End of the solitude

I got up in the morning yesterday and read – “Mughli is dead...” Somebody had posted this on face book live page. Suddenly I went back to the day when she served me delicious Nadroos (lotus stem) saying, “My son loves to eat. I will cook nadroo for him (lotus stem) when he comes back.” Mughli's fragile face is still alive but she is dead. Mughli was one of the thousands women of Indian administered Kashmir who are a part of Association of parents of disappeared persons who claims that more than 10,000 men of Kashmir are disappeared since Indian counter-insurgent assault began in the kashmir valley in 1990.

“My husband divorced me after three months of our marriage. Therefore, I raised him all alone. I am sure that he is alive and will come back before my death, as he is my only hope. Who else will do my funeral dues?” Mughli had said while pointing me to eat properly.

She waited in despair for her only son in a large house located in Habba Kadal, part of old city of Srinagar where she died on Sunday leaving her dream of hugging her son once before departing from this world.

Indian Security forces allegedly picked her son, Nazir Ahmed, a teacher by profession when he had left for school in 1991.

“I always used to see Nazir coming back from school in the evening from the window. I keep a watch at the window everyday as I am sure I will get a sight of him here only.” Said Mughli watching out from her window.

She had a firm belief in God. “Come with me to the shrine if you want.” She had asked me. She went to the two shrines of the city, weeping and wailing, as if she would not go back home if she does not finds him that day only. However, that was her weekly routine. Most of these women find refuge in faith, however; divine power also cannot heal their wounds.

“I am feeling dejected and ill- fated today.” Said Parveena Ahangar on phone, the president of Association of disappeared persons whose 16 years old son, Javed, was also allegedly picked up by the Indian security forces and never came back.

“We have been fighting from last 18 years to know about the where about of our children, husbands, fathers, brothers but have achieved nothing till date. But we cannot stop fighting for justice as Mughli did till her last breath” said sobbing Parveena.

However, Indian authorities dispute the disappearance figure and assert that most of those alleged to be missing slipped into Pakistan for guerrilla training.

Enforced disappearances persist in many countries all over the world, which is particularly a cruel human rights violation; a violation of the person who has disappeared and a violation of those who love them.

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

The International Convention for the Protection of All Persons from Enforced Disappearance, an international human rights instrument of the United Nations intended to prevent forced disappearances states that

No exceptional circumstances whatsoever, whether a state of war or a threat of war, internal political instability or any other public emergency, may be invoked as a justification for enforced disappearance.

The widespread or systematic use of enforced disappearance is further defined as a crime against humanity.

The Convention attracted 57 signatures when opened for signature in Paris but As of July 2009 only Albania , Argentina , Mexico , Honduras , France , Senegal , Bolivia , Cuba , Kazakhstan , Uruguay , Mali , and Japan have ratified the convention.

I saw my childhood...
I saw Mars last night. I didn't see it red. I saw moon and clouds walking together. In fact they were running.I think they were moving to some other Island. But i know few of them could not leave this island as i heard rain in the morning. I saw rain on my window pane. I saw a rainbow.

Rainbow over my home...

I saw an old woman giggling like a little girl. I met a girl who had lost her wallet and needed 6.75 pounds to go back home. I saw tears in her eyes. I saw a kid getting late for his school. I saw worry on his face. I saw an ant. I heard the noise of water sprinkling out on green grass. I heard the voice of dried leaves while walking. I saw gold, red, crimson, brown, yellow shades on trees. I saw less leaves on trees. I saw autumn leaving. I felt the cold. I saw my school in an Old photograph.


My school

I saw my home covered in snow.


Thats how it look in winters...

I reached my class and i saw my teacher with an usual smile. You are 5 mins late. I saw her loving me for this. I saw my school and college teachers in her. I saw my editor in her. I saw my friends in her. I saw acceptance for my bad habit in her. I saw my childhood.

My home, my childhood... New Tehri Town..

Mirza Ghalib and love in time of Archies...

The world is fast paced. Every thing is instant. Na koi aag ka dariya hai, na doob ke jaana hai, yeh instant jammana hai...
My mother says that love was a passion in their time but it has become a fashion now. We fell in love but not for the heck of flaunting it on one particular day. I said, love is still a passion perhaps this day has made it a fashion.
However, majority of the people love this day to celebrate it as a day of love though most of them dont know the origin and history of this day. This ignorance is not an exception.
One name Mirza ghalib is very famous for love poetry but most of the people dont know that his anniversary comes a day after Valentines day. One of my friends think that he is a fictional character of black and white days of celluloid.
I met a young boy at Mirza Ghalib ki Haweli on valentines day. He said, that his style of love has become very old fashioned now. Nobody cares about these things.
But exceptions are every where...
Sarah and Clement, a spanish- french couple came to Mirza Ghalib ki Haveli to spend their V- day. Sarah fell in love with Ghalib's poetry after reading a translation of one of his verses..
"Yeh Ishq nahin aasan, itna samajh leejiye,
ek aag ka dariya hai aur doob ke jaana hai...

