'Indian art', 'Pakistani art'
A real mixing point... a book that deals with art of both countries
By Quddus Mirza
All art critics in our part of the world complain about the disinterested artist who is not keen to read about his/her work, let alone about other artists. Perhaps it has something to do with the history of art in our region where art (sometimes confused with craft) was seen as an act of fabricating an image on a surface that did not require a theoretical support. The artist too -- having grown up with this prefixed notion -- thinks that any indulgence with words might hamper his/her creativity.

It makes for a breaking story in any newspaper when you see a report that the agile authorities have nabbed a fat-cat CEO of a company who was illegally and quietly siphoning income from an all-too important revenue generating arm of the country's burgeoning economy. An iron-clad case if there ever was one.

So you roll-up your sleeves and start to briskly sift through the facts knowing well what will be the outcome of your investigative endeavors. Your enthusiasm is curbed when you come across the profile of the presumed offender: Faisal Chohan, CEO of Cogilent Solutions. His humble demeanor, matter-of-fact personality and his willingness to go out of his way to help the authorities with their police work is so far removed from the sleek operator you had pictured in mind that you are puzzled for a minute whether this is indeed the culprit.

But you move on, eager to come across mountain of cold, incriminating evidence. But there again, your eagerness is quickly checked. This time because you discover that the so-called incriminating evidence, espoused by the authorities that Cogilent Systems was illegally terminating long distance calls into Pakistan and therefore bypassing paying the Access Promotion Charge (APC) imposed by Pakistan Telecommunications Authority (PTA), is simply non-existent.

Instead of terminating anything remotely close to long distance voice traffic into Pakistan, the software company is building voice applications to be bundled into software products that can then be sold to prestigious clients such as TRG and CresTel. Poof, more evidence seems to go up in smoke!

But it seems that the best is saved for last: in a script stolen right from an old Hollywood flick from the 1980s starring Tom Selleck -An Innocent Man- you discover to your total amazement that the authorities have barged into the wrong address. That is, they have got the wrong man simply because they associated suspicious activity with the wrong company.

Similar to a unique street address for a company, machines owned by the company that are connected to the Internet also have unique address, called an IP address. Each company has a set of machines that are assigned unique addresses by the Internet Service Provider (ISP) used by that business. The ISP is required to provide the IP addresses of the businesses it supports to the PTA, on demand. This means that if the PTA detects anything illegal, in this case significant voice traffic on a set of IP addresses, all it has to do is to look up the name of the company that the IP address belongs to and then go ask some tough questions from the perpetrators.

However in this case, it seems that the IP addresses registered in the FIR against Cogilent Solutions did not belong to that company. In other words, voice traffic detected by PTA did not come from any of the machines used by Cogilent. To wit, a mistake was made and an innocent man was arrested. The so-called iron-clad case falls apart like a house of cards, like a cheap suit from WalMart. There is no case against Faisal and none against the likes of Cogilent Solutions.

Now that it is established that there was never a case, let us ponder on the premise of this arrest. PTA is concerned about and cracking down on those setups that it believes are cheating the government from their due revenue that comes from long distance dialing.

In order for your cousin sitting in New York to call you in Lahore, the long distance provider in US must partner with a company in Pakistan that is licensed to terminate calls from abroad. These handful of companies are called LDI providers and are listed prominently on the PTA website. For every minute you talk with your cousin, the LDI provider owes the PTA, and therefore the Pakistani government, a small amount called the Access Promotion Charge (APC). With the amount of calls made in the course of a year, the revenue generated from APC is of staggering proportions. Therefore it stands to reason that the PTA does everything in its power to ensure that the Pakistani government is not cheated out of this cash-flow.

The illegal operators that bypass the APC do so by subverting a technology known as Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP). Concept of VoIP is simple: ability to send voice over the Internet like you send any packet of textual data. This textual data can be an email from your friend in London or pictures of your new-born niece in Malaysia; you can view the text that forms the email and the pixels that constitute the picture on your Internet Explorer for free.

