On Holi

Human festivals, religiously motivated or otherwise, are occasions for us to express our innate sociality. For a short while, we can forget all about our individual day-to-day lives, our personal fears and anxieties, in order to become part of something much bigger and grander. Something that makes us feel, to use a fashionable catchphrase, as if "we're all in this together". However, there are also a few of us who are unable to truly participate, even though we might like to, because of our sheer social ineptitude. So whilst the rest of the world gallivants about, playing and laughing and making merry, those like me sit in solitude, observing and pondering...

Festivals can also be great levellers, because by their very nature, they suggest a subversion of one's individual ego. I think Holi is especially humbling in this sense. Our other great North Indian festival, Diwali, is partly a celebration of wealth (or at least its modern avatar has taken on that character); an occasion for fancy lighting and decorations and lavish gifts and generally showing off one's wordly success, whilst praying for more of the same. This is not to criticise it; Diwali too has many wonderful aspects, and it too is fundamentally about indulging our social selves. However, it's hard to deny that to a large extent, the Diwalis of the rich and the poor are played out in rather different worlds.

Holi, on the other hand, is egalitarian at its very core. The magic of Holi is the breaking down of social barriers: class, caste, religion, age. I recall how as children, every Holi, we loved to patrol the street outside our family home in Bareilly, making sure that no passerby, human or vehicular, escaped without being hit by a mild jet of coloured goop. It didn't matter how well-dressed they were, or how fancy their car was; on this day everyone was fair game. Everyone would be daubed and soaked and generally made into a multi-coloured clown; all human vanities would be rendered defunct.

To me, even the apparent craziness of these riots of colour has a potent symbolism. Our external appearance as multi-coloured clowns reflects the many different facets of life that go into making us what we are. Holi is about a blurring of identities, and in doing so it reinforces how fluid and messy the very notion of identity is. When someone asks me who I am, what should I say? Do I say I'm an Indian? Or a Hindi-speaker? Or a Hindu? Or a Baniya? Or a man? Or a teacher? Or a scientist? Or a brother? Or a son? As Amartya Sen writes in his fascinating book, Identity and Violence: The Illusion of Destiny, all of us have so many different identities that become relevant in different contexts. And it's when we begin to be obsessed with one particular notion of identity, at the cost of all the others, that we sow the seeds for so many of our social evils.

Holi is a reminder that, despite all the artificial barriers we like to construct, we're not really all that different. Man or woman; rich or poor; Brahmin or Dalit; Hindu or Muslim; Indian or Pakistani: we're all a multi-coloured, multi-faceted mess. We all have much more in common than we like to think. To slightly tweak Shylock's famous oration from The Merchant of Venice:

Hath not [we all] eyes? Hath not [we all] hands, organs, dimensions, senses, affections, passions; fed with the same food, hurt with the same weapons, subject to the same diseases, heal'd by the same means, warm'd and cool'd by the same winter and summer [...]? If you prick us, do we not bleed? If you tickle us, do we not laugh? If you poison us, do we not die?

Perhaps Holi teaches us that the best answer to the question "Who am I?" is simply this: A messy, crazy, human being.

National Assembly of Pakistan's resolution on Afzal Guru's hanging

[Original]

Devanagari transliteration, followed by English translation:

14 मार्च 2013

क़रारदाद

यह ऐवान अफ़ज़ल गुरु की फाँसी के बाद मक़बूज़ा कश्मीर में पैदा होने वाली सूरत-ए-हाल पर गहरी तश्वीश का इज़हार करती है। भारत की रियासती वहशियाना कार्यवाहियों की मज़मत करते हुए भारत पर ज़ोर देता है कि अफ़ज़ल गुरु का जसिद-ए-ख़ाकी लवाहिक़ीन के हवाले करे। मक़बूज़ा कश्मीर में क़त्ल-ओ-ग़ारत बंद करे, अपनी फ़ौज शहरी आबादी से निकाले और काले क़वानीन मनसूख़ करे। कर्फ़्यू उठाये। मीडिया ब्लैक आउट ख़तम करे, कश्मीरी लीडरों और क़ैद किये गये हज़ारों नौजवानों को रिहा करे। मज़हबी फ़राइज़ की अदायगी में हाइल न हो, मसजिदों को ताले न लगाये और इनसानी हुक़ूक़ की बैन उल-अक़वामी तनज़ीमों को मक़बूज़ा कश्मीर में आने दे।

ऐवान एआदा करता है कि कश्मीरी अवाम बैन उल-अक़वामी क़ानून, अक़वाम-ए-मुत्तहिदा के चार्टर, अक़वाम-ए-मुत्तहिदा की क़रारदादों, यूनिवरसल डेक्लरेशन बराए इनसानी हुक़ूक़ और ग़ैर वाबस्ता तनज़ीम की क़रारदाद के मुताबिक़ अपने हक़-ए-ख़ुदारादियत के हुसूल के लिये पुर अमन जिद्दोजहद कर रहे हैं जो इनका बुनियादी हक़ है। पाकिस्तान कश्मीरियों की इस जाइज़ जिद्दोजहद की मुकम्मल हिमायत करता है। और कश्मीरियों को यक़ीन दिलाता है कि इस जिद्दोजहद में वह अकेले नहीं हैं, पूरी पाकिस्तानी क़ौम उनके साथ है। और वह कश्मीरियों की सिफ़ारती, सियासी और इख़लाक़ी मदद जारी रखेगी।

