Legacy of Urdu Poetry

 

(36) Legacy of Urdu Poetry

12-2-98

by Fazeel Azeez Chauhan

Language is an important asset of a community. Language connects people to their culture, religion, history, ancestors and expression of feelings. Urdu is very beautiful and by definition is a multi-cultural language. When Urdu is your mom's first language you can study English for 20 years and still be unable to reach the depth of certain feelings. Poetry is the language of feelings and can be a good test of a person's identity. If you find that English poetry sufficiently expresses the range of your feelings, then you lean toward that language. If you find that conveying a wide spectrum of feelings in English can be cumbersome at times, then you may savor Urdu poetry. Does that mean that Urdu speakers feel more than English speakers?

Urdu also connects us to our ancestors. Authentic Urdu poetry is a good means for connecting to our roots. Sometimes, a person doesn't realize the value of roots, until he's in his 30's or when she becomes a mother. If you want to destroy a people, cut them off from their roots. Without sustenance, even the most beautiful plant will wither away and die. So the work that Nayyar Apa and Urdu Markaz have been doing for a decade is extremely crucial for our survival, specially in America. People might be staring at you with judgemental glances, but you can shrug them off your shoulder by humming some Urdu poetry which transports you to another place.

If you are a person who gets confused about his identity, three easy things can help clarify feelings. One, go to Pakistan and absorb the authentic things of the mother land. Two, intake the positive things of the culture by making friends with wise Pakistani elders. Three, submerge yourself in the works of bona fide artists like Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan, Khusro, Ghalib, Iqbal and Faiz. Some poets specialize in writing love songs about women. But self-realization is even higher, as emphasized by the awesome inspirational poetry of Allama Iqbal. What's important about Sha-ir-e-Mashriq (the Poet of the East) is his U-Turn. He got a PhD of Philosophy in Germany and was well versed in Western thought. Yet he didn't sell out and promoted Islamic and Eastern values.

The authenticity of the arts of non-western people is endangered by TV and other forms of invasion. Authentic Urdu poetry quickly connects us to our ancestors, and to the truth. Urdu Markaz attempts to promote poets who are carrying on the bona fide traditions of a long line of great poets. They organize wonderful poetry readings at least once a year. The audience has been increasing greatly, as hundreds of people attend and partake in the flavorful verses. Writing poetry is very hard work. Good poets also have a deep understanding of philosophical, social, political and psychological influences.

Talking about Urdu poetry in English is a peculiar idea. The best thing is to read the poetry yourself and attend Urdu poetry readings. You may learn many lessons through the experiences of poets and don't have to re-invent solutions from scratch. Like tribal music or ancient rituals, at a Mushaira, you get the sense that your ancestors have practiced the same traditions, hundreds of years before you. It is an un-adulterated experience of our culture.

On November 6, Urdu Markaz held the Mushaira in Buena Park, near Disneyland. But niether Disneyland, nor Magic Mountain can offer the rides that the Urdu poets piloted. Plus, the Mushaira was much cheaper, and the experience meant something beyond pure entertainment. Peerzada Qasim did an excellent job of hosting the event. Ahmed Nadeem Qasmi was the honored president. Jameel Badlavi and Gain Chand were the honored guests in the audience. Some of the poets were from U.S. including: Farooq Taraz and wife Noshi Geelani, Zarreen Yaseen, Zafar Rizwi, Iqbal Mian Zaidi and Iftikhar Naseem. Abdul-Rehman Siddiqui was given the 1997 Poet Of The Year Award for his book "Naghma-e-Zanjeer". Amjad Adaya also presented him with a $5,000 check. A pleasant surprise was the Community Service Award given to Abu-Bakr Vakil for his consistant assistance.

Mansoora Ahmed had won the Academy Of Letters Award in Pakistan. She brought tears to our eyes with her verses about the political and social unrest. Nawaz Dayo-Bandi, Mansoor Usmani and Irfan Siddiqui had come from India. Waseem Baraylvi, Peerzada Qasim and Ahmed Nadeem Qasmi arrived from Pakistan. It would be unfair to acknowledge one poet and not another. You had to be there. If you weren't, you missed an thoroughly fulfilling experience. The program journal handed out was the best ever. It was generously sponsored by community businesses. Printed on glossy paper with colorful roses on the covers, it had poetry of all the greats. At the end, it included works of the evening's featured poets. Many thanks, wah wah and muqarrar irshaad to Urdu Markaz International!!