Similarly, when voice is sent as a data commodity over the Internet, from one PC to the other, it can be heard for free using special software that comes for free. Popular messengers like the ones provided by AOL, MSN and Yahoo have a built-in soft phone that can 'packetize' voice conversation so that it eliminates the need of a traditional phone between two people using the facility on the same messenger. You can appreciate the importance of VoIP when you consider that Skype was bought by Ebay last year for US$2.6 billion because of its VoIP product offering.

Imagine three common VoIP usage scenarios. First, you install AOL Instant Messenger and can now, at times, talk with your brother studying in the US if he also happens to be online at the same time.

Second, you have a small company in Pakistan and have landed a contract to develop software for your client in US. You and your client want to have routine phone calls during the lifecycle of the project in order to collaborate on ideas, exchange ideas and to get project status. Both you and your client install Skype and are able to have these infrequent, though regular conversations. This type of communication is key to be able to manage the project successfully and therefore for your small company to grow. Additionally, as was the case with Cogilent, your small startup may also embark upon a project whose goal is to innovate and produce voice-based solutions to its clients.

Now imagine a third scenario. You configure a machine in Pakistan to establish a connection with a VoIP service in US on one end and on the other end you connect the server with leased PTCL lines. With minimal amount of work, you are able to then use your machine for commercial purposes to illegally terminate calls in Pakistan that were generated in US. The reason why this is illegal is because you are not paying PTA the APC and the amount due in licenses as a registered LDI.

In all three cases, the common theme is the use of VoIP. In all three cases, the use of VoIP has taken revenue away from PTA. However, there is a stark difference between the first two cases and the third. In scenario number 1, VoIP is being used purely for personal use. The chance that both you and your brother are online at the same time and the total time both of you spend talking to each other is fairly minimal. But the energy generated from this activity is positive. A healthy relationship is fostered, helping the family members and therefore, in the long run, the community and the country the family belongs to. The use of VoIP is in this case is harmless and should be allowed.

In scenario number 2, VoIP is being used for commercial reasons. However, the use of VoIP is a means to get to an end. It enables small companies in Pakistan to compete with other offshore locations in other countries in this global environment; it is the ability for the startup companies to produce products that when sold, help them grow, pay higher taxes, employ more employees, and therefore contribute in a very positive manner to Pakistan's economy. Here the use of VoIP is healthy and must not be obstructed.

In scenario number 3, VoIP is also being used for commercial reasons. However, here it is not being used to innovate but rather to exploit the technology to operate a business that circumvents the need to acquire a license acquired by other companies offering same product. In this case, there is no positive outcome. The Pakistani government is not being paid its due taxes, the end consumer is being cheated out of perhaps a better phone experience gained by using a legitimate service provider. All in all, scenario number 3 must be clamped down upon and usage of VoIP blocked for such providers.

Currently, all three scenarios are treated in the same manner by PTA: they are all frowned upon and blocked where possible. The case of Faisal Chohan has brought to fore the problem that is inherent in treating all these scenarios as the same. It is a welcome sign that the entire IT community and various associations (PSEB, PASHA, ISPEC, ACCO) have banded together in championing this case and outlining what is wrong with the existing policy and what must be done to change it.

Meanwhile as I write this during the middle of the week, Faisal is still in jail and his family is still agonizing over him and the loss of his unborn child that he and his wife lost last week due to the stress borne by their mutual ordeal. Sad is the outcome when arms of justice reach out to grab an innocent man.

Lahore: A Musical Companion

Saeed Malik

Published by: Babar Ali Foundation, 2006.

Price hardcover: Rs.500

Pages: 163.

