeful and inclusive ones. India is not one or the other, it is both and all in between. *That* is the truth.

At *least* if you want to write about another country and another people please do some research and at least *attempt* to not be so blatantly transparent about your agenda. And try and write a story with something compelling about it, the characters, the story, the development, the writing...something that redeems it from being the puerile trash that this one is.

To all the Indians. Accept the facts. India is no place for Muslims. They are treated like dogs. Period. They are killed, humiliated and raped. It is a fact of life. They live in fear. So please don`t get all excited. Accept the facts and you will be better off. I enjoy seeing all these Indians, squirming. LOL. Guess I have touched a nerve after all. Hindu vs. Muslim. LOL. I should write more about it. I am going to.
And Ballu Khan Saheb. I have heard Nikhil Bannerjee and Ravi Shankar and Anoushka Shankar, and all the rest of the Hindus. All I have to say, is `` Inko Daandh bhi Pakarni nahi Aati``. So what are the going to play. One taan of mine and Ravi Shankar would probably be
`` Baghlain Jhaankain Gay``. Him and his ``Tentray wala sitar``. Rais Khan is far beyond them. And Ballukhan Saheb. I have not heard of you and never came up with any of your recordings or your profile. But Rais Khan is world renowned. Even the people who loathe him go to his concerts to listen and see if they can learn something. You guys seem like non-existent in front of him.

And plats8#9:
How much do you know about Classical Music to be passing any judgement or telling me what to do? You are a nobody meddling in things that you know nothing about. My Advice is : Shut up before you say something more stupid. Go do some research about gharanas and their styles. Don`t just sit there and say meaningless stuff.

But anyways, this can go on. I love it when I touch a nerve. Muslims in India live the lives of traitors and terrorists. If people like BalluKhan are happy, well, then I guess they have learnt how to live under the control of Hindus. At least I can land on Karachi Airport where I am greeted with a Salam, and recite my Kalma loud and clear and not be afraid. BalluKhan by the way how many times a year do you eat beef? And where do you get it from? LOL

``She used to sit in front of it and spend ours doing makeup, and putting on jewelry and other ornaments.``

I got a little stuck on this line. Other than that I dont know what to say. I guess the author thought a lot about this riot, perhaps (hoepfully) empathising with the moments felt by its victims and then used this for practicing creative writing. I guess we use whatever we can.

Hi Indian Muslims.
I am really really happy that I have made all Indians upset. Must have touched a nerve. LOL. Well, seriously, Sikhs got the message in 1983. That is why they left and now you see more of them in new Jersey than in Punjab. How long will it take for the Indian Muslims to figure that one out? Well, if you don`t then I guess the next Holucaust would be in India, and we will happily watch it on TV. I guess then you will realize what the word ``Hindustan`` means. (Hint, Hint: Look at the first 5 letters of the word).

Jawahara can be an apologist as much as she likes; here is another Indian Muslim.
The Article was written before Gujarat was turned into the killing Fields.

