Peep into Himachal darshan
By Ghanshyam Gupta
BIRBAL Sharma, 43 is a photographer by profession. He was born in a small hamlet of Hamirpur. During the past 25 years, this photographer-cum-press reporter has taken about 30,000 photographs of the beautiful landscapes of Himachal Pradesh.

SIGHT & SOUND

Vignettes of reason, rebellion
By Amar Chandel

HAZRAT Boo Ali Shah Qalandar, famed mystic-poet, belonged to Panipat. It would have been befitting to give the inaugural award instituted by Haryana in his memory, at a function in this city. But Hazrat also belonged to the entire humanity as well. From that angle, it is not exactly inappropriate that Dr Sardar Anjum got the Rs 51,000-award at a function in Sonepat earlier this month (March 4).

Hazrat Boo Ali Shah is known as much for his Persian poetry as for his spiritual and intellectual excellence. His parents were from Iraq, but had settled down in Panipat in 1205. It was here that Hazrat Shah was born, probably in 1209, during the reign of Qutubbudin Aibak. His childhood name was Sharfuddin. Persian was his mother tongue and Arabic the language of instruction. He became adept in both — and several Indian languages as well —by the time he was 12.

He spent 40 years of his life in Panipat and later settled down near Qutub Minar in Delhi. Many scholars and dervishes acknowledged his excellence. Another 20 years were spent in literary pursuits. After that, he threw away all his books and went to a forest for meditation. Hazrat Ali was believed to be his spiritual guru.

Religious people attributed many miraculous powers to him. At the same time, people of the stature of Amir Khusro acknowledged his mystical poetry. Even Maulana Hali — a disciple of Ghalib in whose memory Haryana already has a major literary award — had expressed a desire to be buried at the feet of Hazrat Shah.

As it happens with many shining stars, certain jealous scholars tried to get a fatwa issued against him for not offering namaz regularly. Only the intervention of many admirers, who knew that he was entranced in the love of God, got it rejected.

Hazrat Boo Ali Shah Qalandar spent the last days of his life at Budha Kalan (near Karnal) where he died in 1324.

It is in the fitness of things that the inaugural award instituted in his name has gone to Dr Sardar Anjum, a similarly rebellious poet whom Nobel laureate Pearl S. Buck had described as an adorable mystic. This takes the tally of state awards won by him to 13.

When the Chief Minister, Mr Om Prakash Chautala, agreed to be the chief guest at the felicitation ceremony organised by the Sonepat District Administration and Adabi Sangam, he would have perhaps thought that the Padma Shri poet would recite some paeans to the administration. Imagine the surprise of the gathering when he chose to recite these lines instead:

Kachche gharon ke pakke log
Bhookhe mar gaye sachche log
Khudgarzi ki bheed mein dekho
Kho gaye achhchhe achhchhe log
Raj sinhasan dhoond rahe hain
Phir se chor uchakke log
Desh bachana hai gar logo
Dhoondh ke layo achche log

But then, as Wasim Barelvi, another noted poet, said on the occasion, Anjum writes what he feels, and vice-versa.

The other topic he chose to tackle during the all-India mushaira held on the occasion was the Indo-Pak relations, on which he has not only written extensively but has also made a tele-serial, ‘‘Goongi Tawarikh’’:

Kis tarz ki bata jang hai
Chahe mera mare chahe tera mare
Ansuon ka to ek rang hai

He shares with Hazrat Shah an abiding spiritual concern for the well being of the humanity. A poet does not mince words when describing reality. Anjum published a book against the Emergency, ‘‘Girnar’’, right during those dark days and even made bold to read it out to the Punjab Cabinet. Sanjay Gandhi was livid and Anjum had to remain underground till the Emergency was lifted.

