‘Strings’ Rock Chennnai at 'Amaze 06'
syed Ali Mujtaba
Chennai, March 29, 2006: `Mein teri tu mera jane saare Hindustan', the Indian audience shot back `mein teri tu mera jane saare Pakistan' screaming to pop group Strings' performance at Amaze '06 organized by Indian Institute of Planning and Management here in the city.
Strings performing
Strings duo Bilal Maqsood and Faisal Kapadia rocked the music loving chennai crowd and was ably supported by Shakir and Adeel on the guitar, and Quaras on the drums.
“Pakistan may be a bus ride away from India but it’s a long journey from this south Indian port town... all about Pakistan is twinkle twinkle little stars,” said 21 year old Sujata Krishnan, who had come to watch the performance of the musical sensation from across the border.
‘I have been seeing these guys on the TV and it's the first time I am able to see them on stage, this is something unbelievable,’ said another college girl Aparna about Faisal and Bilal the lead pair of Strings.
When asked if the Pakistani crowd would react the same way as did the Chennai crowd, Faisal quipped ‘Why not, it's a people to people interaction, and they are the ones who are going to take it forward. We are just interested in reaching out to them with our music," he added.
"A Pakistani crowd would cheer just as loudly for India,” said Bilal reminding about the cricket match at Lahore where Pakistani youth were out on the streets waving Indian flags.
Strings team Faisal said that music scene in Pakistan has really changed for good. “Gone are the days of early 90s when many music channels were banned and rock stars were banned, we couldn't play music at will and there were restrictions even on our hair.”
All these are things of past, there is flood of musical activities going on in Pakistan. Junoon, Fuzoon, Jal, Ali Zaffar, Shahzad Roy and many others are in business today, said Faisal.
Talking about their present India tour, Bilal says this is not our first visit, we have been many times here before and every time it's fun making new friends and meeting people. This time we were in Hyderabad two days before Chennai, and then we go to Mumbai to meet a Bollywood producer and finally return home."
All the touring means delay in the next Strings album. Bilal promises it to be a quickie this time. "We are going back to our roots, doing the kind of music that we did in the beginning in the 80s. It includes a few tunes we composed when we started out. We are doing songs that we couldn't really do full justice to then, either due to lack of technology or musical knowledge," says Bilal.
Strings' last album "Dhaani" was a huge hit in India so was its `Na Jaane Kyun' for "Spiderman 2.” The band won the Favorite Artist Award at MTV Asia Awards 2005 held in Bangkok, Thailand last year.
Strings tour to US is aptly titled "ZINDA HOON 2006." It is scheduled to begin this summer with their first concert being held on April 29 in Houston, Texas.
More on Strings:
Strings is a popular Pakistani Pop Band - new wave of Pakistani Pop Music which surfaced on the local media beachhead, post-Nazia and Zoheb, post-Alamgir and post-Muhammad Ali Shehki.
Strings started with four college students (Bilal, Faisal, and two friends) in 1990, when they came out with their album "Strings". After "Strings 2" in 1992, the band was dismembered. Eight years later, Bilal and Faisal reformed Strings, coming out with their album "Duur" and then "Dhaani". In 2005, Strings won MTV Asia's best artist award and sang "Ye hai meri kahani" for the Indian movie "Zinda".
The original soundtrack of the movie Spiderman 2 includes a song by Strings titled Na jaane kyun (I don't know why). The band was approached by Columbia Pictures after they had signed a contract with Sony Music. Although the song has been credited in various places to be in Hindi, in reality it is in Urdu.
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http://www.despardes.com/pk/ent/2006/20060330-pak-band-chennai.html
Wednesday, December 12, 2007
His Music is for mankind
His Music is for mankind
Syed Ali Mujtaba
‘Eyes wide shut’! Stanley Kubrick’s movie starring Tom Cruise and Nicole Kidman is quite well known but little known is the fact that a Tamil singer, Manickam Yogeshwaran, has sung a piece in this Hollywood blockbuster.
