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heritage gallery Effortless
grace The
Siege
heritage Bilawal Bhutto Zardari visited Mohenjodaro last month and promised to raise funds for the protection of the site after a British newspaper reported that this 5,000 year old archaeological site would not last another 20 years unless urgent steps were taken for its protection. Mohenjodaro, declared a World Heritage site by the Unesco in 1980, is termed as one of the oldest urban settlements in the world, built around 2600 BCE. It is one of the largest settlements of Indus Valley Civilisation. Mohenjodaro or Mohan Jo Daro is 40 kilometre away from Naudero, the ancestral home of the Bhuttos where Asif Ali Zardari set up his presidential camp during his tenure, is an important location. Given the links of the Bhuttos with Mohenjodaro as the largest landlords of the area, one wonders what took Bilawal this long to visit this historical site and highlight its significance. The Archaeology Department of Sindh, however, contests the claim of the British newspaper The Telegraph saying that it is a result of negative reporting by local media based on assessments done long ago. “Local journalists often do negative reporting due to the lack of technical knowledge and when the same is picked up by the international media, you see reports like the one carried by The Telegraph,” says Qasim Ali Qasim, Director Archaeology in Sindh, the caretaker body of Mohenjodaro. Qasim says the quote that
“brick walls could turn to dust within 20 years” is attributed to Dr
Asma which is based on a 30 year old assessment. The director claims that the newspaper did not publish his blog clarifying the position of the Department of Archaeology based on some important facts. Contrary to the claims of the Archaeology Director, experts who have recently visited Mohenjodaro say the site is in shambles. “It is deteriorating. It was in better shape 25 years ago when I visited the site last. We did not see any significant work in progress,” says Zeenat Hisam, a researcher from Karachi who visited Mohenjodaro along with her two Korean friends. She also found the condition of the museum disappointing. The Telegraph reported that 350 labourers would be required to work constantly to put a protective layer of mud on the walls to stop rain and river water from destroying the bricks. The responsibility of protection and maintenance of Mohenjodaro was shifted to the government of Sindh in April 2011 after the Department of Archaeology was devolved in the wake of 18th Amendment. The provincial government received Rs75 million from the federal government as part of the National Fund for Mohenjodaro. The Sindh chief minister also contributed Rs100 million to the fund. But instead the executive
committee of the fund headed by the provincial minister for culture decided
to invest the amount on the pretext the proceeds from the profit will be
spent on the maintenance of the site. Experts believe the site’s preservation needs urgent measures which would require huge funds. “It’s a positive sign that Bilawal Bhutto has made an appeal to mobilise overseas funds for the protection of Mohenjodaro. Only a person of his stature can take up this challenging task,” says Haleem Sharar, editor of a special journal, Archaeology Quarterly. Obviously, any efforts aimed at saving Mohenjodaro by Bilawal Bhutto deserve appreciation but before he goes for international funding, the provincial government of his party needs to be seriously pursued to contribute towards the protection of this important site. Sindh government project, ‘Prevention, Protection, Promotion and Development of World Heritage — Mohenjodaro’ estimates at least Rs1000 million are required. The provincial government allowed a PC-1 of only Rs285 million spread over four years to be approved last year while only a tiny amount of Rs20 million was allocated in the budget of the current year. But not a single rupee has been released so far. It was only after Bilawal Bhutto’s visit and his comments to The Telegraph in which he expressed shock and disappointment over the deteriorating conditions of this historical site that the Sindh government was moved and in a recent meeting promised to release Rs20 million soon. Seeing the government’s seriousness, the Archaeology Department has issued tenders for certain works on the site even before the release of funds. “We are optimistic,” says Director Qasim. The director says the new project envisages preparation of the second master plan, conservation work and improvement on facilities for visitors. Once the funds are
received, the number of staff at Mohenjodaro will go up from 90 to 121
whereas an archaeological engineer has already been appointed. Besides,
around 250 labourers are already available for service in nearby villages
and can be called as d “Only money won’t work. We need trained staff and labour. Preservation is delicate work and requires expertise. So, our new project envisages training and local capacity building,” says Qasim. The new project of the Sindh government envisages a whole range of steps and actions that would definitely result in better protection of this important site. Equally important is to learn from past experiences. A huge sum of $23 million was generated through “Save Mohenjodaro” international campaign jointly run by federal government and Unesco but very little is known about the usage of that money. The visitors and local journalists claim the site is continuously decaying for the last two decades, raising the questions regarding the use of funds generated to save Mohenjodaro. Both the federal government, the previous caretaker of the site and the Sindh government, the current caretaker of the site, have also failed in the promotion of the site as a tourist spot. “We were just three women on the site, and there was no other tourist,” says Zeenat Hisam. “In another country, it would have been flooded with tourists.” The Archaeology Department accepts the site has not been able to attract tourists it deserves and places the responsibility on the tourism department. Generally, appalling law and order situation and terrorism threats are termed as the main reasons behind declining tourism in Pakistan. Precautionary but adverse travel advisories also contribute to it. This may be true in the case of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KPK), but in Sindh, especially in interior Sindh, hardly any attack has been reported in the recent years. “It’s true that since its first excavation in 1922, there has not been a single mishap with any tourist on Mohenjodaro,” says Qasim. Unfortunately, the ruins of Mohenjodaro do not have even a dedicated website on internet in this age of information technology, leave alone any special programmes to attract visitors. One can hope that besides mobilisation of funds and better management of the site, Bilawal Bhutto Zardari would personally get involved in promotion of the Mohenjodaro to attract global and domestic tourists.
