Humra Quraishi
Amidst all the disasters taking place, with hundreds dying amid stampedes and horrific road accidents and floods and the collapse of big and small buildings and bridges and roads, what’s more worrying is the fate of those who live!
Yes, it is an extremely worrying scenario concerning joblessness and unemployment. Also, worries are surmounted in the educational sphere. What happens to our young – the upcoming generation? The immediate focus should be on this. There ought to be every single effort made by parents and immediate family and also counsellors and support groups to keep the young going strong, no matter how very bleak the future seems. Hope has got to stand out.
BIRTHDAYS OF THREE EXTRAORDINARY PERSONALITIES!
Come August and stand out the birthdays of three extraordinary persons – writer Khushwant Singh, poet Gulzar, and veteran actress Vyjayanthimala Bali.
Khushwant Singh celebrated two birthdays – February 2 and August 15
Before I write any further let me hasten to add the ‘why’ to the two birthday celebrations. As he would explain: My father was certain I was born at the start of Spring, so February 2, my birthday date. But my paternal grandmother was more than sure that I was born in the midst of Bhaadon/monsoon, so August 15th is my second birthday!
Born in 1915, in the village Hadali in the undivided Punjab, Khushwant lived life on his terms. He spoke fearlessly. He wrote along the same strain. No contradictions. Just no hypocrisy. None of the modern-day complications or gadgets. Till the end he hadn’t got himself a computer and nor a secretary and not a mobile phone. As he would say, “Mere bas ka naheen hai yeh sab… I’m happy writing on a notepad.”
During the years I interacted with him, several offbeat aspects stood out. There were never any sermons. Only subtle relays — that is, no wasting of time in gossip or those useless wanderings. No facades, no communal biases, no lies, and no deceit.
Khushwant detested the communal lot. “Today, my only worry is the rise in Right-wing fascist forces in the country… the young, the present generation should be aware of the rise in communal politics and the dangers involved.”
In an interview given to me shortly after his book ‘The End of India’ (Penguin) was published in the spring of 2003, he said, “If we love our country, we have to save it from communal forces. And though the liberal class is shrinking, I do hope the present generation rejects the communal and fascist policies.”
Khushwant’s views on death were stark, “I’m not scared of death. Death is inevitable so no brooding about it, be prepared for it, as Asadullah Khan Ghalib has aptly put across – ‘rau mein hai raksh-e-umar kahaan deykheeye thammey/ nai haath baag par hai nah pa hai rakaab mein‘ (age travels at a galloping pace/ who knows where will it stop/ we do not have the reins in our hands / we do not have our feet in the stirrups.)”
“I see death as nothing to be worried or scared about. Earlier, whenever I’d feel upset or low I used to go to the cremation grounds. It has a cleansing effect, worked as a therapy for me… Yes, I do think of death… No, don’t believe in any of the rebirth theories… Often I tell Bade Mian (God) that He’s got to wait for me, as I still have work to complete!”
“Yes, I do fear being incapacitated by old age – high blood pressure, prostate, deafness, loss of vision… What I dread is the thought of if I go blind or stone deaf or end up with a stroke.”
“Why I was keen for burial, because with that you give back to the earth what you have taken… now it will be the electric crematorium.”
“And when the time comes to go, go like a man without any regret or grievance against anyone. Allama Iqbal expressed it beautifully in a couplet – ‘You ask me about the signs of a man of faith/ when death comes to him, he has a smile on his lips.'”
Gulzar Saab – poet with a personality, celebrates his birthday on 18 August… he was born on 18 August, 1934
It’s rare to come across a poet whose eyes relay poetry. Look towards Gulzar saab’s emotion-laden eyes… There’s something about his eyes, his very personality that impacts. Heady that impact, as one begins to read his verse, together with his views.
The more I read his verse I am left amazed by the expanse, that sheer sensitivity… Also, there’s that stark simplicity in his words and verse. With that, that instant connect… Little wonder, his fans are spread out, right from our land to those other lands. After all, poets don’t believe in boundaries or barriers.
And as I sit and read, rather re-read this volume which carries his ‘conversations’ with Nasreen Munni Kabeer, I feel it ought to be introduced in the school syllabi. Why? Because this volume carries not just his views and verse, but an entire philosophy to life.
Whilst reading this volume I kept thinking of the very first time when I had met Gulzar saab. It was an experience in itself. I had first met him around the summer of 2005, for an interview for a national daily. He was putting up at New Delhi’s India International Centre, so it was decided that I meet him over breakfast at the tea lounge.
And within minutes as our conversation moved towards the Kashmir Valley, Gulzar saab was quietly crying and getting all too emotional. Telling me, “The Kashmir Valley had always fascinated me to such an extent that Raakhee and I decided to go to Srinagar for our honeymoon… Raakhee and I often tease our daughter Bosky that she was conceived there in the Kashmir Valley… In Srinagar we’d stayed at the Oberoi hotel and the garden had two majestic Chinars. I called them Badshah and Begum, or Jehangir and Noorjehan… I saw them again in these recent years and they looked so forlorn… Kashmir is an integral part of my emotions, it’s a region close to the region of my heart. I was earlier even planning to make a film on the Valley. I’d even named the film – it was to be titled ‘Iss Vaadi Mein’ and it was based on Krishna Chander’s short story collection ‘Kitaab Ka Kafan’, and it dealt with two lovers in the two parts of the Valley and how they try to overcome the military barriers. Sadly, the film could not be made as the Kargil War had broken out.”
And several years when Gulzar’s story collection – ‘Half a Rupee Stories’ (Penguin) was released in New Delhi, I couldn’t attend its launch as one of my cousins had met with a fatal road accident in Uttar Pradesh so I had to rush there. On getting back it was touching to see that Gulzar saab has dedicated one of his short stories in this collection, to me, with this accompanying one-liner – “We shared a lot of Kashmir though neither of us is from there.”
Vyjayanthimala Bali celebrates her birthday on 13 August (Vyjayanthimala – born on 13 August 1936)
After more than 54 films, Vyjayanthimala Bali quit films when she’d opted for marriage. As she’d quipped, “Thereafter I did not retire but relinquished films.”
Later she made inroads into the political sphere and as Member of Parliament she’d represented the South Madras constituency.
During the course of an interview, when I’d asked her why she moved towards the political sphere, she’d detailed: “Well, my husband thought that I had the makings of a politician, so he wanted me to join politics. In fact, it happened slowly — in the beginning we toured Tamil Nadu and saw the then ground realities and that people were disillusioned… Wherever we toured we saw for ourselves another reality: how people loved Mrs Indira Gandhi and so when we visited New Delhi we met Indira Gandhi and told her the state of affairs in Tamil Nadu, and even told her about my own inclination towards joining politics. She’d smiled encouragingly… and that’s how I joined politics and the political scenario.”
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