Yogeswaran, 45, born in Sri Lanka, is well-known as a Carnatic singer. Now based in London, he has been a visiting lecturer at London’s Goldsmith University since 1996. Yogeshwaran is active in the international music circuit exploring new vistas in his musical journey.
As a composer he has also created and sung with a number of select dance companies including the acclaimed Shobana Jeyasingh Dance Company and accompanied many Bharatanatya arangetrams across Europe.
The versatile international singer came to Madras at an early age to learn Carnatic music under T V Gopalakrishnan besides P Muthukumar Swamy and S Balasingham.
Yogeswaran said, “I have been performing Carnatic music all over the world and am well-known to Carnatic music lovers worldwide. I am basically a singer and composer, but I can play the flute, mridangam and other percussion instruments with ease.”
“I have done a number of CDs in Tamil. This includes projects such as Tamil Classics (1997) and the Tamil Classic Band. In 2001, I recorded Tirukkural in 133 ragas. Besides, I have also sung Tamil Hindu and Christian devotional songs.
His latest album, ‘Peace for Paradise’, is about the peace process in Sri Lanka. Last year, he visited the subcontinent for concerts just after the horror of tsunami and recorded the song ‘Life Goes On’, the audio visual track that UNICEF picked up to promote its relief work in the wake of the disaster, to raise funds. I am also singing for a Sarat Kumar-strarrer. The film is yet to be named but has music by Paul Jacob, of Bodhi group fame.
Based in London for more than a decade, Yogeswaran, sipping a cup of Nilgiris coffee on a visit to my house on Pongal holiday, likes to talk about his foray into western music that’s little known or written about in this part of the world.
A young man with receding hairline, Yogeswaran gives a long description about his work. “I am the first ever Tamil singer to sing for a Hollywood movie,” says Yogeswaran with a smile. In ‘Eyes Wide Shut’ my voice could be located in the background score composed by Jocelyn Pook, where the lead pair Tom Cruise and Nicole Kidman are involved in an intimate love scene. This was the last film of ace director Stanley Kubrick before his death. The other Hollywood movie to my credit is ‘25th Hour’ directed by Spike Lee where I sing for composer Terrence Blanchets’s soundtrack.
Yogeswaran says he is quite comfortable before western music audience. “I am the lead singer of a multi cultural jazz band for ‘Dissidenten’ of Germany. There are over 140 people in this group where I sing various Carantic ragas and fuse them with Tamil, English and Arabic words.”
Yogeswaran describes one of the pieces he enjoys singing most with ‘Dissidenten’ that describes about the industrial growth, environment and general life by the side of the Danube, the longest river in Europe.
“When I perform this, the response from the crowd is amazing,” he says adding that his singing could be heard on Dissidenten’s Instinctive Traveller (1997), Live in Europe (1998) and A New World Odyssey (2004).
“With ‘Dissidenten’ I have appeared at several of Europe’s high profile music festivals including the Montreaux Jazz Festival, JazzOpen at Stuttgart and twice at Glastonbury, Europe’s largest and possibly the most famous music festival, where usually 80, to 100,000 people come to watch.”
Describing his other singing activities in Europe, Yogeswaran says, “I am singing with western classical group, ‘Big Voice Band’ ‘The Shout’, which has 16 singers, with me being the only Asian. This voice group with no instruments is directed by Orlando Gough and Richard Chew and does theatrical performance all over Europe and the world,” he says.
‘The Shout’ performed at the Vienna Festival and the Arts and the Ideas Festival in USA. I vocalised with them for ‘Tall Stories’ during the tour of US in 2000. ‘Tall Stories’ is about European immigrants to America in the early part of the 19th century. We did, ‘Shouting Fences’, in Amsterdam, that’s about the plight of the Palestinians living along the Egyptian and Syrian border. This was later repeated in Ireland and Germany. The latest from ‘The Shout” is Deep Blue, a collection of love songs, done in theatrical format, with which the group toured all over Europe,” says the Tamil singer.