INDIAN MUSLIMS - AN OPPRESSED MINORITY
By Abdul Haq
India has a unique experience of Muslim minority. A dominant minority in the medieval period became a dominated minority, all of a sudden with the advent of British rule in India. This sudden change resulted into complex problems. Partition of sub-continent in Aug 47 converted the Muslim community of India into ‘Pakistani Muslims’ and ‘Indian Muslims’. This was a great shock as far as Indian Muslims are concerned. The rulers of Yesterday, now had to live under the ‘Hindu rule’. Fifty years having passed, the Muslims who opted to stay in India are still getting a raw deal in every sphere of life. They are still drowned in the scourge of poverty and backwardness. They continue fighting the ever-hunting spectra of communal riots and threats to their religious and cultural identity. The sense of insecurity experienced by the Indian Muslims in the post partition period has been compounded in recent years by the state repression and terrorism under the ‘draconian’, Terrorist and Disruptive Activities (Prevension) Act (TADA). Under this act 7,9332 people, mostly Muslims were detained and tortured during 1990-95 across the country. Though the Act has been repealed, yet about 5000 persons, mostly Muslims, are still in jails.
Birth of Hindu Revivalism. The Hindu reformers of the 19th century were the pioneers of Hindu renaissance. foremost among them was Raja Rammohan Roy (1772-1833) the founder of Brahmo Samaj, which represented the first throb of modernism in Hinduism. A great admirer of Muslim thought, he had been deeply influenced by his study of Islamic works (including Quran) and by Sufism. Yet at heart he was a staunch Hindu. His deepest yearnings were to turn the Hindus back to the Vedas. He was thus one of the founders of modern Hindu nationalism. The message of Rammohan Roy was carried further by Dayananda-Saraswati, a Gujrati Brahman (1824-1883), who openly raised the slogan ‘India for the Hindus.’ According to him, Hinduism was to be the sole religion of the sub-continent, and the Hindus its sole masters. The Muslims were foreigners and must be pushed out. He devised a new weapon to fight the Muslims. It was the weapon of ‘Shuddhi’ or individual conversion of Muslims to Hindu faith. After the partition of India in Aug 47, thousands of Muslims were butchered cold blooded and forced to leave India. Since then, Hindu militant Bal Thackeray of Shiv Sena and other militant Hindu organiztions are of the opinion that Muslims have their own homeland in the shape of Pakistan (though they do not accept it from their hearts), therefore they have no right to live in India.
Alienation of Muslims. In terms of numbers, the Muslims are only next to the Hindus, totalling 95.2 million (1991 census) and constituting about 12 percent of the population, yet they are considered by the Hindus even less important than the Jains and Buddhists who are only 0.43 and 0.41 percent of the population respectively (1991 census). A prominant Hindu writer S. Harrison admits that the dominant note in the Hindu attitude towards Muslim today is that, ``Hindus have a natural right to rule in modern India as a form of long overdue retribution for the sins of the Mughal overlords. It is not enough that unified state with a Hindu majority, clearly dominant over a Muslim minority now reduced to 12 percent, has been established at long last in the Indian sub-continent. The fulfilment of Indian nationalism requires an assertion of Hindu hegemony over the Muslims of the subcontinent in one form or the other.`` The cumulative outcome of all this is that according to Jai Prakash Narayan, ``The Muslim population has been so much cowed and demoralized that they are not acting according to their convictions. They are afraid that if they expressed their real feelings, their loyalty will be suspected.``
Interference in Muslim Religion. Apart from being made to suffer a host of disabilities, political, cultural and economic; the Indian Muslims have often been subjected to a campaign of interference with their religion as well. It usually takes the form of slanderous attacks on Islam made in school text books, or in the press, desecration of mosques and shrines, or deliberate incitement of feelings of religious hatered against the Muslims. In most of the Hindu dominated Indian states, Hindu religious beliefs, philosophy and methodology have been introduced into the text books in the name of Indian culture. This is to an extent that a glance through the officially prescribed school text books leaves an impression that those responsible for them regard India (a multi religious country) as the home of Brahmans and attach value only to their deities, temples, religious customs and practices.
Desecration of Mosques and Shrines. Countless incidents can be cited of the desecration of mosques by the Hindu communalists during the last few decades. In 1961, the Indian Rehabilitation Minister made the claim that all the mosques and graveyards had been resorted to the Muslims. Refuting this statement, Maulana Hifzur Rahman produced a long list of mosques and graveyards not restored to the Muslims but had been auctioned by the Rehabilitation department. Some of the names of mosques and shrines mentioned in the list are Masjid Qazi Serai (near Thana Mehrauli), Masjid Begampur Khurd (near Kalu Serai), Masjid Chuna Mandi, Masjid Mantola Pahrargang (Delhi), Masjid Qabrastan Golebazar, (Thana Reading road, Delhi), Masjid Thana Civil Lines Delhi.Qabrastan village Ladha Serai, Mehrauli, Qabrastan near Dargah Hazrat Khwaja Qutbuddin), Qabrastan behind Thana corporation office, (Mehrauli), Qabrastan East of Eidgah, (Mehrauli), Qabrastan Gurgaon road, Qabrastan Gole Market, Thana Reading Road, (Delhi), and Qabrastan Motia Khan, Pahargang (Delhi).
Tragedy of Babri Mosque. The 16th century historic Babri mosque was razed to ground by thousands of Hindu fanatics in Ayodhya, (UP) on 16th Dec 92. According to Indian media reports, the Hindu Zealosts and India’s one of the largest Hindu fundamentalist political party BJP are again threatening to build a grand temple on the rubble of this mosque. Hindu fundamentalists openly announce that they would, ``Purify India of Muslim remnants.`` It was during 1949 when Babri Masjid was first raided. A group of vandals entered the mosque and placed the idol of Ramlallah. The successive Indian governments patronized the Hindu fundamentalists under different garbs, which ultimately turned into an uncontrollable demon.
