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issue MOOD
STREET Town Talk language A
foreigner and three locals
issue Dress circle Last week, the dress code debate occupied most Lahoris -- whether or not to allow jeans in educational institutions By Alefia T. Hussain On a mid-Tuesday morning last week, Lahore’s Kinnaird
College has a rather lazy feel. Girls, mostly in groups, loiter around the
courtyard shaded by age-old trees; some hurry along probably to a lecture
room, others cluster around benches or in verandas deep in some
conversation… what’re they talking about; gossiping? I’m curious to
know. I look around to observe their dress code and see colourful dupattas, long and short shirts with loose trousers or shalwars, mostly bare headed, an occasional black burqa – but no jeans. My visit comes a week after the news of ban on jeans at KC gained some press coverage. Reportedly, the KC administration imposed restriction on jeans and tight-fitted dresses in lieu of possible terrorist threats to liberal educational institutions. The students are instructed to wear eastern attire with a mandatory dupatta -- and these measures, Dr Nikhat Khan, Principal Kinnaird College Lahore, told an English newspaper, were in line with the government notification on the recommended security for schools and colleges. But, Rubina Shahid, senior KC teacher, has a different
point of view: "Media is unnecessarily getting caught up with the
jeans issue and spreading panic in the society. It has nothing to do with
Talibanisation." She explains that KC has always advocated a modest
dress code, which is cotton shalwar kameez with dupatta. "Jeans have
been restricted on KC campus for years, just like sleeveless shirts, loud
make-up and flashy jewellery – basically anything that’s ostentatious
is not allowed," she informs TNS. She shows a ‘yellow card’ issued to a student for wearing jeans in Oct 2008 to prove that the College administration has kept a check on the students’ dress code. "But perhaps have penalised them for violating it only in rare cases," she states. Like most other educational institutions realizing the Taliban threat, KC, too, has beefed-up its security. Students are checked at the gate, their bags are searched, and also the entry of cars inside the College premises has been restricted. "Now we are showing much greater security concern and are following the rules more diligently – and in the process the students’ attire gets checked," she says. Shahid brushes aside as "rubbish" that KC is getting wary of the Taliban threat -- and hence adopting possible precautions. At most she admits "the condition is insecure. We have to be careful". Some students of 4th semester English Literature though
accept that the College administration has become more stringent with
rules in recent days because of the increasing threat from the Taliban.
"Men stare at us when we enter or leave the College. We feel
insecure. So, I feel, the dress restriction is for our benefit. The
general environment is such that we have to show more restrain in our
dressing up," says Shahrina Farrukh. Whatever the rationale behind the strict reinforcement of the dress code at KC – an age-old dress restriction or precaution against possible terrorist attacks, it encouraged the Government College University to follow suit. The University has set up a notice board at the main gate announcing restriction on wearing of jeans. GCU registrar Faisal Khursheed is reported to have said that the ban is for female students only. The debate about jeans has occupied Lahoris for the whole of last week. So, what’s the problem with jeans? Rubina Shahid maintains that jeans are for casual wear, and "when girls wear them to the College their attitude towards education becomes casual too". Prof. Shaista Sirajuddin, Head of the English Department Punjab University, believes, "Jeans are associated with the West, a specific world order". Hence, this aversion to denim trousers. Dr Mehdi Hasan says that if an institution has a fixed
uniform then it is obvious that any dress other than the uniform is not
acceptable. But in case of no uniform, any ban or restriction cannot be
justified." He recalls that there was a time when students,
teachers and government functionaries were not allowed to wear jeans
because it was considered an informal dress. After Americanisation of our
culture it is now quite acceptable." What is behind the objection to jeans? "The real motive behind the objection to jeans appears to be prompted by the overall climate of conservatism and the perceived threat to security. It is sad that a universally accepted casual dress is being banned here," says Prof Sirajuddin. She however believes that educational institutions have a reason to be cautious. But, according to her, this is not necessarily the right approach. "Such restrictions usually follow a sequence: Ban on jeans may lead to further bans, for instance, on bare heads; and it’ll go on and on and perpetuate. I don’t think this kind of compulsion is insignificant. This won’t save us from Talibanisation. The only way to fight Talibanisation is by communal coming together. Not be driven by contradictions and hypocrisies," she urges. Dr Hasan views ban on girls wearing jeans as an outcome
of Talibanisation – "liberalism or Not allowing jeans in today’s times is a symbol of submission. It has nothing to do with the general perception of jeans signifying western values and hence against our eastern culture. In fact, it is all about the fear of the Taliban marching towards us. Such pettiness about wearing jeans or sleeveless shirts or for that matter a black abaya will get us nowhere. Importantly, we have to find ways to be ourselves, our own selves. It’ll take loads of guts – and desperation.