Making forays into Arabic, he says, “I am picking up the language, in the company of an interesting group based in London who call themselves ‘Lovers of Rumi’, a medieval Arabic poet and philosopher. There, some recites Rumi’s poetry, while others play western classical music, and I join them in singing,” he said.
Yogeswaran calls himself as an ambassador of humanity. “My music is for the service of mankind.”
-----
Published on Jan 20th, 2006 at Chennaionline
--
http://www.chennaionline.com/music/Carnaticmusic/2006/01manickam.asp
Syed Ali Mujtaba
‘Eyes wide shut’! Stanley Kubrick’s movie starring Tom Cruise and Nicole Kidman is quite well known but little known is the fact that a Tamil singer, Manickam Yogeshwaran, has sung a piece in this Hollywood blockbuster.
Yogeswaran, 45, born in Sri Lanka, is well-known as a Carnatic singer. Now based in London, he has been a visiting lecturer at London’s Goldsmith University since 1996. Yogeshwaran is active in the international music circuit exploring new vistas in his musical journey.
As a composer he has also created and sung with a number of select dance companies including the acclaimed Shobana Jeyasingh Dance Company and accompanied many Bharatanatya arangetrams across Europe.
The versatile international singer came to Madras at an early age to learn Carnatic music under T V Gopalakrishnan besides P Muthukumar Swamy and S Balasingham.
Yogeswaran said, “I have been performing Carnatic music all over the world and am well-known to Carnatic music lovers worldwide. I am basically a singer and composer, but I can play the flute, mridangam and other percussion instruments with ease.”
“I have done a number of CDs in Tamil. This includes projects such as Tamil Classics (1997) and the Tamil Classic Band. In 2001, I recorded Tirukkural in 133 ragas. Besides, I have also sung Tamil Hindu and Christian devotional songs.
His latest album, ‘Peace for Paradise’, is about the peace process in Sri Lanka. Last year, he visited the subcontinent for concerts just after the horror of tsunami and recorded the song ‘Life Goes On’, the audio visual track that UNICEF picked up to promote its relief work in the wake of the disaster, to raise funds. I am also singing for a Sarat Kumar-strarrer. The film is yet to be named but has music by Paul Jacob, of Bodhi group fame.
Based in London for more than a decade, Yogeswaran, sipping a cup of Nilgiris coffee on a visit to my house on Pongal holiday, likes to talk about his foray into western music that’s little known or written about in this part of the world.
A young man with receding hairline, Yogeswaran gives a long description about his work. “I am the first ever Tamil singer to sing for a Hollywood movie,” says Yogeswaran with a smile. In ‘Eyes Wide Shut’ my voice could be located in the background score composed by Jocelyn Pook, where the lead pair Tom Cruise and Nicole Kidman are involved in an intimate love scene. This was the last film of ace director Stanley Kubrick before his death. The other Hollywood movie to my credit is ‘25th Hour’ directed by Spike Lee where I sing for composer Terrence Blanchets’s soundtrack.
Yogeswaran says he is quite comfortable before western music audience. “I am the lead singer of a multi cultural jazz band for ‘Dissidenten’ of Germany. There are over 140 people in this group where I sing various Carantic ragas and fuse them with Tamil, English and Arabic words.”
Yogeswaran describes one of the pieces he enjoys singing most with ‘Dissidenten’ that describes about the industrial growth, environment and general life by the side of the Danube, the longest river in Europe.
“When I perform this, the response from the crowd is amazing,” he says adding that his singing could be heard on Dissidenten’s Instinctive Traveller (1997), Live in Europe (1998) and A New World Odyssey (2004).
“With ‘Dissidenten’ I have appeared at several of Europe’s high profile music festivals including the Montreaux Jazz Festival, JazzOpen at Stuttgart and twice at Glastonbury, Europe’s largest and possibly the most famous music festival, where usually 80, to 100,000 people come to watch.”