gallery The relationship
between an artist and gallery is analogous to that of a typical husband and
wife. Occasionally, one of them suspects the other is cheating upon him or
her. They stick together because there isn’t an option except to spend a
celibate life. Yet, one of the partners yearns for a better choice/partner
despite enjoying a firm and long marriage. Likewise, artists are
usually not happy with the galleries where they exhibit. Often, galleries
too complain about the unprofessional and unfaithful attitude of artists.
For an artist, the sore point in his dealing with a gallery is the sales’
commission which varies from place to place. For him, the gallery charging
almost one third the price of his artwork is highly unjustified — the
gallery after all does not contribute to the artist’s living expenses,
cost of art-making, packing, transportation and insurance of artworks. On the other hand,
galleries are not too happy with artists’ personal role in marketing and
selling their work beyond the involvement of the gallery. In a clandestine
scheme, artists exhibit their works at galleries but suggest to their
prospective collectors not to purchase it from the show but get it directly
from them after the display is over at a cheaper price. Also, while
exhibiting at one gallery, artists often put up similar kind of works at
other venues. The gallery thus loses the advantage of selling exclusively an
artist’s latest works despite having spent a considerable amount of money
on printing and postage of invites, phone calls, opening receptions, apart
from its regular expenditure like gallery rent, maintenance charges, utility
bills and staff salaries etc. One feels there is no way
out of this web because as soon as art leaves an artist’s studio for the
gallery and subsequently reaches a buyer’s place, the rules of market take
over. Unless one recognises the importance of business, frustrations of all
sorts will remain among all participants in the business of art. Like other spheres of
life, the world of art operates between reality and idealism. We are aware
the art piece is destined to be a commodity, a valuable item, but we are
reluctant to admit this because it clashes with our romanticism with
creative pursuits. We find it demeaning to associate money with matters of
high art. But this attitude left
many artistes including musicians, actors, writers, and of course visual
artists in dire straits. The general assumption that any discussion on money
will embarrass and humiliate an artist stems from two sources. One, the
concept that art must not be adulterated with monetary matters because as
soon as an artist starts thinking in terms of future benefits, his creative
self becomes slave to his base impulses. The other factor is rooted
in history where the artists were not free makers of objects or performers,
out to market their products, skills or talents. Instead they were connected
to a court, nobility and feudal lord that acted as the patron and provided
all necessities for the livelihood of a creative person. They did not need
to convert their creations into cash while engaged in the act of art-making.
