Mushtaq Soofi Columns

221 columns

2012

1. December 14, 2012: Aryan caste system and socially mobile Punjabis

2. December 21, 2012: Cities without trees

3. December 28, 2012: Music of poetry and poetry of music

2013

1. January 4, 2013: Winter: migratory birds and metaphors

2. January 18, 2013: Ravi and Chenab: demons and lovers

3. January 25, 2013: Food: Punjabi gathering and crowd!

4. Feb 2, 2013: Language: threat of diversity

5. Feb 15, 2013: Language: Sanskrit and Prakrits!

6. Feb 22, 2013: Language: The rise of the Persian and the early Punjabi!

7. March First, 2013: New books: poetry and linguistics

8. March 8, 2013: The Punjabi literary tradition: Baba Farid blazes the trail!

9. March 15, 2013: In praise of animals!

10. Mach 26, 2013: Mela Chiragan: Mystic laughs and poet sings! – Part-I

11. April 5, 2013: Mela Chiraghan: mystic laughs and poet sings!

12. April 12, 2013: Punjab: Disowning the owning and owning the disowning!

13. April 19, 2013: The Punjabi literary tradition: Guru Nanak, a great seer and a true son of soil! — Part-I

14. April 26, 2013: Guru Nanak, a great seer and a true son of soil! — Part II

15. May 24, 2013: The faceless and the nameless in our city!

16. June 21, 2013: A spectre haunts Punjab!

17. July 3, 2013: New books: woman voice, oral history and urban desolation!

2014

1. Jan 3, 2014: Spectre of history haunts Punjabis

2. Jan 17, 2014: Cities without birds: Metaphors for lifeless tomorrow!

3. Feb 7, 2014: How Harappa is different from Mohenjo-Daro!

4. Feb 28, 2014: Celebrating the Mother Language!

5. Apr 4, 2014: Books: novel and dictionary of technical terms

6. Apr 18, 2014: punjab notes: Chet and Vesakh: spring and harvest

7. May 2, 2014: Punjab Notes : Shrines: Public spaces with spiritual ambiance

8. May 30, 2014: Punjab Notes: Woman in public: body language born of fear!

9. Jun 13, 2014: Punjab Notes: Bar: forgotten glory of Punjab

10. Jun 20, 2014: Punjab Notes: Sufi music: new cultural hocus-pocus

11. Jul 18, 2014: Punjab Notes: No to state, yes to state jobs

12. Aug 1, 2014: Punjab Notes: Sawan! A world of romance lost

13. Aug 8, 2014: Punjab Notes: Independence: remembering the dead

14. Aug 22, 2014: Punjab Notes: Baba Bulleh Shah: In quest of human identity

15. Sep 5, 2014: Punjab Notes: Books: stories of said and unsaid

16. Sep 12, 2014: PUNJAB NOTES: Poverty: dignity and indignity

17. Sep 19, 2014: Punjab Notes: Fury of waters!

18. Oct 10, 2014: Burning house parable!

19. Oct 17, 2014: PUNJAB NOTES: Political crowd: reality of illusion

20. Oct 24, 2014: PUNJAB NOTES: Dhahan Prize: Honouring Punjabi literature

21. Oct 31, 2014: PUNJAB NOTES: Celibacy and our great poets

22. Nov 7, 2014: PUNJAB NOTES:: Celibacy and our great poets (Part-II)

23. Nov 14, 2014: Punjab notes: space for religious diversity

24. Dec 5, 2014: Punjab Notes: Contradictory popular narratives

25. Dec 19, 2014: Punjab Notes: Legends: deciphering the undeciphered

26. Dec 26, 2014: Children of the poor: the killers and the killed

2015

1. Jan 2, 2015: Punjab Notes : Punjab: some of its ancient names

2. Jan 16, 2015: Punjab Notes: Emergence of new heroes: politician-I

3. Jan 23, 2015: Punjab Notes: Emergence of new heroes: mullah-II

4. Feb 13, 2015: No Punjabi please! We are Muslim Punjabis

5. Feb 20, 2015: Punjab Notes: Cheerful Mother Language Day celebrations in cheerless Punjab

