AUGUST 11-17 2013
(de)floured Gluten-intolerant people struggle in Pakistan with a lack of choices
AUGUST 11-17 2013
Feature
Portrait of a Vanished Time
Cover Story
Gut Instinct
Muhammad Umar Memon reviews The Mirror of Beauty
Our guide to gluten-free foods
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Feature
Girl Band Sufi Kashmir’s only all-girl mystical music group risks falling silent
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38 Regulars
6 People & Parties: Out and about with the beautiful people
41 Review: Venus on Fire Mars on Ice
42 Science: Salman Hameed on Voyager 1
Magazine Editor: Mahim Maher and Sub-Editors: Dilaira Mondegarian and Sundar Waqar Creative Team: Amna Iqbal, Jamal Khurshid, Anam Haleem, Essa Malik, Faizan Dawood, Samra Aamir and Asif Ali. Publisher: Bilal A Lakhani. Executive Editor: Muhammad Ziauddin. Editor: Kamal Siddiqi. For feedback and submissions: magazine@tribune.com.pk Twitter: @ETribuneMag & Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ETribuneMag Printed: uniprint@unigraph.com
PEOPLE & PARTIES
Madiha and Rabia
China Town opens up in Lahore Marya, Sumbul and Zohra
Sara and Mehar
Hina and Farah
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Rima and Natasha AUGUST 11-17 2013
Yasmin and Mobiha
Shermeen and Nosheen
PHOTOS COURTESY SAVVY PR AND EVENTS
Amna, Moiz, Mathira and Rose
AUGUST 11-17 2013
PEOPLE & PARTIES
Ambreen and Kashif
PHOTOS COURTESY BILAL MUKHTAR EVENTS & PR
Second Cup, Canada’s largest café franchisor, opens up in Islamabad
Dan and Sarah
Madiha and Asim
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Nelson and Mahnoor AUGUST 11-17 2013
Maham
Kiran and Natasha
Fareeha and Aiasotu
AUGUST 11-17 2013
PEOPLE & PARTIES
Beena, Noshi and Sahar
Menchie’s frozen yogurt opens up in Lahore PHOTOS COURTESY SAVVY PR
Annie
Madiha and Rabia
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Gul, Alyzeh and Ursala AUGUST 11-17 2013
Eisha and Bunty
Mahnoor and Azmat
Faiza
Sadia and Sara
AUGUST 11-17 2013
PEOPLE & PARTIES Yoglicious opens up in Lahore
Tahir and Maria B
Asifa
Tipu and Maram
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Palwasha and Fatima AUGUST 11-17 2013
Cesar and Lydia PHOTOS COURTESY BILAL MUKHTAR EVENTS & PR
Afshan
AUGUST 11-17 2013
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AUGUST 11-17 2013
PEOPLE & PARTIES
Karma Concept store opens up in Islamabad
Romaisa and Nosh
Fatima and Samina
Ayesha and Iqra Musadaq
Mani and Rakshi
Shazia , Alia and Neeli
Rubya
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Fia
Cybil
Farah, Marium and Sarah Saleem
Amna
PHOTOS COURTESY REZZ PR AND EVENTS
Maha, Mona and Ayesha
AUGUST 11-17 2013
PEOPLE & PARTIES
Ayesha and Tania Magie and Zeenia
Soha and Areej
Amra and Lubna Noor and Romaisa
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Mahira, Alia and Khadija AUGUST 11-17 2013
Huma and Areej
Cenila and Nadia
PHOTOS COURTESY REZZ PR AND EVENTS
Nadia Inam launches her collection at Melange, Islamabad
AUGUST 11-17 2013
COVER STORY
Gut Instinc
Could you be gluten-intolerant? Here is our guide free foods and the stories of how people were d
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ct
e to glutendiagnosed
BY SUNDAR WAQAR
No one knows your body better than you do. Battling gluten intolerance for years and officially undiagnosed for the most part, I affirm this claim like many others like me. After countless hours in hospitals, multiple tests and being diagnosed with various other diseases, eventually a selfdiagnosis and confirmation from doctors in New York led to the elimination of gluten from my diet and a relief to my stomach after years. I have celiac disease.
