Where are the poets who
cried through their verse !
Humra Quraishi
Journalist Pawan Jaiswal
The manner in which the
Uttar Pradesh based
scribe, Pawan Jaiswal, is
getting harassed to the
extent of getting booked by the
Uttar Pradesh government, for
exposing the roti – namak midday
‘meal’ served to school kids in a
Mirzapur district school, is
provoking one to quip – Is it time
we get back to the Avadh Punch
days?
Well… well, the Avadh Punch,
came into circulation in the Avadh
belt during the Raj days , when the
then British rulers booked all those
Indians who dared to write against
their misdeeds, against their
atrocities , against their governing
tactics!
It’s then that a group of poets,
writers , activists and artists came
up with this novel idea to expose
the British masters through verse
or subtle prose - where all possible
basic facts were relayed and yet
the lampooning not too very direct!
Founded and edited by Munshi
Sajjad Hussain, this satirical Urdu
weekly was published from
Lucknow, from 1877 to 1936 . Said
to be modelled on the London
based weekly magazine - The
Punch ( from which it probably
derived its name too ), some of its
contributors included the then
who’s who in the literary world
Ratan Nath Dhar Sarshar, Akbar
Allahabadi...
I got to read details of this weekly
in Professor Mushirul Hasan’s
volume -The Avadh Punch: Wit and
Humour in Colonial North India
(Niyogi Books) where he writes that
so heady was the outcome and
response of the Avadh Punch that
within a short span 70 Punches
were published in several cities of
this country… Well, now that
journalists, writers, authors and
activists are facing the risk of
getting hounded, for baring the
stark ground realities , isn’t it the
time that more and more forums
and platforms come up , so that the
vital truth isn’t crushed. For it that
happens, then what’s left!
Going through the literature of
the decades past by, I am sitting
wondering where are the rebel
poets whose verse dripped with
intense passion and raw emotions
…those poets of yesteryears
seemed to have dipped each one
of their words in their own blood
and sweat.
Whilst on poets, I must write that
historical texts and literature on
the Kashmir region carry verse
after verse of the poets and
poetesses who held sway in that
region…through their verse they
had reached out to the masses.
What if those poets
were alive and around,
wouldn’t they have cried out
through their verse?
Why silence the liberal voice ?
And as the news had come in
of the house arrest of the TDP
chief and former chief minister
Chandrababu Naidu, it seems
more than apparent that the
establishment is trying to silence
any dissenting voice .After all, the
Telugu Desam Party (TDP ) chief
and his son, Nara Lokesh, were all
set to come out of their home at
Undavalli in Amaravati, to head
towards Guntur to lead the
‘Chalo Atamakur’ rally to protest
against the State’s “atrocities” on
the TDP party workers …Its then
, at the very start to the rally, the
police did not allow Naidu and his
son to even come out of their
home …put them under house
arrest.
Correct me if I’m wrong but in
those earlier years when
democracy was still somewhat
intact, we were free to raise
slogans and also to deliver
passionately rebellious speeches
and to bare out our anger and
disgust in that non - violent way…
Today that seems getting more
than sabotaged. The manner in
which house arrests are getting
enforced, goes on to relay the
very hopelessness. To put it
mildly, its getting absolutely
shocking to see how many
amongst us are forced to sit all
quiet and shut. Under house
arrest!
If we were to take the case of
Kashmir, it seems more than
shocking to see the political
class - the political leaders of
the Valley - put under house
arrest, if not formally arrested
and imprisoned.
Needless to say that the
ongoing ‘house arrest’ orders of
the political who’s who, comes
across as unsettling …a grim
situation where daughters have
to move courts to seek permission
to meet their mothers, when ageing house-arrested fathers sit
awaiting to get news of their
house- arrested sons, when ailing
leaders like M.Y. Tarigami are
allowed to be off the house
arrest situation and get flown for treatment to AIIMS (New Delhi )
only after the intervention and
orders of the Courts.
M.Y. Tarigami
I have met M.Y. Tarigami of the
CPI ( M) on two occasions and
was left impressed with his views
and opinions …put forth mildly
and without a trace of political
aggression or arrogance. The
first time I had met this veteran
leader was in 2006 , when I was in
Srinagar to attend a conference
on the ‘Indian Federalism at
work’ …he had invited some of
us to his Gupkar road home for
breakfast.
I recall asking him that what
could be some viable solution to
the turmoil and tension in the
Kashmir region. He said that there
ought to be opening of the
borders for the travel and visits of
the Kashmiris from the ‘Indian
side of Kashmir’ to the ‘Pakistan
side of Kashmir’ …he had detailed
that when buses can ply from here
to there, why can’t human beings
walk across from this side of
Kashmir to that side of Kashmir (POK ) to meet their relatives ?...
According to Tarigami, that
would not just help lessen the
tension in the area but also
bring to the fore the ground
realities on the other side ,
which he’d said were tougher
and bleaker - “ I’m told that
the realities that side are
tougher than witnessed on our
side of Kashmir …Those who
have travelled to PoK have got
back recounting many more
horrifying situations and rights
violations than what is
witnessed in Srinagar and in
the surrounding areas.”
I had met him the second time
in the summer of 2015, when a
media meet was held in Srinagar.
This time he had again spoken of
the merits vis-a-vis to the
opening of the borders …he had
also spoken of the ongoing grave
situation and the human tragedies
taking place in the Kashmir Valley
and the urgent need for a
political dialogue to take off for a
lasting political settlement.
Tarigami is one of those leaders
who talks with great restrain and
responsibility. Yet without
mincing words or sentiments, he
manages to put across his views …
Tell me, why should liberal
and progressive leaders like
Tarigami be made to keep shut!
Why can’t they be allowed to
speak out…They speak of the
ground realities and assert their
views in that non - violent way.
ENDING WITH THIS VERSE OF
FAIZ AHMAD FAIZ …
Faiz Ahmad Faiz:
“Somewhere near the pillow,
the night’s fading away,
Or is it the candle melting?
Something is burning within me –
Is that your memory, or my
life seeking to depart.”