Describing his other singing activities in Europe, Yogeswaran says, “I am singing with western classical group, ‘Big Voice Band’ ‘The Shout’, which has 16 singers, with me being the only Asian. This voice group with no instruments is directed by Orlando Gough and Richard Chew and does theatrical performance all over Europe and the world,” he says.
‘The Shout’ performed at the Vienna Festival and the Arts and the Ideas Festival in USA. I vocalised with them for ‘Tall Stories’ during the tour of US in 2000. ‘Tall Stories’ is about European immigrants to America in the early part of the 19th century. We did, ‘Shouting Fences’, in Amsterdam, that’s about the plight of the Palestinians living along the Egyptian and Syrian border. This was later repeated in Ireland and Germany. The latest from ‘The Shout” is Deep Blue, a collection of love songs, done in theatrical format, with which the group toured all over Europe,” says the Tamil singer.
Making forays into Arabic, he says, “I am picking up the language, in the company of an interesting group based in London who call themselves ‘Lovers of Rumi’, a medieval Arabic poet and philosopher. There, some recites Rumi’s poetry, while others play western classical music, and I join them in singing,” he said.
Yogeswaran calls himself as an ambassador of humanity. “My music is for the service of mankind.”
-----
Published on Jan 20th, 2006 at Chennaionline
--
http://www.chennaionline.com/music/Carnaticmusic/2006/01manickam.asp
Yes, desis are moving America!
Yes, desis are moving America!
Syed Ali Mujtaba
Stories about Indian doctors, engineers, professors and scientists excelling in the US and earning respect among the average American citizens are part of Indian folklore. However, it's difficult to make a realistic assessment of these Des-Pardes stories as most of the inputs filter through the media and family gossip.
In order to understand how desis are moving America, the EWC (East West Center) Chennai Chapter organised a public lecture by Prof Sreenath Srinivasan, Dean of Students and Associate Professor, Graduate School of Journalism, Columbia University, on June 27 in Chennai.
The well-attended function saw Prof Srinivasan giving an erudite talk on the Indian American dream and telling the distinguished audience how desis are breaking boundaries in various fields of activity and moving America.
"Immigration from India in the 1960s and '70s was very limited. There weren't many people of Indian origin in the US. There were no Indian restaurants, grocery stores, video rental stores or movie theatres. For Indians, the American Dream was just to get a foothold in America and be economically comfortable. There was apprehension and hesitation in their minds. America seemed so far away and so alien to them. They were people with the wrong colour, wrong accent and the wrong looks," Srinivasan said.
However, this is no more the case. The children of Indian immigrants are now coming of age. They are shaping American politics, public policy, art and culture in a big way. There are thriving immigrant Indian communities across America. This extends to college campuses where second generation Indian Americans have forged powerful cultural and political organisations. "Most interesting for me is the flowering of talent in non-technical fields, such as media, entertainment and the arts," Srinivasan said.
Media
"Not long ago there were hardly any Indian sounding names on the magazine and publication mastheads. Now, names like Fareed Zakaria adorn the editorial column of the prestigious 'Newsweek'. Rajiv Chandrasekaran is assistant managing editor of 'The Washington Post'. Ramesh Ponnuru is senior editor for 'National Review magazine'," Srinivasan, who is co-founder of South Asian Journalists Association (www.saja.org), said.
Zain Verjee, Sumi Das, Aneesh Raman, Ali Velshi, Mish Michaels, meteorologist for the Weather Channel, Uma Pemmaraju on Fox News, and Sukanya Krishnan on CW11 Morning News, are a few names that have become a fixture on US mainstream television, Prof Srinivasan said, adding that Dr Sanjay Gupta is a medical star on the CNN and Rena Golden is senior vice-president at CNN International.
"There seems to be a strong drive to express the unique experience among the second generation Indian Americans. The number of actors, playwrights, movie directors, novelists, journalists and musicians is really striking, especially when contrasted with the doctors, engineers and college professors that characterised the early immigrant generation," Srinivasan said.