Thank you South Asian Network

 

(34) Thank You SAN

12-19-96 by Fazeel Chauhan

To Mr. Hamid Khan, South Asian Network

I would like to thank you for all the help you've provided me through SAN over the past four years. For me, South Asian Network has been a place where I can come to and get the precious feeling of belongingness. There are many South Asian people, specially the youth, who are in the same predicament as me. You have been educating and teaching them about Career Development, English, Yoga, Laws, Health issues and Immigration. The greatest benefit I personally gain is through the group discussions on Immigration and Family issues.

South Asians are an extremely new group of people to immigrate to America. Here, we lack the roots or background of a historical presence. Since our numbers are very small and we arrived here very recently, we don't have proper political representation. There is also a lot of misinformation about our people in the media. Those of us who are Muslims are falsely and frequently misrepresented as terrorists who are violent and oppressive toward women. These major issues, combined with the stress of adjusting to the new country and culture can really isolate a person. The fast paced and unfriendly culture of Los Angeles also adds to the difficulties that our people encounter. Often we feel misunderstood, isolated, out of place and longing for a feeling of home.

Really, the only option available to us when we want to be with our community is through religious affiliation. I can go to the Mosque and pray with other Muslims. But there aren't any social activities that take place there. For example, no classes about American culture, English or Career Development are offered. There also aren't any programs like mentoring, personal counseling or group discussions. South Asian Network fills the void for these needs. Most people in our community have not heard of the important services that SAN is providing. It is a fairly new organization, but its vision is very critical for the progress of our community. As more people find out about what SAN is offering, the available funds will increase and so will the services to the community.

Many people like me also lack a family because we immigrated here alone. The sincere people at SAN have given me tremendous support. You have provided me with a lot of understanding through personal attention because of which I don't feel so lost and alone anymore. The volunteers at SAN, like you, give me the greatest respect as a human being. And this makes me feel like I have some worth and that I have something of value to give back to my community. In southern California, it is nearly impossible to find people who genuinely care about other human beings. Everyone is just too busy. But SAN has a different vision, and you embrace me for who I am, rather than judging me. This makes me feel like I belong here. Otherwise, I frequently feel like I am slipping through the cracks of society.

I commend you for having the courage and for taking the time to help our community. I also thank you for teaching me, for educating me and for genuinely caring about me. I am always grateful to you. You can call me to help you with any volunteer work for SAN.

Bandit Queen

by Fazeel Aziz Chauhan

(Published in Pakistan Link  ~  8-7-95)

 
"Bandit Queen" is the name of a new Indian movie. It is a true story based on the life of a famous woman named Phoolan Devi. At one point in time, the film was banned in India because of its controversial content. The movie is not just about Phoolan Devi, however, because it deals with some of the deep social issues of India and Pakistan. This is a very remarkable and socially conscious movie, which makes the viewer look inside. For the Desi viewer, the reality of this movie is hard to accept.
The film opens with an image of a young eleven year old girl. She stares right into your eyes and tells you in a powerful and assertive voice "Yes, I am Phoolan Devi..." At the end of the sentence was a common curse word. This was very unexpected and really grabbed my attention. A young, cute, innocent little girl is not supposed to talk like that. It made me sit up in my seat and I wondered "What was that." From the beginning, the movie was very disturbing. But this ugly discomfort had a very strong and positive effect on my psyche.
Another nice touch in "Bandit Queen" was that Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan was the music composer. There was a haunting song which was sung by a child. Khan kept the music in its raw form and gave it a rough edge. Even the music was packaged in a very real way. This movie represents one of those very rare occasions when the film medium has been used to present the truth to people. Almost all Pakistani and Indian movies show us a romanticized view of life. Like tv, movies can become a drug that we use to escape from real life. We've all seen enough of these movies about fictitious characters who live in a nonexistent world, that we start expecting our real lives to be like that too. But when real life strikes us over the head, it is a very disappointing experience. Films and tv can be very powerful and motivating tools if we want to bring a positive change in the world. That is one reason why this is such an awesome movie.
In Bandit Queen, there were issues which were absolutely the truth but these were hard to swallow. The ugly realities of our society were very difficult to accept. I found myself sitting at the Nuart Theatre in Santa Monica. Almost everybody in the audience was American and there were hardly any Desi people. This made it worse. My first reaction was that I don't want Americans to see all these evil things about my culture. It will give them another excuse to discriminate and belittle us. But if our own society will not acknowledge these problems in our culture, then it might take outside observers to convince us that hey, this behavior is not right.
So what was so disturbing in this movie? It exposed the worst kind of child abuse. It slapped me to show me the severe oppression of women. It demonstrated how rich people can take poor people for granted and make their lives so cheap. It shouted of how human beings who don't have enough money or status are treated worse than animals. It screamed with the pain of women who have no choices and who have to live their whole lives like prisoners and slaves. It makes you sick about the class system which exists in both India and Pakistan.
The movie really shook me up. It woke me up and reminded me of the society that I come from. It showed me who I am. It made me realize the truths about myself and my people, which I didn't want to accept. It showed me the suffering of the masses of India and Pakistan. It reminded me of the raw, blunt and painful prejudice that my people have. Prejudice against how others look, against women, against the poor and against people who have a lower class. It is very powerful movie. If enough of us see it, then making positive changes in our society will become easier. You will realize that there are a lot of things you want to change. You will feel like taking some action to help somebody. And maybe you will follow through and do something to stop the oppression, injustice, prejudice, and other crimes against humanity. What do you feel?

