‘Badi Di Jarh’ (Root of Evil) by Dr Daljit Singh, published by Maan Boli Research Centre, Lahore, deals with the contemporary politico-economic issues ignored by intellectuals and social scientists on our side of Punjab.
A cursory glance at the contents of the book compels one to immediately go through it as what is on offer has an irresistible allure.
Dr Singh’s repertoire is stunningly huge and varied. He shows us our real world, the world shaped by groups, classes, countries and multinationals with vested interests in the name of political, economic, financial and cultural imperatives with the highly deceptive promise of progress which is, in fact, buying and selling, not only of goods and services but also of people. Consequently, we have an international intellectual discourse pushed down our throat that, instead of revealing the reality, hides the insidiousness of the movers and shakers of the world.
Dr Singh exposes universally accepted sacred myths of patriotism, free market and international financial discipline, all geared to create a global order in the interest of imperialist forces. He takes various events and issues like the American Revolution (how it stands subverted), fascism, role of TV and how it doles out trash in the name of information and knowledge, Korea’s nationalist struggle, Israel’s discriminatory policy towards its own citizens, internal national bankers, Swiss banks ( money laundering), global warming, agriculture, 9/11, water crisis, etc. By bringing forth the hidden facts, he builds a counter discourse with his analytical insight.
Dr Daljit explores the process through which people are exploited in the name of people. He convincingly exposes how national and international forces present fiction as fact, regress as progress, ruling as governance and falsehood as perennial truth, making the exploitative system palatable to the poor and deprived of the world. He discretely avoids academic jargons and it makes his analyses accessible to common readers, a no mean achievement. It’s a must read for anyone interested to see through the world of deception we are persuaded to live comfortably with. How the people who create and produce are hypnotised through manipulative tools to be content with the leftover, is the story Dr Daljit tells. We have the crumbs but where is the loaf; he again raises the question which has remained hitherto unanswered.
‘Waluhna’ (whirlwind) is the latest collection of poetry by renowned short story writer and poet Tauqeer Chughtai, published by Chughtai Publishers, Karachi. The collection has poems, ‘Mahia’ (two liner in the tradition of folk poetry) and ghazals.
Of all three the last is entirely different literary genre with different conventions and cultural nuances. Ghazal is a recent addition to the Punjabi literary repertoire and still looks like an alien presence and perhaps that’s why Tauqeer’s ghazals are pale shadows of his poems. They sound odd despite the local and concrete imagery employed, usually not associated with this genre, to create a fresh ambiance.
Chughtai is at his best when it comes to poems which paint an emotionally charged audio landscape, suggesting to hear the unheard sigh and cry of the ordinary coming from little-known hamlets of ‘Chhachh’ area of Punjab. His poems have a ring of nostalgia but of a different kind which, instead of lamenting the past and the lost, weaves a montage of what life offers or denies to the ordinary people. His imaginative reconstruction brings to life the hauntingly rugged area to life along with its sturdy men and women who suffer but resist, despair but dream in their endless struggle for survival. Chughtai’s verses have spontaneity of the birds and freshness of the bushes that make them a delightful read.
‘Punjab Lok Reet’ is Urdu version of the late Shafqat Tanvir Mirza’s scripts, originally written in Punjabi for PTV programmme ‘Lok Reet’ produced and telecast in the late 1990s. The programme had 48 episodes the scripts, compiled and translated into Urdu by Dr Amjad Ali Bhatti, have been published by Dost Publications, Islamabad. They were designed to explore and highlight the history of all the major cities of Punjab in a visual narrative.
The series caught the imagination of the viewers and became very popular and the main reason for its popularity was its composite format which made it possible to tell the story of the city in question in its multi-dimensional aspects. It was a kind of visual saga that celebrated the resilient spirit of the people. Brief history, cultural traditions, crafts, architecture, shrines, poetry, songs, historical personalities and social ambiance were the ingredients that made the narrative fascinatingly gripping. Each episode was an unusual audio-visual miniature.
Shafqat Tanvir Mirza never claimed to be an historian but proved to be more qualified than the dry academics in portraying our socio-cultural past and present it from the people’s perspective. His scripts were as informative as illuminating.
Salman Saeed and Qaisar Ali Shah, the directors of the series and Iqbal Qaisar, the coordinator, worked meticulously and came out with the documentaries that have achieved archival status. The series have had several re-runs. ‘Punjab Lok Reet’ can add much to your knowledge and experience of Punjab’s cities you live in or hear about. — soofi01@hotmail.com