Congratulations to the people of Pakistan and India on the occasion of their Independence-day celebrations; August 14 for Pakistan and August 15 for India. It was in August 1947 that a truncated India attained freedom, after some 200 years of British rule. The partition of India and Pakistan resulted in the death of nearly two …
Enrapturing eyes
Last week I had commented on a nazm (poem) by Faiz Ahmed Faiz, extolling the beauty of eyes. A friend wrote to inquire if the nazm was in fact, not a love poem but a protest lyric since its latter verses continue along the lines that: … Aur bhi dukh hai zamaane mein muhabbat ke …
Hum Dekhenge … We Shall See
Faiz Ahmed Faiz (1911 – 1984) was a Pakistani poet par-excellence. A staunch Marxist, he was nominated for the Nobel Prize in Literature and awarded the Lenin Peace Prize. His strong opposition to illiberal political and religious ideologies resulted in frequent jail sentences and forced or self-imposed exile in England and Lebanon. In 1990, Pakistan …
If there is paradise on earth …
“Agar firdaus bar roo-e-zameen ast hameen ast-o, hameen ast-o, hameen ast” [If there is a paradise on earth It is this, it is this, it is this.] This quote in Farsi (Persian) is ascribed to the famous Sufi poet and philosopher Hazrat Amir Khusro Delhavi (from Delhi, India circa 1253 – 1325); centuries later, the …
wealthisnotmoney 