World Performing Arts Festival 2007

Starting from 22nd november till 2nd december at Alhamra Qazaffi. Its the only event I crave for the whole year. Here is the complete programme.

http://www.danka.com.pk/docs/wpaf2007programme.pdf

and here is the introduction video:




God...am I excited to see that :)

Unrequited love

This is the opening dialogue of The Holiday. Its interesting

"I've found almost everything ever written about love to be true. Shakespeare said "Journeys end in lovers meeting." What an extraordinary thought. Personally, I have not experienced anything remotely close to that, but I am more than willing to believe Shakespeare had. I suppose I think about love more than anyone really should. I am constantly amazed by its sheer power to alter and define our lives. It was Shakespeare who also said "love is blind". Now that is something I know to be true. For some quite inexplicably, love fades; for others love is simply lost. But then of course love can also be found, even if just for the night. And then, there's another kind of love: the cruelest kind. The one that almost kills its victims. Its called unrequited love. Of that I am an expert. Most love stories are about people who fall in love with each other. But what about the rest of us? What about our stories, those of us who fall in love alone? We are the victims of the one sided affair. We are the cursed of the loved ones. We are the unloved ones, the walking wounded. The handicapped without the advantage of a great parking space! Yes, you are looking at one such individual. And I have willingly loved that man for over three miserable years! The absolute worst years of my life! The worst Christmas', the worst Birthday's, New Years Eve's brought in by tears and valium. These years that I have been in love have been the darkest days of my life. All because I've been cursed by being in love with a man who does not and will not love me back. Oh god, just the sight of him! Heart pounding! Throat thickening! Absolutely can't swallow! All the usual symptoms."

Jigsaw Killer

Watching Saw lV I thought that how close these Saw movies are to real life. Just as people in the movie, we wake up and find ourselves in a jigsaw. Oblivious of where we came from. Oblivious of who sent us. Oblivious of why we are here. Things become a bit clear as time passes. We come to know that we have to strugle to survive. And this is what we do. Throughout life we struggle, we earn, we eat; just to survive. We dont care for others, we think about ourselves only. We can even slay others if its a question of our own being alive. All of us are put in different games. And we put our endevours to pass through them. Some die out in between, some die accidently, some fed up of the game choose the path of suicide and some reach the last stages of the game. Still strugling to survive in the very last moments, they pass out eventually. Gone. They will never come back. Is someone really testing us too? Is there a real Jigsaw Killer out there who put us in this labyrinth? If yes, then hes very cruel.

Sketches

I drew these a couple of months back.

The Beginning

Angel

Dandiya

Exquisite

Melody Queen

I have to be intensely involved with a man, otherwise I cannot sing. My music abandons me.

Noor Jahan.

This universe has only one earth and it had only one Noor Jahan. Listening to her, sometimes I go to heaven and then come back. And its not just listening; seeing her sing the songs is a rare treat too. Its like I cave in totally and she takes me to the depths, the ups and downs of the songs, I travel with her and then she drops me off at my place. Ive never seen such beauty, voice and brains all in one. There are a very few people who become a legend when they are alive. Madam had some special blessings.

Receiving the goddess on their land again after 35 years, this is what the Indians had to say to her:

Philosophy of life

"Tell me what a man finds sexually attractive and I will tell you his entire philosophy of life."

Ayn Rand

Her feudal lord

I am totally dazzled by Tehmina Durrani's My feudal lord. What a brave woman she is! She suffered before writing the book and even more after it. Her honesty about the book can be doubted but how her own people turned a cold shoulder to her after its publication is a proof that most part of the book is truth. This book revolves around love and politics. I saw very different aspects of both these areas, both areas of my interest :) First Il describe love.

When Tehmina met Ghulam Mustafa Khar (the famous PPP leader, called the Lion of Punjab and notorious for seven marriages) for the first time she was married and had a daughter and so was Mustafa(with her fifth wife). They fell in love, divorced their previous spouses and got married. Ghulam Mustafa Khar belongs to a feudal family who have strict rules and traditions and who cannot break them. Parties, dinners, cigars, dogs, hunting were his particulars. Having a feudal mind, Mustafa's love for Tehmina was very intense. He was owerpowered by jealousy. He had strict rules for her, she couldnt go anywhere without his permission. He even used to beat her, sometimes so violently that she bled, that too on trivial matters. He wouldnt allow her to go to a male gynecologist. But every time he beat her he used to repent afterwards. He would know his tyranny instantly and would beg her to forgive him. He would even cry sometimes in her lap. Tehmina says that it was very strange to see the Lion of Punjab shattered to pieces like that. Love can reduce such a strong man to an intimidated mouse. She left him several times but he used to become pathetic after her. He used to beg her to return, admitting all his mistakes. But he would never give up his violence too. Once Mustafa kidnapped her children and sent them to Pakistan while they were in London, conditioning their retrun with her return only. She had to cave in. She suffered it for eleven years. Just to give an example of a feudal mind below is a picture of Fakhra Younas, wife of Mustafa's son from previous marriage. He threw acid on his wife's face. This just one of the women in our society who suffered the same fate. Poor women. Along with her is Tehmina.

