Showing posts with label Languages. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Languages. Show all posts
Wednesday, July 27, 2011
Thursday, February 24, 2011
Birth Centenary of Faiz Ahmed Faiz (13 February 1911 – 2011)
These days, the birth centenary of Faiz Ahmed Faiz is being celebrated throughout the world where Urdu is spoken and understood. Faiz was a renowned Pakistani poet and an avowed Marxist and Communist besides his love for Sufism.
Born in the village of Kala Kader of the Sialkot district, bordering India, on 13th February 1911. His earlier education was from the village madrassa and he learnt the basics of the religion from there as was the vogue in those days. Later he was admitted in the famous missionary school of Sialkot, the Scotch Mission School. Thereafter for higher studies he joined the Murray College of Sialkot and graduated from the same college. For his post graduation, he came to Lahore and obtained his Masters in English literature from the prestigious Government College Lahore. He also obtained another Masters in Arabic literature from the Oriental College Lahore.
Right from his early days, Faiz had an inclination towards Marxist ideas and that was the reason that he joined the Progressive Writers’ Movement in 1935, while he was a lecturer of English at the M.A.O College, Amritsar. He later came back to Lahore for a stint at the Hailey College of Commerce. During the WW-II, he joined the British Army and attained a rank of lieutenant colonel in 1944. He resigned from the army in 1947 and came back to Lahore once again to pursue his literary strides. He joined the famous Enlish daily The Pakistan Times as its first editor. In 1959, he became the secretary of the Pakistan Arts Council, a post he held till 1962. Besides Pakistan Times, faiz also worked with the famous Urdu daily of its times “Imroze” and the weekly Lail-o-Nihar. In 1964, he moved to Karachi and became the principal of Abdullah Haroon College. During the 1965 Indo-Pak War, faiz briefly worked with the Department of Information.
Faiz stepped into the word of poetry in the early 40s and has his first collection published in 1943, titled “Naqsh-e-Faryadi.” Right from the beginning, Faiz wrote on the sufferings of the poor and the downtrodden. His concern for the oppressed and poor associated him with the communism and he also joined the Communist Party of Pakistan. He spent much of the 1950s and 1960s promoting the cause of communism in Pakistan. He was also involved in the circle lending support to a failed military coup led by Major General Akbar Khan in early 50s, for which he was imprisoned. During the 1950s, his two other collections, Dast-e-Saba and Zindan Nama were published.
Although his main theme focused on the Marxist and Communist ideas, he also had a great love for the Sufism. His association with some of the notable Sufis, like Wasif Ali Wasif, Ashfaq ahmed, Baba Malang and Fakharuddin Balley speaks volums of his love of Sufism.
Faiz married a British lady Alys Faiz in 1941. She also had a great flare for literature and also published a book of memoirs, Over My Shoulder (1993), about her life as a British expatriate living in Pakistan.
Faiz’s poetry renewed the traditional romantic imagery of Urdu poetry, which gained him huge popularity. Faiz also supported to the use of regional languages of Pakistan in education, the media, and literary expression. But a major portion of Faiz’s work was politically motivated, and includes some of his most famous poems based on his prison experiences.
One of the famous poem of Faiz "Bol - kay lab azad hain terey" is fine piece of work by him, which express the feeling of freedom after the end of an oppressive era.
Bol – kay lab aazad hain terey
Speak, your lips are free.
Speak, it is your own tongue.
Speak, it is your own body.
Speak, your life is still yours.
See how in the blacksmith's shop
The flame burns wild, the iron glows red;
The locks open their jaws,
And every chain begins to break.
Speak, this brief hour is long enough
Before the death of body and tongue:
Speak, 'cause the truth is not dead yet,
Speak, speak, whatever you must speak.
Despite his inclination towards Marxist beliefs, Faiz also wrote on traditional forms of poetry with new symbols derived from Western political ideas. Faiz was of the view that a poet should always present some kind of philosophical, political or some other sort of thesis." Like Muhammad Iqbal, a great poet and philosopher, he reinterpreted the most important theme in the Urdu ghazal, the theme of love. The word ghazal comes from Arabic and has been translated as "to talk with women" or "to talk of women." Faiz often addressed his poem to his "beloved", which can be interpreted as his muse, his country, or his concept of beauty or social change.
For his love for Marxism and his poetry centred on the poor and oppressed, he was awarded the Lenin Peace Prize by the Soviet Union in 1962. Faiz died in Lahore on November 20, 1984.
Related Reading:
Faiz Ahmed Faiz, pseud. of Faiz Ahmed (1910-1984)
Languages and Literature (of Pakistan)
Born in the village of Kala Kader of the Sialkot district, bordering India, on 13th February 1911. His earlier education was from the village madrassa and he learnt the basics of the religion from there as was the vogue in those days. Later he was admitted in the famous missionary school of Sialkot, the Scotch Mission School. Thereafter for higher studies he joined the Murray College of Sialkot and graduated from the same college. For his post graduation, he came to Lahore and obtained his Masters in English literature from the prestigious Government College Lahore. He also obtained another Masters in Arabic literature from the Oriental College Lahore.