Mohd Ajmal, an old resident of Chandni Chowk thinks that difference between Ghalib's sense of love and today's love is as similar to the difference between nai dilli and purani dilli."Nai dilli looks beautifull but i dont feel the warmth which i feel in purani dilli. Similarly, these days people flaunt their love but it lacks depth and warmth."

'arz-e-niyaaz-e-ishq ke qaabil naheeN raha
jis dil pe naaz tha mujhe wo dil naheeN raha"

He said, "this verse of Ghalib is perfect for this generation which can confine love to only one day of year."

A very small portion of this haveli is kept by Govt. of India as a heritage site. The owner of the Haveli says that "we take rent from all other portions of the haveli except this and it doesnt makes a difference for us as Ghalib never piad rent to my great grand father in his life time."

This small portion of Haveli is so much full of love and pain that you dont need a single glittering day to feel that.

I came back from the Haveli and went to PVR Priyas to watch a movie in the evening. I could see countless couples roaming there with gifts, mostly from archies. Ghalib sahab would have never written "Yeh ishq nahin asaan" if he would have ever visited Archies gallery.
But I do feel that even in this time..."yeh ishq nahin assan"... Hats off to Ghalib Sahab... Happy Valantines day to you too...

Historically Correct...

So, West like slums, they like dogs and yeah they like slumdogs too...
We like Obama, we like White stars and yeah we like nominations in oscars too...
We love to be loved by Uncle Sam and brigade. We are so obsessed with the idea of being accepted by "The first World". And yeah, we are so touchy to be called as a Third world country. We didnt like it at all when Mathew Hayden spoke about, what he perceived as, poor ground conditions and inordinate delays during matches "that happens in Third World countries" last year.
Well, Neither I have any problem with ten nominations of Slumdog Millionaire in Oscars nor do I doubt the cinematic excellence of the film but that excellence is not an exception.
"What changes would you do in Devdas to make it eligible to get nominated for oscars?" This was the question which one of my friends asked me recently. "They should have cut it short and blah blah blah..." I made an attempt to give a cinematically correct answer. She said, "It would have nominated in Oscars for sure if Devdas was a bevda of any Jhuggi- Jhompdi of Kolkata."
Her answer might not have been a cinematically correct one but a historically correct one for sure.
There are very few Indian films or films based on India to get the nominations in Academy awards and all of them have common elements- Hunger, poverty,and struggle for survival. Sadly, all of them are symptoms of a same disease- The Third World... The tag which we hate to have for us.
We find films loaded with these syptoms if we go back to the history of Indian films in Oscars. Mother India was the first Indian film to be Nominated for the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film made by Mehboob khan in 1958. It was a story of a mother from poor rural India who kills her son to keep the honour of a daughter of her village. It is a showcase of Post- independent India which brings forth a story of great survival in the most adverse conditions of that time.
Mira Nair brought a brilliant film, Salam Bombay, on the tribulations of day-to-day life of children living on the streets of Bombay in 1988. The film was made by Nair to address the situation of poverty in India. It too got nominated for "The" Academy awards.
Third in this brigade is the legendary film Lagaan made by Ashutosh Gowarikar in 2001. The film was a cinematic masterpiece about the struggle and victory of oppressed peasants of British India who were suffering from a prolonged drought.
Another film which made a presence in the same category was Deepa Mehta's Water in year 2005. Although it was an official entry from Canada but it was a film set during the period of British rule in India and the orthodox hindu traditions. It showcased the plight of a group of widows forced into prostitution and miseries.
We appreciate this fact that Uncle Sam and brigade is concerned about the problems of Third World but we have something more to offer to the world of creativity and Cinema. We dont care if our style doesnt goes with your trends.We dont care if you dont give damn to the things other than slums and poverty. We dont care if you dont like the brighter face of the third world. We dont care if you think that we deserve only three nominations in last 60 years of Cinema. We dont look at Academy awards as the ultimate recognition of cinematic excellence. You might think that, but we do care Uncle Sam... Thats why we are known by a name which we are reluctant to call upon by.