Responsibility of the tragedy It is an established fact that the government of India did not take any action to disperse the mob despite the fact that it was aware of the heinous designs of the unholy gathering. Instead of saving the mosque from destruction a number of government officials were reported to have watched the scene gleefully, inciting the mob to deliver a final blow to bring down the structure. The reluctance of government to either call in the army or Central Reserve Police to protect the mosque, spoke of understanding between Shiv Sena and the Union government of the Congress. Reports indicated that the assault on the mosque was effectively abetted by the guards. An Indian journalist Yuvraj Mohite, while recording his statement in the court of Mumbai said, ``Bal Thackeray, founder of Shiva Sena ordered the massacre in Dec 1992 after the demolition of Babri Mosque. The double-dealing Congress Ministry of the then Prime Minister Narasimha Rao at the centre did almost nothing to Prevent the distruction of 450 years old Babri Mosque by the BJP-VHP and other anti Muslim elements``. ‘The Statesman’ of new Delhi (2 Dec 92) reported, ``The VHP and Bajrang dal cadres were taught demolition methods by a retired Brig of the Indian Army in a month long training camp in a Hindu village in Gujrat State and that the State government had full Knowledge of it``. Some Indian Newspapers reported that India’s intelligence agencies had informed Narasimha Rao government’s Home Ministry about the specially trained squads raised by the BJP and VHP cohorts to destroy the mosque but the then Home Minister, Chavan, showed utter indifference and hypocracy.
BJP vs Indian Muslims. The Upsurge of Hindu fundamentalism in the states under the BJP’s rule, Rajisthan, Haryana, East Punjab and Delhi has been a source of serious concern to the Muslim minority there. But the resurrection of the BJP’s rule over Utter Pradesh, India’s most populous state with a sizable Muslim community, since late Sep this year has sent a shiver of apprehensions among the Muslim minority. As the top ranking BJP leader and the man behind the tragedy of Babri Mosque, Kalyan Singh is now again in power in this state. The hard line Chief Minister of Maharashtra, Manohar Joshi, a member of the BJP’s ruling echelon, punished the state government secretary for cultural affairs, Govind Swaroop, a broadminded civil servant, for including Mr. Jinnah (Quaid-e-Azam) in a list of India’s freedom fighters for a TV documentary film and for ranking him with Mr.Gandhi and Nehru in the fight against the British. Shiv Sena, is a Nazi style communal outfit so intense in its hatred towards Muslims that its fascist guru, Bal Thackeray, forbade the Pakistani cricket team from playing in its power base city of Mumbai a few years ago. In order to promote the Hindutva brand of militant Hindu fundamentalism, the BJP led state government of Rajisthan organized a massive celebration on 18 Jun 97 of the 421st anniversary of the ‘Battle of Haldighat’ to honour Maharana pratab as a Hindu hero for his war against Akbar, the Mughal emperor. An Indian Hindu journalist, C.P Bhambhri, in New Delhi’s ‘Hindustan Times’ of 31 Jul 97 comments, ``The BJP, RSS, VHP and other allied organisations, without any shadow of doubts are using the culture and history of India to Promote the concept of a Hindu nation which was a victim of Muslim rulers and their purpose is to consolidate Hinduism around a specific religious ethos selectively chosen by political leaders`` .He further writes that ``The BJP hate list of Muslims continues to unify the Hindus against their religious enemy as revealed by Indian history, the BJP will like to re-write the constitution for establishing a strong Hindu state``.
Replacement of Muslim names by Hindus’. The Maharashtra government’s hostility to Muslims under the BJP- Shiv Sena ministry has been so blatant in recent years that the old towns bearing Muslim names are being systematically given Hindu colour. The historic city of Aurangabad, once ruled by Muslims has been named as ‘Sambhajinagar’ to honour the family of the anti Mughal Shivaji. Similarly a very old city of Osmanabad is being given a Hindu name. Eliminating the Muslim names of many other towns is on the Shiv Sena’s agenda.
Anti-Muslim roits. Anti-Muslim roits are a common feature in India. Some of the recent ones are as follows:-
1. In the state of Gjurat, which the BJP ruled till Sep 96, the Muslim minority has been incessantly terrorized and victimized. Mumbai’s ‘Economic and political weekly’ of 26 Jul 97, published horrifying accounts of the murder of many Muslims in the village of Kukas in Mahesana district last June. On 29 Jun, truckloads of armed Hindu ‘chaudharies’ attacked the Muslims in kukas, hurling filthy abuses on them, burnt their houses and hacked to death with knives many of them.
2. In many districts of Gujrat, there are pockets of 25 to 30 Muslim families who are subjected to periodic terrorization and arson. Teenage Muslim girls from poverty-stricken peasant families are either forcibly bought or kidnapped for prostitution in Bombay or Smuggled to oil rich gulf states for slavery.
3. Deploring the plight of Muslims in Gujrat, an Indian journalist Satyakam Joshi, wrote in Mumbai’s ‘Economic and political weekly’ (26 Jul 97), ``The rise of the BJP and its front organizations in Gujrat after 1980 has come as a blow to Muslims who are being reduced relentlessly to a second class citizenship. Their legitimate demands are not on the state agenda. Their harassment by the Hindu fundamentalist forces, remains unmitigated. To considerable extent, the fundamentalist forces have been able to channelise the middle class Hindu psyche against them``.
4. In the anti-Muslim riots in Maharashtra, specially Mumbai, armed marauders of the ‘Army of Shiva’ had inflicted death and destruction on terror striken Muslims while the police was looking on indifferently or even conniving with the Hindu extremists in killing Muslims of Mumbai.
Discrimination against Muslim community in services: According to 1991 nationwide census., Muslims constitute 12.60 percent of the total Indian population. However, the representation of Muslims in the parliament, state legislatures, administrative services, armed forces, police and para military forces, educational institutions and the private and public sectors is far below their proportion. The percentage of the Muslims in the civil and foreign services is less than a quarter of their population. According to a white paper, prepared by All India Milli council (AIMC) and presented to Prime Minister Inder Kumar Gujral, on the performance of Indian Union during last 50 years, there were only 116 Muslims out of a total of 3883 administrative officers (2.98%), 45 out of 1433 police service officers (3.14%) and 57 out of 2159 foreign service officers (2.64%). In central government, Muslims constitute 1.6% of all class I officers, 3.9% of all class II officers and 4.4% of the technical supervisory staff. According to an official report prepared by Dr. Gopal Singh Committee, there is a marked disparity between Hindus and Muslims in economic, social and educational field. The committee’s report based on a sample survey of 80 districts across the country, found that there were only 92 Muslims out of 2698 students in Engineering colleges. The number of Muslim students in the MBBS course in 8 universities of eight states was only 98 out of 2895.
The Muslims of India are in a state of dilemma, whether to accept humality in the form of Indian nationalism (based on secular ideas) or to preserve their Muslim identity. They have to rationalise whether by accepting the secular nationalism they will be given equal status like Hindus or will they remain aliens as they are. The Hindu desire to absorb the Muslims into Hinduism through Indian nationalism still persists. They have already done this with Jainism and Budhism and they are working on other communities living in India as well.

