Asraar ul Haq Majaaz Honoured By People Who Don’T Know Him

Strange are the ways of the government departments. This is a stamp issued to honour the anti-imperialist, anti-capitalist Asraar ul Haq Majaaz with a mosque in the background. He was honoured, but did anybody in the Postal department know anything about the great rebel and poet. Majaaz was romantic and agnostic and had nothing to do with a mosque. For our pseudo seculars Urdu = Muslims = mosques. This approach is not only unfair to the Tamil, Malayali, Telugu, Konkani, Gujarati, Bengali and Muslims who speak other languages but also takes the credit away from the Hindu and Sikh writers who have chosen to write in Urdu. Prem Chand, Firaq Gorakhpuri, Upendra Nath Ashk, Rajinder Singh Bedi, Krishan Chander, and large number of Hindus who are fond of Urdu literature, fall in this category.

Let us view what the opinion of the well informed and knowleable people was about the great Majaaz.
Faiz Ahmed Faiz in the preface to Majaz’s Aahang said- Majaz never beat the drums of revolution, he hummed revolutions!.

Asar Lucknawi said- A Keats was born in Urdu poetry too, but he was devoured by the conservative wolves.

Sahir Ludhianvi wrote- Majaz had gone insane twice, he is drunk all the time and wanders aimlessly. Majaz responded-
Kuch To Hain Mohabbat Mein Junoon Ka Asar
Aur Kuch Log Bhi Deewana Bana Dete Hain!
Majaz rebelled against the customs and traditions and wrote-
Yeh Majboori Si Majboori, Yeh Laachari Si Laachari
Ki Uske Geet Bhi Jee Kholkar Main Gaa Na Saka
Hade Woh Kheech Rakhi Hain, Haram Ke Pasbaanone
Ki Bin Mujrim Bane Paigaam Bhi Pahuncha Na Saka
He sounds like Kabir in the following lines baring the Hindus and the Muslims in the same breath.-
Masjidon main maulvi khutbe sunate hi rahe,
Mandiron mein barhaman ashlok gatey hi rahey
Ik na ik dar par jabeen-i-shouq ghisti hi rahi
Aadamiyat zulm ki chakki mein pisti hi rahi
Rahbari jaari rahi, paighambari jaari rahi
Deen ke parde mein jang-i-zargari jaari rahi.
(The mullah and the pundit keep sermonizing. People keep bowing at their door.They claim to show the way and the great messiahs came claim divinity.Their religions plunder turn by turn.)
He dared the politicians by saying-
Bakhshi hain humko ishq ne wo jurratein Majaaz
Dartey nahi siysat-i-ahl-i-jahaan se hum.
He claimed to have received this strength from love. He deserved every bit of the honour bestowed on him but people in power should know who they are dealing with.

Think Of Bush Before You Eat…

A few years back I was watching an American TV serial in which a mother was scolding her child-don’t waste food, think of the poor starving children of India. Situation is changing fast. Rising prosperity of India’s huge middle class is sending shock waves in USA. President of the world’s richest country believes that India’s growing income is responsible for the increase in international food prices. I am not even sure that his statement deserves a reaction. Even by Bush’s standards it is insensitive and irresponsible. USA consumes more food and fuel per capita than any other nation. Increase in oil price are also being blamed on India and China. Compare the number of cars in USA and India. It would not be very difficult to decide who is responsible. President Bush’s has been ridiculed over and over again for his ignorance on most issues but he has crossed the limit this time.

The US President said: ”Just as an interesting thought for you, there are 350 million people in India who are classified as middle class. That’s bigger than America. Their middle class is larger than our entire population. When you start getting wealth, you start demanding better nutrition and better food, and so demand is high, and that causes the price to go up.”

Secretary of state Condoleezza Rice, first started this great theory. She said that the ‘apparent improvement’ in the diets of people in India and China and consequent food export caps is among the causes of the current global food crisis. Bush and Rice are not the only ones who believe that we are responsible for the plight of Americans-

Addressing a press conference in Washington, the House Minority Leader, John A Boehner, observed that people from India and China are demanding better food as their economy begin to grow. ”So when you begin to look at the demand coming from India and China and other developing countries for better diets at home, you can see that this world food shortage that we have is real.”

He believes that price increase is because we are eating more than ever. The US is the biggest consumer of grain, milk, vegetable oils, meat and, of course, fuel. Total foodgrain consumption by each US citizen is five times that of an Indian, twice that of the European Union and three times that of China. The size of the average portions of food in USA are a proof of that.

The question here is that millions of people in Africa are starving. When, and I sincerely hope so, conditions improve there and people start getting enough food, Americans will suffer again. They better work out a plan because at the moment Bush and associates are busy discovering WMDs in Iraq, supporting democracies in selected countries while promoting despots in other countries. Indians can’t do much to help them. What should the Indian middle class do? You can’t expect us to give up the prosperity and return back to the days when a large part of our population went hungry ( we still have starving people, only the numbers are less).
The other side of the story now- The Indians politicians have reacted sharply to these statements by Bush and company. However our own ministers share the same views. Commerce Minister Kamal Nath, recently pointed out that more families are eating at least one full meal a day and families that hitherto ate one meal are now eating two.
Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar has blamed wheat prices on changing dietary habits in the country, claiming that “south Indians eat more wheat now”.( South Indians be ready to hit back. The BCCI president is blaming you).

Whatever the reason, instead of blaming external reasons for increasing food prices( this is applicable to Indians as well as Americans) we have to find ways to increase the yield from our farms and stop wasting food. Living standards are going to improve and we all should wish that nobody sleeps hungry. As the consumption of food and buying capacity of people increases we should bother about producing more and not complain about people consuming more.

Hunooz Dilli Door Ast

I started my Sunday morning with a visit to the Tuglaqabad fort. It is hardly a 10 minutes drive from my place but I had never entered the fort until now. The fort is open to the public from 7.30 in the morning till late evening everyday. The department of ASI charges a princely sum of Rs 5 for visiting the fort, which Khushwant Singh considers is among the most beautiful ruins of the world. There are many wonderful stories associated with the fort.

Sultan Ghiasuddin was annoyed with a Sufi saint, Nizamuddin Auliya. During one of his expeditions he vowed that he would behead the saint in Delhi. The saint responded, “hunooz Dilli door ast”, which means ‘it’s a long way to Delhi’. (Centuries later, Subhash Chandra Bose used a different adaptation of these words, saying ‘ab Dilli door nahin’ during the struggle for independence). Ghiasuddin died on his way to Delhi, as a pavilion erected in his honour caved in and crushed the monarch. Nizamuddin Auliya lived and the king who swore to see him beheaded, perished instead. This is not the only reason why Ghiasuddin plays an important role in the history of Delhi. He built the strongest fort in Delhi at Tughlaqabad, which was completed within four years of his rule. It is surprising because the Fort is spread in the area of 6.5 square kilometers. Delhi is a combination of eight cities which existed from 900 BC to 1930 AD. Tuglaqabad was the fourth city of Delhi and was built in 1321 AD. It was deserted soon after the death of Ghiasuddin. According to a popular story, Nizamuddin Auliya had cursed the city and it could not prosper and flourish due to the curse. (However, this could also be attributed to the scarcity of water). The majestic 14th century Tuglaqabad Fort is connected to the mausoleum of Ghiyasuddin Tuglaq, by a causeway. Here are some photos of this beautiful fort: from my faithful Nokia N73.

The double storeyed Anarkali bazaar meant for the Begamat

‘Pani ki Bawaadi’ These water sources are common  here in Delhi.

The mausoleum of Ghiasudin.