Basking in Controversy

Here is another review of the same program.
This one is by Dr. Usman Qazi.

Synopsis of Suppressed Voice, (12/18/04, Newark, CA)

Friends of South Asia – Bay Area (www.friendsofsouthasia.com) came
together in response to the Pakistan-India military tensions of 2002,
and has remained active following their dissipation. Earlier this
year, we sponsored a staged reading of Bullha by Shahid Nadeem.
Encouraged by its success, we decided to further explore the space of
_expression provided by the performing arts.

The idea of a musical evening representing the diversity of South Asia
was launched, with Ijaz Syed (an activist since high school) put in
charge of its production. The idea then quickly morphed into a
multi-media event with a political theme- Suppressed Voices. Over a
road trip to LA, emerging area writer Moazzam Sheikh agreed to try his
hand at being its director and provided skeletons for the main
sequence and several of the theatrical pieces.

Planning the event rapidly took up all the energies of the handful of
persons that constitute FOSA and many well-wishers stepped in to help
out. The success of Suppressed Voices, along with its
behind-the-scenes drama, created relishing memories for those
involved.

The event started ``fashionably late`` at an area restaurant. Ijaz
appeared before the audience to recite Habib Jaalib`s well-known poem
maiN naheeN maanta main naheeN jaanta. Mid-way, two actors dressed as
plainclothes policemen dragged him off stage, setting the tone for the
event.

A skit titled ``Talk Show`` (conceived by Moazzam) followed. Parodying
issues besetting the confederation in Pakistan, a savvy compere
attempts to discuss internal threats with a panel comprising a big and
important Chaudhry; a veteran Urdu-speaking journalist who is now
yearning for his lost ``Gang o Jaman``; an angry intellectual who only
speaks in Sindhi and a tribal chieftain who badly wants his piece of
the pie. A woman (Bibi) is also in the panel, but she has to sit in a
baby chair and is never allowed to speak, while a minority bhai,
showing up late due to being held up by security, is left standing. A
scuffle ensues over a water bottle, which is jealously guarded by
Chaudhry. The compere announces that the country is in grave danger
and tries a military take over, but goes into hiding upon being
silenced by Bibi, who announces that she is no longer a half witness
and marches off with some women from the audience.

This was followed by Amna Ali singing some beautiful Punjabi kaafis by
Baba Naanak, Shah Husain and Bullhe Shah. Due to circumstances
explained later, she was accompanied only by a tabla navaaz and not a
harmonium player.

Another skit ``gali gali meN shor hai``, written by local author and
poet Shikha Malaviya (www.monsoonmag.com) presented a TV newscast
covering the mutilation of some paintings depicting fusions of
religious symbols at an art gallery. The artist, impersonating Maqbool
Fida Husain, appears to rise above the controversy. However, the
atmosphere at the gallery is charged, with an outraged art student and
bystanders shouting for and against the paintings, while the reporter,
anchor and other high-society figures are remarkably callous.

Prior to the skit, our good friend the harmonium player (who will
forever remain anonymous) had taken a moment to peek behind the scenes
and examine the mutilated paintings. A few minutes earlier there had a
been a commotion that involved fetching a knife from the kitchen and
dispatching one of the actors to rapidly slash the paintings. Our
observant friend resented that somehow the knife had only dismembered
symbols of his religion while symbols pertaining to some other faiths
were left intact. Upon being requested to complete the job himself, he
angrily insisted that the person responsible for the sacriligeous act
be required to equally damage all symbols. As his wish could not be
granted instantly, he stormed out with his instrument.

Tina Maan, the talented teenage daughter of notable bay area musician
Ustaad Maan Singh then sang ``ham dekheN ge`` by Faiz. She then
attempted to perform a dance, but was angrily challenged by an
outraged actor. Another actor responded to the outrage and the dance
was able to proceed.

A brief screening was slated to follow the dance, but some electronic
gremlins appeared interested in keeping it suppressed. With the
organizers beginning to worry about rotten tomatoes flying onstage any
moment, the occasion was saved by jaysi, an interpretive Kathak dancer
(www.jypsyjays.net), who provided an impromptu sampling of some of her
work. While she captivated the audience, the gremlins were quietly
expunged.

The audience were then treated to a powerful poetic clip in Telugu by
a Dalit poet. It was taken from the film ``A Night of Prophecy``, a
poetic journey through the torments of contemporary India, from
Kashmir to Nagaland. FOSA showed this film earlier this year as a part
of the Traveling Film South Asia Film Festival. Amar Kanwar, its
director, will be visiting the Bay Area in February 2005.

Next, a presentation on the suppression of the Ahmadiyya in Pakistan
followed. At its conclusion several Pakistanis were observed to be
livid about their cherished nation being unfairly targeted, thereby
giving company to several Indians who had not taken the earlier Dalit
piece all that lightly.

The show then moved on to a performance of Khol Do, a dark,
provocative short story by Manto set in the Partition riots, whose
original appearance in Pakistan`s premier literary journal Nuqoosh had
caused it to be banned.

Following a break, the audience were treated to desi pop music
performed by a local band, Sawaaz.

We felt that Suppressed Voices brought down many barriers, both
personal and collective. And we were delighted by feedback we received
later from the audience. So many were so grateful at being provoked…

It`s surprising isnt it, that despite the madness that the partition seemed to let loose in all of us, Hindu, Muslim or Sikh, only a few movies, ``Garam Hawa``, ``Train to Pakistan``, ``Tamas``, ``Fire``, etc have been made on the topic. As I mentioned somewhere on chowk before, my mother`s maternal grandmother`s village decided to escort their muslim brethren across the border and did. On the other hand, my mother`s father`s village at the behest of the leaders and some people from neighbouring villages, all Sikhs, decided to get the muslim men and after finishing them off keep the women, so they sat back while goons from other villages did exactly that. However, one act of violence doesnt make all Sikhs bad and nor does one act of violence amke all muslims bad either. It`s the madness of the moment and whether you keep your head in it or lose it and follow the mass hysteria.
Perhaps we have witnessed so much violence and still do in the form of news articles on riots, hatred and daily incidents of various castes and women being demeaned that we prefer the glossy exterior of Bollywood to hold on to our sanity.