Celiac disease is a disorder resulting from an autoimmune reaction to gluten. It is caused by a reaction to a gluten protein found in wheat, barley, rye, and sometimes oats, which leads to the inflammation and destruction of the inner lining of the small intestine. This chronic digestive disorder prevents minerals and nutrients from being absorbed as well. There is no cure for celiac disease. The only effective treatment is a gluten-free diet. Lack of awareness and varying symptoms of celiac disease make it hard to diagnose. Rahma Muhammad Mian was diagnosed three years ago after suffering from the skin condition of eczema since birth (a symptom of gluten intolerance). “I was tested for celiac thrice,” says the 29-year-old journalist. But the celiac test cannot be relied on. “All three times I was diagnosed with IBS [irritable bowel syndrome]. Until I went to New York where they did a biopsy and I was eventually diagnosed with microscopic-colitis,” she says. Microscopic-colitis leads to gluten intolerance. After eliminating gluten from her diet, Rahma’s eczema patches started disappearing on their own. Rahma even had a biopsy in Pakistan but the gastroenterologists missed the possibility of celiac disease. “The field is still new. Quite possible that Pakistani gastroenterologists don’t know about it,” she says. “From experience we can suspect if the patient has celiac disease and we test them accordingly,” says Dr Zaigham Abbas, consultant gastroenterologist and member of the medical advisory board for the Pakistan Celiac Society. But some celiac patients beg to differ. I went through numerous tests, ultrasounds and endoscopies myself but it was not until after I abstained from consuming gluten and I started feeling better that I was diagnosed. Anis Dhanani, the 59-year-old owner of Karachi’s best kept gluten-free secret, Damascus, suffered for four decades before he was diagnosed by his brother, a dermatologist who researched his brother’s symptoms online. “I am not a doc-
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COVER STORY tor, just somebody who suffered a lot,” he told The Express Tribune. “My own diagnosis was done on the basis of giving up gluten and I suggest people with symptoms [of celiac disease] consult a doctor and start a gluten-free diet, keeping in mind that it is very hard to diagnose and there is little awareness of the disease even among doctors.” A study titled ‘Varied Presentation of Celiac Disease in Pakistani Adults’ recently published in the Journal of the College of Physicians and Surgeons Pakistan seems to confirm this. “It [celiac disease] has extremely varied clinical presentations,” says the study. “Not much is known about the presentation of this disease in Pakistani adults.”
Solutions and problems The lack of awareness and thus choices means that people like Anis Dhanani have had to find their own culinary solutions in Pakistan — but they are far and few between for now. His restaurant, Damascus, famous for its shawarmas, has developed a special gluten-free menu — the first in Pakistan. “[For the] first two years of my intolerance I was at a loss, all my food was coming from London,” he says. “I wanted to help and serve my fellow sufferers.” It started with gluten-free pita bread. A simple step, it may seem, but gluten, a protein in wheat, barley and rye constitutes the staple diet of Pakistanis. Gluten gives baked goods elasticity. Without it, a Pakistani meal is considered incomplete and baked goods are dry and crumbly. “It took around 100 batches,” he says, “and a lot of patience, constant experimentation, and finally, three gels and five starches to perfect it.” The work paid off. Damascus is now delivering nation-wide, serving a gluten-intolerant clientele in Karachi, Lahore, Kohat, Badin, Khuzdar, Abbotabad, DG Khan and other cities. Like Dhanani, a few others, mostly home-based bakers, have decided to cater to celiac patients. But as Dhanani notes, only a gluten-intolerant serving gluten-free food can win the trust of the clients, understand the regulations and plight, and ensure the food is in fact gluten-free and not cross-contaminated. Tanya Elahi runs a gluten-free and allergen-free bakery from home, Simply Bread, in Lahore. “My five-year-old daughter and I suffer from gluten intolerance,” she explains. “I started making gluten-free food for my daughter. She would see other kids in school eating nuggets and cakes and would ask for them,” says the self-diagnosed mother. For Tanya and her daughter dining out can be difficult. Indeed, the pleasures of eating out are often denied to people who avoid gluten as the autoimmune disorder can cause serious problems if even the slightest bit is ingested. To give 28 you an idea, even a dusting of regular flour can cause probAUGUST 11-17 2013
lems. Menus are a source of anxiety and self-consciousness because — besides its presence in obvious culprits like roti, bread, pasta and dessert — gluten also lurks in soy sauce, thickeners, vinegars, salad dressings, soups, some spices and Pakistani dishes such as haleem, nihari and kunna to name a few. “The lack of awareness of celiac disease makes it even harder to dine out,” says Rahma. The chefs and waiters do not understand the gravity of the disease. As many sufferers can relate, I have come across waiters who thought I was ‘joking’, as I dictated the procedure of serving me a gluten-free and allergen-free meal. Suffering with allergies to soy, nuts and cherries along with lactose and gluten intolerance, I usually have to deal with annoyed or baffled waiters and allergic reactions later. As with most cases of gluten intolerance, various other food allergies develop. “On the villi (lining of small intestine) there are certain enzymes that are important to digest many carb[ohydrate]s including lactose,” explains Dr Zaigham Abbas. In celiac disease, the intestinal villi become damaged (flattened). Immune reactions to ingested gluten can cause this damage, which can impair the production of lactase. Loss of this enzyme results in a condition called lactose intolerance and can lead to other food allergies as well. Damascus and Simply Bread address other food allergies as well to ensure gluten-free and allergen-free foods for their clients. “I have clients who are not necessarily gluten-intolerant but have wheat allergy, diabetes, cancer or suspect they have gluten-intolerance,” says Tanya. A gluten-free diet is being recommended for diabetics as well as studies show a reverse in symptoms of diabetes for patients on a gluten-free diet. (For
more details please see diabetes.org and always consult your doctor before making any such decisions if you are diabetic). Creating a gluten-free menu is more difficult than say, offering vegetarian options at a steakhouse. Chefs have to follow special techniques, follow stringent regulation and avoid cross-contamination. Dhanani says, “It takes months to develop each item and the ingredients cost up to five times as much as conventional ones.” Gluten is not only confined to food or ingredients. It causes problems if gluten-free food is cooked or stored in the same facility as gluten food or being handled with the same hands. “I explained everything to him [the waiter] and my glutenfree chicken was ready, but then he used bread to take it off the skewer,” says Dhanani recalling the disappointment after hungrily anticipating a meal at a restaurant.
