Going Vintage

The other day I saw this documentary on Begum Akhtar.It featured these old records of Begum Akhtar and they were purely mesmerizing.What I noticed that what enhanced their appeal was that they were old recordings,and their was a certain distortion in the recording.The distortion actually gave a charming antiquated effect to the songs.Come to think of it,I would not prefer to listen to Begum Akhtar's songs on a Bose,simply because in their pursuit of improvement, they might destroy the charm.

Another thing similar to this is listening to the radio(not the private ones,but the old government stations).It is sometimes more pleasurable to hear a song on the radio,because of two reasons.One,it is unexpected,so the joy gets doubled.Secondly,the radio produces the same vintage charm that the gramophone or record players did.It has more character.Also,sometimes listening to your favourite song on the radio,in the dead of the night,with only the voice of the RJ(normally Government Radio Jockeys are fluent in Hindustani,unlike the private ones,which adds to the charm) produces that hauntingly romantic effect,just like Ai Ajnabi in Dil Se,with Shahrukh Khan as the jockey,and Manisha Koirala listening to the Radio.

Zulf-e-Nastaliq

The ink leaves my pen,
Undulating like your tresses,

Mirroring the beauty of Nastaliq,
They fall on my shoulders.

The blackness of the letters against the paper
Your hair spread against the splendid sun.

The dots shine against the light
Did I just see a glint in those eyes?

Nastaliq:Urdu Script

Yeh Chanda Kanoon Hai

There's this new show on SAB TV called 'Yeh Chanda Kanoon Hai",featuring actors like Ashif Sheikh, Tikku Talsania, and Juhi Parmar.Although I am not a fan of the SAB comedies(most of them tend to be a part of the overt Punjabi caricature camp,and the others are plain boring),this show has proved to be an exception, especially because of the performance of the actors, and the little quirks in their characters.For eg,Tikku Talsania who plays the judge with a blatant fondness for Juhi Parmar,also has this habit of mispronunciation of Urdu words(yes,my subconscious pro-Urdu bias is at play!).

Let's hope this show continues it's fresh and innovative approach and doesn't fall prey to all those habits which Indian comedies are normally prone to.So far, only Sarabhai and Sarabhai,and Dekh Bhai Dekh have been successful in doing that.Yes Boss was slso good,although I haven't seen it in a long time.Oh,I almost forgot.A special mention to those 2 assistants of the judge(forgot what they are called in Hindustani).They are simply superb.
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My second consecutive non-philosophical article.Three cheers to materialism!

From Television to Idiot Box.From DD to Cable

Yesterday was the 50th anniversary of Doordarshan or rather,television broadcasting in India.On the occassiom,here was a wonderful documentary on DD about the evolution of television in India.There were clips from old time DD productions like Hum Log,Buniyaad,Tamas,Mirza Ghalib etc.
Seeing those clips made me realize the amazing amount of crap that passes as entertainment these days.And also the transition of 'television' to 'idiot box'.How did we move from 'Tamas',which raised the issue of communalism in India,to 'Rakhi ka Swayamwar'.When did interviews by Noam Chomsky get replaced by those of Payal Rohatgi.It's indeed a sad state of affairs.The only kind of people you see on TV today are hyper/boorish/dancing punjabis(and being one myself,I seriously can't tolerate another ounce of pseudo punjabis on TV/films) or funny accented South Indians,overtly traditional women or out rightly evil/westernized vamps.When was the last time you saw an Assamese doctor or a Muslim engineer or a Punjabi intellectual.Why can't TV move out of stereotyping.And yes I agree,private channels have to market to consumers but can't the messages be delivered in a subtle manner.
Until then all I can say is,'Is Jungle se mujhe bachao'

Standing on the precipice,
Walking the tightrope

Between One-ness and Duality
Between existence and non-existence

A tumult reverbrates in this silence,
There is something to this nothingness

An instant is nothing but an illusion
Look!It's the ice melting in the river.

umm...

The only proof of God's existence is irony.
Amit Julka

Was Muhammed a Marxist?

Note:The following article is an exercise in pure speculation.My knowledge about both Marxism and Islam is optimistically speaking,limited.I hope the readers forgive me for my incompetence.

A few days ago,I chanced upon a biography of Muhammed by Maxime Rodinson.It was a scholarly work and quite a refreshing change from the diatribes or the adoration that he seems to generate on the internet(and I tend to find both a little repugnant).As I was reading about his life, it dawned upon me that initially,his movement stemmed from socio economic causes(rather than divine ones) and the class struggle that engulfed Arab/Meccan society at that time.

Now what I understand of the pre Islamic Meccan society is that it was a tribalistic society and each tribe had it's own God whom it would appease. Thus, to Muhammed,these idols of these Meccan/Arabic gods probably became symbols of the struggle between these tribes,which is a rudimentary example of the modern day class struggle[between the haves and the have nots].The difference lies in the fact that while Muhammed replaced all these Gods by one God in order to unify society,Marx did away with the whole 'God' business altogether.

Also the concepts of 'Ummah' and the lack of statehood in Islam has striking similarities to the concept of 'Pure Communism',which envisions a stateless,classless society(much like Islam).The 'Proletriat' or the democracy of the masses is a lot similar to Ummah.Now coming back to the 'God' concept,this is probably where Marx and Muhammed diverge.Marx's theories,being purely intellectual conceptions were and as a matter of fact,still are open to scrutiny.However,Muhammed's theories covered a whole spectrum,from being purely political to out rightly religious.Thus it added a religious and divine dimension to his theories which made them impervious to scrutiny.

To sum up,we could say that the only difference between Marx and Muhammed was that the latter believed in one God more