Poets From India

"Cultures may be said to have overall tendencies to idealize, and think in terms of, either the context-free or the context-sensitive kind of rules. Actual behavior may be more complex, though the rules they think with are a crucial factor in guiding the behavior. In cultures like India's, the context-sensitive kind of rule is the preferred formulation."

"Various taxonomies of season, landscape, times, gunas or qualities (and their material bases), tastes, characters, emotions, essences (rasas), etc., are basic to the thought-work of Hindu medicine and poetry, cooking and religion, erotics and magic. Each jati or class defines a context, a structure of relevance, a rule of permissible combinations, a frame of reference, a meta-communication of what is and can be done … Even the Kama-Sutra is literally a grammar of love, which declines and conjugates men and women as one would nouns and verbs in different genders, voices, moods and aspects. Genders are genres. Different body-types and character-types obey different rules, respond to different scents and beckonings."

"Non-English quotation."

"English quotation."

"North Campus ()"

"One needs to be careful with what one decides to publish. There are things I write and don’t publish. But I certainly needed to write them for myself. My editor is my barometer who cautions me, and I rarely disagree with him. Some of my readers say I’m brave to publish what they read in my books. So maybe, now I can go a little further. Malay­­sians self-censor for many reasons. There is the fear that our work might be banned or at worse the writer gets arrested. One has to be careful with matters of race and religion. My writings do deal with race and aspects of religion, but I am very careful not to offend though I might touch on these issues."

"Malaysians write in an English which is quite distinctive. We can recognise Malaysian English both in its standard and non-standard forms. We can see the influences of the local languages on Malaysian English and it certainly enriches the language, but we need to bear in mind that it should have intelligibility for both local and international readers."

"I certainly do not subscribe to any form of kiss and tell in my writing. Those who write such real-life confessional books are certainly not doing it for any kind of literary reasons. Sadly, that seems to be what some publishers want, and they know these books have readers and they will sell copies."

"Men of means and money have joined the beggar's fold Their veins, like the lines on paper, on their body show, Great and small are helpless, so are young and old, A thousand beggars pounce together like a swarm of flies, When a crumb, or a grain of wheat somewhere they descry. Every head lies benumbed, Horse and camel are sans strength, Hunger cries on every tongue, Thanks to the civil strife, soldiers sit content, No fear of drunken brawls, nor of the vagrant young. Unscrupulous are they all, the town's rich elite, Every one doth understand how they speak and treat, Moreover, these haughty rich are not easy to reach, In their awful presence who can dare to speak? Their conduct hurts the heart, biting is their speech."

"ہنستا ہی میں پھروں جو میرااختیار ہو پر کیا کروں میں گریۂ بے اختیار ہو"

"Ah, what wondrous joys the rainy season presents, Waving green grasses, gardens scattering scents; Dulcet sounding drizzle, rain drops agleam, Everything attractive, winsome every scene, Ah! the rainy season gladdening in extreme. The clouds drunk with joy are flirting with the breeze, And with thunder blasts fill the land and lea; "Water, water, everywhere," the land looks a lake, Gardens stand drenched, verdure water-bathed, Ah, the rainy season, how it exhilarates! Undulating grasses, drunken clouds on high, The sky specked with cloudlets, mosses red and white; Everything is getting drenched, from the moon to the minnows lithe, Who but you, O God, can such colors provide! Ah, the rainy season, bursting with delight!"

"When living became an uphill task, In soldier's camp we sought resort In narrow straits found them caught, They lived on bread, stale and scorched, No drop of drink, nor spoon of broth. My friends, I found, were nearing death, Deprived of good were all I met, Each and all were poverty pressed, If one had a thread, he had no rope, If one had a carpet, none to roll. Life was a struggle against heavy odds, The grocers fret, the vendors bawl, They used their swords and shields as cots. The kings and councilors, were bankrupts all."

"Why ask about our whereabouts, O denizens of the East, Knowing we are poor, why taunt us and tease? Delhi which was once considered the world's crown and pride, Where only the chosen few once did reside, Which has been razed and ruined by the cruel skies, We belong to the same city, now a wasted pile!"

"Without my love, I have no taste for wine. Without my love, what use this life of mine?"

"I am drunk in your love, Lala; give me the cup to drink from your lips. I am drunk with your love, and that love gives me excitement."

"The spot on your forehead is a sign of great good fortune. The pearl in your ear is the light of Venus and Jupiter."