If his writings on music are any evidence to go by few people in Pakistan are as knowledgeable as Saeed Malik. His latest publication Lahore: a Musical Companion actually is a follow up on an earlier work Lahore: Its Melodic Culture which was published in haste to meet a deadline set by the Alhamra Arts Council. Since he had to meet no deadline except that of his own keenness and exacting demands of scholarship, his recent publication has dealt with the subject much more exhaustively.

An important aspect of Saeed Malik's writings on music is his personal involvement with the music and musicians of Lahore. His has not been an academic flirtation but an involvement that has led him to learn and play music. In the process he got to know musicians of all grades and shades, from the most reputable ustads to those struggling, whom no one wanted to know and who died nameless and unsung.

He has been a witness to the music soirees which were held at the YMCA in the 1930s and also the musical gatherings in Barkat Ali Mohammedan Hall, the Takiya Mirasiaan, SPSK Hall and the innumerable baithaks that underpinned the framework of cultural activity in the city. These baithaks were run by Barkat Ali Khan, Mubarak Ali Khan in Hira Mandi, Babu Mairaj Din in Moti Bazar, Ustad Barkat Gotebaaf inside Masti Gate, Ustad Khurshid Butt in Bhati Gate, Allah Ditta in Shahalam Gate, Master Qamar Din and G.A Farooq in Misri Shah.

All this was before partition and to most people these names may sound alien but not to the author who has lived through the decades and seen and experienced the vicissitudes of time. Since Lahore was an important city in the north western part of the Indian subcontinent it attracted plenty of talent from all over. Being the pathway of invasions and migrations it also underwent many an upheaval but survived to fight another day. The greatest upheaval was at the partition of the Punjab in 1947 when more than half the population of the city migrated and was replaced by an even larger influx of Muslims from all parts of the subcontinent, but mostly from the adjoining areas of the Indian Punjab.

A large number of musicians arrived in Lahore and more than compensated for the loss of migration. Pundit Amarnath, Shayum Sunder, Gobind Ram, Lachi Ram, Dhanni Ram were more than compensated by the arrival of Ustad Sardar Khan, Ustad Akhter Hussain Khan, Bundoo Khan, Nazakat Ali, Salamat Ali, Amanat Ali Fateh Ali, Bhai Lal and Ghulam Hassan Shaggan. There were musicians who were already in Lahore like Bade Ghulam Ali Khan, Inayat Bai Dheerowali, Shamshad Begum, Sohni, Alamgir Khan, Sadiq Ai Mando and despite the killing and the looting Lahore was soon on its musical feet.

Lahore also witnessed the experimentation of passing on the musical knowledge to the next generation outside the ambit of lineage and family. When Bhathkhande and V.D Paluskar started their initiative they also chose Lahore to be one of the focal points of such a movement. Gandharv Mahavidyala off Ravi Road was seen as a departure from tradition and it continued to exist till partition when its head Pundit Janardhan had to migrate. Sadly the institution that was set up on the lines of a modern teaching place did not survive. It is said that the barsi of Alamgir Khan organised by his sons Rangi Khan and Babar Khan was held regularly for more than twenty years in the vicinity of the Gandharv Mahaviddayala on Mohni Road.

The book is studded with information about the lives of well known musicians and on what they sang. It covers all genres of music, from art music to the most popular forms. If there is a writeup on Ustad Sardar Khan there is also one on Alam Lohar and Munir Hussain. And since Lahore was one of the centres of filmmaking before partition and a major centre after partition, many singers and musicians flocked to the city, some making a name for themselves while others just drifted into the dark alleys. The book is quite encyclopedic in scope because it attempts to cover all forms of music and has something to say about its practitioners.