Right from his early days, Faiz had an inclination towards Marxist ideas and that was the reason that he joined the Progressive Writers’ Movement in 1935, while he was a lecturer of English at the M.A.O College, Amritsar. He later came back to Lahore for a stint at the Hailey College of Commerce. During the WW-II, he joined the British Army and attained a rank of lieutenant colonel in 1944. He resigned from the army in 1947 and came back to Lahore once again to pursue his literary strides. He joined the famous Enlish daily The Pakistan Times as its first editor. In 1959, he became the secretary of the Pakistan Arts Council, a post he held till 1962. Besides Pakistan Times, faiz also worked with the famous Urdu daily of its times “Imroze” and the weekly Lail-o-Nihar. In 1964, he moved to Karachi and became the principal of Abdullah Haroon College. During the 1965 Indo-Pak War, faiz briefly worked with the Department of Information.
Faiz stepped into the word of poetry in the early 40s and has his first collection published in 1943, titled “Naqsh-e-Faryadi.” Right from the beginning, Faiz wrote on the sufferings of the poor and the downtrodden. His concern for the oppressed and poor associated him with the communism and he also joined the Communist Party of Pakistan. He spent much of the 1950s and 1960s promoting the cause of communism in Pakistan. He was also involved in the circle lending support to a failed military coup led by Major General Akbar Khan in early 50s, for which he was imprisoned. During the 1950s, his two other collections, Dast-e-Saba and Zindan Nama were published.
Although his main theme focused on the Marxist and Communist ideas, he also had a great love for the Sufism. His association with some of the notable Sufis, like Wasif Ali Wasif, Ashfaq ahmed, Baba Malang and Fakharuddin Balley speaks volums of his love of Sufism.
Faiz married a British lady Alys Faiz in 1941. She also had a great flare for literature and also published a book of memoirs, Over My Shoulder (1993), about her life as a British expatriate living in Pakistan.
Faiz’s poetry renewed the traditional romantic imagery of Urdu poetry, which gained him huge popularity. Faiz also supported to the use of regional languages of Pakistan in education, the media, and literary expression. But a major portion of Faiz’s work was politically motivated, and includes some of his most famous poems based on his prison experiences.
One of the famous poem of Faiz "Bol - kay lab azad hain terey" is fine piece of work by him, which express the feeling of freedom after the end of an oppressive era.
Bol – kay lab aazad hain terey
Speak, your lips are free.
Speak, it is your own tongue.
Speak, it is your own body.
Speak, your life is still yours.
See how in the blacksmith's shop
The flame burns wild, the iron glows red;
The locks open their jaws,
And every chain begins to break.
Speak, this brief hour is long enough
Before the death of body and tongue:
Speak, 'cause the truth is not dead yet,
Speak, speak, whatever you must speak.
Despite his inclination towards Marxist beliefs, Faiz also wrote on traditional forms of poetry with new symbols derived from Western political ideas. Faiz was of the view that a poet should always present some kind of philosophical, political or some other sort of thesis." Like Muhammad Iqbal, a great poet and philosopher, he reinterpreted the most important theme in the Urdu ghazal, the theme of love. The word ghazal comes from Arabic and has been translated as "to talk with women" or "to talk of women." Faiz often addressed his poem to his "beloved", which can be interpreted as his muse, his country, or his concept of beauty or social change.
For his love for Marxism and his poetry centred on the poor and oppressed, he was awarded the Lenin Peace Prize by the Soviet Union in 1962. Faiz died in Lahore on November 20, 1984.
Related Reading:
Faiz Ahmed Faiz, pseud. of Faiz Ahmed (1910-1984)
Languages and Literature (of Pakistan)
Tuesday, September 7, 2010
On Monday is close the shop!!
Yesterday I went for the haircut but found the above poster displayed on the barber shop’s door – “On Monday is close the shop.” Although the write up was grossly incorrect grammatically, it still conveyed its message. It also made me smile (something which is very unusual these days as every TV channel and newspaper carries news of floods, crimes being committed, orders of the epic court not being implemented, match fixing, target killing and much more). And this shop closed announcement was one such thing that I took lightly without expressing any reservations for it being written incorrectly.
We in Pakistan are always worried about the accent of English being spoken by ordinary people, or even literates and well educated as well. We label their English as “Punjlish, Gulabi English” and many other names, even though we understand what they actually mean to express.
Imagine for a moment that you happen to land in a country where no one speaks English and you do not know their native language. How difficult it becomes if you want to ask for directions, a place to go or a hotel to lodge. And then someone from the crowd steps forward as tells in broken words that you readily understand. I faced this situation many times while I was in Iran long time back. When the little Persian that I knew exhausted, I would look for someone who could speak any sort of English to make me at ease. At believe me it used be an uphill task to find someone like this, as mostly people in Iran take French or German as a second language and English is not a favourite.