"“The King determined to spare neither men nor money to carry on the war against the Hindoos: he accordingly directed Etibar Khan Yezdy, the Hawaldar of Condbeer (henceforth called Moortuza Nuggur), to collect all the troops under his command, with orders to march towards Beejanuggur, and to lay in ashes all the enemy’s towns in his route… Etibar Khan now proceeded to the town of Calistry, which he reached after a month’s march from Golconda. Here he destroyed the Hindoo idols, and ordered prayers to be read in the temples. These edifices may well he compared in magnificence with the buildings and paintings of China, with which they vie in beauty and workmanship. Having given a signal example of the Mahomedan power in that distant country, the Hindoos did not dare to interrupt his return…”"

"“The sudden swelling of the rivers, and the absence of the King with his army, gave Venkutputty leisure to muster the whole of his forces, which amounted to one hundred thousand men. The leaders were Yeltumraj, Goolrung Setty, and Munoopraj, who marched to recover Gundicota from the hands of Sunjur Khan. Here the enemy were daily opposed by sallies from the garrison, but they perservered in the siege; when they heard that Moortuza Khan, with the main army of the Mahomedans, had pentrated as far as the city of Krupa, the most famous city of that country, wherein was a large temple. This edifice the Mahomedans destroyed as far as practicable, broke the idol, and sacked the city…”"

"Other prominent Sufis held even more orthodox views. The great Sufi saint Nasiruddin Chiragh, for example, purged and purified deviant aspects of the Sufi practices. According to Prof. KA Nizami, he prohibited all deviant (from Sharia) rituals and practices that had entered the Sufi community, saying, ‘‘Whatever Allah and His Prophet have ordered, do it and whatever Allah and His Prophet have forbidden you against, you should not do.’’ Nizami adds: ‘He brought Sufi institution in harmony with Sunnah. Wherever there was a slightest clash, he proclaimed the supremacy of the Sharia Laws.’"

"India is in a unique situation because of the attendant poverty factor. Primarily thanks to the lockdown, announced by prime minister Narendra Modi in good time, the COVID death toll at a little over 3400 compares well with the figures in the West, which is tens of thousands. But, ironically, it is the lockdown that has put at risk the lives of millions of daily wage workers and their families as they reverse-migrate from the big cities where they work. There are no exact figures available for those who have died of starvation and exhaustion. Nearly a hundred have been killed in road and rail accidents alone. Thousands are still on the road. Social media is awash with tears and angst of the middle class flagellating themselves over the tragedy — though it is hard to imagine them skipping a meal in contrition. But the point they make is well taken. The virus has served, as never before, to underline the shocking poverty of the country."

"On May 12, Modi addressed the nation, announcing a Rs20 lakh crore package to stimulate the economy. Ever confident, he said COVID was a challenge and an opportunity. He promised a new India. One could have wept out of hope and despair. [...] The fact is that Modi’s speech was little more than a regurgitation of his stock vision — which coincides with the Indian middle class’s (left or right) dream of a modern India, good roads, good jobs, good patriots; An America with booming Vedic Chants. [...] Not much of it is likely to trickle down to the long-marchers. Clearly, the thing to do is to build rural India, so that if the workers want to migrate to the cities, it will be out of choice. For the present, if the ragged millions in their despair continue to flee the urban India of Modi’s dream and trek the melting roads in broken sandals, one must conclude that little has changed since Mahatma Gandhi led the country to freedom in 1947."

"There is any number of images of men pulling makeshift carts with their wife and kids squatting in it, across hundreds of kilometres; of children trekking vast distances and falling dead; of women lugging trolley bags with their kids asleep on top. The Modi government pressed trains and buses in their service. And thousands have travelled home by these means. But many have hit the road before the services were made available. Many, too, have no means to arrive at stations from where they stay, and so decided to walk. It is 40C in the shade here and climbing. Drinking water is hard to come by out on the road. And the open sandals that most wears do not help in long treks."

"I cannot let this book go no matter how many times I read it...it is as adorable as Lord Krishna."

"As it is not only written by a woman but by a woman who was born into the same community as mine, I intend to edit and publish it in a proper form."

"Perhaps the concept of shame applies to only women but not men. Maybe because she was a ‘prostitute’ she was able to write crude depictions of sex without shame. In that case, it surely must not suit the supposed learned men to depict conjugal pleasures in the same way?. (as a sarcastic retort to criticism of the original work and her 1910 edition containing sexual/erotic passages, believed to being unsuitable for women)"

"We are now raring to die for our country's sake Let's see how much of strength the assassin can display! O traveller on the path of love, do not drop mid-way, It is the distance of the goal that glorifies the chase. It is the distance of the goal that glorifies the chase. Standing by the gallows the hangman makes a call, Come, if there be any, by the martyr's zeal enthralled. We'll tell you all, O sky, wait till he time arrives, How can we at this stage, our secret plans unveil? O martyrs in the nation's cause, kudos to your sacrifice, Even in the enemy they talk of you with praise. Fired by patriotic fervour, many a maddened youth. Has gathered at the crossing, itching for the cross. Why are they mute and silent? no whisper, no talk, Everyone that I see has got his lips locked."