Ustad Jhandey Khan, Rafiq Ghaznavi, Ghulam Haider, Shyam Sunder, Khurshid Anwer, Feroze Nizami, Noor Jehan, Master Inayat Hussain, Rashid Attrey, Saleem Iqbal, G.A. Chishti, Nisar Bazmi, Master Manzoor Hussain, Sohail Rana, S.D. Batish, Ali Buksh Zahoor, Vidya Nath Seth, Muhammed Rafi, Surrinder Kaur, Zeenat Begum, Munawwar Sultana, Saleem Raza, Masud Rana, Zubaida Khanum, Inayat Hussain Bhatti, Mala from the category of light music/films and Ustad Waheed Khan, Chottey Ghulam Ali Khan, Zahida Parveen, Shamshad Kausar, and Meena Lodhi from classical music have all been covered.

Instrumentalists like Sohni Khan, Alamgir Khan, Fateh Ali Khan of Kapurthala, Sharif Khan Poonchwaley, Siraj Ahmed Qureshi, Saeen Ditta Qadri, Khadim Hussain, Qadir Buksh Pakhawaji, Inayati Khan, Shaukat Hussain Khan, Taffo, Talib Hussain have been enlisted for the writeup.

After partition other institutions replaced the more traditional ones. Radio was a great rallying point, followed by the arts councils, especially Alhamra. The All Pakistan Music Conference with its annual event at the Open Air Theatre, Bagh-e-Jinnah helped to keep classical music intact as a live art form and the various urs and melas provided a platform for all kinds of music .

One of the purposes of writing such books is to make people aware of their great heritage so as to make an effort to not only safeguard that heritage but also to create conditions to foster and promote the glorious traditions. Though the spirit of a city dies not and has many ways of manifesting itself, this process can also be simplified and made more orderly by a conscious effort in this direction. Though something has been done in Lahore to promote cultural institutions, we all know that it's not enough and much more needs to be done.

The Sistine Chapel ceiling is deemed to be the crowning glory of the artist Michelangelo Buonarroti's career, and one of the masterpieces of the Italian Renaissance period. It was painted between the years 1508 and 1512; the Sistine Chapel is a chapel in the Apostolic Palace, the official papal residence in the Vatican City.

Although the phrase 'Sistine Chapel' is often used to encapsulate the greatest achievement of any ordinary person, in Michelangelo's case it was back-breaking work! The multi-talented artist was literally forced to create this work of art by Pope Julius II who commissioned the painting 1505.

The work illustrates scenes based on the Book of Genesis, as well as depictions from pagan Greek and Roman mythology. The fresco contains nine scenes, five of which are from the story of creation, with the most prominent being The creation of Adam. The figures in other images are based on the prophets from The Old Testament such as Jeremiah, Jonah and Zechariah as well as Sibyls, or prophetic women. These females resided at shrines and temples scattered throughout the Classical World and the ones featured are said to have prophesised the coming of Jesus Christ.

Though it is popularly assumed that Michelangelo lay on his back while painting, the artist stood upright so as to employ sweeping brushstrokes. He went against the typical method of using a full-scale detailed paper based drawing to be transferred on to the fresco. Instead he drew directly on the wet plaster, globs of which often used to drip onto his face causing throat and vision problems. His dedication to the arduous project made his problems worse as he increased the number of characters to around three hundred from the dozen or so originally constituted in the design. His pursuit of perfection in expression prompted him to incorporate the nude Adonis like male figures, which though quite controversial at the time, have since become the hallmark of Michelangelo's legacy.

All art critics in our part of the world complain about the disinterested artist who is not keen to read about his/her work, let alone about other artists. Perhaps it has something to do with the history of art in our region where art (sometimes confused with craft) was seen as an act of fabricating an image on a surface that did not require a theoretical support. The artist too -- having grown up with this prefixed notion -- thinks that any indulgence with words might hamper his/her creativity.

There may be other reasons that have distanced our artists from critical texts on art. Maybe whatever is being published in the name of art criticism does not interest them or they think it is irrelevant, or worse still they do not comprehend it. Arguably many of our writers on art are 'failed' artists. It seems they treat writing as an art form that requires the reader's attention to decode the meaning.