6. Feb 27, 2015: Punjab Notes: Mother language, people and politicians

7. Mar 13, 2015: PUNJAB NOTES: Woman and Pakistani languages

8. Mar 20, 2015: Crowd: victims and predators

9. Mar 27, 2015: PUNJAB NOTES: Caste: social and political power

10. Apr 3, 2015: PUNJAB NOTES: Family: woman versus woman

11. Apr 10, 2015: PUNJAB NOTES: Young landlords: bulls and bullying

12. Apr 17, 2015: PUNJAB NOTES: Vesakhi: harvest of joy

13. Apr 24, 2015: Punjab: Did you hear what the Chinese president said?

14. May 1, 2015: PUNJAB NOTES: Why do they want to look like landlords?

15. May 8, 2015: PUNJAB NOTES: City: road, automobile and pedestrian

16. May 15, 2015: Artist: creativity and dignity

17. May 22, 2015: PUNJAB NOTES: New books: an unusual novel and verses born of spontaneity

18. May 29, 2015: PUNJAB NOTES: Violence: assertion and negation of power

19. Jun 5, 2015: PUNJAB NOTES: Nasreen Anjum Bhatti: an inimitable poetic voice

20. Jun 12, 2015: PUNJAB NOTES: Mystics and scientists: how to describe the indescribable!

21. Jun 19, 2015: PUNJAB NOTES: Sachal: Fresh sound of music from Lahore!

22. Jul 03, 2015: PUNJAB NOTES: Abid Ameeq: an inspiring poet and challenging intellectual

23. Jul 17, 2015: PUNJAB NOTES: Work: social disgrace or self-objectification

24. Jul 24, 2015: PUNJAB NOTES: Irshad Taunsvi: poetic reflections

25. Aug 07, 2015: PUNJAB NOTES: Slums: the city of the poor

26. Aug 28, 2015: PUNJAB NOTES: Books: sufism, burial register and a female voice

27. Sep 04, 2015: PUNJAB NOTES: Founders of Punjabi literary tradition and class oppression

28. Sep 11, 2015: PUNJAB NOTES: Afzal Ahsan Randhawa: a glimpse of Punjab and its traditions

29. Sep 25, 2015: PUNJAB NOTES: Literary critic: tradition and denial of intellectual independence

30. Oct 09, 2015: PUNJAB NOTES: Culture and system: accepting the unacceptable

31. Oct 16, 2015: PUNJAB NOTES: Modern Lahore: cross road and get killed

32. Oct 23, 2015: PUNJAB NOTES: Books: colonialism, language and spiritual music

33. Oct 30, 2015: PUNJAB NOTES: East and west Punjab: nature of politics

34. Nov 06, 2015: PUNJAB NOTES: Not all the Hindus are Hindus!

35. Nov 13, 2015: PUNJAB NOTES: Conference: gathering or knowledge?

36. Nov 20, 2015: Punjab Notes: Vehat: where great warriors clashed

37. Nov 27, 2015: Punjab Notes: Sufism: commoditising of what is not a commodity

38. Dec 04, 2015: Punjab Notes: Classical literature: female voice, imagined and real

39. Dec 11, 2015: PUNJAB NOTES: Books: poetry and research-based criticism

40. Dec 18, 2015: Punjab Notes: Beas River: where troops of Alexander mutinied

2016

1. Jan 08, 2016: Punjab Notes: Social media: Pure language is dead language

2. Jan 15, 2016: Punjab Notes: ‘Whereof one can speak, thereof one must not be silent.

3. Feb 05, 2016: Punjab Notes: You can hear her singing in the dark

4. March 04, 2016: Punjab Notes: Punjab Notes: Woman: less or more than man

5. March 11, 2016: Punjab Notes: PUNJAB NOTES: Memes: The past threatening the present

6. April 01, 2016: Punjab Notes: Punjab Notes: Lahore: nightmares and birds

7. April 08, 2016: Punjab Notes: Punjab Notes: Stories and translation of Sufi poetry

8. April 15, 2016: Punjab Notes: Punjab Notes: Heer Waris Shah: He composed it 250 years ago

9. April 22, 2016: Punjab Notes: Punjab Notes: Dacoit: criminal and hero