"O custodians of civilization, may we ask how long Will you perpetrate horror, commit wrong on wrong? Conceded that you want to test the sharpness of your swords, But how long will you try them on our pliant throats? You want to see the assembly with rhetoric hot ablaze, How long can our sighs and wails satisfy your craze? True that the tales of woe titillate your heart, But how long can we relate the tales of grief and loss? We know that you grudge the drought caused by the heavens high, How long can our tears of blood your withering crops revive> You require glimmering stars to brighten up your fate, How far can these grains of dust emblazon your face? Knowing we are faded leaves of a fallen tree, How long will you continue to crush us out complete?"

"Nor at present, nor in the past, we have ever denied, That your sense of justice is trumpeted far and wide. Whatever has been happening, we also accept Fell within the limits of law, with justice as your guide. Even when you ordered firing on the helpless multitude, You didn't even by a hair-breadth the law of land defied. But this truth too cannot be lightly brushed aside, Thay your act unleashed a deluge of death in the twinkling of an eye, The handsome youth when they fell before your deadly [[fire], Wondered if it was the doom, or the stars shooting from the sky. The arch and pulpit of the mosque were left riddled with bullets, But the mosque needs perhaps such patterns on its front and sides. Fast-fettered did they watch, the convicts and the passers-by, And the police took the stand: How can we, the servants, the sovereign's fiat defy? But let's state the fact, you may or may not like, We are the oppressed folk, you are not the oppressor, right!"

"On one side is the call of Christ, on the other is death, We are caught in a conflict, hard to resolve. Having received many a wound, for more of wounds he craves, Mark the courage of helpless Bismil, how he suffers unfazed!"

"Shedding tears we spend the night in this deepening dark, Our day is but a long struggle against an uphill path, Not a single moment goes when we don't bewail our lot, Lo! we cast a lingering look on these doors and walls. Fare thee well, my countrymen, we are going afar! We wish you well, O friends, leave you to His care, And entrust our Qaiser Bagh to the blowing air, While we give our tender heart to terror and despair. Fare thee well, my countrymen, we are going afar! I am betrayed by my friends, whom should I excuse? Except God the gracious, I have no refuge, I can't escape exile, under any excuse. Lo, we cast a lingering look on the doors and wells, Fare thee well, my countrymen, we are going afar! I have been told this much too, ah! the scourage of time! The servant calls his master 'mad,' a travesty of the mind. As for me, I cannoy help, but rot in alien climes. Lo, we cast a lingering look on these doors and walls, Fare thee well, my countrymen, we are gong afar! This is the cause of my regret, to whom should I complain? What wondrous goods of mine are subjected to disdain, My exile has raised a storm in the whole domain. Lo we cast a lingering look on the doors and walls, Fare thee well, my countrymen, we are going afar! You cannot help but suffer, O heart, the sharp strings of grief, They didn't spare even the things essential for the mourning meets, In the scorching summer heat, I've no cover or sheet. Akhtar now departs from all his friends and mates, There is little time or need to dwell upon my fate, Save, O God, my countrymen from the dangers lying in wait! Lo, we cast a lingering look on these doors and walls, Fare thee well, my countrymen, we are going afar!"

"For years have I held converse with someone in my thoughts, For long has a pictured visage lodged within my heart. I had held it all through as dear as life, My desire will weep for me for years in the burial yard. I too once drank the draughts from the fount of life, I too slept for long in peace, sheltered by the flask. For long did I stroll about in gardens and groves, For long could I smell my rose in the roses of the park. Such a sensitive being am I, it will cause my death, For years shall that shrew regret having hurt my heart. Even if reduced to ashes, like the wind-borne dust, For years I'll eddy around questing someone lost."

"Frustration-foiled, all desires quit the lane of heart, Depression drowned my mind and soul, hope stood dissolved. Who has arrived, spring or death? Why do they open the prison gate? Has a manic made to the cage, or a prisoner jumped the wall? How to inquire about my hem, or talk about my frantic hand? Long past I lost control of the reins of my heart. Alone I reached the goal of love, denuded of desire, Every comrade fell en route, worn out at last. Fani, I'm a living corpse, untombed, undraped, Unwelcome in the alien land, exiled from home and hearth."