In our context, the presence of emperors, rajas and nawabs was sufficient to
liberate the artists from the concerns of their daily bread and butter and
they were able to concentrate on their art. In the contemporary world,
state and multinational organisations have replaced this position of past
patrons but not so much in our surroundings. In our society, it is the
private collector who performs the task of a patron, and the gallery
provides the link to search and reach an artist. Hence, gallery is
indispensible. The institution of gallery is important not only for the
artists but for the public, too, particularly that part which prefers to
only look at art during exhibitions. Thus the gallery does not only help an
artist earn his livelihood but also his name, fame and prestige. The question is, does the
gallery perform that job? Or, more pertinently, do we have such galleries in
our midst? As is observed, most galleries are more concerned with the sale
of works that comes to them rather than building meaningful, serious and
longer relationship with an artist, and establishing him and promoting his
work. For these establishments (usually upgraded frame workshops), the only
value of an art work is its monetary worth. So it is more crucial to sell
the work than ‘marketing’ the artist, forgetting the basic fact that if
an artist’s fame spreads, naturally his prices will go up — to the
gallery’s advantage. At the same time, these
galleries do not believe in their other role — of being a place that
promotes art, culture and educates general public through exhibitions and
publication of catalogues. Thus these galleries and,
not surprisingly, artists too treat art activity as a respectable, glamorous
and glorified shopping-venture. It’s a grim scenario because the so-called
serious galleries in our cities are facing multiple crises, including not
finding local collectors. Conversely, Pakistani art is turning into a hot
marketing product in the international art world. Not surprising information
if one realises how that the notion of location is changing with passage of
time. The physical gallery space
which we see today may not survive in the future, except being a site on
internet, which buys, sells and exhibits its artists and is not situated in
a specific region, neither specialises in the art of one nation, nor relies
on the buyers from one country. In those coming years, the picture of an
exhibition’s inauguration would be regarded as rare, vintage and nostalgic
as we today view the footage of the first man on the moon.
Effortless
grace It appears a dance
performance has become a permanent feature of any conference held in the
country. In the past few years, one has seen a great proliferation of conferences of various types, particularly in Karachi and Lahore. These have perhaps been the consequence of the great interest people have taken in them, as they arrive in droves, are eager to participate and know more about the writer, dramatist, vocalist or painter in person. It is indeed a very encouraging sign, given the conditions that otherwise prevail in society. Despite a black picture of absolute doom and gloom, no matter how bad the conditions or how scary the circumstances, people have to live and continue with their essentials of life on a daily basis. That classical dance has become a permanent feature of international and national conferences may be a bit of a surprise. For it was not that long ago that classical dance was considered to be an immoral and inappropriate activity even from among the performing arts. Since morality has become the major determinant of everything, it was not even considered a part or aspect of our culture that should be proudly owned. It was not acceptable at all, even if music was accepted grudgingly with plenty of caveats thrown in. Dance was in abundance in the films but films were meant for the lowly, depraved and fallen and not enough attention was paid to it by the moral custodians of society. Dance, in the classical tradition, was a ‘no no’ activity to be discouraged from being performed. So, why has the change now taken place for its qualified acceptance? Perhaps, the opportunity
to see dance on screen through internet and satellite channels is much more
now than ever before. Also, there is such diversity of expression and
experimentation that the classical styles, whether ours or of the West,
appear to be timid affairs. Perhaps, seeing the comparison, the moral
brigades finds the classical forms, which were banned earlier or frowned
upon, more accept Rather than holding a dance performance of the contemporary forms it may be considered safer to stage the classical forms. It can also be brandished as a symbol of being refined and very civilised and yet safe from the barbs of those wanting to build a society based on some puritanical order. The basic shortcoming of allying poetry and dance is often the illustrative role that a dancer is subjected to. It stays in the minds of the audiences that the function of dance becomes only an interpretative one and the possibilities are then so limited and curtailed that it inhibits the actual physical expression of the body. Similarly, when lyrics are rendered in the song format, the entire focus again shifts to song and lyrics — limiting the possibilities inherent in the movement of the body. In the past, to avoid this limitation, the gurus wrote ‘thumris’ and composed them in a particular manner to retain the major role of dance. These thumris were specifically called ‘nach ang thumris’. Since there has been a break with tradition, primarily due to the Partition, the whole vocabulary of dance has not been transferred to the generation of audiences — so they seek an outside reference to give a more concrete form to the abstraction of movement and sound. They have only been trained in receiving the word, and that too in its more literal sense. The dancer, in this society has to rely on poetry for the purposes of communicating with the audiences. Nahid Siddiqui, besides being influenced by the tradition of the Sufis, where movements in dance are concerned, in particular the whirling dervishes from Konya and the ‘dhammal’ practiced in full vigour on our shrines, has been involved with creating dance numbers around Urdu poetry — as in this case the ‘ghazal’ of Ghalib, “Aah ko chahiye ik umar asar hone tak”, and the poem of Faiz Ahmed Faiz, “Zindan ki ek shaam”. The pitfall of venturing into such territory — that dance should stand out as an autonomous form and not become a compendium to lyrics or words — was skilfully negotiated by her. Being wary of reducing it to a tableaux interpretation, she was particularly keen to avoid this illustrative rendering of poetry where the word takes precedence over the movement of the dancer. In the traditional repertoire of kathak, the dance numbers have been choreographed against the rich lore of the various anecdotes, incidents and happenings that have been part of our cultural make-up. The mudras have a stylised dimension; the audiences do not generally have a problem associating with being exposed to traditional cultural references. Since this is no longer the current practice in our country, words are required to fill in the void. She also went through the kathak repertoire, the invocation, the thumri, the tarana and moved on to the last part of pure dance with subtle rhymthic variation on intricate ‘taals’. It was breathtaking and transported you into another realm. Her very fine division of the taal left everyone spellbound and added to the traditional view that the most important aspect in kathak is footwork. Her footwork was exceptional and yet it retained effortless grace. The shagirds of Nahid Siddiqui also participated in the programme. The singing duo of Chand Khan and Suraj Khan, the sons of Hussain Baksh Gullo, were impressive with their vocal input as indeed were the musicians who have been with Nahid Siddiqui through thick and thin.