Entertainment
"With Bollywood blood flowing in their veins, it is not surprising that young Indians are enamoured of the entertainment industry. M. Night Shyamalan churns out multi-million dollar blockbusters in Hollywood. Naveen Andrews, Sarita Chowdhury, Ajay Naidu, Kal Penn, Aasif Mandvi, Sheetal Sheth and Purva Bedi are all celebrities in the US movie and television industry.
"The arts and entertainment world has many well-recognised Indian names. You have Manu Narayan taking the Broadway stage for Bombay Dreams, Suphala playing Indian tablas for mainstream audiences. Sameer Samuel Bhattacharya is one of two guitarists in the Texas alternative band Flyleaf and, of course, Norah Jones the pop star and her half-sister Anoushka Shankar an international sitar player."
Politics
To the immigrant generation of the '60s and '70s, politics extended as far as photo-ops and political fund-raisers. Actually standing for office was entirely out of the question; a vast majority was not even citizens. Now so many Indian Americans are moving into political office or moving up the ranks of public policy that it's hard to keep track. Indian Americans are exerting political clout on the local, state and national level as never before, Prof Srinivasan said.
"The most striking example is Bobby Jindal, who, at 33, became the first Indian American to be elected to the House of Representatives from Louisiana in a landslide with 78 per cent votes. Another example is Neera Tanden, policy advisor for Hillary Clinton's presidential campaign. Neera works closely with Hillary on her policies and proposals as a presidential candidate, dealing with issues from immigration to education."
"No discussion about Indian Americans would be complete if the names like Indra Nooyi, Sunita Williams and Jhumpa Lahiri are not mentioned. Indra Nooyi is the chairwoman of PepsiCo and Sunita Williams has just returned from six months' space odyssey with a NASA team. Pulitzer Prize winner Jhumpa Lahiri is vice-president of PEN," the US professor said.
P M Belliappa (retd IAS), president of the EWC Chennai Chapter, briefed the audience about the East West Center and its activities in Chennai. Ragani Gupta, cultural counsel at the US Consulate, Chennai, opened up the discussion citing her example how Indian Americans are branching out to different professions in the US. Kamalendra Kanwar, former resident editor, The New Indian Express, spoke about the changing profile of international media coverage about India from negative to positive news stories.
There was a lively Q&A session after the main speaker's speech. Fatima Muzaffar, alumni of EWC, Hawaii, proposed a vote of thanks to the dignitaries and the distinguished audience for making this EWC event a grand success.
--
Published on July 6th, 2007 at Chennaionline.com
http://www.chennaionline.com/columns/variety/2007/07article25.asp
Syed Ali Mujtaba
Stories about Indian doctors, engineers, professors and scientists excelling in the US and earning respect among the average American citizens are part of Indian folklore. However, it's difficult to make a realistic assessment of these Des-Pardes stories as most of the inputs filter through the media and family gossip.
In order to understand how desis are moving America, the EWC (East West Center) Chennai Chapter organised a public lecture by Prof Sreenath Srinivasan, Dean of Students and Associate Professor, Graduate School of Journalism, Columbia University, on June 27 in Chennai.
The well-attended function saw Prof Srinivasan giving an erudite talk on the Indian American dream and telling the distinguished audience how desis are breaking boundaries in various fields of activity and moving America.
"Immigration from India in the 1960s and '70s was very limited. There weren't many people of Indian origin in the US. There were no Indian restaurants, grocery stores, video rental stores or movie theatres. For Indians, the American Dream was just to get a foothold in America and be economically comfortable. There was apprehension and hesitation in their minds. America seemed so far away and so alien to them. They were people with the wrong colour, wrong accent and the wrong looks," Srinivasan said.
However, this is no more the case. The children of Indian immigrants are now coming of age. They are shaping American politics, public policy, art and culture in a big way. There are thriving immigrant Indian communities across America. This extends to college campuses where second generation Indian Americans have forged powerful cultural and political organisations. "Most interesting for me is the flowering of talent in non-technical fields, such as media, entertainment and the arts," Srinivasan said.