"He next takes up the question of according respect to a polytheist, be he a man as exceptional as Mahatma Gandhi. Quoting authorities, including the Quran, the Hadis, the Durr-ul-Mukhtar, the Maulana declares, respect is to be paid only to Allah, the Prophet and the Muslims, but the hypocrites—munafiq—know not. Citing the Prophet the Maulana says, he who renders respect to followers of the wrong faith has without a doubt lent a hand for the demolition of the Islamic religion. When this is the commandment in regard to one of wrong faith, what shall be the commandment for honouring a polytheist?, he asks. The Prophet has forbidden us to even shake hands with any polytheist, he says, even to refer to him by his surname (kunniyat), even to use words of welcome (marhaba) upon his arrival. These are not even very consequential things entailing great honour, they pertain to regard of a very low degree, the Maulana notes—that one should not call him by his name, one should not call him as the father of so and so, one should not say ‘Aiye’ when he comes. And yet, he notes, the Hadis has forbidden Muslims from doing even these things. And these persons are asking us to cry ‘jai’ for him! This is a Satanic deed, the Maulana pronounces..."

"Maulana Ahmad Riza Khan’s fulminations against doing anything which entails association with kafirs, Hindus in this case, extend over more than a hundred quarto-sized pages of closely packed text. The denunciation and scorn he heaps on those who are advocating such a course are even greater than what he hurls at the course itself. Indeed, time and again he declares that those Muslims—’Muslims’ is the wrong term actually for his school had issued the fatwas of kufr on the leading ulema of Deoband, etc.—who advocate such a course are greater enemies of Islam than the kafirs themselves. His fatwas against associating with the kafirs in any way are, as we have noticed earlier, grouped under the generic heading, ‘Nafrat ke Ahkam’, ‘The Ordinances of Hatred.’..."

"He goes on reiterating the denunciation, repeating the points, citing the Quran and other authorities. And then he addresses the rationalization that there are grades of kufr and that it may be permissible to cooperate with some kinds of kafirs. Yes, he declares, if there is a difference among kafirs it is in this that the greater a person’s kufr the more haram it is to deal with him. To revere evil is kufr, the more severe the evil the stricter the commandment. This shall befall the liars and calumners—that in kufr the Magians are worse than Jews and Christians; and the Hindus are worse than the Magians; and the Wahabis and apostates are worse than the Hindus. The commandments about them are progressively harsher in this very order...."

"Most Indian Muslims are Sunnis, some say almost 85 to 90 per cent are Sunnis. Most Indian Sunnis are Barelvis, some would say two-thirds of them are, in particular those living in the countryside. The Fatawa-i-Rizvia is the most important collection of fatwas of the Barelvis. It consists of the fatwas issued by the most influential figure among them—Maulana Ahmad Riza Khan. He was a prolific issuer of fatwas, a formidable polemicist, often an abusive one, an indefatigable campaigner, in a word a pugilist. Few dared to cross swords with him, indeed few dared to even stand in his way. He lived from 1856 to 1921, and came to exercise a mesmeric hold over vast numbers."

"Praise be to Allah, ever since I gained consciousness I have found only strong dislike for the enemies o f Allah in my heart. Once I had gone to my village (apne dehat ko). Some rural courtcase arose and our servants (mulazim) from all four directions had to go to Badayun [to appear in court]. I was left all alone. This was a time when I suffered from severe colic pain. That day the pain started from the time o f zuhr (m id-day). . . I couldn’t stand up for the namaz (prayer). [Ahmad Riza then relates that he supplicated Allah and the Prophet for help, this plea was heard, and he was able to offer the namaz. But the pain returned just as severely as before, and he decided to lie down. While he was lying there,] a Brahman from the village passed by in front o f me. (The wretch himself professed something close to tauhid and deceitfiilly inclined toward the Muslims in order to please me.) The gate was open. Seeing me he came in. And putting his hand on my stomach he asked, 'Is this where it hurts?’ Feeling his impure (najis) hand touching my body I felt such revulsion (karahat, najrat) that I forgot my pain. And I began to experience a pain even greater than this, [knowing that] a kafir’s hand was on my stomach. This is the kind of enmity ( ‘ adawat ) that one should [cultivate toward kafirs]."

"Some of the practices which he allowed, indeed prescribed, were ones which others condemned as vestiges of paganism and polytheism—for instance, celebrating the urs or observing the anniversaries of pirs and ‘saints’. At the same time he was most emphatic in denouncing anyone who joined hands with the kafirs even for attaining strictly Islamic objectives. Thus, for instance, he heaped abuse and scorn at those who had agreed to work under the leadership of Gandhiji even though it had been with the object of restoring the greatest of Islamic institutions, the Caliphate. You have agreed to work under a kafir, he railed. You have made Muslims the slaves of a kafir, he railed."

