Ahmed Faraz: The Light Stays

I know akcheema, it feels exactly the way you have described - brick walls - but I just can't let such diatribe go unanswered ... will try to endure with patience.
And many more to bear. There are brick walls and there are thundering ranters ... and there is my focus - on my work.
Thanks for your kind advice.

Re: # 28; quin

you may as well be attempting to communicate with a brick wall ... or other constructs of an equivalent intellect ... and you most probably ARE!!

I second the suggestion by HP: post # 4

There are thousands of tragedies happening everywhere right at this moment. Question is not if we consider them tragedies or not. Of course those are tragedies. But question is what tragedy we are discussing in this particular occasion. Question is of proprietary, decency and sensitivity.

Consider this: I loose a dear friend and I am grieving and a fool comes and says, oh, why you are grieving for that - he was such and such and was not such and such. Does this fool not see that, first, I am grieving, second, for me what that person is to me, is to me. Do you see, I am grieving at my friend's dead body, and this fool comes and dishonor my friend's dead body. What more incivility one can imagine. All it shows the hate and violence filled in that mind. I don’t mind discussing all the philosophies and all the view points, even the most intolerant ones, when the occasion is right. But there should be some civic sense in these things or they fall apart and no dialogue is possible.

And then taunting over poets scratching each other's back. Let me tell them something. What people take as scratching each other’s back is nothing but being able to see each other’s agony and ecstasy in a creative effort. Being able to know through what the other poet has been going through in that creative process. It is the appreciation of that pain as well as triumph of creativity. It may not be easy for people who are not into creative work to see it as such. However, this happens in any field. In my job, when I see a creative effort or idea brought forth by an engineer or technician, I am as appreciative of that as I am appreciative of a good poem. The only difference is that a writer or poet is out in open at the front - and their mutual interaction being visible - otherwise it is no different as it happens in any other field.

As Fatima Ijaz has said, a writer lives a dangerous life.

PS: Faraz was also appreciative of other poets as much as other poets were appreciative of him. I must also add, there are and always will be bitter disputes too between poets or writers. (PS is directed at # 25)

guru sahib,

I have a spare quarter and 3 cents. Where do I send them?

Since we are talking about real Sradhanjali to Faraz and writing/living "living" poem. An idea I have in mind is following:

1. In the spirit of Delhi mushiarra, would you please collect one crore for the terrorist killings in Jammu. If our dear baki brothers and sisters donate 1 crore worth gold from paki land for each jihadi done killing we can bring aman and shanti to our lands. Such private effort will force agencies and govt hand. They will stop funding jihadi activities in India.

2. Conduct a mushiara in bakiland to generate money for donating gold to Indian victim

These kind of living poems will turn this chowk into an highway of brother/sister-hood among our people. What do you think Anna Didi? Can we expect $1K from you? If we take alphabetical roll-cal your name comes first. You are so lucky to get to write the first stanza of this living/loving poem. We can name this fund as Faraz Fund.l

I agree with azarbandhi, Faraz sahib was an amazing amazing poet.

Although it doesn't apply to Faraz sahib, I also agree with guru "Most of the literary world is filled with "you scratch my back I scratch yours" types Gs."

First good news from Jammu: Security forces have killed all the three militants who were holding three woman and four children hostage in Jammu's Chinore area.


I hope to experience uplifting feeling to see the pouring of common grief for the trauma experienced by four children in the age group of two to nine. The youngest was Vipin Kumar, 2, while the other three are Kajal, 4, Ishant, 6 and Sheetal, 9. I hope to see show of shared reverence, and joining of hands for prayers at this sad occasion of shahadat of Shantic milkman, Hindu rikshawala, Havildar Vijay Kumar and a JCO Naik Subedar V V K Paarkashan.

I hope your Kavi hearts bleed for these lives cut short so early. Your heart felt poems are most welcome. This will be the best sraddhanjali you might give to Ahmed Faraz. His soul will have SadGati because of your these acts. But you should not stop here, you could fund education of dhoodhwala and rikshawwalas children's education. That would be better living poem.

It is such an uplifting feeling to see the pouring of common grief, show of shared reverence, and joining of hands for prayers at this sad occasion. And then, it is so disappointing and painful to see the display of disrespect, demonstration of ignorance, and flaunting of bigotry on the same page, at the same occasion.