It was due to continued efforts of Tehmina that Mustafa was released after spending three years of incarceration. The differences continued and she finally got a divorce after eleven years of marriage. The conclusion I drew, Mustafa wrote himself to Tehmina while in prison, 'All the great legends of love end in tragedy...their love was intenst, NOT PRACTICAL AND BALANCED. You cannot find balance in love, which is why you have to be prepared to carry its burden if you want love.' Well....thats right I guess. Intense love is not practical(at least in our social setup) but if is practical, conditioned to rules then I dont think its love. Its nothing more than a commitment ;) Here I remember a verse of Daagh Dehelvi

Lutf woh ishq main paaye hain ke ji janta hai

Ranj bhi aisay uthaye hain ke ji janta hai

I think that Tehmina must admit to this :) Its not that im supporting violence on women. I cannot even think of that. In our society women are victims. They suffer a lot of injustice. Tehmina did too. But she fought back for which she had to pay a heavy price. Her father disinherited her, she lost all her assets to Mustafa, she was charged for treason and adultery. Why did God have to make women weaker? Mustafa now has a seventh wife and Tehmina is married to Shehbaz Sharif (brother of Nawaz Sharif, the PML-N leader)

Now comes politics. A common man never comes to know what games are played by politicians for power. Many things would not have become public had Tehmina not written this book. In order to remove Zia from power, Mustafa and Bhutto's sons had decided to assassinate him. Mustafa met the Indian Prime Mininster who decided to help them achieve this purpose. Indian intelligence was involved thus. They helped transfer a lot of ammunition to Pakistan through Indian border. But on the day of operation the whole conspiracy was caught by Pakistani officials and the plan failed. The nation never knew that.

What if

What if
I dont recover this time.
The prayers of
so many people
go waste.

What if
The questions
remain unanswered.
The hidden
remains hidden.
The truth
remains buried.

What if
She never knows
how much
I craved for her.
How she brought colours
to my life.

What if
I dont recover this time.
Where did I come from
Where would I go
What about
the ecstacy,
the dreams,
the affliction ?

Fusion

This clip is from the movie American blend and is an excellent blend of kathak and tap dance. The rythms are well synchronised. Anyone having a little understanding of rythm can appreciate that. And yeah its beautiful :-) Every step is like a challange to the guy which he fulfils successfully.

Music, musicians

"The vibrations on the air are the breath of God speaking to man's soul. Music is the language of God. We musicians are as close to God as man can be. We hear his voice, we read his lips, we give birth to the children of God, who sing his praise. That's what musicians are."

"An artist is someone who has learnt to trust in himself!"

"Dreams can be wonderful, they can also be dangerous, sometimes all the more wonderful because of the danger"

Anna to Jesus referring to her music: "You gave me the gift, so why are you telling me not to use it? Why are you doing this to me? I didnt ask for this gift. What do you want me to do?"

Anna: "I just dont understand maestro, where does the movement end?"
Beethoven: "It doesnt end; it flows. You have to stop thinking in terms of begining and ending. This is not one of the bridges your iremen build; this is the living thing, like clouds taking shape or tides shifting"
Anna: "But musicly how does it work?"
Beethoven: "It doesnt work, it grows. You see the first movement becomes the second. As each idea dies a new one is born. You are obsessed with structure in choosing the correct form. You have to listen to the voice speaking inside of you. I didnt really hear it myself until I went deaf. Not that I want you to go deaf."
Anna: "You are telling me that I must find the silence in myself so I can hear the music?"
Beethoven: "Yes..yes..yes...silence is the key, this silence between the noise. When that silence envelops you then your soul can see."

Copying Beethoven

Ah, that is lovely.

Emergency

The constitution gives President the power to proclaim emergency in a province or in the whole country if

the President is satisfied that a grave emergency exists in which the security of Pakistan, or any part is threatened by war or external aggression, or by internal disturbance beyond the power of a Provincial Government to control (who reads the conditions anyways; the president has the power to proclaim emergency thats enough)

The president issues a Provisional Constitutional Order which enumerates the details of emergency


The Provisional Constitutional Order (PCO) is not known yet but the effects of emergency and the powers confered to the government are following:

*The parliment gets the power to make any kind of laws, even those not enlisted in the Federal Legislative List. (i.e. it can make un-constitutional laws)

*Such a law would cease to have effect six months after the proclamation of emergency.

*The parliment can extend the term of National Assembly for one year.

*The following fundamental rights are suspended:
Freedom of movement
Freedom of assembly
Freedom to form associations/unions
Freedom of trade, business or profession
Freedom of speech
Protection of property rights

(i.e. the government can do anything to you, if you move, if you talk against them. They can scatch your property. They can put you in jail for no reason and they can not be held accountable for that)

*Any courts working for the enforcement of fundamental rights shall remain suspended.

*If the National Assembly stands dissolved at the time when a Proclamation is issued, the Proclamation shall continue in force for a period of three months but, if a general election to the Assembly is not held before the expiration or that period, it shall cease to be in force at the expiration of that period unless it has earlier been approved by a resolution of the Senate.

*The validity of Proclamation or any order made under proclamation can not be called in question in any court.

Under such powers what they have done first is to kick out the Chief Justice(their ultimate rival) from the supreme court building. He was verbally said that his services are not required any more (geo tv web site). Secondly the media was taking too much advantage of a general's leniency. It had to be taught a lesson. And I should better stop writing lest the officials drop by my blog and give me some hard time.