COVER STORY Symptoms and worries Gluten intolerance manifests itself in different forms. For some it attacks the gut and in others it may cause skin problems as in Rahma’s case. “If I use a normal soap I get eczema on my hands,” says Rahma. Gluten lurks in soaps, shampoos, lipsticks and toothpastes. Not all celiac patients, like me, have to use gluten-free skin products but mostly all have to abstain from consuming it. Celiac disease sounds scary at first especially since we Pakistanis consume gluten in some form in every meal. Abstinence from gluten and not being able to eat roti made with atta (wheat) is something most of us have never considered. Having a major sweet-tooth, I still remember the horror when my doctor asserted: “No more gluten. Ever.” But the pain I suffer after consuming gluten has instilled in me a fear so bad that I prefer settling for homemade crumbly gluten-free cookies than even thinking of taking a bite of that chocolate cake from the dessert trolley. T
Gluten-Free Food Guide Islamabad Barsa Store, G-10 Markaz Essa G, Kohsar Market, F-6
Karachi Agha’s Supermarket, Clifton Order: Damascus Café, Block 9, Clifton (Nation-wide delivery) Order: Comfort Food Factory, placemyorder@thecomfortfoodfactory.com
Symptoms & signs It is estimated that about 1% of the world’s population suffers from gluten intolerance. Could you be one of them? If you have any of the following symptoms it could be a sign that you have gluten intolerance: 1. Digestive issues such as gas, bloating, vomiting, diarrhoea and even constipation. 2. A Vitamin D deficiency, checked with a blood test. 3. Fatigue, brain fog or feeling tired after eating a meal that contains gluten. 4. Diagnosis of an autoimmune disease such as Hashimoto’s thyroiditis, Rheumatoid arthritis, Ulcerative colitis, Lupus, Psoriasis, Scleroderma or Multiple sclerosis. 5. Neurologic symptoms such as dizziness or feeling of being off balance. 6. Skin problems such as eczema. 7. Diagnosis of chronic fatigue or fibromyalgia. These diagnoses simply indicate your conventional doctor cannot pin point the cause of your fatigue or pain. 8. Inflammation, swelling or pain in your joints such as fingers, knees or hips. SOURCE: MEDICINENET.COM
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Lahore Essa G, MM Alam Road and DHA Makro, Model Town, Link Road Victoria, Model Town, Link Road Al-Fatah Stores, Liberty Market and DHA Jalal Sons, Main Market, Gulberg Panjeeri Shop, Mini Market, Gulberg H Karim Buksh DHA Order: Simply Bread, 0333 4631030 (Nation-wide delivery)
Peshawar Jan’s Arcade, Islamia Road, opp Chen One store, Saddar Ahmed’s Mart, Jawad Tower, University Road Avon Superstore, Located between Shell gas station & Spinzer Plaza University Road
Foods that contain gluten Grains Barley - Bran - Bulgur - Farina - Kamut - Graham Semolina - Spelt - Wheat
Baked Goods: Cake - Bread - Bread crumbs - Cupcakes - Tortillas Bagels - Muffins - Pastries
Meat: Breaded meat or chicken - Oven- or deep-fried meats - Hot dogs and other meats processed with ‘natural flavours’
Other Items: Dressings - Couscous - Tabbouli - Gravies ies - Sauces - Candy oup and broth - Frozen Potato chips - Tortilla chips - Canned soup ant or fast food French or canned vegetables in sauce - Restaurant e gluten-free). fries (McDonald’s and Fatburger fries are Cereal made from rye, wheat, bran, and barley always contain gluten, but ones containing oats, corn, and rice are often processed on the same equipment as their gluten counterparts. It en free’ label on cereal. is imperative that you look for the ‘gluten 31 AUGUST 11-17 2013
ESSAY
Shamsur Rahman Faruqi’s novel The Mirror of Beauty is epic in its encyclopaedic sweep of 18th and 19th century India BY MUHAMMAD UMAR MEMON
Milan Kundera K d observes b somewhere h that th t the th novel does not write a society’s history. Its overwhelming concern is, rather, with the existential condition of the individual. Philosophical discourse is not part of its provenance, though its characters may engage philosophy where the 32 latter is not the object of novelistic intention but AUGUST 11-17 2013
l an element l t off its it strategy, t t t reveall tellingly t lli l only to some aspect of the character’s persona. In his masterwork, The Mirror of Beauty (Hamish Hamilton, 2013; 958 pages), Shamsur Rahman Faruqi seems to have found a happy medium. It is a novel as much about a woman — a stunning beauty of elegant grace, infinite dignity and gravitas — as about Indo-Muslim culture in its heyday
and during its precipitous decline, mostly at the hands of the British in 19th-century India, but partly also because of the sapped energies of the latter day Mughals who failed to rise to the demands of statecraft with shrewdness, creativity, and grit. But perhaps the overarching impulse behind this work’s creation springs from the author’s tender regard for a way of life whose memory is fast receding from our collective memory — to preserve before time has annulled what was once a living, scintillating reality, or, at least, our romanticised vision of that reality. Faruqi does not, however, use his protagonist as a living museum for the display of cultural artefacts, divested of personality, volition, and selfhood. His intimate knowledge of a bygone era, its people, their manners and language, compounded by an uncannily intuitive sense of the nuances and intricacies of the poetics of good fiction, enables