Qurat-ul-ain Haider Has Passed Away She was the main reason I learnt to read Urdu. Aag Ka Darya was a much talked about piece during my college days and we had a copy at our house in Urdu. I would love to hear from people who actually met her, and I agree, a more comprehensive obituary is in order

Meeting Poet Ahmad Faraz Re: # 7
Apologies for following up on my own post but I should have written:

....kahiiN `behtar` thaa,
apne hisse kii koii...

and `recired` is of course `recited`. I could have let the second correction go but the first one is `sacrelegious and had to be corrected.

Meeting Poet Ahmad Faraz Thanks for the write up. I met him a couple of times during his attendence at Toronto mushairas. This is going back a few years. `raNjish hii sahii..` had continued to be audience favorite but Faraaz sahib naturally wanted to present his newer work. At one of these mushaairas, a lady insisted that he recired `raNjish hii sahii...` to which Faraaz sahib responded with a winning smile, `yeh to ab aap Mehdi Hassan sahib se hii suniie` (this one you should now hear only from Mehdi Hassan sahib):-)

I have a lot of his books, (including Kulliaat-e-Faraaz) and frequently resort to reading him, at random, and feel my faith in humanity returning!

shikva-e-zulmat-e-shab se to kahiiN accha thaa
apne hisse kii koii shamma jalaate jaate!

Carl Friedrich Gauss Re: # 38

I think it was Stephen Hawkings who said that if you want to know the mind of man, study religion; but if you want to know the mind of god, study mathematics.

Allama Iqbal and His Women ghusse meN aa ke maiN ne kaha apni saas se
kucch der merii biibii ka piichha bhii chooR de
beTii ke saath maaN mujhe tasliim hai magar
lekin kabhii kabhii ise tanha bhii chooR de

On a serious note, though, there is a verse of Iqbal, that together with one by Faiz, has stood me in good stead in moments of despair. I post both these below:

nahiiN hai na-ummiid Iqbal apnii kasht-e-viiraaN se
zara nam ho to yeh mitti baRi zar-Khez hai saaqii


dil na-ummiid to nahiiN, na-kaam hii to hai
laMbii hai gham kii shaam, magar shaam hii to hai

Schumi No More! Re: # 1

Of course it is a sport. `Boxing, bull fighting and motor racing are the only sports, rest are all games`. Hemingway. I will define anything that requires hand-eye co-ordination to play well a sport.

I did some amateur racing a few years back and understand the physics of racing a little. This is where, I think, Schui is incomparable. He can make his car go as if the rules of physics don`t apply to his car. And he does it with divine grace. He can put up lap after lap in the middle of a race as if he is doing a qualifynig lap. And each time his racing line is within a mm of the previous lap. And if you see his control of the steering, it is as if he is driving at 30 miles/hour and not 300. Compare his gentle maneuvering of the steering with, say, see-sawing of Phillipe, who is fast but always seems to be working his pants off. Schumacher always seems as if he is out for a leisurely Sunday drive, such graceful is his control of the car. It seems to do a ballet in his hands, rather than race. As they say, it is not how fast he goes, but how he goes fast.

I will miss him a lot. F1 will take a while before it finds, if it finds him at all, the next Schumacher!

Has Hinduism had the Longest Tradition of Continuous Religion? Re: # 93

``Tujh mein Ram, mujh mein Ram
Sab mein Ram samaaya
Sab se kar le pyaar jagat mein
Koyee naheen hai paraaya. ``

Here is a more erudite one:

kabiira is saNsaar meN
sab se milo dhyaae
na jaane kis roop meN
aa jaaeN raghu rae!

Roughly, ``O Kabir, accord everyone in this world due thoughtfulness (respect)
As who knows in what form God may decide to manifest!

Let\'s Kill All The Moslems Re: # 234

``Could there be a possibility that there might be 2 ahmer`s in the world?``

It would appear from your handle that there are at least 23:-)

Karachi Blasted Again This from the current edition of New York Review of Books (http://www.nybooks.com/articles/18514) is funny, if it wasn`t serious!