We do do hope here By Farah Zia This column is not intended as a lecture on optimism even if the title may suggest so. Nor is it intended as a rebuttal of a column that appeared a couple of weeks back "We don’t do hope here." It merely seeks to share a few more thoughts on the
subject and that’s that. I fear it may only add to the confusion and, unlike the thoughts of the young writer, I may not set out to declare why I do not want to leave this country. Truth is that I do not. I’ve never ever given it a serious thought, though friends and family around have been giving me an overdose of the benefits of immigration. "Another passport is what we all need," declares a buddy who still can’t find time to make this happen. "I’ll start the process next year." This I have been hearing for the last ten years at least. She is absolutely right. She doesn’t get the time to initiate the immigration process because there are children, jobs, home, and other things to take care of. One thing she doesn’t have to bother about is resources and the means to go about it. Once she meets the right people and fills up the right forms, it’ll be over and done with. True, as my friend writes in her column, there is nothing good happening around and the Taliban, the military, and the United States are perhaps all set to strike us together. But how many people in this country have a choice to declare they want to leave the country, I ask. It is the exercise of choice in stating that you want to or will leave for a better place than this that makes it sound slightly absurd to me. What about those who can’t? The very absence of choice, it could be argued, is a valid enough reason for majority of the people here to want to leave the country. It’s one twisted argument, I tell you. I think, it’s the educated middle classes that tend to make it problematic. Going for work to other countries, a legitimate exercise in the globalised world of today, needs justifications in our case. So we tend to come up with perfectly valid arguments for leaving the country -- failed state, terrorism, economic slowdown, poor governance, lack of respect for ordinary citizens, VIP culture, "me", "my children’s future", you name it. Once abroad, we find equally valid arguments if we choose to come back -- at least we’re ‘first class citizens’ here and so on. This is what I like about us. We can twist the argument in our favour any time we like and act accordingly, without a sense of remorse. And then there are those who have, well, nothing to lose practically. They just go, legally, illegally, send back money for their families who then get to eat and clothe themselves. The ghettos they set up abroad strengthen them somehow and they manage to invite many more like them and the state of family they leave behind or take along improves. It makes a lot more sense to me when these people go. Not an ideal situation, of course, but when did I say that life was another name for utopia. So apart from those who can say that they want to leave the country and those who do leave because they have no choice, there are people like me. Who want to stay back, just because we like it here. Lazy people, who do not want to, or do not have the guts to, turn it into a paradise. We are not called losers for no reason because we think even the pollution is familiar and of our own making. The sights and the smells and the sounds are our own. True, we’d like a few things to change for the better. With the rest, we think, we can manage.
- Exhibition: ‘The Show of a Lifetime’ by Sonia Chundrigar till Fri, May 15 at the Drawing Room Art Gallery.
- Exhibition: Figurative paintings by Zoay till Fri, May 15 at The Drawing Room Art Gallery.
- Exhibition: "Self as Other" at Alhamra Art Gallery, The Mall. Today is the last day. Artists: Amber Hammad, Ayesha Sultana and Ferwa Ibrahim. Amber has worked with digital print, Ayesha’s preferred medium is acrylics, oil and resin on canvas while Ferwa has used mixed media on wasli paper.
- Exhibition of paintings by M. Ali Tlpur at Rohtas 2 Art Gallery till Tue, May 12.
- Exhibition: ‘The Show of a Lifetime’ by Sonia Chundrigar till Fri, May 15 at the Drawing Room Art Gallery.
- Exhibition: Figurative paintings by Zoay till Fri, May 15 at The Drawing Room Art Gallery.
- Critical Mass event - ‘Weekend cycling ride’ today at Zakir Tikka intersection on Sarwar Road, Lahore Cantt at 5:45pm.