him to interweave the quintessential qualities of both with such deftness and surety of touch that the two melt, almost as a dialectical necessity, into a breathtaking intimacy. It is the culture that makes Wazir Khanam who she is, and it is the mirror of her being in which the entire elegance of that culture, its decorum, its insatiable love of the literary arts, miniature painting, music, a myriad of crafts, even maladies and their indigenous as well as Greco-Arab cures, is reflected in a rainbow of warm, dazzling colours. The delightful ambiguity of “beauty” in the title further reinforces the author’s twin concern, as the beauty of the protagonist and the culture meld so seamlessly it is impossible to think of them as separate entities, or to discern where reality eases into illusion. But it is a beauty as much illusory as tangibly real. Illusory in the form of the non-existent Bani Thani (“The Bedecked One”) who dominates the first 150 pages of the novel, and every bit as sensually real as the ravishing Wazir Khanam of the remaining 850. Either way, its seductions prove fatal in the end. Even as it generates the desire for heaven or for earth, it destroys by its lethal effects on men. Central Asian culture, transplanted to India by the Mughals with an ecumenical incorporation of native Indian customs and conventions, is enacted through Wazir Khanam and a fairly extensive cast of characters, some from the lower classes and in subservient roles, but most drawn from the upper crust — indeed some of them historical personages — and in commanding positions. And all this in the midst of the irritating presence of the foreign intruder: the Company Bahadur. The English, literally in awe of the majesty of Indo-Muslim culture before the 1800s, had acquired, as William Dalrymple notes in The White Mughals, all the hubris and arrogance of an upstart with the advent of Wellesley on the
The Mirror of Beauty is a novel as much about a woman — a stunning beauty of elegant grace — as about Indo-Muslim culture in its heyday and during its precipitous decline, mostly at the hands of the British in 19thcentury India 33 AUGUST 11-17 2013
ESSAY
Although fictionalised, Wazir Khanam is a historical character. She was the mother of the Urdu poet Dagh Dehlavi. Wazir’s ancestors were natives of Ajmer in Rajputana, until her great-great-great grandfather, the miniature painter Mian Makhsusullah fled to Kashmir
Moti Singh of Udaipur. SOURCE: CHRISTIE’S IMAGES horizon of India in 1798 as governor-general. Although fictionalised, Wazir Khanam is a historical character. She was the mother of the Urdu poet Dagh Dehlavi. Born sometime in early 19th-century Delhi, Wazir’s ancestors were natives of the Hindal Purwah village some twenty miles from Kishangarh in the province of Ajmer in Rajputana, until her great-great-great grandfather, the miniature painter Mian Makhsusullah fled to Kashmir. He had painted the image of an imaginary Bani Thani. On an unscheduled visit to his estate, Maharval Gajendrapati Singh saw the iconic image hanging in an alcove of Mian Makhsusullah’s hut. Its lifelike resemblance to his own younger daughter Man Mohini so enraged him that he suspected some promiscuous goings-on in the back of the portrait. He had Mohini brought in a palanquin, accused the innocent girl of dishonouring him, and slit her throat, giving the residents until the next morning to vacate the village. Still later, Mian’s two grandsons, the twins Daud and Yaqub, moved to Farrukhabad and Delhi, with a brief 34 stopover in their ancestral Rajputana, where they lost their AUGUST 11-17 2013
hearts to two ravishingly beautiful orphan sisters and married them. But who is this enigmatic Bani Thani, and was Mian Makhsusullah’s some morbid fixation? By the time Mian arrives in Kashmir he is firmly resolved never to paint again. He learns, instead, the art of producing talim-ie, creation of exceptionally intricate designs for carpet weaving. However, the imaginary Bani Thani is so enmeshed in his being that he paints her yet again, this time on ivory, and hangs it in an alcove in his atelier. He would gaze at it many times during the day and, as often, during nightlong vigils. He lives, but just. His soul is on fire, desperately seeking an ideal well nigh unattainable in this life. The day his son is born, he places the infant in the arms of his brother-in-law and leaves the house never to return. He is found reclining against a mighty oak, covered in his blanket — dead, his hand curled over the piece of ivory. The two are laid to rest in a single grave. The strikingly beautiful and mysterious Bani Thani represents a Platonic ideal, not some flesh-and-blood woman. “Some people also described her as ‘The Radha of Kishangarh’, meaning the beloved of God Krishna.” The reference to Radha, “the beloved of God Krishna,” and the disquietude in Mian Makhsusullah’s soul, as much as his absorption in something beyond human contingency, represent, what Shelley eloquently calls “The desire of the moth for the star, / Of the night for the morrow, / The devotion of something afar / From the sphere of our sorrow.” In other words, the painful realisation of the yawning gulf between the phenomenal and the transcendent eternal, and the impatient desire to be gathered up in it until all consciousness of personal ego is extinguished — a notion common enough in the Sufi metaphysics of Wahdat al-Wujud.