Brainwashing Machines

by Fazeel Chauhan

(Published in Paksitan Link  ~  4-14-92)

On April 11, Muslim Media organized a panel discussion at the Al-Medinah restaurant. The two guests were Heather Allen, an executive of NBC tv and Dan Fischer, the editor of L. A. Times' World Report. Irfan Mirza was impressively articulate in serving the function of host.
The event will receive coverage in other parts of this paper, therefore, I'll take a slightly different approach. During the discussion, Heather disclosed some honest facts about the weaknesses of the media, whereas Dan stressed the credibility and excellence of his staff. I am grateful to both of them for taking the time and courage to appear before the Muslim community. Although they tried to paint a positive picture of the media, most reporting is not favorable towards Muslims. Usually, journalists get their news from government releases and hardly question the accuracy of the "facts". The media becomes a brainwashing machine of disinformation and keeps the masses ignorant.
When was the last time you saw a positive portrayal of a Muslim in the media? Usually they are shown as violent and crazy terrorists. Minorities and immigrants in general, and people of color in particular are presented in their worst case scenarios. Some people call it a conspiracy. Former CIA director William Casey owned 20% of the New York Times. The more we learn about what happens behind the scenes, through sources such as "JFK" and books like "The Insiders", the more scary and hopeless the situation seems. Big business and advertisers influence what the media talks about. Who pulls the strings behind the scenes? There are definitely powers that censor the information that you and I receive. The Soviet Union was presented as the enemy for so many years. Then it was Iraq, and by election time, maybe it will be Libya. The media has served as a brainwashing machine and has created a negative stereotype of Muslims. The media is a big authority and an individual is not. The Muslim lacks a magic cleaner to wash away the negative views in other peoples minds that stain his/her reputation.
Both Heather and Dan agreed that they could do a lot more to change the stereotype of Muslims. But they also relayed that they were small cogs in the big machine. The media is an extremely powerful tool to represent us. Other groups such as the jews learned this a long time ago and they are very influential in the world, through the media, especially the movie industry. How many jewish directors, actors and comedians can you think of? And how many movies about hitler have you seen? How many times have you seen a tv show involving nazis? These movies are shown throughout the world. But do you remember a positive movie which promotes better understanding of the billions of Muslims in the world? The jews are also powerful in government. As discussed by the panel, the more influence people have, the more coverage they get. Kirkpatrick, the former U. S. embassador to the U. N. was Jewish. Can we even imagine an American Muslim in such a powerful role? The oil producing Muslim nations did not learn the lesson from Jews to unite and command the world through their immense wealth.
Heather mentioned that the nightly news consists of only twenty two minutes. There isn't enough time to cover areas such as the Muslim world. Dan said that his paper's World Report does not make any money. And that's what the media is about - making profits. Whatever sells is what's put on tv, producing couch potatoes and vidiots. Most Americans use the tv to get their information. "If it's on tv, it must be true". They read less than one book a year. A small percentage read the mainstream newspapers and even a smaller group uses alternative media as sources of information. Even in that arena, you'll find bias, such as Santa Monica College's KCRW. It is "National Public Radio", but a closer listen will show the presence of a jewish director, who's influence can color the whole radio station. Can you imagine the type of programming we could broadcast if the director was Muslim? African Americans, East Asians and Hispanics also exercise their power through politics, business and the media. Muslims should learn to play that game. The least we can do is write letters to the editors and to our elected officials to let our voices be heard. Together, we can change the situation. In childhood, they taught us: "Knowledge is power". Today, whoever is powerful gets the most coverage in the media, making it a world where "Power is Knowledge". That's very scary for those who are not so powerful