- Urdu Baithak/Sing along session every Sunday at Faiz Ghar from 5-6pm. ‘Story hour’ for children 5 years and above. No registration or fees.
His very own world of images Saeen Zahoor does not know how to read and write but has evolved his own method to retain all the sufi poetry that he knows By Haroon Khalid It is argued that one of the most important
characteristics that differentiate a human being from an animal is the
ability of the former to communicate, and express one’s ideas, thoughts,
emotions, etc. to others through words, music and art. Expression, which is
mediated through art, therefore completes human experience. Expression of emotions by human beings has been noticed from times immemorial -- the first testimonies of human language, where ideas are expressed as they appear -- on the walls of prehistoric caves. The Egyptian hierologyphic is an example of such a language. Even the contemporary Chinese language still revolves around this principle. Writing from a primitive form has taken up a complex shape over all these years, but that doesn’t mean that the expression, which is being mediated through those symbols or words, were also primitive back then and have become more complex over the years. I realised this when I recently met the famous sufi singer, Sain Zahoor. He is somebody who has been singing the kalam (verses) of sufi saints all his life, with particular focus on Baba Bulleh Shah. He entered the popular imagination with his super hit song ‘Allah Hu’, for the equally hit movie ‘Khuda Ke Liye’. Sain Zahoor, as the name suggests, is a sufi, way out of touch with the modern world. He eats practically nothing but chanas, can’t read or write even his own name, and has a hard time understanding Urdu. However, for a person, who can’t read or write a single word, he has extraordinary knowledge about sufi poetry. He knows by heart all the verses that he sings. The interesting question is if he can’t read or write
then how does he manage to retain all the sufi poetry that he knows. The
answer to this question is that he makes somebody, usually his eldest son,
who manages all his affairs, read the poetry to him, and while he is doing
that, he notes down the poetry in his own unique language, which only he can
understand. According to him, he has a complete notebook, which includes all
the poetry that he has ever sung. However, he doesn’t need to refer to a
particular verse after having a look at it once or twice. In order to demonstrate to me, how he actually manages the procedure, he drew me a sample of his song Allah Hu. For the first line, which reads Allah Hu, he has drawn a sun-disc sort of a figure, and then cut it with horizontal lines. The idea behind this drawing is to depict a celestial being. For the second line, roughly translated, "The road/journey of love is long and difficult" he has drawn two parallel lines. Parallel also symbolises the concept of never-ending. The third picture that he has drawn is a demonstration of the line, "A beautiful life like a flower is destroyed by love". He has drawn a flower which represents the concept of a beautiful life-like flower first, and then next to it, he has drawn a figure, with a round head, and a rectangular body. This perhaps represents a human and his life. Then he has crossed that figure and put a horizontal line across it to show the complete annihilation of everything, once one falls in love. An oft-repeating symbolism in sufi poetry is the dance of Baba Bulleh Shah for his beloved. The fourth line of this verse is also based on this concept. It says "Love is such a thing that makes you dance in the market". Dancing in the market doesn’t imply joy or celebration but rather humiliation. However, the person who is dancing has turned so aloof that he doesn’t think in terms of humiliation and reverence anymore. This act symbolises the craziness of the person. To capture this insanity of the lover, Saeen Zahoor has drawn a human-like figure circumscribed by parallel lines. On the legs of the person, one can notice ghungrus, (an ornament worn around ankles) which represent that the person is dancing. There are further lines which represent the crowd witnessing the act of insanity. The next line reads that "this vocation of love is not a toy for everybody". Here he has drawn a small baby-like figure, with round eyes. This is the toy which the line talks about. Just by drawing this basic figure, Saeen Zahoor has managed to sum together the entire meaning of the line with all its complexities. For the last line, which translates that the pain of love will always remain in the heart (once somebody is in love), and that this unbearable punishment of love will keep on burning the lover from the inside. To mark this he has drawn a man, and then near his heart, he has drawn a few lines to represent the pain that the lover is going through. Just by having a look at the pictures, I would have never been able to associate the verse that they relate, least of all, translate them. Luckily for me Saeen Zahoor was available to explain what he has drawn and what they mean to him. There are a couple of observations regarding the artist