Makhsusullah (Appropriated by God) may not have been a Sufi, but his every movement belies unmistakable sufic strains: his detachment, his otherworldliness. Bani Thani to him was a symbol of something lacking, but necessary, in human existence, something sublime and of an infinitely higher order that existed beyond time, and drew him inexorably to itself. He may not have been able to articulate with the clear vision of a Sufi, still his Bani Thani was the mimesis of the cosmic spirit in an imagined earthly medium. Wazir’s character dominates the novelistic space from Book 3. She comes through as an individual minutely conscious of her unassailable erotic powers over men. But she knows how to restrain those powers from riding roughshod over her drooling admirers, schooled as she is in the courtesies and mores of her culture, and deferential to a fault to its requirements and limits. Lively, self-willed, unwilling to submit to domesticity, full of wit and subtle humour, with a passion for life and aware of the demands of her flesh, she never oversteps those limits yet manages, amazingly, to preserve her individuality. Mistress of three men (Englishman Marston Blake in the employ of the Company Bahadur; Nawab Shamsuddin Ahmad Khan, a close relative of the poet Ghalib; and Agha Mirza Turab Ali), hoping someday to rise to the status of wife, she is singularly unlucky as the lives of all three are snuffed out prematurely. Blake meets his end in Jaipur at the hands of an overexcited mob that suspected the Company of interfering in the business of the Maharaja’s succession; the Mirza is done in by thugs; while the public hanging of the Nawab owes in no small measure to the rivalry and ultimate humiliation of the Resident to the State of the Company Bahadur, Nawab William Fraser Sahib, who had lost the affections of Wazir to the handsome Nawab. (Not content with his burgeoning seraglio of half a dozen desi bibis and numerous boy-lovers, Fraser wanted to add Wazir to his sprawling harem as well.) Her fourth wooer, none other than the Mughal prince and heir apparent Mirza Fathul Mulk Bahadur, who finally bestows on her the much longed for and much delayed dignity of becoming a legally wedded wife, dies suddenly in 1856, a year before the sun was to set irrevocably on the Mughal Empire, or whatever was left of its nominal authority amidst the steadily encroaching power of the English. Wazir goes through her tragic vicissitudes with exceptional grit, stoicism, and grace. The deaths of the four men in her life, whom she loved in her own way, are not the only wounds life has given her. Practically disowned by her religiously devout father and eldest sister, who could not put up with what they assumed to be her unforgivably unortho-
Shamsur Rahman Faruqi worked as a civil servant in the postal department until his retirement. He is a poet, critic, and literary theorist acclaimed for this three-volume critical work on the Urdu dastan.
Faruqi’s The Mirror of Beauty is the English reincarnation of his gargantuan novel Ka’i Chand the Sar-e Asman. But even though it is a reworking in English of the Urdu original, the Mirror rarely drifts away from the main events of the original dox ways, she also had to suffer the haughtiness, the sleazy machinations, the petty-mindedness and jealousy of the relatives of her four lovers. Not only is she divested of material assets after their deaths, even her two children with Blake are practically snatched away from her lap by Blake’s cousins, the Tyndales. By the time the novel has moved to Wazir Khanam, the spiritual purity and considerably less materialistic aura of the traditional culture has undergone a palpable change. The affinity of Wazir and Bani Thani is not in the physical realm but in a notion of beauty — bewitching enough to put men beside themselves. Something of an epic in its magnificent expansiveness, 35 AUGUST 11-17 2013
ESSAY the Mirror defies any attempt even to enumerate its tantalising wealth, much less to adequately discuss it in a few hundred words, which would be like the attempt “To see a world in a grain of sand” and “eternity in an hour.” The whole way of life of 18th- and 19-th century India is gathered in the novel’s encyclopaedic sweep. One can literally assemble several inventories of manners, ceremonies, festivals, fabrics, jewelry, arts and crafts, arms and weaponry, you name it. The description of Wazir’s attire at her first visit to Nawab Shamsuddin alone is spread over four pages, and that of his palatial residence in Daryaganj takes up over five. Some individuals defy our notions of human possibility and limit. Faruqi is one such individual. A civil servant in the postal department until his retirement, he accomplished in letters what few are able to in educational institutions and literary academies. A poet, a critic, a theorist of literature, a fan and translator of detective novels, a polymath, with a profound knowledge of music and painting — the list of his achievements is endless. As if his studies of Ghalib and Mir, his incisive comments about