First of all this was one of the most horribly written, manipulative stories I have ever read. No character development, cliched, and clearly written with and for an agenda.

Secondly, yes, India has riots in which Muslims and yes, even Hindus die but only someone who has not lived in India could write this simplistic piece of trash that is devoid of complexity or sensitivity.

I am an Indian Muslim and I, along with, the majority of Indians believe in the dream of India. Gujarats happen, which is a sad fact. But India is still a pluralist democracy and proud of being one. Yes, riots happen in India, terrible, awful events, but that is part and parcel of life and the experiment of a large democracy. You have to be an Indian to understand that Muslims in India are less obsessed about this stuff than are Muslims outside India. My young niece is visiting from Mumbai these days and while she understands the problems of being a minority that is not the uppermost thought in her mind. She lives in a pluralisitic, multicultural society and feels richer for it. Despite other cultural and age gaps, she feels the same way as I do and as her 82 year old grandfather, my dad, does. This is a ghar ki baat for us. We will solve these issues as Indians, together.

Has the author ever gone to India? Experienced being an Indian Muslim? I have and am. So are my family and a network of friends. We live as Indians not just as Indian Muslims. Riots are an awful tragedy but it is our collective, national tragedy that we want to and will solve them ourselves. Riots should not be tools for propoganda by others outside India.