Likewise, any English speaking tourist would be too glad to converse with a person speaking Gulabi English and feel at home. So next time if you come across such a situation, fell happy that at least you are being understood and listening to "something" in return that solves your problem.
Monday, August 9, 2010
The devastating floods in Pakistan and the language of the “friends”
So when the rains came this year, initially people thought that these would go away after a few days. But this time the rains came and stayed. The rains in coastal areas of Balochistan were first to bring disaster and miseries. While the local administration and the government was still busy in the relief operations, sudden flash floods hit the northern province of Khyber Pakhtunkhua (KPK). The gushing water swept away village after village before people had the time to move to safer places. It left more than 1500 dead in KPK province alone and almost 1.5 to 2 million people have been rendered homeless.
The water continues to go downstream, wreaking havouc in the provinces of Punjab and Sind. Millions more have become homeless and the estimate of destroyed property goes into billions. As of now, while the flood water is flowing downstream in Sind province (at a speed of around1 million cusecs), more rains are hitting the KPK bringing in more devastation.
Now this is what the ground reality is. Since the net and news are full of flood updates, the purpose of this blog is not to bring another update. It is in fact some disturbing e-mails and comments that I read today that made me write this post.
Pakistan being a poor country, already paying a heavy price of the so called American War on Terror, finds it today utterly helpless to bear the wrath of nature. And for this the government requested the international community for help. And many came forward and have done their best to help the flood devastated Pakistan. But what about the friends? I mean the Americans for whom we are fighting a war in search of OBL and his squad. Time will tell the true story behind the War on Terror being a big game to loot and plunder Iraq and Afghanistan. But the comments by the Americans have shown the true face of common Americans, whom many in Pakistan believe to be friends. The language used in some 200 comments that I read today was most bizarre, inhuman and derogatory. Just falling short of naked abuses, the comments show the lowest of human esteem and sick mindset.
Many have opined that since Muslims profess that every good or bad thing comes from Allah, so why don’t the Pakistan ask their Allah for the wrong He has done to them rather than begging the American tax payers for the aid. A sizeable number asks of Pakistan to first hand over OBL before begging them for aid money. Another writes, “Pakistan created jihadi terror - 1st to kill Hindus, then to target Americans. Now's the time to finish off Pakistan - take advantage of the natural disaster. Pakistan is an enemy of civilization.” And many bring in religion to vent their hatred towards Muslims. Read this, “Once again the islamist call out to the christians for help , they hate the christians yet understand that even when reviled and beaten the christians will continue to help them out of love for our saviour. these floods are allah's will and a warning that the muslims will be judged for there crimes against humanity by the creator. yet in their arrogance the timid moslems say nothing and reap destruction from the had of God. the muslim holy war will bring world wide destruction , it is no religion of peace , but a religion of slavery - just ask their women (spelling mistakes have not been corrected).” Another comments, “They call for more aid now, when their "cousins" in the Taliban just beheaded ten western medical workers? Fine, Ham Sandwiches on the way!”
The venom is ceaseless “...So now we're going to RUSH billions more US dollars to a country that hates us? Let the floods wash every one of them away....flush that toilet.” Another joins in to comment, “Since Muslims believe that everything that happens is Allah's will perhaps they should look at what they have been doing to cause him to bring down this misery and disaster upon them. I do have that right don't I. That is what they believe, correct?” Here is another one, “Let them ask the Taliban for help and cash in their war with India! Surrender OBL and we MIGHT consider "some" cash.”. And here is one last, “Stop begging for money and stop having your countrymen trying to explode bombs in our cities and we'll leave you alone. We left you alone after the afghan-soviet war and look at the dung you people created. Why is the president going around the world begging? You elected him right? You elected your entire government right? Stop begging for money and we'll stop trying to 'fill your pockets.”
I could go on and on quoting the hate stuff, but it really pained me to read more. I wish I were the president of the country and having read all these comments, I would have never asked the Americans for help or for that matter anyone else in the world. Our people have always risen to the occasion and donated as much as they can. It is only bad management that makes matters worse. Had we had our own house in order and well organized, we should have learnt to face the wrath of the nature ourselves from within, rather than listening to what the citizens of the most enlightened nation of the world have spewed for us.
Thursday, February 18, 2010
Playing with the Languages
Few days back I was in Karachi Urdu University Urdu University Iran
But this ineptness on the part of our intellectuals doesn’t end here. Watch any TV channel of a regional language and one will be amazed to find almost half of Urdu mixed with that particular regional language. For example, I was just surfing through the TV channels and came across Rohi channel and it was fun watching the Saraiki language. “Lawa-he-keen” (the family members or the bereaved members of someone lost) is an Urdu word and so are “Hartal” and “Tajaweez (suggestions”. Aren’t these? What about “Nadar Mushahida – unique observation” or “Yak Tarfa Traffic – one way traffic.” And there is no end to listing such usage.
Wouldn’t it be right to use the right kind of translation when speaking a regional language? Or are we happy with Punglish?