that I would like to share here. First, given the simplicity of the drawing, it will be impossible for the interpreter to derive such complex poetry from it. Therefore, instead of completely relying on his drawing, Saeen Zahoor also relies on his memory. Then he will also have to use his poetic imagination to visualise how the words are combined. When he is able to synthesise all three of them, only then he is able interpret what he has drawn. Secondly, what strikes me from this modus operandi of the sufi is the genius of his personality. His passion for reading and writing poetry has led him to create a language of his own. He has not allowed his incapacity to read and write let him not enjoy what he loves the most. This writing methodology of Saeen Zahoor is a proof of the fact that the human mind is capable of just about anything, if there is enough will and dedication. The writer can be contacted at harunkhalid@hotmail.com
A slide show last week documented three characters from different regions of Pakistan By Saleha Rauf If you spend one day in a foreign country, you can write a book about it. If you spend a month in a foreign country, you can write an article about it. If you spend a year in a foreign country, you cannot write anything anymore. Simon de Beauvoir -- a French thinker. In a dark room of StudioQ, Andreas-Daniel Matt was sitting
in the light of lamp to tell the tale behind the still images. "Assalam-o-Alaikum
Pakistan" started with different styles of saying ‘Assalam-o-Alykum’
in Pakistan. This was a clue to diversity in Pakistani culture. Andreas has
featured pictures, music, sound and insights into Pakistani culture,
religion, tradition and politics from the perspective of a foreigner and
three locals. Andreas said there were mainly three characters from Pakistan
in the slide show: Chand Boi, a 60 year old man based in Punjab, Zahid
Hussain, an earthquake victim in Bagh and Zobaida Jalal, former education
minister. Chand Boi means the brother of moon, probably because he loves the night and does not go to bed before early morning. He knows five languages: Punjabi, Pashto, Urdu, Siraiki, Balochi and English. He has great knowledge of international affairs though he never left his country. As a child, he went to school in Karachi and then spent thirty years as a vagabond. About 10 years back, Chand Boi abruptly changed and with the help of friends and religion left drugs and decided to serve humanity. A bachelor, Chand Boi loves Lahore and knows each and every corner in the Walled City. Two years ago he decided to get married at the age of about 60. His 90-year old mother is too choosy to find a girl for him. So he decided to travel through Pakistan and find a girl. The second character, Zobaida Jalal, is from the Makran Coast. Jalal’s father founded the first girls’ school in the region. She has a liberal approach towards religion and has a strong belief in the teachings of Islam. Jalal discusses her choice of career and the difficulties she faced. Balochi food, hospitality, superstitions and many things are shown in slides. There is Jalal’s cousin who is overpowered by a djin, they say. An Iranian tribal chief comes to Makran along with a pir who is an expert in taking the djin out. Zahid Hussain from Bagh is a carpenter. The 2005 earthquake killed 80,000 people in Kashmir. He was the first person Andreas met after the quake who he found helping others. Andreas has covered mass destruction of the earthquake in the beautiful hills from the perspective of Zahid who talks about his panic when earthquake shook his village. Nobody in his close family died in the earthquake. Chand Boi with Andreas goes on search for a girl whom he could marry. Somebody told them that should go to Kalash. They visit Kashmir and Chitral and in the beautiful Kalash valley Chand Boi meets his soul-mate. She can speak three languages but they are different from the five languages Chand Boi knows. The languages she knows are Kalashamon, Nuristani and Chitrali. It is an interesting and happy marriage. Andreas comments on the long beard of Chand Boi and how interesting the long-bearded man is. The three characters here meet with happy endings. Zobaida Jalal’s cousin is sent to a psychiatrist. Chand Boi gets married with 22 years old Nuristani girl Nuria and the happy couple shifts to Lahore. Zahid is back to rehabilitate his area. Together with Andreas Matt, he volunteers to construct shelters and schools. He talks about hope, reconstruction and his dream to visit Srinagar. Folk music is a delight in the slide show and the commentary of Andreas, which goes like a story, holds the viewers’ interest till the end. Folk songs by Abida Perveen, Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan, Pathanay Khan and Bina Jawad add colour to the visual. Assalam-o-Alaikum Pakistan has been shown in Pakistan, Austria, Germany, Spain and India.
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enlightenment cannot be confined to dress code. We need a long-term policy
and a short-term programme to fight obscurantism. A whole exercise
in psychological warfare is needed to change the mindset of the
public."