Thanks all who took time to share their emotions. Thanks Ana for taking on to guru. His take on things is no less than chauvinism which we have to face in one or other form every now and then. That is why we need people like Faraz who are antidotes to such negativity and who build bridges. The bigots only know how to instigate divisions and discord. Blessed be Faraz, who was a great poet, a unique thinker, an advocate of best in humanity, a healer of two separated nations, lover of life, gentle, kind, whose words will always be balm for individuals as well as for humanity.

guru:

for the last time, because after this post i will be ignoring you, and if your posts remain here, everyone else should too:

1) what masadi said on other threads is not applicable here on this thread.

2) You are an incoherent spammer, and until you act like an insaan, here is the score:

Ahmed Faraz: 123,456,789, 000

guru: 0

You lose guru, you are the weakest link. goodbye.

Nasaband,

"Behind most religious conflicts is the fight for control over resources. Islam took control over the southern Arabian peninsula because it allowed one Arab group to defeat the Jewish kingdoms in the Yemen. Religion is nothing but the tool of control.
The Orthodox and Catholic supposedly split over three words in the creed "and the Son". The split was really controlling the wealth of the Church and maintaining political control over religion."

Let's get rid of these legions and be spiritual.

ana and nasaband,

In my hurried glance at Pt. mandarji posts I found a gem

""We continue to know more and more about modern society, but we find the centers of political initiative less and less accessible. This generates a personal malady which is particularly acute in the intellectual who has labored under the illusion that his thinking makes a difference. In the world of today the more his knowledge of affairs grows, the less effective the impact of his thinking seems to become ... He feels helpless in the fundamental sense that he cannot control what he is able to foresee."
(The Powerless People, by C. Wright Mills, Politics, April, 1944)"

First, did he acquire/digest the knowledge? He thought he possesses the knowledge because he can express in words. He could recite the words. But his life did not express it as Mahatma Gandhi or Phule's did. Similarly so called poets thought penning and publishing their emotions is end all. This is the problem when we judge people by their words. I would judge Guru Govind Singhji's poetry by how it built Khalasa and organization to raise human consciousness and protect Dharma.

Emotion is a very tiny part of mind. I have not read any poem of Faraz but from Nasaband's quote it seems he is yet another hukka-pani Kotha pimp poet talking about girl's. Shantic Arabic imperialism worked through this gudgudi culture. The local kshatriyas esp Rajputs were addicted to this gudgudi Sheb Bibi and Gulam culture utterly exploitive culture. It also emasculated the locals. Just as British sold and made Chines addicted to Ganja, Shantic exploitive folks used this mushayara type culture. At best it produced Bahadur Shah Zafar type nimcompoop so called poets who suffered from heavy melancholy. Indian Mollywood wasted two generations of Indian youth by this G..giri of melancholic songs. There were hardly songs such as Chodo Kal Ki Bante.

Since the words started getting printed a weird thing happened. Words became very cheap. A class of durbari Gs in the form of Bhaats and Sycophants came on the horizon. .............

I do not have so much time now ....later when time permits.

Those who attended his mushiara or whatever need to be lined up at LOC & Jammu border and made sing his poetry. Let's see if the Jihadis can be stopped. This way atleast poor innocent rikshawwala and helpless kids can be saved.

Yes I would like Arabic imperialism aka Islam needs to vanish, so also Paulism (look at what it has done in Orissa). That is why I asked Pt. Mandarji and testicularji to explain the core spirituality of Shant aka Islam.

We should all become spiritual and not re-legion-ous.

I was first introduced to Faraz when my first real love gave me a book of poetry by him...I was ensnared at once!

inna lillaha wa inna ilayhi raaj'iuun.

Verily in poetry there is magic!
Ignoring guru's spamming (he is trying to make Indian Muslims leave Islam and revert to idolator --la hawla wa la quwwata!) I am really saddened to hear that Faraz sahib has passed away. The greatest Urdu poet of recent times has gone. I enjoy his poetry immensely and his nazm Sunaa Hai Log Usse Aankh bhar kay dekhate haiN is an all-time classic of subtle romance which I paid tribute to earlier on Chowk with my attempt at an (impossible) translation.

Here is Faraz reciting it in his own voice:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E3qy6hAhbc8

Aaj kin nazron se tum ne dekha
Ke tera dekhna dekha na jaaye!

May Allah forgive him his sins and give him Paradise.
amen!

Chowk Staff:please keep this thread only for Faraz related posts.

It is like losing a member of the family.

Khuda Hafiz Faraz Sahib...


Ras

sad news indeed. This is like end of an era in urdu poetry.

Faiz, Sahir, Ali Sardar Jafri, Firaq, Habib Jalib, Kaifi....and now Faraz also gone! He was probably the last in that great caravan.

"bichhRay sabhi baari baari..........."

Urdu poetry is never going to be same again!