the nature of fiction, his insightful forays into lexicography and prosody, and, lately, his three-volume critical work on the Urdu dastan, a stunning contribution to world literature, were not enough to leave ordinary mortals breathless over his vast erudition and creativity, he has achieved in a single novel what writers toil a lifetime to achieve, but few ever do: the brilliant portrait of a vanished time. Faruqi came to fiction later in his career with the publication of half a dozen short stories, later collected in Savar aurr Doosray Afsane. While readers were still reeling from the stunning beauty of these stories, a treasure of cultural riches broke upon their senses with a crashing force — his gargantuan novel Ka’i Chand the Sar-e Asman (The Mirror of Beauty in its English reincarnation). A reworking in English of the Urdu original, the Mirror rarely drifts away from the main events of the original. And Faruqi alone could have accomplished this formidable feat. The characters of a bygone age, their every breath and movement steeped in the unmistakable ambience of a self-sufficient but, ultimately, doomed culture, with its penchant for high-living, pleasure, allusion and poetry, required an idiom commensurate with their times and cultural personality. Faruqi’s stylised English — notwithstanding its few infelicitous contemporary “hey” and “girlie” and “you son of a gun” — gives the novel its razor-sharp edge of authenticity. India should be rightly proud that two of the greatest living Urdu writers, both recipients of the Sarasvati Samman — Faruqi and Naiyer Masud, an academic, research scholar and a short-story writer — make their home in its bosom. 36 And Penguin, equally, should be congratulated for publishAUGUST 11-17 2013
ing them both in the same year (Masud’s The Occult, Seemiya in its original Urdu, will appear later this year). The Mirror of beauty is available at Liberty Books for Rs1,271 after 15% discount.
A shorter version of this piece first appeared in Mint Lounge (www.livemint.com) Dr Muhammad Umar Memon is Professor Emeritus of Urdu Literature and Islamic Studies. He has been associated with the University of Wisconsin Madison since 1970. He is a scholar, translator, poet, Urdu short story writer, and the editor of The Annual of Urdu Studies.
Girl Band Sufi
Kashmir’s only all-girl mystical music group risks falling silent BY SANA ALTAF
Creaky wooden stairs lead to a shabby room. Against the weak walls rest sitar, tabla, santoor, dhokra, all in line and covered in dust. The only time these musical instruments come to life is when Shaista* and her four friends come here to rehearse. While Shaista breathes life into the sitar and the stringed Kashmiri santoor, Naseema thrums on the tabla as Ayesha creates magic on the dhokra drum. Musical interludes follow touching praises of Prophet Mohammad (PBUH) in the tranquil voices of the young girls. Within no time, the otherwise silent derelict room fills with sufi music, now facing extinction in Kashmir. With state government and civil society failing to preserve the heritage of the traditional sufi music of the valley, this group of five girls is striving to keep the art alive. Besides taking part in local and national events such as the state sufi music festivals and events of the Sangeet Natak Academy, they have worked for Indian film-maker Muzaffar Ali and theater director MK Raina. The girls are determined to pass on the tradition to the next generation. “In this century, our youth are turning to western music like the Beatles, the Backstreet Boys [and] Michael Jackson besides being drawn to Bollywood music. But our culture is different from it. We cannot forget our rich heritage and adopt the culture of other countries,” says 24-year-old Shaista, the group leader of the valley’s sole woman sufi group. A group with no formal name. Shaista was a mere 11 years old when she started taking lessons in sufi music from the valley’s veteran sufi artist, Mohammad Yaqoob Sheikh. The grandson of one of the most revered names, the late Ghulam Mohammad Qaleenbaaf, Sheikh is one of the few teachers and artists left here. He is reputed for his individual contribution in keeping this art alive by training young talent and is a recipient of many state and national awards. “My grandmother was a spiritual person and loved sufi music. Because of her, my family was inclined towards sufism which is why my parents sent me to learn it,” says Shaista. With time, Shaista became well versed in the sitar, santoor and even singing. She invited more girls to join the group. However, she could not continue with her education after grade 12 due to financial constraints. Sheikh would teach the girls free every day. But despite these efforts, the group did not survive beyond two years. “The girls in my group got married after which they did not continue with singing. Out of six girls, I
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(Above and below) The first girl band of Kashmir, Pragaash, was formed in 2012 but broke up a year later after receiving threats.