If this had been a sensitively written portrayal of one rape victim in the Gujarat riots that would have been fine. But this agenda-driven, predictable and simplistic piece did not deserve to be published at chowk. Chowk editors I am disappointed.

Hamid #4,

Let me put this gently - next time, write about something that you know; and you
don`t know much about being an Indian Muslim.

Secondly, Rais Khan unsurpassable ? You`ve got to be seriously kidding !!

``The day you come near him in playing the sitar, I will do a nazar of $1000 to
you.`` - what does Ballukhan`s sitar talent or lack thereof have anything to do
with Rais singing Ghazals ? By the way, Vilayat`s khandaan specialzes on playing
fast taans - that includes Rais. There are several others (including Ravi Shankar) who
emphasize other aspects of playing the sitar. Just asserting that ``Vilayat was
better than Ravi Shankar in every way`` doesn`t make it correct.

hamid_81,
There are certain facts about Pakistan too...
This could have happened anywhere.
And the AIDS virus takes its toll in six months?

But suddenly after some time Piyari’s condition had started worsening. She had started loosing weight, constantly had a fever, and lost her appetite as well. A doctor’s examination revealed that she had AIDS. Very severe and it was consuming her rapidly.

Hmm, must be the world record for the fastest time from HIV infection to full blown AIDS, in general its known to take around 8-11 years ... why mess around with things you don`t understand, stuff like AIDS, Democracy, condition of muslims in India, Riots, the process of award of Bharat Ratna etc. etc. ... better to stick to the Sitar, and concentrate on that IT career

Ofcourse not- No democracy can be blamed for the riots. Flogging democracy in India because of communal riots is a favourite past time of some Pakis. As regards Ustad Rais Khan Saheb singing Ghazals in birthday parties- the poor guy has to do this in order to survive. Let us face the fact that Ustad Rais Khan has been desperately trying to get back his Indian citizen ship because he DOES NOT HAVE ANY APPRECIATIVE AUDIENCES IN PAKISTAN. That was contrary to whatever he thought when the Paki officials incited him to migrate and then to communally bad mouth the entire country. Infact, he was univocally condemned by musicians from Ustad Ali Akbar Khan, Amjad Ali, Hafiz Ali to Asad Ali.
As regards the Ustad Vilayat Khan and Ravi Shankar thing- I know the details very well. Let us not forget that getting awards has less to do with the talent or musical capabilities of a musician- it is more of a reflection of the PR abilities of the musician- and Ustad scored poorly on this account due to his arrogant aloofness- the same holds for Ustad Rais Khan as well.
Ofcourse, awards are tainted every where in the world by nepotism, regionalism, pecuniary considerations, casteism or religious consideration- but to singularly turn it into a communal issue is incorrect. However, I do hope that Ustad Rais khan gets back his Indian citizenship.

#4 by hamid_81 on August 6, 2004 11:40pm PT

regarding this small challenge of yours- Firstly, I do not seek to emulate Rais Khan Saheb in his taans because at times he loses control over the `chand` which makes his taan look disjointed pieces when he reaches the mukhda. I love the roundness and completeness of Nikhil Banerjee`s taans which I try to emulate. However, I can assure you that I can play all sorts of tans real fast.

Hi. To all the Indians reading this. It is a fact that Muslims are killed, humiliated and disgraced in India. So please accept it. No reason to say that in India everybody co-exists fine. They do not. And that is why Muslims are burned, killed and raped whenever there is a riot. Accept the fact that even thought people think India is the world`s largest democracy, it is burdened with the blood of hundreds of Muslims. And Ballu Khan Sahib, for you I have just one thing to say. Ravi Shankar got the Bharat Ratna, but Vilayat Khan never did, even though you and I both know he was superior in every way. And don`t even say anything against Rais Khan. The day you come near him in playing the sitar, I will do a nazar of $1000 to you. Rais khan is un-surpassable. He sings Ghazals, because he knows that even if he does so, his respect in Pakistan will not go down. He is brilliant, and will remain
un-surpassable. No question about that. If you think so low, pick up the sitar, and make a recording which is his equivalent. I bet you fingers will be sore before you can even play even one of his ``choot Taans`` in sur.
H
H