"To sacrifice the life of Quran and Hadis at the altar of idolatry is gross disrespect of the Quran and Hadis, and it is to accord great respect to idolatry, declares the Maulana. If this is not kufr, he says, then nothing in the world is kufr. Alluding to an instance in which the Prophet had taken the help of a kafir to make his way in an unfamiliar place, the Maulana exclaims, where is taking a polytheist along over an unfamiliar terrain, and where is making him one’s leader and guide in regard to one’s faith! Can there be any comparison, he asks. If a shaikh or imam were to sit in an ekka and the one driving it were a kafir, does that mean that, on the ground that the shaikh or imam was sitting behind the kafir, his followers can accept the imamat of the kafir and read the namaz behind him? And that incident regarding the Prophet, the Maulana says, too is an incident of a period when the order of jihad had not yet come down (from Allah), and of a time when the practice was ‘Unto you your religion and unto me mine’. But after that what was expected of Muslims regarding kafirs became progressively stricter, the Maulana points out, and eventually came the revelation for all time: O Prophet! wage jihad against kafirs and hypocrites.... If you draw your rule from the first incident then it is a great foolishness—if it is drawn by an ignorant man; and if it is drawn by or on the authority of an educated person then it is a crime and gross wickedness. This is false imputation on the Prophet, the Maulana proclaims. Never did the Prophet maintain any social relations with any kafir. For it is said in the Quran, He who among you maintains relations with them is one from among them. The ordinance of Allah to His Prophet was: O Prophet! wage jihad against all kafirs and hypocrites, and observe a harshness and strictness towards them.... And then the Maulana takes up the practice of calling Gandhiji a ‘Mahatma’. ‘Mahatma,’ he says, means ‘Great Soul,’ and this, he recalls, is the appellation special to angel Gabriel. To associate it with a polytheist is pure enmity of Allah and the Prophet."

"خُوگر نہیں کچھ یوں ہی ہم ریختہ گوئی کے معشوق جو اپنا تھا باشندۂ دکن تھا"

"Soul-refreshing are your lips, Breath of Christ are your lips. The god of beauty, with nectar divine Has charged the goblet of your lips. Wisdom, philosophy, deep truths, Inform the utterance of your lips. With ruby-pen the lovers of your lines, Inscribe the message of your lips. The grass, the foliage, and the bloom, Forever crave to kiss your lips. My palate and tongue get honey-drenched, Whensoever I mention your lips. What an treat for Walis tongue, Morn and eve to praise your lips!"

"Not for nothing have I fallen for "Rekhta" verse, The darling of my heart was Deccan domicile."

"شغل بہتر ہے عشق بازی کا کیا حقیقی و کیا مجازی کا"

"فانی ؔ ہم تو جیتے جی وہ میت ہیں بے گور و کفن غربت جس کو راس نہ آئی اور وطن بھی چُھوٹ گیا"

"تم میرے پاس ہوتے ہو گویا جب کوئی دوسرا نہیں ہوتا"

"It's in your nature to accept advice readily so don't fail in reaping benefit through me, This collection of our thought is open to all: so, read it and satisfy yourself completely."

"Beauty, which the mirror of creation was beautifying, with a hundred thousand suns each atom caressing, despite its great glory was behind the unseen's veil... it did not know itself until humanity was blossoming."

"In this sea where rise up storms of 'me' and 'we', some of the population find escaping not so easy. No one's should be burdened by carrying another, every wave is a bridge, to be crossing over...'me'."

"I feel as if you are with me, When company I have none."

"The pledge that you and I have made, you may or mayn't recall, The pledge, that is, to love till death, you may or mayn't recall. The joys once bestowed on me, those kindness galore, I remember every bit, you may or mayn't recall. Those new complaints, grumblings new, those delicious tales, That getting cross without a cause, you may or mayn't recall.If chanced we to get together, to reaffirm our faith, How we complained of our unkind kin, you may or mayn't recall. If there was aught that annoyed your heart, I always let it go unsaid, you may or mayn't recall. We too had once each other loved, and frequently did meet. We too were once intimate, you may or mayn't recall. Your getting cross on the union night, spurning all my pleas, Your insistent "no" to everything, you may or mayn't recall. Whom you counted as your friend, faithful whom you thought, I am the same suffering Momin, you may or mayn't recall."