Hukumaton se ulajh kar zubaan katwa li
Hamari chup ko kabhi bezubaan mat likhna

There are many who accuse this author of 18 books to be constantly pricking the existing literary world with barbs like:

Ek katre ki bhee taufeeq nahin thee jin ko
Unko achhchha na laga mera samandar rakhna

Or

Kahen kuchh gar inhe sachchai ki tauheen hai
Hamare kad ke dushman ho gaye hain aaj kuchh baune

But the rebel poet is unrepentant. He says he just cannot stomach the machinations of the establishment walking on the crutches of manipulated authority. ‘‘I’d rather suffer alone than seek security in the company of herd-mediocrity’’, he says defiantly.

Khuda bachaye suna hai ye sarphira Anjum
Chirag ban ke hawa se hisab mange hai

Among others who read their ‘‘qalam’’ at the mushaira were Ashok Sahil, Shahzada Gulrez, Nashir Naqvi, Wasim Barelvi, Krishna Bihari ‘‘Noor’’, Ved Diwana, Mauj Rampuri, Muzaffar Razmi, Sardar Panchhi, Naaz Sonepati, Dr A. V. Bharati ‘‘Adib’’, Bodhraj Zafar, Sonepat Deputy Commissioner Sudhir Rajpal, SP K.P. Singh, Arifa Shabnam and Naseem Nikhat.

Peep into Himachal darshan
By Ghanshyam Gupta

BIRBAL Sharma, 43 is a photographer by profession. He was born in a small hamlet of Hamirpur. During the past 25 years, this photographer-cum-press reporter has taken about 30,000 photographs of the beautiful landscapes of Himachal Pradesh.

The photographs have been clicked from artistical angles. In order to take these rare photographs Birbal has had to travel about 1,000 km on foot, at times jeopardising his life.

Birbal is a man of strong will. He had a dream to set up a photo gallery in the Mandi town of Himachal. He strove hard to translate his dream into a reality. Two years ago this dream became a reality when Mr Virbhadra Singh, former Chief Minister of Himachal Pradesh, inaugurated the photo gallery at Brindaban near Mandi on National Highway No 21.

In the photo gallery, named Himachal Darshan, Birbal has exhibited 300 enlarged photographs dealing with the lifestyle and culture of the people of the state. There are photographs of the exquisite lakes of Himachal Pradesh, snow-covered passes, gurgling rivers, cascades, beautiful valleys, green forests, meadows, ancient temples with rare carvings, glaciers, forests, palaces, frescoes in Buddhist temples, Himachali belles wearing ornaments and covering their bodies with, “rezta” and “dhatu” and Kinnauri caps.

Birbal has recently returned from his adventurous expeditions of the Parvati valley and Mentalai.

It may be remembered that Birbal was awarded the Himachal Kesri Award for Art in 1991. He says, “There is so much variety in Himachal Pradesh that one feels like capturing its captivating sights through the eye of the camera. The innocent people, their dances and songs, their faith in the village gods, the green pastures and the fairs and festivals are some of my subjects. Himachal gives a silent invitation to photographers with imagination. I have endeavoured to capture the hard life of the people of the state and also their traditions and joys and sorrows. It is a matter of regret that today we are leading an ostentatious life and are oblivious of our rich cultural heritage. We are ignorant about our archaeological wealth. With my camera I am trying to preserve this heritage. The camera freezes particular events which become valuable for our future. It is not the camera which is important, but the eye which presses the shutter. In order to take these rare photographs, I have crossed arduous passes. It is difficult to click the whole of Himachal Pradesh in one life. I have tried to give a glimpse of the beautiful state through this photo gallery.”

Perhaps this is the only photo gallery of North India, and Birbal is a source of inspiration to the youth of the country. He deserves praise for his sincere efforts to establish this unique gallery.

Sight and Sound
by Amita Malik
Hail the great white chief!

