Dispatches on War (Part VI) Correction Matsushita should read Yamashita, I erroneously typed the name of the Zaibatsu

Songs of Dissonance ``That picture is Bhangara on motorcycles to welcome James Bond 007 ?`` Madani saab that was hilarious.

Dispatches on War (Part VI) with out US industrial might the eastern front would have bogged down into a stalemate despite the doggedness of the Russian soldier, the Americans transferred not just tanks, trucks but industrial machinery, food, ammo etc. It was a deliberate policy on the part of churhill and roosevelt to delay entry in the European theatre so that the two principle opponents of The western allies would wear themselves out, after the initial barbarossa scare they were confident russia would hold as long as Japan didnt attack it in the rear.

Even more so in the fight against Japan, At its peak the US was producing a carrier/support carrier/merchant converted carrier a week!! For the climactic battle of Japan a 100 carriers of various sizes had been assembled. The US had produced dozens of battleships, a single big gun battleship like the Iowa class can deliver ordinance equivalent to an entire army division. At an average 10-14 days of bombardment by sea and air would precede any island taking, despite this onslaught the US troops hitting the beaches would face dogged resistance from the Japs.

Finally wars are not about bravery and brilliance but about winning and that today is done by technological and industrial might. The US was several times larger than both Germany and Japan and it was the US entry into the war that made eventual Allied victory assured. Churchill knew that once the US industrial complex was fully mobilised for war victory was just a matter of time. Some believe he had advance knowledge of Pearl Harbor but didnt inform Roosevelt on purpose.

If wars were about brilliance then victory would definitely have gone to the Germans they had the best General staff wether in retreat as Guderian, Kesselring, Rommell, Von Manstein and Von Kleist showed or in advance as Rommell, Guderian and Von Manstein proved. With minimum resources their generals repeatedly achieved maximal results despite Hitler`s interference which by Normandy was such that even the movement of Brigades had to be approved by him.

As an example one has to just see the performance of Von Manstein, generally regarded by his peers in the German general staff as the best strategist, he was the originator of the plan to attack france through the Ardennes, a plan which was considered impossible because of the difficult tank terrain of the mountaneous country. At Kharkov, in 1943 by which time the wehrmacht was already severely depleted, he violating Hitler’s orders delayed the closing of the trap on the Red Army until 600,000 troops had fallen into it, he quickly followed it up with another big success, it is said that had the germans had the forces of 1941 at their command to exploit the opening provided by kharkov it would have meant the End of Russia, even this stand alone success was enough . Again the reverse at Kursk was a result of violating his plans, again at Stalin grad his armour spearheads had reached within a few miles of the city and he urged Von Paulus to break out in order to save the remenants of the VIth army, but Hitler had said that where the german soldier sets foot he stays, and had ruled out Von Paulus’s pleas for permission to retreat. Goering who had let the British army escape at Dunkirk again mislead Hitler that he would be able to supply Paulus’s troops by Air, just as he had assured the destruction of the British army.

Kesselring in Italy and Guderian on the eastern front interminably delayed the enemy for years by showing flexibility in retreat. Even that inventor of Blitzkrieg - Guderian was dismissed by Hitler when he insisted on flexibility in retreat when overwhelmed by the red army. Von Kleist who was the only man to receive a Field Marshall’s Baton for a successful retreat over the caucuses in which he brought back almost his entire Army from the oil fields of Azerbaijan, was also finally sacked for having violated Hitler’s direct orders in order to save his troops from assured destruction. Rommell was probably the most innovative user of armour both in France as well as in North Africa where with just two divisions he had made a force several times his size sweat bricks and virtually took the germans to victory, but for oil and a little air cover. Again in the defense of Normandy he wanted to maintain two mobile divisons of armour, which was all that the germans could scrap together from the cauldron of the eastern front, but that too could only be moved on hitler’s permission, so telephone calls had to be placed at 2 in the morning to his retreat on the Obersalzberg.

