Growing Up Red

Ali
Faiz has been praised by many many people. He was a poet of people, who felt their mysries at heart, and wrote beautifully about injustice, exploiatation, and ZULM in the society. That is the beauty of poetry that his describes an extremely undesirable situation, yet it brings a joy when one reads it.
Your essay imply that he was treated bad by authorities. I agree to that. But he earned more respect and recognition from people more than any of his contemporary intellectuals.
Authorities represent very small number of people, while common people represent majority. I disagree with you that he was treated bad in his lifetime, and now treated like a saint. Look at Habib Jalib;s life. He was much more poor than Faiz, and as passionate as Faiz about social injustices. I dont think this would have been an issue with Faiz that authorties treated him bad. I am very sure that his vision is broad enough that it would have been minor issue for him. I think focal point of his poetry is people, and not himself.
Such people are aware of consequences of raising the flag of freedom, justice, and yet chose to walk on the path of righteousness. Some have been recognized, and others die without any recognition. Even that would be a non-issue to learned people. Their purpose is to see a just society and how human conditions can be improved for exploitive poor people, who represent a large majority of our population. I think that was the romance of his poetry.
As for as about picking on you, tell me how many are not picked on? After reading your essay, you remind me the term mummy-daddi. No offense please.

Regards and take care.

I have ``Nuskha hai wafa`` with me. I can type some of the requests up in Roman urdu if you would like.
You can also find faiz at most of the urdu poetry websites on the web. Its available in both Nastaliq as well as Roman script.
Some websites:

urdupoetry.com
urdulove.com
http://www.ebazm.com/mushaira.htm
http://www.urdumanzil.com
http://www.urdulife.com
http://www.urdustan.com/

kachchi miTTi:

do you have ashkabad ki ek shaam with you? or better yet, what do you have of faiz? i have none of my poetry books to comfort me unfortunately. kuch mangwaanay paRenge. i don`t think i`ve come across sheeshaon ka maseeha yet. if you do have ashkabad ki ek shaam could you please post it either or that other place a.k.a unplugged?

meh`rbaani hogi. . .

can someone have the urdu copy of sheeshoan ka maseeha koi nahin by any wild chance and like to post it here?


thanks.

Excellent article. I suspected you to be related to Faiz even before this writing.
Faiz is no doubt in the same league of Urdu poets as Ghalib and Iqbal. One of my favorite piece of poetry is his nazm ``yeh dhoop kinara``, sung to perfection by Nayyar Noor.

Thanks for sharing.

Rawalpindi sazish case was an intriguing episode. I think everyone would agree on that :-). I am looking forward to further opinions/hearsays/nalysis/etc. on the case. Thanks in advance to peeps who are taking the time to write about it.

Guys, stop the bullcrap, who cares about the politics of yesteryear, (as if today’s mess is any better). With all due disrespect, Tariq Ali is a wet napkin – an insignificant little Commie and inconsequential in Pakistani political scene. Intellectuals like him come dime a dozen). This is about Ali’s recollect of his Nana, and here’s something from Faiz Ji. Although Faiz Ji wrote this on the passing of his brother, but it certainly summarizes how many in Ali’s generation feel:

Mujh ko Shikwa hai Meray Bhai keh Tum Jate Hooay
le gaye sath Meri Umre Guzishta ki Kitaab
Is mein tau Meri bohut Keemati Tusweerien Thein
Is mein Buchpun tha mera, aur mera Aihd-e Shabab
.
.
.
Aa ke le jao Tum Apna yeh Damukta hua Phool
Mujh ko lota do Meri Umre Guzishta ki Kitaab

#56

“The Inspector-General of police was not amused to see that his name was fifth on a list of notables to be executed without trial, and even less pleased to discover that the friendly professor he had met at dinner had compiled the list. Jawaharlal Nehru—a family friend of Zaheer—intervened and the latter was released and returned to India. It was quite bold of Musharraf’s mother to claim friendship with two convicted traitors.”

So this is what you are relying on make your claim. Tariq Ali quoting a Police officer about a list compiled by Sajad Zaheer. It shows how stupid you are and how stupid Tariq Ali is.

People who know Tariq Ali also know that he writes things to project himself as somebody who knows but the truth is he did not know a whole lot. Did the list say “execute” these guys without trials or was it a list of people Sajad Zaheer knew?