10. April 29, 2016: Punjab Notes: Punjab Notes: Corruption: as old as pyramids

11. May 06, 2016: Punjab Notes: Punjab Notes: Lahore: slaughtering of nature and history

12. May 20, 2016: Punjab Notes: Punjab Notes: Summer: content and discontent

13. May 27, 2016: Punjab Notes: Punjab Notes: Peasants on The Mall: starvation wages

14. June 03, 2016: Punjab Notes: PUNJAB NOTES: Cell phone: empowering the working class?

15. June 10, 2016: Punjab Notes: PUNJAB NOTES: Dr Faqir: retrieving the classical texts

16. June 17, 2016: Punjab Notes: PUNJAB NOTES: Minister, mullah and mom

17. June 24, 2016: Punjab Notes: PUNJAB NOTES: Rai Nasir: poet from the sacred land of the Guru

18. July 01, 2016: Punjab Notes: Punjab Notes: Punjab: battle for water and food

19. July 15, 2016: Punjab Notes: Punjab Notes: Tassi Dharti: a song of struggle and despair

20. July 29, 2016: Punjab Notes: Punjab Notes: Waris Shah: neither a spiritual Guru nor a communist

21. Aug 05, 2016: Punjab Notes: Punjab Notes: Lahore: music refuses to die

22. Aug 12, 2016: Punjab Notes: PUNJAB NOTES: Composing poetry for publishers

23. Aug 19, 2016: Punjab Notes: Punjab Notes: Mob justice: state and society

24. Aug 26, 2016: Punjab Notes: PUNJAB NOTES: Source of human happiness: more or less?

25. Sep 02, 2016: Punjab Notes: PUNJAB NOTES: Bulleh Shah: demystifying mystic fires

26. Sep 16, 2016: Punjab Notes: PUNJAB NOTES: The great Mughal and Dulla Bhatti: both or none!

27. Sep 23, 2016: Punjab Notes: Punjab Notes: Culture: it cuts both ways

28. Sep 30, 2016: Punjab Notes: Punjab notes: Samina Hasan Syed: painting an audio landscape

29. Oct 07, 2016: Punjab Notes: PUNJAB NOTES: Saintly poets: denial of saintliness

30. Oct 28, 2016: Punjab Notes: PUNJAB NOTES: People in cities: urbanised without urbanity (Part I)

31. Nov 04, 2016: Punjab Notes: PUNJAB NOTES: People in cities: urbanised without urbanity (Part II)

32. Nov 11, 2016: Punjab Notes: Punjab Notes: Parveen Malik and Anjum Qureshi: voice the unvoiced

33. Nov 25, 2016: Punjab Notes: PUNJAB NOTES: Water: vanished river and expanded city

34. Dec 02, 2016: Punjab Notes: Punjab Notes: Prose writing: orality, force of habit and underdevelopment

35. Dec 23, 2016: Punjab Notes: PUNJAB NOTES: Mr Achakzai, Mianwali and Afghans

36. Dec 30, 2016: Punjab Notes: Punjab Notes: Growers: seeds of discontent and despair

2017

1. Janury 6, 2017: Punjab Notes: All the makings of a futuristic city

2. Janury 13, 2017: PUNJAB NOTES: Punjab is much bigger than Lahore

3. Janury 20, 2017: PUNJAB NOTES: Zafar Iqbal: the wages of creative sin

4. Feb 3, 2017: PUNJAB NOTES: Census: Punjab is not afraid of it

5. Feb 24, 2017: PUNJAB NOTES: Mother language: realising the strength of diversity

6. March 10, 2017: PUNJAB NOTES: Contemporary woman: empowerment or burden doubled!

7. March 24, 2017: PUNJAB NOTES: Water and morbidity of cultural habits

8. March 31, 2017: Punjab Notes: Madho Lal Hussain: glow of an eternal flame

9. May 5, 2017: Village and city: enriching and impoverishing

10. May 12, 2017: Punjab Notes: Social media: Pure language is dead language

11. May 26, 2017: PUNJAB NOTES: Young men from countryside dying as aliens

12. June 2, 2017: Punjab Notes: Promoting language and culture

13. June 16, 2017: PUNJAB NOTES: Poetry: things turn into their opposites and more is less