The outstanding officers on the axis side included that genius of amphibious warfare Matsushita, the inventor of submarine warfare tactics Donitz, the genius of merchant raiding Raider, The head of the german general staff Halder who knew that if Russia wasn’t taken before the first winter it would mean the end of germany and requested Hitler to negotiate a peace once that had happened. and the greatest Grand strategist of the war Yamamoto, who begged his colleagues not to attack the US for he knew in the long term defeat was ensured, but once the decision was taken unfurled brilliant plan after plan, unaware that his codes had been broken before his waterloo at midway.

All these geniuses broke against the industrial might of the Allies and ordinary American and british generals were bestowed victory just by accident of birth.

But India and Pakistan both have liitle cause to complain, their idiotic generals bungled clear opportunities at Khem Kharan and Chawinda.

Songs of Dissonance ``daughter/son scenario is based upon justice: the daughter is expected to get a huge chunk from the husband upon marriage but the son is supposed to provide for his wife as a duty- and give a huge chunk of that ``double`` to his wife (a woman) and so on``


how exactly does the quran ensure delivery of this ``Huge chunk`` to the wife can u please point it out to me. also while u are at it please define ``Huge Chunk`` in percentage or absolute value. thanks.

I dont oppose polygamy/polyandry but where exactly does the quran place binding restrictions on it, could u please point out. i dont mean the general prescriptive sentence on ensuring justice btween the wives, because that mohommed himself was unable to do, vide: the excessive amount of time he spent with Ayesha near his death.

R Kumari: A slice of Josh Malihabadi\'s life having read Josh elsewhere nothing in this account can be taken at face value. Some people would call what Josh did lying others exaggeration for the pupose of entertainment and selling his writing, probably there was an element of both. but one thing is sure, if u read him u would always get entertained.

Culture Cloning Soysauce I agree with your point that part of the reason for the dumbing down of the lyrics is the change in social norms since the new generation hates using their brain and ned constant titilation and also much of the high and middle brow audience that used to patronise film theaters is gone.

i myself enjoy some of the better new numbers in Baazigar, DDLJ etc even some of the item numbers arent bad but they could have coexisted rather than completely replaced the deeper numbers had the tools and poetic expresions of hindustani survived. unfortunately the public doesnt even understand words commonly used a generation or two ago.

Culture Cloning some memorable film songs in the golden era :

Shailendra`s (who was born in rawalpindi) Ye mera dewanapan hai ya jawani aapki from yahudi picturised on a young Dilip Kumar and suhana safar aur ye mausam haseen picturised a little later in Madhumati

his Aaj Phir jeene ki tamanna aaj phir marne ka iraada hai or Piya to se naina laage re , naina lage re and Kya se kya hogaya all from guide

his kisi ki muskurahaton pe ho nisaar

Shehriyaars Lyrics in Umrao Jaan especially Zindagi jabh bhi Teri Bazm mein Laati Hai Humey and In aankhon ki Masti ke

Shakeel Badayuni in mother india: pii ke ghar aaj pyaari dulhaniyaa chalii

his Nain Larjaen hain to manva ma kasak hoibe kari from ganga jamuna
and
Aaj Puranee Rahon Se koi mujhe aavaz na de for dilip

and apni azadi ko hum hargiz mita sakte nahin sar kata sakte hain lekin sar jhuka sakte nahin penned at Pt. Nehru`s request in 62.

and bhanwara bara nadaan hai from sahib bibi aur ghulam or beqaraar karke hume yun na jaeay

Or almost every song of Kamal Amrohi`s masterpiece on which 4 lyricists worked together, Pakeezah :

Kaif bhopali`s

aaj ham apni duaaon ka asar dekhenge
tiir-e-nazar dekhenge zakhm-e-jigar dekhenge...

and Thare rahiyo o banke yaar re


and Kaifi Azmis

chalte chalte yun hi koi mil gaya tha
yun hi koi mil gaya tha sare raah chalte chalte
vahin thamke reh gai hai
vanhi thamke reh gai hai meri raat Dhalte Dhalte