A group of musicians performing sufi music in Kashmir, featuring the sitar and Kashmiri santoor, a 100-string hammer dulcimer with a range of three octaves that is played with a mallet. was the only one left.” The dearth of job opportunities in the field further contributed to the split. This did not discourage Shaista (then 14). She went out and pitched to other friends and roped them in to form a new group of four more girls. Sheikh started training this new batch and they proved to be more talented and dedicated than the previous one. “I have learned sufi music for six years. My soul is in it and I shall continue to learn and teach it as far as I am alive,” says Naseema, 21, who started training at the age of 12. Hailing from a poor family of Budgam, Naseema could not pursue her studies beyond class 11 either. Her father does manual labour to feed the family of six. Yet she is determined to continue singing. “I am from [a] poor family and cannot do much. I feel it is my duty to pass on this art to [the] next generation. I am training my little cousins how to play the tabla and sing,” she adds. Twenty-year-old Ayesha dreams of setting up an institute for teaching sufi music but this won’t be possible without funding. “All those who know sufi music this time share the responsibility to preserve it,” she says. “We are among them.” Ayesha says their group works hard and performs well in programmes. “We ensure we participate in events so that people are encouraged to take up this art. At a time when scores of upcoming artists have quit sufi music, our performance is contributing to keep it alive.” All the artists of the group are certified or approved by Radio Kashmir, Doordarshan, India’s Sangeet Natak Academy, the Jammu and Kashmir Academy of Art, and Cultural and Languages and have been recognised by several private national art groups. Kashmir has a long tradition of sufi music. The 600-year-old spiritual art form came to the valley from Central Asia in the 15th century. It grew as a popular means of entertainment. It is primarily Persian and Kashmiri vocal and choral music performed by an ensemble of four to seven musicians led by one. The work of the great mystics of Persia and Kashmir such as Hafiz, Jalaluddin Rumi, Jami, Omar Khayam, Amir Khusrau, Rasul Mir and Neame Seab form the corpus, according to the extensive website on the topic, kashmirsufiana.com.
The 600-yearold spiritual art form (sufi music) came to the valley from Central Asia in the 15th century
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The Pragaash band was the first all-girl rock band in Kashmir
(Top) The santoor, (bottom left) the tabla and (bottom right) the sitar. Despite this long history, not more than five to six sufi music teachers exist in Kashmir today. And only 20 to 30 people know the art. Kashmir has only one existing master of sufi music, Ghulam Mohammad Saznawaz. “Out of 180 melodies and ragas which find reference in ancient scriptures, 138 are lost,” Sheikh told The Express Tribune. The remaining 42 melodies are preserved by the legendary Sheikh Abdul Aziz in his musical notation ‘Kashur Sargam’ meaning Kashmiri melody. “It hurts to see sufi music dying. Only [a] countable number of sufi music artists are with us now. Many of them are elderly,” says Sheikh. One of the major factors is a lack of state patronage, which is why boys tend to be discouraged from taking up this art as a career. “With my own money and efforts I have been training boys and girls so that it [sufi music] is preserved. But after working hard for seven to eight years, they get no jobs, no career. They struggle for money and 40 finally they quit,” he explains. AUGUST 11-17 2013
It would have certainly helped to have state-sponsored music schools or formal music courses in educational institutions, which could generate employment and interest. “Our youth love[s] music but they either have to leave Kashmir for it or quit,” he laments. He dreads the same will happen with the girls if their
work is not recognised. There is only one precedent for this kind of cultural effort: the Pragaash band, the first all-girl rock band in Kashmir. The three teenage girls got together in 2012 and performed publically for the first time in December 2012 at a ‘Battle of the Bands’ competition where they received the award for best performance. Soon after the event, though, men threatened the girls with rape and death over the phone and social media (Facebook). It did not help that in February this year, the grand mufti of Kashmir issued a fatwa against the group, stating that music was “not good for society” and that all “bad things happening in Indian society were because of music”. Following the fatwa and condemnation from wide sections of society the pressure proved too much to bear and group publically decided to quit. Sheikh just hopes that the young sufi musicians won’t meet the same fate. *Names have been changed to protect identities.
BOOK
COULDN’T STRESS IT MORE
John Gray explains how stress hormones harm your health and marital relationships BY ISHRAT ANSARI
We all have days when we can’t understand our problems and try to look for a solution. But we don’t know where to look. John Gray’s new book Venus on Fire, Mars on Ice is a solution. It shows how stress affects relationships, and highlights the different gender responses to emotional and physical stress. The book deals with what men and women can do to help each other understand hormonal balance. At least it helped me bridge the communication gap with my husband. Gray underlines the significance of two hormones: oxytocin for women and testosterone for men. The more women take on the same responsibilities as men, the less oxytocin they make, and the more men take on female responsibilities, the less testosterone they make. To start out, he points out how gender roles in a marriage were previously defined — women were to stay at home while men were breadwinners — and how the dynamics have changed today. With more working women today, the stress at home has increased. It is therefore important to understand hormonal changes and the effect they have on our mood and eventually our relationships. Stress levels in urban and rural settings vary though. According to Gray, living in urban areas can be more stressful because of increased noise pollution. When it comes to relieving that stress, he notes (in his geographical context) that twice as many women as men are taking antidepressants, which can (but not always) result in weight gain. One study reveals that during a moderately stressful situation, a woman’s brain has eight times more blood flow in the emotional part as compared to a man’s brain. The food we eat plays a key role too. Good nutrition produces the right hormones and balances them and simple changes in diet can go a long way in transforming relationships. When you are under stress, sugar and organic food can help. Along with food, a good night’s sleep, five to eight hours, can also help you cope better. Tips and practical knowledge are plentiful in the book, with one chapter entirely devoted to them. For instance, to ensure a continuous supply of feel-good hormones, women need to talk. And if they are denied the opportunity of express their feelings, women experience stress and feel neglected by their spouses. On the other hand, men need to do things their way and they need the time and space to do it. Instead of looking for ways to improve themselves, they attempt to do things that they are best at and seek appreciation for it. And when a woman acknowledges that, she helps restore his testosterone levels. Gray notes that both men and women can be motivated to lead happier lives together. The key is to manage your stress which according to the writer is the single most important factor in dysfunctional relationships. T
Relationship Rescue: Men, Women and Relationships: Making Peace with the Opposite Sex Relationship expert John Gray in this book enables you to recognise and accept the differences between you and your loved one, equipping you to avoid inevitable bumps in your love-life. He explains the different ways men and women communicate, cope with stress, resolve conflicts, and experience and give love.