14. June 23, 2017: Punjab Notes: Classical texts: salvaging the literary heritage

15. June 30, 2017: Punjab Notes: After the fire the noise of muddled thinking!

16. July 21, 2017: PUNJAB NOTES: They love children but not the poor ones

17. July 28, 2017: Punjab Notes: The University of Sargodha: aversion to teaching languages

18. Aug 04, 2017: Punjab Notes: Council of elders delivers its verdict: rape for rape

19. Aug 11, 2017: Punjab Notes: Independence and Partition: how ordinary mortals describe it!

20. Aug 25, 2017: Punjab Notes: Independence: ignored elements of colonial experience (Part-I)

21. Sep 01, 2017: Punjab Notes: Independence: ignored elements of colonial experience (Part II)

22. Sep 22, 2017: Punjab Notes: Anonymity: freedom from the tyranny of the past

23. Oct 13, 2017: Punjab Notes: How concrete conditions shape poetry (Part-I)

24. Oct 20, 2017: Punjab Notes: How concrete conditions shape poetry (Part II)

25. Oct 27, 2017: PUNJAB NOTES: Bureaucracy: power and caste

26. Nov 03, 2017: Punjab Notes: History for you is what you think it is! (Part I)

27. Nov 10, 2017: Punjab Notes: History for you is what you think it is (Part II)

28. Nov 17, 2017: PUNJAB NOTES: The city: a window or a cul-de-sac

29. Nov 24, 2017: Punjab Notes: Dying in foreign lands or getting killed on the way

30. Dec 01, 2017: Punjab Notes: Crowd: it is the objective that holds it together

31. Dec 22, 2017: Punjab Notes: Two new novels: elegy or eulogy or both?

32. Dec 29, 2017: PUNJAB NOTES: Can you imagine a city sans foliage and feathers?

2018

1. Janury 12, 2018: Punjab Notes: Lack of patience and process of self-destruction

2. Janury 26, 2018: PUNJAB NOTES: Ustad Nazar Hussain: we stopped listening, he stopped singing

3. Feb 9, 2018: Punjab Notes: Highways: roads that enable us to get somewhere or...!

4. Feb 23, 2018: Punjab Notes: Two-day Punjabi Conference: venue does matter

5. March 2, 2018: Punjab Notes: Books: Historical fiction and literary criticism

6. March 16, 2018: PUNJAB NOTES: Punjab resisted invaders from North, South and East (Part-II)

7. March 30, 2018: Punjab Notes: The other side of social media

8. April 6, 2018: Punjab Notes : Punjab: some of its ancient names

9. May 7, 2018: Sufi saints and their descendants: part of the solution? (Part I)

10. May 14, 2018: Sufi saints and their descendants: part of the solution? (Part II)

11. May 21, 2018: Old age: wisdom, senility and despair

12. June 17, 2018: Akbar and Dulla Bhatti: resistance and dreams of new polity

13. June 25, 2018: Punjab Notes: Our classical literary age sans woman writer

14. July 2, 2018: PUNJAB NOTES: Children stories from the East and poetry from the South

15. July 9, 2018: PUNJAB NOTES: Monsoon: rains loved as much as dreaded

16. July 16, 2018: PUNJAB NOTES: Caste: it can make you win or lose election

17. July 23, 2018: PUNJAB NOTES: Remembering a poet who is forgotten but not dead

18. Aug 6, 2018: PUNJAB NOTES: Sardar Muhammad Khan: a life spent in search of word

19. Aug 20, 2018: Punjab Notes : Punjab: some of its ancient names

20. Aug 27, 2018: PUNJAB NOTES: New books: delights of folk music and verses from abroad

21. Sep 3, 2018: PUNJAB NOTES: Rule of law: fast vanishing colonial legacy

22. Sep 10, 2018: PUNJAB NOTES: Remembering Ustad Daman: man who confronted the powerful