Kaifi also gave us Waqt ne kiya kya haseen sitam tum rahe na tum hum rahe na hum


Even an Item number from majrooh Sultanpuri had lyrics like:

Ay haseena Zulfon wali jaane-jahan
Dhoondte hain Qatil Aankhen kiska Nishaan

or Badan pe sitare lapetey hue ae jaane tamanna kidhar ja rahi ho

who can forget his jalte hain jiske liye teri aankhon ke diye in sujata

hum bekhudi mein tum ko pukaare chale gaye in Kaala Pani

Maana janaab ne pukaara nahin or Chura liya hai tumne jo dil ko or Ek Larki Bheegi Bhagi Si

actors from saigal to sharukh and aamir khan benefitted from Majrooh`s longivity since he continued to give great songs into the 80s and 90s in movies like qayamat se qayamat tak, jo jeeta woh sikandar and Kabhi haan kabhi naa

or that master lyricist Sahir ludhianvi who wrote in a single night:

Kabhi Kabhi mere dil mein khayal aata hai

Sahir was essentially a romantic both in the philosophical sense as well as in the poetic and this is reflected in his filmi shairi even though he never paid it as much attention as his serious poetry (many regard him as the greatest poet since Iqbal) and yet he was able to pen deep and meaningful lyrics :

Like Guru dutt walking through the brothels and singing ``Jinhe Naaz Hai Hind Par Woh Kahaan Hai`` in Pyaasa and in the same movie Jaane Woh Kaise Log The Jinke pyar ko pyar mila.

or the socialist spoof on iqbal - Chino arab hamara, hindustan hamara rehne ko ghar nahi hai sara jahan hamara.(though he himself admitted that the poet he found the most skilled was Iqbal ``bavajut nazariyate ikhtilaf`` he added). in the same movie (phir subah hogi) he wrote Voh subaah kabhi to ayegi jab qaid se qaidi chhootenge and aasman me khuda.

na to karavan ki talash hai na to humsafar ki talash hai
and Aurat ne Janam Diya Mardon ko Mardon ne Use Bazaar Diya
also Khali Dabba Khali Botal Le Le Mere Yaar Khali se Mat Nafrat Karna, Khali Sab Sansar
and Allah Tero Naam Ishwar Tero Naam

so many gems mixing poetry with philosophy

melancholic -Jaaein to jaein kahan samjhe kaun yahan,


, happy go lucky -mein zindagi ka saath nibhata chala gaya, Har fikr ko dhuein mein urata chala gaya

the peppy patriotic: yeh desh hai veer jawano ka abelon ka mastano ka is desh ka yaaro kya kehna

light romantic- Mere dil mein aaj kya hai tu kahe to mein batadoon

Kehdoon tumhe ya chup rahoon dil me merey aaj kya hai

ye hava ye raat ye chandni phir kahan

Aye meri zohra jabeen tujhe maloom nahi tu abhi tak hai haseen aur mein jawan tujh pe qurbaan meri jaan meri jaan
ye shokhiyan ye baghpan jo tujh mein hain kahin nahi, dilon mein jeetne ka fun jo tujh mein hae kahin nahi, mein teri, mein teri aankhon mein paa gaya do jahan


Even here he would get philosophical as in mein pal do pal ka shair hoon pal do pal meri kahani hai, pal do pal hasti meri pal do pal meri kahani hai kal aur ayenge naghmon ki khilti kaliyan chunne waale mujh se behtar kehne waale tum se behtar sunne vale

and in chalo ek baar phir se ajnabi ban jaaye hum dono

his social commentary especially on the plight of women and the poor was always paramount: Aurat ne janam diya mardon ko, mardon ne use bazaar diya
and kahiye jee kya kharidenge yahan har cheez bikti hai