The complaints of art critics and the reasons for artists' indifference aside, the truth is that it is these very writings that have contributed in documenting and preserving various phases of Pakistani art. In the absence of comprehensive attempts in the forms of books, the essays and articles appearing in the magazines and newspapers were considered important. But the situation is changing now. Lately a number of books have appeared on Pakistani art and artists, the latest being Memory, Metaphor, Mutations: Contemporary art of India and Pakistan by Yashodhara Dalmia and Salima Hashmi. This volume published (in the last days of 2006) by Oxford University Press, includes a series of engaging essays, which survey the history of modern and contemporary art of the two nations.

After a shared heritage, beginning from Mohenjodaro, Gandhara and Mughal periods along with Rajasthani and Pahari art (mentioned in the introduction by Dalmia) and till A.R. Chughtai, Amrita Shergil and (to some extent) Allah Bux, art in the two countries has evolved in separate ways. Even though some artists had almost similar training in their respective countries (the legacy of British education system in colonial India) and abroad (for instance studying at the same art schools in Europe and America), one can see a difference between the art practices of the two.

The book is a positive attempt to focus on the art of South Asia as one entity. At the same time it highlights the differences in terms of artists' ideas, concerns and strategies. In the first section on Pakistan, Salima Hashmi provides a social, political and cultural background to diverse trends and schools of Pakistani art. Starting with an overview, from 1947 to 2005, she discusses in detail the two important aspects of our art: the movement of women artists and modernising of miniature painting. Providing examples of various works, she analyses the backdrop for these two developments, especially when women's art became a visible voice in the early eighties and the modernisation of miniature was initiated in the late eighties at the studios of National College of Arts, Lahore.

In addition to that Hashmi's essays contextualise the emergence of politically-oriented works and inform about the contemporary art being produced in Pakistan. Yet in many cases, the boundaries of different categories blur, because an artist like Saira Waseem can be placed in the section of modern miniature, in the chapter on women artists, and her work has a strong political content.

To some extent this merger of identities appears to be the real trait of Pakistani art, as it can have many identities, without being restricted to one. Probably, this became possible because of our abrupt break from tradition and the unformulated notions of heritage. After the formation of a new country, the questions of identity -- in fact searching and locating our identities -- did not limit our artists to follow one pattern or a particular dogma. Thus in today's Pakistani art, one finds such a diversity of approach one becomes confused and suspect about the existence of an entity such as 'Pakistani art'.

On the other hand Indian art has been strongly linked with the notion of being 'Indian'. Thus in the works of many artists one comes across glimpses of folk sculptures, historic art and a native imagery that is associated with the art of untrained and tribal people. Similarly the themes are often derived from history, myths, religions and beliefs. One is aware of this element in the works of Indian artists from the earlier generations -- from Raja Ravi Verma -- to the painters belonging to Baroda School. Yashodhara Dalmia terms this as Hybrid Legacy (the subtitle of her first chapter in the section on Indian art) in which the ethnic imagery and vernacular ideas were altered through Western exposure/influences.

In addition to that, Dalmia discusses the impact of popular visual culture in the practice of modern artists, and traces the presence of this popular imagery from the posters printed at the end of nineteenth century. These have influenced the paintings of Raja Ravi Verma as well as seeped into the digital works of artists such as Pushpamala. Another chapter, titled Home/Nation is devoted to the female Indian artists (probably to create a harmony in the structure of the book, with an essay on Pakistani women artists!) along with information on new and contemporary artists of India in the last chapter of the book.

In fact this, the contemporary art in the two countries, is a real mixing point because the new artists from the two nations (like many others from various parts of the world) are employing a language, which may address local issues but is not a provincial idiom. And due to its international character, the new art of Pakistan and India seems closer to each other than it ever was. (The book is just a proof of that mutual bond). Actually due to the phenomenon of globalisation in art in the form of international shows like Biennales and Triennials, young artists from both countries have acquired identical vocabulary.