Just for your benefit during the whole Rawalpindi Sazish case no list was ever presented and why are you so idiot to believe that Sajad Zaheer would compile a list with police officer’s name on it? Try and think from what is left in your spaghetti brain. No police officer in Pakistan was ever so important to be on any list. Even in 1948, 49, 50 or in 51.
There was no list. That was all part of the propaganda that was fed to the media when Liaquat and Ayub tried to destroy opposition both in the army and in civilian politics.


It is well known now that there was no coup attempt by anyone. It was just another case that was created to fix the opposition. Remember the Agartala Sazish case and then the Hyderabad Sazish case. Every one knows who the real Sazishis are.

It may be true that Sajad Zaheer stayed at Mazhar Ali place but I am sure Tariq was in his diapers at that time to know why Sajad was at Mazhar Ali’s place. Though I am surprised at the language Tariq Ali used about Sajad Zaheer and Sibte Hasan (convicted Traitors) Coming from Tariq that is precious!
Tariq left Pakistan after College. He never took part in student politics and never came back to take part in Pakistani politics. He does lots of research but his conclusions are often bogus.

So I am gonna learn from this fazool admi about Tariq ali and his being Trotskyite and their difference with Marxist-Leninist. Get lost and get some other brief from your ISI bosses.

Chowk Staff - Why hasn`t Saminasha been banned permanently?

This is what she posted in her own ``WTF`` thread:


#97 by Saminasha on September 30, 2005 9:38am PT
Stuka,

Fuck you. Seriously. Make all your references than act like it was out of innocence

# 58

oops, I called your mother Salima Hashmi in one of my posts. I appologize.

Re: # 45

Yes, I am Moneeza Hashmi`s son.

Thank you to everyone who took time to read the article and respond. Writing it was cathartic for me in a way, although it brought back some painful memories. Thanks to everyone who loves and admires Nana`s poetry, I count myself as one of you. I wish I had begun to understand and appreciate his work before he died so I might have discussed it with him but c`est la vie...
I am not going to comment on the politics of his life or my own social/political/religious beliefs (that would require another article and I`m not sure I want to open that Pandora`s box ;-) except to say that yes, a person`s life`s work defines his life and those of us who chose to pursue goals higher than simply working for a paycheck pay a price for that (unfortunately, I haven`t had the courage to do that yet).

Thanks also to all those who have contributed titbits about Nana`s life that I never knew about. It has been informative and illuminating.

I`ll respond to the braindead moron who calls himself HP, and his fellow travellers, in a day or so when I have more time but you can read about the hit list from the horse`s mouth, ;-), yourself. Take a look at footnote #4.

http://www.newleftreview.net/NLR25301.shtml

As to how serious was the coup attempt and how likely was the CCP to carry out the killings, that is immaterial. The leaders of the party planned to do so. If they didn`t plan on it, I doubt Tariq Ali would deliberately strengthen the Army`s case against the plotters. Or is the fact that he is a Trotskyite enough for him to side with the Army against the Marxist-Leninists (assuming you idiots know the difference between the two....).

fuzair, HP, kulharee...
fuzair saheb, your bracketing faiz with lenin shows your bitterness with the commies, faiz saheb was a drawing room communist who like sajjad zaheer and other high profile intellectuals was worried about the masses and wrote about it in their works but they wanted their comforts too...here a grandson is reminicsing about his grand father and growing up with the tag of a dahriya because of his association with a supposed dahriya... it`s immaterial that the one throwing the stone at him or his progeny was no where in the same class as faiz as a poet, as a human and as an artiste... look at his poetry, look at his humanity, look at his concern for the people and look at his popularity across the social class... he was a great poet, probably the greatest after ghalib, a wonderful human being million times better than a maudoodi, qutub or osama...as for rawalpindi conspiracy is concerned HP`s clarification is better than army`s lying...

hum parvarish e lauh o qalam kerte raheNge
jo dill pe guzarti hai raqam kertay reheNge

Re: # 47 Fuzair.

``We have it on record, from no less an august revolutionary than Tariq Ali, that the Communist Party of Pakistan had a (presumably long) list of people that it was going to kill as soon as the coup was carried out; no trial, no hearing, just executions. ``

What is the evidence to support this statement? How has Tariq Ali corroborated it. I always thought that the Rawalpindi Conspiracy was just a bunch of huey and at best it was a sort of a pre-emptive strike by the GOP at the urging of their Americans masters.

Re: # 51

Dear HP Sahib, Thank you. I had read that much. It was an honest question, and not meant to be disrespectful. I could never even imagine being disrespectful to Faiz Ji.

Manzur yeh Talkhi yeh Sitam hum ko Gawaara
Dam hai to Madaawa-e-alam Kartey rahenge