``A significant proportion of these are run by, or connected to, the radical Islamist political parties such as the MMM, which under Sami`s vice-presidency have just imposed a Taliban-like regime on Pakistan`s North-West Frontier Province, banning the public performance of music and depictions of the human form. The one exception to this, bizarrely, is the image of Colonel Sanders outside the new Kentucky Fried Chicken restaurant in Peshawar. This was apparently because the Colonel was judged to be sporting a properly Islamic beard, and so was spared the iconoclasm imposed elsewhere.``

South Asian Earthquake: Don’t care… or don’t know? Re: # 38

``I hope the Pakistani people can finally take a stand and end these Lashkar-e-this and Jaish-e-that organizations from their soil.``


Not gonna happen untill the brainwashing of children stops:

http://www.nybooks.com/articles/18514

And considering the recent bomb (and a couple earlier) was at a KFC outlet, this from the above article is really ironic:

``A significant proportion of these are run by, or connected to, the radical Islamist political parties such as the MMM, which under Sami`s vice-presidency have just imposed a Taliban-like regime on Pakistan`s North-West Frontier Province, banning the public performance of music and depictions of the human form. The one exception to this, bizarrely, is the image of Colonel Sanders outside the new Kentucky Fried Chicken restaurant in Peshawar. This was apparently because the Colonel was judged to be sporting a properly Islamic beard, and so was spared the iconoclasm imposed elsewhere.``

Black Pakistan and White Pakistan Re: # 5

``I wonder... where Ahmed Faraz stands on this spectrum``

Don`t know about F`raaz, but here is where another literate Pakistani, Pir Zada Qasim, stands on the issue:

kafan baaNdhe huue yeh shehar saara jaa raha hai kyuuN
suu-e-maqtal hii har rasta hamaara jaa raha hai kyuuN!

yeh maNshoor-e-sitam, lekin ise ham maante kab haiN
sahiife kii tarah ham par utaara jaa raha hai kyuuN!

Come to think of it, F`raaz may say:

shikva-e-zulmaat-e-shab se to kahiiN behtar thaa
apne hisse kii koii shamma jalaate jaate!

Bomb Blasts in Delhi Re: # 399

``Yes, it may reduce the risk of penile cancer, but it is true for any organ. It does not mean that we should get rid of all the organs that have potential to develop cancer.``

Removing prepuce to lessen the risk of penile cancer is not the same as removing an organ (e.g. breast) to prevent it from going cancerous. Apparently (although as is its wont, medical thinking may have changed on this) it is the smegma (the concentrated secretions) that accumulate under the foreskin that act as carcingenic, and not the foreskin per se. So, keeping it clean maybe an effective and painless alternative!

Bomb Blasts in Delhi Re: # 377

Studies have shown that circumcision has a protective effect against penile cancer. I am not sure if it protects against uti.

Bomb Blasts in Delhi Re: # 364

``Also, khare also means ``safe, care`` as in Shab-be-Khair (good night, or night with care)``



Well, it should be shab-ba-Khair and not be-Khair. The latter means WITHOUT peace/safety.

Samosey mein aloo: why not Laloo? Re: # 9

Kulharee, KulhaR (`R` as in shola jo bhaRke) is the disposable earthenware pot for drinks. When your train passes through UP, Bihar etc. the tea at the stations is supplied in these KulhaRs. Here is a provocative she`r by Anand Narayan Mulla, featuring this word:

kya samajh sakte haiN ghaam`R, hiNdi aur Urdu ka farq
bhaNg ke kulhaR kidhar, sehba ke paimaane kahaaN

ghaamR=fools
sehba=wine

Flying Spaghetti Monsterism Here is another take on the same topic from last week`s New Yorker:

http://www.newyorker.com/shouts/content/articles/050926sh_shouts

Day No. 1:

And the Lord God said, “Let there be light,” and lo, there was light. But then the Lord God said, “Wait, what if I make it a sort of rosy, sunset-at-the-beach, filtered half-light, so that everything else I design will look younger?”

“I’m loving that,” said Buddha. “It’s new.”

“You should design a restaurant,” added Allah.



Day No. 2:

“Today,” the Lord God said, “let’s do land.” And lo, there was land.

“Well, it’s really not just land,” noted Vishnu. “You’ve got mountains and valleys and—is that lava?”

“It’s not a single statement,” said the Lord God. “I want it to say, ‘Yes, this is land, but it’s not afraid to ooze.’ ”

“It’s really a backdrop, a sort of blank canvas,” put in Apollo. “It’s, like, minimalism, only with scale.”

