My childhood memories of the Dal Lake echo crystal clear waters, deep weeds that were visible only underwater and house-boats so far away from the Boulevard Road that one had to strain to make out a familiar face. I remember my cousin Irfan - aka Hero, sadly no longer with us - warning younger kids that these unseen underwater weeds would entangle and drown the careless. The ubiquitous red-green algae that today seems to cover the entire lake was confined to the marshes and confounded our efforts to retrieve the wooden "birra" or unwieldy "cork" balls that we used to play cricket with.
;)
Angling and boat-rides on "borrowed" Dakotas - our term for larger, uncovered shikaras - were favourite pastimes. The irate owner of the commandeered dakota would be immediately pacified by a mention of my grandmothers name. Begum Jalaluddin, or Barkat Begum as she was affectionately known, was truly a legend in her lifetime.
If the wind was favourable, kites flown from the pier below Almond Villa would consume multiple spools of expensive thread and soar way beyond Kotar Khana towards the Hazratbal shrine.
It was truly the age of innocence.
The orchards and marshes are long gone, sacrificed at the altar of crass commercialism. An ugly concrete monolith stands at at the site which was acquired by the government.
Shikara's still ply the waves though the mirror of the Dal Lake is scarred and rust-tarnished. The number of anglers has increased but they cast their lines between floating piles of filth. The corruption of the Dal Lake into a cesspool seems to mirror the degradation of the Kashmir Valley and of us, its people.
[ add comment ] | [ 0 trackbacks ] | permalink |
( 3 / 5 )The 17th century poet Mulla Muhammad Tahir Ghani Kashmiri {born 1630 A.D} lived during the reign of Aurangzeb and died in the early years of the 18th century. Even during his lifetime his fame transcended the borders of India and he was acknowledged in Iran as one of the great masters of Persian poetry. In India he exerted a great influence on the development of Persian and Urdu poetry. The great poet Mirza Ghalib translated more than 40 of his couplets into Urdu.
Mahjoor refers to him in his famous poem ‘Arise, O’ Gardener’:
Littérateurs of Iran will bow
To you in reverence
if you create a poet with powers of
magical narration like Ghani.
Mirza Muhammed Ali Saib
{1601 - 1677}, a famous Persian poet, unable to understand the meaning of a famous verse - in which Ghani Kashmiri had intermingled Persian and Kashmiri words - travelled all the way from Iran to Kashmir to meet him.
The verse, contained in "Diwan-e-Ghani", reads:
Moi Miane Tu Shud Kraalpan
Kardah Juda Kasai Sar Ze Tun
Like the potter's thread, your tresses made me dazed and senseless,
severing the head (pot) from the body (lump of clay).
When the Iranian poet arrived the poet was not home yet the doors of his house were open. Iqbal refers to this incident thus in his "Payam-i-Mashriq":
That nightingale of poetry, Ghani,
Who sang in Kashmir’s paradisal land,
Used, while at home, to shut up all the doors,
But leave them open while away from home.
Somebody questioned him concerning this.
"O charming bard," he said, "Why do you do
This strange thing, which nobody understands
The meaning of ?" Ghani, who had no wealth
Except his gift of poetry, replied:
"What people see me doing is quite right.
There is nothing of any value in my house
Except myself. When I am in, the house
Is to be guarded like a treasure-house.
When I am out, it is an empty place,
Which nobody would -care to walk into."
Dr. Ajaz Baba relates how Ghani Kashmiri's influence inspired Saib of Tabriz to immortalise a chance encounter on the banks of the Jehlum by composing his own version of fusion poetry. The traveller concluded a Persian couplet with an Arabic phrase.
Dast Aaluda Ba Gil, Ay Mahe Hamchu Aftaab
Shud Mara Virdi Zuban, Ya Laytanee Kuntu Turab
Mud Smears Your Hands, O Moon As Bright As The Sun
And My Tongue Recites, O Would That I Were Mud
[Standard Warning: Blogger-inflicted translation]
;)
An example of Ghani's Urdu poetry :
"Dil yun khayale zulf mein phirta hai n'ara zan
Taarik shab mein jaise koi pasban phire"
Ghani Kashmiri is almost forgotten in his native Kashmir today, while ironically his writings are prescribed study material for scholars in Iran - where he is regarded as a greater poet in Persian than Iqbal.
In the sixties a library and reading room was established at his birth place in Razver Kadal - and later a sports stadium was developed nearby - but the fall into decay of the reading room and stadium illustrates our apathy towards the great poet. This is how we treat our heroes.
[ add comment ] | [ 0 trackbacks ] | permalink |
( 2.9 / 16 )My entire family is obsessed with cars - the automobile gene is hardwired into our DNA.
Quite a few anecdotes about my father revolve around automobiles - his fondness for touring the countryside in a Mercedes-Benz Ponton as Prime Minister of Kashmir and driving across the frozen Dal Lake in a Land Rovercome to mind. Then there is the amusing story about the cabinet minister who borrowed the Prime Minister's official car and surprised the driver by offering an exorbitant sum to replace the "motion" that broke on a steep incline!
;)
A list of cars that my brother has owned in just the past five years would be longer than this blog post. During our college days, he had the first true-blue dirt bike [a Yamaha 175cc]and the first Yamaha RD 350 in Kashmir. My initial ride on that monster RD 350 got me addicted to speed - and there is probably no motor law or speed record that wasn't broken on those bikes.
Over the past fifty years my eldest brother's family has owned the Tata Motors dealership for Kashmir. Like their current partnership with Fiat, Tata Motors used to have a tie-up with Mercedes-Benz and his office naturally featured Mercedes-Benz memorabilia. One print in particular remains vivid in my memory - an open Mercedes-Benz 300 SL racer hitting a vulture at high speed.
Occasionally I would receive MB goodies in the form of key-chains, swiss knives and calendars. One calendar hung in my room for years beyond its expiry date. It featured high-quality prints of Mercedes-Benz models over the years. When the calendar was finally removed, I had a hand-carved walnut frame made for one of the prints - a Mercedes-Benz 300 SL.
Stimulated by the current TV ad featuring Michael Schumacher and the Mercedes-Benz AMG SLS - the modern MB/AMG interpretation of the classic 300 SL Gullwing - I put on my racing/googling overalls and after a marathon Google Image Search session, I tracked down both the images. Here they are for your viewing pleasure - which I doubt can match my own.
;)
;)
So, no prizes for guessing my favourite car of all time. Over the years I have drooled over many cars - the Lancia Stratos, the Ferrari Testarossa, the Bugatti Veyron, and all models from Aston-Martin and Lamborghini but IMHO the Mercedes-Benz 300 SL Gullwing is the pinnacle of automobile design. It is the model against which all other designs are to be measured (and found wanting!).
As attractive as the Mercedes-Benz AMG SLS may be - the original is still the King.
[ add comment ] ( 1 view ) | [ 0 trackbacks ] | permalink |
( 2.9 / 36 )
Random Entry