Dear All, Five years ago the
world watched in horror as armed men attacked Mumbai’s Taj Hotel and
turned the place into a war zone. For three days, live TV images of the
siege of the Taj and the attack on Mumbai dominated the news and kept
viewers transfixed and horrified. The whole drama played out
like a chilling action thriller or a modern day video war game. And now the
story of that attack has been put together in a remarkable book by the
investigative team of Adrian Levy and Cathy Scott-Clark. ‘The Siege:Three
Days of Terror Inside the Taj’ chronicles not just the attack as it
happened but also what can be pieced together about its planning and
aftermath. The Siege is a gripping
account of the Mumbai attacks. The authors have put together a wealth of
information and have managed to organise it into a gripping, almost
cinematic, story of not just violence, indoctrination, espionage and
terrorism but also of love, duty and bravery. The Taj “India’s
glittering gateway to the World” is the central stage here; the book
begins with a list of the Dramatis Personae, a cast consisting of hotel
guests/diners, hotel staff, security personnel and terrorists. And this
narrative structure works really well as the story of the attacks unfolds. A number of interesting
facts emerge: Mumbai police had various intelligence reports of a potential
attack on the city’s luxury hotels and they had already been pressurising
the Taj to put a number of security measures in place but these targets were
not met: the relevant police officer went on leave, the hotel became lax
about putting the measures in place. Then, as chillingly discovered when
gunmen had already entered and attacked the hotel, the police picket at the
entrance had been removed just a few days earlier, after unsuccessful
requests that the hotel feed the policemen while on duty. Similarly, from what has
been pieced together of the planning of the attack, it emerges the attack
was actually scheduled for the end of September but delayed after two
unsuccessful starts. The planning of the
attacks and the story of the young men who carried it out is fascinating.
Looking at the photos of the attackers, one almost feels sorry for these
killers: they appear so young and slight. The Mumbai police eventually
managed to monitor the terrorists’ communication with their handler
(identified by the authors as Wasim aka Sajid Mir of LeT) while they were
inside the hotel; those ensuing call logs are extremely interesting. The story of David
Headley, aka Daood Saleem Gilani in the chapter ‘Prince David’, also
makes great reading. The son of a former DG of Radio Pakistan and his
American wife, Headley was the man with one blue eye and one brown, a shady
character recruited by the Americans after several drug smuggling offences,
who did all the reconnaissance for the Mumbai attacks, worked for Lashkar
yet continued to be trusted and ‘run’ by US intelligence agencies. A
reportedly charming man — who had no qualms about betraying his friends or
endangering his family or his multiple wives. The authors are also
critical of certain aspects of the Mumbai police’s response to the
attacks. But it becomes clear from the account that this was largely due to
a pattern of bureaucratic systems combined with timid leadership that can be
so typical in the subcontinent. In an age where
journalists have mostly become passive recipients of planted stories and
willing participants in the process of spinning news and skewing the
narrative, Scott-Clark and Levy’s investigative work is heartening. The
Siege is a great story, a well written documentation of a deadly attack and
a great insight into a murky world of espionage and international terror. Worth reading. Best wishes, Umber Khairi caption Story of the Mumbai
attack.
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aily wagers when required.
able
to the bolder stuff that is seen and relished by the common viewers. The
dance in film, particularly the Indian film, draws more influence from
contemporary expression than classical forms.