Why Can’t You Read My Mind? Psychologist Jeffrey Bernstein in Why Can’t You Read My Mind? reveals the nine toxic thought patterns that poison and end relationships. Bernstein offers a simple yet powerful approach for breaking the negative thinking cycle and helps readers establish positive thinking for solving their problems and dealing with the stresses of everyday life.
Marriage Rules: A Manual for the Married and the Coupled Up Marriage Rules offers new relationship advice to age-old problems in a unique format. Dr Harriet Lerner gives readers more than one hundred rules that cover all hurdles and lead to a perfect long-lasting relationship.
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Available at Liberty Books for Rs846 after a 15% discount AUGUST 11-17 2013
Urdu float ing at t of ou he r So ed lar S g e yste m A golden record on Voyager 1 saves snippets of human culture just in case it meets new friends in space BY SALMAN HAMEED Assalam alaikum. Hum zameen kay rehnay waalon kee taraf say aap ko khush amdaid kehtay hain (Peace be upon you. We the inhabitants of this Earth send our greetings to you). This greeting is onboard the farthest human-made object from the Earth: Voyager 1. Launched in 1977, Voyager 1 provided the first close-up pictures of Jupiter and Saturn, before starting its journey out of our Solar System. After 35 years of travels, it is now roughly 19 billion kilometers from the Earth. There is another way to think about this distance. A radio message from the Sun would take only eight minutes to get to us. From Voyager 1, it currently takes 17 hours! Furthermore, the distance between us and this assalam alaikum will only keep on growing. Urdu is not the only language onboard. There are greetings in 55 world languages, including Akkadian, a language once spoken in Mesopotamia four thousand years ago. These greetings are stored on a golden record onboard Voyager 1. In addition to welcoming messages, the 90-minute record contains music (from Beethoven’s 5th symphony and Chuck Berry’s Johnny B. Goode to Senaghalese percussion and Raag Bhairvi), natural sounds (from wind and thunder to croaking frogs and bird songs), and 115 pictures depicting life here on Earth (you can listen to and see all the contents at goldenrecord.org). If in the far-far future, some alien race encounters Voyager 1 spacecraft, they will get a glimpse of life and culture here on Earth — at least as envisioned by astronomer Carl Sagan and his associates for Nasa in the seventh decade of the 20th century. But in its outward journey, Voyager 1 can also tell us about the boundary of our Solar system. This is a hard task. There are no ceremonial displays of national identities, like at the Wagah border. There are no billboards in space saying that you are now leaving the Solar system. Nor are there any border checkpoints that may 42 look at the nationality of Voyager 1 with suspicion. AUGUST 11-17 2013
e One way to define ur the “border” of our Solar system is by its Heliosphere. Within this ly to region we are likely ticles — encounter most particles ns, in this electrons and protons, ted by the Sun case — that are emitted l wind. i d But, B t our Solar S l sys- tem t as part of its steady Solar also contains particles — mostly protons — that were once produced inside exploding stars and now fill up the space within our Galaxy. Instruments on Voyager 1 can distinguish between these two types of particles — the locals and the visitors from outside. The boundary of our Solar system, then, can be defined as the place where the number of particles from the wider Galaxy starts outnumbering the particles from our Sun. This is our border. Just this past year, humanity’s farthest object reached such a border: the number of Solar wind particles dropped precipitously — by more than a thousand. During the same period of time, the number of particles from the Galaxy increased ten-fold. It seems that Voyager 1 is now in the process of entering interstellar space. The spacecraft is not aimed at any particular star. But in 40,000 years, it will pass close to a small star named Gliese 445. We do not even know if there are any planets around this star, let alone any life capable of detecting and capturing Voyager 1. But if some thinking beings do end up playing the Golden Record, they will also get to see a picture of a lively street scene from Pakistan — inhabitants that speak Urdu. We will be long gone by that time, and it is impossible to predict the future of humanity four thousand decades from now. However, our Urdu greeting will sound as fresh as ever. In the mean time, on this planet, Eid Mubarak! Salman Hameed is associate professor of integrated science and humanities at Hampshire College, Massachusetts, USA. He runs the blog Irtiqa at irtiqa-blog.com