I have failed to mention so many smaller ones like Raja mehdi ali khan who wrote jhumka gira rey bareilly ke bazaar mein or rajendra Krishan who wrote Yeh zindagi usi ki hai jo kisi ka ho gaya


Even today we have sampooran singh ``gulzar`` not in the same league as the above but capable of penning a aye mere pyare watan in kabuliwala, Yaara sili sili biraha ki raat in Lekin, Mera kuch samaan, and a tujh se naraz nahi zindagi bas hairan hu mein in masoom. most importantly he popularised ghalib via jagjit singh in a serial of the same name.

their was also many a pakistani like Qateel Shifai who ghost wrote bolywood songs or sometimes took credit as in Mahesh Bhatts Phir teri Kahani Yaad Aee and like ghulam ali in awargi and nikaah. Much more often songs and ghazals would be plagarised without acknowledgement. and the song that is most often stolen was written By a young Phd student studying at Heidelburg i.e. Iqbal`s Saare Jahan se acha hindustan Hamara, a song that Rajiv Gandhi wanted to make India`s national anthem but was disuaded from.

the decline in the quality of film lyrics was inevitable once partition happened and the teaching of urdu came to an end as also urdu words were slowly replaced by hindi ones in the spoken language of urban india i.e. hindustani. so as language and schooling was gradually sanskritised and made pure, a mirror image of what was happening across the border, the people who wrote the lyrics and more importantly those who understood them both dwindled.

Changing Radio Stations Manto think of the lines below whenever u think of a life of ease in the US

Changing Radio Stations #25 by boogie2000

Boogie if the first two scores are reduced to 0 and the third one kept at 10 it would solve almost all problems that we face today. Religion and Nationalism, both of which are identities neccesarily formed by defining oneself in distinction i.e. opposition to the other are the root causes for all our problems. Even if we are able to distinguish between religion and spirituality on the one hand and nationalism and a natural tenderness for the land and its people on the other we will have made great progress.

Manto

Naheen tera nasheman Qasr-e-Sultani ki gumbat par

Tu Shaheen hai basera kar paharon ki chatano par

To Cry, to Weep and to Pray! The sikh regiments motto is :

Himmatey Marda Madadey Khuda


The cry that would go up in Aligarh whenever they played the Sikhs in Hockey:

Yaa Rab Dile Muslim Ko vo Zinda Tammana dey.

Here We Go Again ``#429 by jang on November 18, 2005 8:15pm PT
#427 wow aman, hope that is a professional opinion. i just felt that salims claimed age is wrong based on the hindi songs he seems to quote quickly. but he is fun no matter...h got he best interactor award recently (followed by DM...beharam came last closely followed by tahemed).

i think he is born in mid-sixties, raised in karachi and east africa, lived in the US for at least 15 years.. atleast some 10 of these in a professional capacity. ``

Are u too a Punjabi psychic?

Here We Go Again I mean what was that insistence that congress had no right to nominate a muslim minister?

Here We Go Again indeed 183

Here We Go Again Manto are u serious?

Here We Go Again ``#176 by Mantolives on November 15, 2005 9:31pm PT

This deliberate confusion of identity with ideology is nauseating. ``

But didnt Jinnah himself propogate this as a mobilisation tool?

The alternative models of governance for a united india, is an excellent question that u have opened, but it also the most complex question that I have ever encountered, because it involves questions of ethics and fairness for all sides, practical politics and pragmatism and at the end of the day that most nebulous, emotive and funadamental of questions -identity.

There exist a plethora of possible models and parsing through them requires a substantial amount of work.

Church Lures Gujarat Tribals to Christ ``If Islam converted people in India with the tip of the sword, Christianity does with it compassion. I think compassion is dangerous than the sword. There is no sincerity there. Well, sorry if I sound like a VHP guy; I have to admit that I am an atheist and I loathe these spineless Hindu fundamentalists with scorn``


Sunil ``Modi`` Poolani you are fooling no one here, take your Punch and judy show elsewhere, we have enough fundu crackpots on this web site as it is.