ऐवान वाज़ह करता है कि कश्मीर अक़वाम-ए-मुत्तहिदा की क़रारदादों के मुताबिक़ एक तसफ़िया तलब मसला है और यह भारत का अंदरूनी मसला नहीं है।

ऐवान अक़वाम-ए-आलम से अपील करता है कि वो कश्मीर की सूरत-ए-हाल पर ख़ामोश तमाशाई न बनें और भारत को मजबूर करें कि कश्मीरियों पर ज़ुल्म-ओ-सितम बंद करे और मसला-ए-कश्मीर हल करे।

और

अक़वाम-ए-मुत्तहिदा सलामती काउन्सिल की क़रारदादों पर अमल दरामद कराने के लिये अमली इक़दामात करे।

दस्तख़त,
मौलाना फ़ज़ल-उर-रहमान
चेयरमैन, ख़सूसी कमिटी क़ौमी असेम्बली बराए कश्मीर

14 March 2013

Resolution

This House expresses its deep concern at the situation arising in Occupied Kashmir following the hanging of Afzal Guru. Whilst condemning the Indian state's savage actions, it strongly urges India to surrender Afzal Guru's mortal remains to his family. To end its killings and pillaging in Occupied Kashmir, to withdraw its army from the civilian population, and to annul its repressive laws. To lift the curfew. To end the media blackout, to release Kashmiri leaders and the thousands of imprisoned youth. To not interfere with the performance of religious duties, to not lock up the mosques, and to allow international human rights organisations entry into Occupied Kashmir.

The House reiterates that as per international law, the UN charter, UN resolutions, the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, and a Non-Aligned Movement resolution, the Kashmiri people are waging a peaceful struggle to obtain self-determination, which is their fundamental right. Pakistan fully supports the Kashmiris in this legitimate struggle. And assures the Kashmiris that they are not alone in this struggle, the entire Pakistani nation is with them. And it will continue with its diplomatic, political, and moral support to Kashmiris.

The House makes clear that as per UN resolutions, Kashmir is an unresolved issue and is not an internal issue of India.

The House appeals to the international community not to be a silent spectator of the situation in Kashmir, and to compel India such that it ends its crimes and atrocities against Kashmiris and resolves the issue of Kashmir.

And

Takes practical steps towards the implementation of the UN Security Council resolutions.

Signed,
Maulana Fazal-ur-Rehman
Chairman, National Assembly's Special Committee on Kashmir

I am accused...

At times of loneliness and despair, what better balm than the magic of Faiz?

ہم پر تمہاری چاہ کا الزام ہی تو ہے
دشنام تو نہیں ہے، یہ اکرام ہی تو ہے

کرتے ہیں جس پہ طعن کوئی جرم تو نہیں
شوقِ فضول و الفتِ ناکام ہی تو ہے

دل مدّعی کے حرفِ ملامت سے شاد ہے
اے جانِ جاں یہ حرف ترا نام ہی تو ہے

دل نا امید تو نہیں، ناکام ہی تو ہے
لبمی ہے غم کی شام مگر شام ہی تو ہے

دستِ فلک میں گردشِ تقدیر تو نہیں
دستِ فلک میں گردشِ ایّام ہی تو ہے

آخر تو ایک روز کرے گی نظر وفا
وہ یارِ خوش خصال سرِ بام ہی تو ہے

بھیگی ہے رات فیض غزل ابتدا کرو
وقتِ سرود، درد کا ہنگام ہی تو ہے

हम पर तुम्हारी चाह का इल्ज़ाम ही तो है
दुशनाम तो नहीं है, यह इक्राम ही तो है

करते हैं जिस पे तान कोई जुर्म तो नहीं
शौक़-ए-फ़िज़ूल-ओ-उल्फ़त-ए-नाकाम ही तो है

दिल मुद्दाई के हर्फ़-ए-मलामत से शाद है
ए जान-ए-जां यह हर्फ़ तेरा नाम ही तो है

दिल न-उम्मीद तो नहीं, नाकाम ही तो है
लम्बी है ग़म की शाम मगर शाम ही तो है

दस्त-ए-फ़लक में गर्दिश-ए-तक़दीर तो नहीं
दस्त-ए-फ़लक में गर्दिश-ए-अय्याम ही तो है

आख़िर तो एक रोज़ करेगी नज़र वफ़ा
वो यार-ए-ख़ुशख़साल सर-ए-बाम ही तो है

भीगी है रात फ़ैज़ ग़ज़ल इब्तिदा करो
वक़्त-ए-सरोद, दर्द का हँगाम ही तो है

[I am accused merely of desiring you
Which is no insult, indeed an honour

What they mock me for, 'tis no crime
Merely a useless passion, a failed affection

My heart is elated by their words of blame
O beloved, these words are but your name

The heart does not despair, it merely fails
'Tis a long eve of sorrow; but evenings end

The cycles of fate are not in God's hands
He merely controls life's routine treadmill

Some day, my gaze will finally bear fruit
The virtuous beloved is but on the roof above

The night is deep, Faiz; begin your poetry
The time for song, 'tis indeed the season of pain]