INDIANS cannot be blamed for feeling like second class citizens in their own country last week. President Clinton’s security men crudely took over every place he visited, telling people what to do and what not to do. Citizens living in private houses along the route to the Taj in Agra, were asked to keep their doors and windows shut, let alone cheer him on his way. Children sitting for exams were kept on tenterhooks about getting to their centres in time. Traffic was ordered off roads for hours, sometimes days, on end. As for the media, discrimination was practised in harmless areas, such as only American media persons being allowed in the Maurya Hotel for colour stories about kitchens and carpets. Such impossible camera positions were dictated at Rajghat, that commentators could not describe the President providing enticing visuals as spinning a charkha. Or being presented with Gandhian literature. I think this is also the first time that the foreign media have done their own uplinking from inside Parliament and not taken a feed from the national broadcaster.

However, trust Doordarshan to shoot itself in the foot or, if you prefer, kick the ball into its own goal. Except for the saving grace of Sunit Tandon, who did a very competent job of the running commentary on the President’s arrival at Rashtrapati Bhavan, and DD’s camerapersons, who always rise to the occasion, professionalism was conspicuous by its absence. For the first time in my long innings as a media columnist, I watched with disbelief a running commentary on a live event being done with studio armchair commentators taking over the minute the President and PM appeared for the Press conference. While Star News got Congressmen, Pressler and the Washington Post correspondent, DD could only get journalists of Chinese and Indian origin from outside. And Rajdeep Sardesai alone covered the Clinton visit from the Pakistan end.

There is a famous saying: “There’s none so blind as those who will not see”. While DD took its usual refuge, as it also did during the highjack drama in endless dull talkathons between its anchors and a variety of retired Indians diplomats and foreign secretaries, one felt sorry for Muchkund Dube. Asked airily by the anchor “What do you think will be the points in the vision agenda”, he could only reply ruefully”How should I know? I have no access to those papers”. Yet DD had right on tape, a series of interviews by experienced foreign affairs specialist Saeed Naqvi who is the only Indian media person who travelled to the USA in advance, covered it from coast to coast asking vital questions and getting valuable statements from about every American who mattered in the context of Clinton’s visit to India: Beginning with veterans Henry Kissinger and Zbigniew Brezenski, he put vital questions and got valuable policy statement from Karl F. Inderfurth (Whom he had met 20 years ago as a junior in the White House) Strobe Talbott, Michael A. Sheehan (US Coordinator for Counter Terrorism, where India is a partner) Susan Esserman, US DeputyTrade Representative, Bruce Reidel, Special Asst. to the President for Near East and South Asia, Morton Halperin Dir. Policy Planning Staff, US State Department’s Bruce Ridel is also, an authority on Afghanistan, Fareed Zakaria an Indian authority on foreign affairs, Kanwal Reikhi and others from Silicon Valley. Between them they answered all the questions which DD’s anchors were asking of Indian experts who were not remotely clued in on what American experts knew or were saying about the visit. Instead of putting it on as a valuable, first-hand curtain-raiser on the eve of the visit, DD put on this wonderful scoop on its shaky News Channel. Which few people receive clearly and very few watch, first at 1 p.m. and then at 6 p.m. (when I caught it by accident) on Tuesday, without any advance publicity, let alone at prime time on the National Channel where it belonged. It could also have provided valuable material to our government, since an independent journalist gets a totally different response and perspective.

As for the missed exclusive Clinton interview, with Naqvi doing the only regular international affairs programme on Indian TV, and for DD to boot, already in the USA and with contacts there, Naqvi was the obvious choice. Such requests go through Joe Lockhart, who corresponds to our JS (XPD) who forwards them to the White House, as Jassel does to the PMO. Instead, DD first tried to push, through the Indian ambassador, a media person with connections with Ford Foundation, then the editor of a paper bringing out a supplement on Clinton’s visit (did n’t they all?). But the USA media does not act through governments. And India lost its exclusive.

TAIL-PIECE: Someone should tell Rahul Dev that our President’s name is Narayanan and not Narayan. And Akshay Raut that our neighbour is not called Bangladesh (as in bang bang). And the young woman in the blue sari, from MEA, was so pushy and camera-hogging at both the forecourt of Rashtrapati Bhavan and Rajghat, that she made an embarrasing nuisance of herself. The foreign office should remain understand, like her dignified Chief of Protocol.