Annie Zaidi's Blog, page 13

A banned lullaby (Ek zabt-shuda aur thodi si daraaoni 'Lori')

कभी-कभी देश भक्ति के आवेग में बह जाते हैं लोग, तो ऐसी नज़्में लिख डालते हैं जो अपना जोश तो दिखाती ही हैं, अगली पीढ़ी के भी मैदान-ए-जंग में क़ुर्बान होने का वायदा कर डालते हैं।

ये वीर रस में लिखी काफ़ी अनोखी 'लोरी' है। सोचती हूँ: इन साहब के साहबज़ादे को रात में नींद आती भी थी? Level of expectations to dekho, भई!


नज़्म: लोरी
शायर: अख़्तर शीराज़ी

कभी तो रहम पर आमादा बेरहम आसमाँ होगा
कभी तो ये जफ़ा पेशा 

Single does not translate into unselfish

Sometimes I wonder what we would do if India – as a political entity – had a Facebook account and had to update her relationship status with her citizens. I suspect she would say, ‘It’s Complicated’. It is, indeed, complicated in a country where most relationships are suspect and where even the most conventional family structure is starting to be politically problematic. At the crux of it, of

देश प्रेम पे ध्यान: २

मेरी माँ ने एक बात कही थी जो ज़हन में गहरी जा के अटक गयी है। उन्होंने कहा: ख़ुदा/ भगवान/ प्रकृति किसी को दुनिया में भूखा मरने के लिए नहीं भेजता है; बच्चे के साथ उसकी रोटी भी भेजी है। माँ के ज़रिये उसके खाने-पीने का इंतेज़ाम किया है।

किसी बच्चे से उसकी रोटी, दूध छीना जा रहा है तो इसमें धरती का दोष नहीं है, न ऊपर वाले की कठोरता। ये इंसान का काम है, जो ऐसे हालात पैदा कर देता है कि माँ के पास कुछ नहीं

Seasons of joy

Tradition and ritual, especially unthinking ritual, hold little appeal for me. Those of us who grew up celebrating almost every religious festival there is on the Indian calendar would have also grown weary of the expectations attached – to cook, buy gifts or new clothes, visit the same set of ten to 15 people, rinse, repeat.As an adult, I tired of the seeming emptiness of these rituals and

A place of beauty, and of harassment

Cars are not my happy place. Yet, for over two years, I wrote a road column for The Hindu. 


My view was that of a citizen who uses the road, sometimes as motorist, sometimes as pedestrian and sometimes as a person dependent on public transport. This was the last column of the series:

A road is more than an enabler of motor transport. It is public space. It is a place of pathos, of beauty. It

Coops and cages

Citizens old enough not only to vote but also to marry and have children--some of them even old enough to contest parliamentary elections--were locked in, unable to participate in the cultural and academic life of the university. These were adult women who could not take a walk around the lawns or eat a meal off campus without written permission from local guardians.All Indian colleges and

Proscribed Poems: 'Door Tak Yaad-e-Vatan Aayi Thi Samjhaani Ko'

Another proscribed poem credited to Bismil in the collection 'Zabt Shuda Nazmein'. About this poem, the editor has added a note saying, this is the simple and sincere poem that was sung in court by the prisoner Prem Dutt during the Lahore Conspiracy Case trial, and that it had reduced people to tears.

Further, Prof Chaman Lal writes here that Prem Dutt Verma was one of the young associates of

Proscribed Poem 3

Ghazal

Poet: Ghani

Surat-e-barq tadap jis ghadi dikhlaoonga
Tere phande se main sayyaad nikal jaaoonga

Larzish paa hoon gar dast-e-karam se tere
Saaqiya peete hi yak jaam sambhal jaaoonga

Bhool jaayega falak shoabda baazi jis dum
Apni teenat se main sau rang badal jaaoonga

Phir na manoon vo lakh manaayein ae dil
Vaada-e-vasl pe jis dum main machal jaaoonga

Dil kisi shokh tarah vaar ko de

Tweak the system in order to save elections

Words like “party” are slowly being leached of meaning. What does it mean to vote for a party when the person you vote for ceases to represent that party? Post-election alliances also appear to be based on who can be persuaded to surrender a slice of power. There is little pretence about smaller parties wanting to ally with others based on common values. In such a climate, those who speak of

'Vo Chup Rahne Ko Kahte Hain Jo Hum Faryaad Karte Hain'

Another proscribed poem. The interesting thing about it is that the poet 'Bismil' (Ram Prasad, or Azeemabadi? As mentioned in the last post, I have a doubt because of at least a few mis-credited poems) uses the tropes of a romantic ghazal to speak of 'aazaadi'. Freedom, imprisonment, tyranny and the longing to be free.


'Vo Chup Rahne Ko Kahte Hain Jo Hum Faryaad Karte Hain'



Ilaahi khair,