“But—brown?” Buddha asked.

“Brown with infinite variations,” said the Lord God. “Taupe, ochre, burnt umber—they’re called earth tones.”

“I wasn’t criticizing,” said Buddha. “I was just noticing.”



Day No. 3:

“Just to make everyone happy,” said the Lord God, “today I’m thinking oceans, for contrast.”

“It’s wet, it’s deep, yet it’s frothy; it’s design without dogma,” said Buddha, approvingly.

“Now, there’s movement,” agreed Allah. “It’s not just ‘Hi, I’m a planet—no splashing.’ ”

“But are those ice caps?” inquired Thor. “Is this a coherent vision, or a highball?”

“I can do ice caps if I want to,” sniffed the Lord God.

“It’s about a mood,” said the Angel Moroni, supportively.

“Thank you,” said the Lord God.



Day No. 4:

“One word,” said the Lord God. “Landscaping. But I want it to look natural, as if it all somehow just happened.”

“Do rain forests,” suggested a primitive tribal god, who was known only as a clicking noise.

“Rain forests here,” decreed the Lord God. “And deserts there. For a spa feeling.”

“Which is fresh, but let’s give it glow,” said Buddha. “Polished stones and bamboo, with a soothing trickle of something.”

“I know where you’re going,” said the Lord God. “But why am I seeing scented candles and a signature body wash?”

“Shut up,” said Buddha.

“You shut up,” said the Lord God.

“It’s all about the mix,” Allah declared in a calming voice. “Now let’s look at some swatches.”



Day No. 5:

“I’d like to design some creatures of the sea,” the Lord God said. “Sleek but not slick.”

“Yes, yes, and more yes—it’s a total gills moment,” said Apollo. “But what if you added wings?”

“Fussy,” whispered Buddha to Zeus. “Why not epaulets and a sash?”

“Legs,” said Allah. “Now let’s do legs.”

“Are we already doing dining-room tables?” asked the Lord God, confused.

“No, design some creatures with legs,” said Allah. So the Lord God, nodding, designed an ostrich.

“First draft,” everyone agreed, and so the Lord God designed an alligator.

“There’s gonna be a waiting list,” Zeus murmured appreciatively.

“Now do puppies!” pleaded Vishnu. “And kitties!”

“Ooooo!” all the gods cooed. Then, feeling a bit embarrassed, Zeus ventured, “Design something more practical, like a horse or a mule.”

“What about a koala?” asked the Lord God.

“Much better,” Zeus declared, cuddling the furry little animal. “I’m going to call him Buttons.”



Day No. 6:

“Today I’m really going out there,” said the Lord God. “And I know it won’t be popular at first, and you’re all gonna be saying, ‘Earth to Lord God,’ but in a few million years it’s going to be timeless. I’m going to design a man.”

And everyone looked upon the man that the Lord God designed.

“It has your eyes,” Zeus told the Lord God.

“Does it stack?” inquired Allah.

“It has a naïve, folk-artsy, I-made-it-myself vibe,” said Buddha. The Inca sun god, however, only scoffed. “Been there. Evolution,” he said. “It’s called a shaved monkey.”

“I like it,” protested Buddha. “But it can’t work a strapless dress.” Everyone agreed on this point, so the Lord God announced, “Well, what if I give it nice round breasts and lose the penis?”

“Yes,” the gods said immediately.

“Now it’s intelligent,” said Aphrodite.

“But what if I made it blond?” giggled the Lord God.

“And what if I made you a booming offscreen voice in a lot of bad movies?” asked Aphrodite.



Day No. 7:

“You know, I’m really feeling good about this whole intelligent-design deal,” said the Lord God. “But do you think that I could redo it, keeping the quality but making it at a price point we could all live with?”

“I’m not sure,” said Buddha. “You mean, what if you designed a really basic, no-frills planet? Like, do the man and the woman really need all those toes?”

“Hello!” said the Lord God. “Clean lines, no moving parts, functional but fun. Three bright, happy, wash ’n’ go colors.”

“Swedish meets Japanese, with maybe a Platinum Collector’s Edition for the geeks,” Buddha decided.

“Done,” said the Lord God. “Now let’s start thinking about Pluto. What if everything on Pluto was brushed aluminum?”

“You mean, let’s do Neptune again?” said Buddha.