-Brian
Mendonça
Aaj jaane ki zid na
karo
Yunhi pehloo mein baithe raho
Aaj jaane ki zid na karo
Hai mar jaayenge, hum to lut jaayenge
Aisi baatein kiya na karo
Aaj jaane ki zid na karo
Yunhi pehloo mein baithe raho
Aaj jaane ki zid na karo
Hai mar jaayenge, hum to lut jaayenge
Aisi baatein kiya na karo
Aaj jaane ki zid na karo
[Today, don’t insist
on going
Stay, wrapped in me,
like you are now
Today, don’t insist
on going
O, we will die, O,
we will be undone
-Say not such words
Today, insist not on
going.]
Lyrics: Fayyaz Hashmi
In these
times of physical distancing, software curators have scrambled to advise us
about Zoom and other ways to keep in touch virtually.
A happy
outcome of tech upgrade is that it knows no borders. People who love music and
art can come together to enjoy its redeeming influence. When Vishal and Rekha Bhardwaj
did an Instagram live with Farida Khanum (90), the noted ghazal singer from Pakistan, I rewound to the days when her voice
pierced the nights in Delhi.
Titled Aaj Jaane ki Zid na Karo [Today, don’t
insist on going] her ghazal spoke of
the tenuousness of love and its fragility.
I thought she had already passed on – considering her advanced age – but
I was delighted to hear her sing the same ghazal.
It was shared on Instagram live by Ali Sethi who put it together from New
York.*
These are
times of lockdown and loneliness. Several age groups feel the absence of a
loved one. Because of travel
restrictions, one cannot be where one wants, and that erodes one’s sense of
well-being. Skype and other platforms
cannot stand in for the real thing - which is meeting and talking face to face.
Nowadays the
face itself, which is the index of recognition, is covered up in a mask. This
makes communication even more daunting. Even if you smile under your mask, the
other person will not know it.
Instinctively, you may end up being offended that your friendly gesture
was not reciprocated.
In times like
these even the dead are not spared. When a person who was ailing passed on
during the lockdown, one response was, ‘He lingered for so long and had to die now?!’
This perhaps arose out of the frustration of not being able to pay the
last respects, given the travel restrictions in place. Even Masses are not held
for the dead at this time.
In Delhi
Gulshan Bano waits for the foot of her father – all that is left of Anwar Kassar
(60) who was burnt alive in the riots in North East Delhi on 25th February. The
body part has been established as his by DNA tests and lies in an evidence bag
with the police. When Gulshan asked for it, so she could bury it, she was told
that it was only a foot and that she should wait for the lockdown to end.
To beat the
boredom Google started a service where you can play with past doodles. The
first animated version is about coding. For kids there is storyweaver.org.in
with #ReadAtHomeWithStoryWeaver. Story Weaver is a digital repository of
multilingual stories for children from Pratham books.
--------------------------------
*https://scroll.in/video/957231/home-concert-farida-khanum-rekha-bhardwaj-and-ali-sethi-jam-via-instagram Published in Gomantak Times Weekender, Panjim, Goa on Sunday, 3rd May 2020. Pix of Farida Khanum, courtesy twitter @ patarimusic 2015.
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