Media
"Not long ago there were hardly any Indian sounding names on the magazine and publication mastheads. Now, names like Fareed Zakaria adorn the editorial column of the prestigious 'Newsweek'. Rajiv Chandrasekaran is assistant managing editor of 'The Washington Post'. Ramesh Ponnuru is senior editor for 'National Review magazine'," Srinivasan, who is co-founder of South Asian Journalists Association (www.saja.org), said.
Zain Verjee, Sumi Das, Aneesh Raman, Ali Velshi, Mish Michaels, meteorologist for the Weather Channel, Uma Pemmaraju on Fox News, and Sukanya Krishnan on CW11 Morning News, are a few names that have become a fixture on US mainstream television, Prof Srinivasan said, adding that Dr Sanjay Gupta is a medical star on the CNN and Rena Golden is senior vice-president at CNN International.
"There seems to be a strong drive to express the unique experience among the second generation Indian Americans. The number of actors, playwrights, movie directors, novelists, journalists and musicians is really striking, especially when contrasted with the doctors, engineers and college professors that characterised the early immigrant generation," Srinivasan said.
Entertainment
"With Bollywood blood flowing in their veins, it is not surprising that young Indians are enamoured of the entertainment industry. M. Night Shyamalan churns out multi-million dollar blockbusters in Hollywood. Naveen Andrews, Sarita Chowdhury, Ajay Naidu, Kal Penn, Aasif Mandvi, Sheetal Sheth and Purva Bedi are all celebrities in the US movie and television industry.
"The arts and entertainment world has many well-recognised Indian names. You have Manu Narayan taking the Broadway stage for Bombay Dreams, Suphala playing Indian tablas for mainstream audiences. Sameer Samuel Bhattacharya is one of two guitarists in the Texas alternative band Flyleaf and, of course, Norah Jones the pop star and her half-sister Anoushka Shankar an international sitar player."
Politics
To the immigrant generation of the '60s and '70s, politics extended as far as photo-ops and political fund-raisers. Actually standing for office was entirely out of the question; a vast majority was not even citizens. Now so many Indian Americans are moving into political office or moving up the ranks of public policy that it's hard to keep track. Indian Americans are exerting political clout on the local, state and national level as never before, Prof Srinivasan said.
"The most striking example is Bobby Jindal, who, at 33, became the first Indian American to be elected to the House of Representatives from Louisiana in a landslide with 78 per cent votes. Another example is Neera Tanden, policy advisor for Hillary Clinton's presidential campaign. Neera works closely with Hillary on her policies and proposals as a presidential candidate, dealing with issues from immigration to education."
"No discussion about Indian Americans would be complete if the names like Indra Nooyi, Sunita Williams and Jhumpa Lahiri are not mentioned. Indra Nooyi is the chairwoman of PepsiCo and Sunita Williams has just returned from six months' space odyssey with a NASA team. Pulitzer Prize winner Jhumpa Lahiri is vice-president of PEN," the US professor said.
P M Belliappa (retd IAS), president of the EWC Chennai Chapter, briefed the audience about the East West Center and its activities in Chennai. Ragani Gupta, cultural counsel at the US Consulate, Chennai, opened up the discussion citing her example how Indian Americans are branching out to different professions in the US. Kamalendra Kanwar, former resident editor, The New Indian Express, spoke about the changing profile of international media coverage about India from negative to positive news stories.
There was a lively Q&A session after the main speaker's speech. Fatima Muzaffar, alumni of EWC, Hawaii, proposed a vote of thanks to the dignitaries and the distinguished audience for making this EWC event a grand success.
--
Published on July 6th, 2007 at Chennaionline.com
http://www.chennaionline.com/columns/variety/2007/07article25.asp
Eco-adventure camp catching up
Eco-adventure camp catching up in Chennai
Syed Ali Mujtaba
Chennai: Pongal - the harvest festival - beckons the bold and the beautiful to get-together on a holiday on an island and then dare the wilderness in the mountains. Adventure ‘n’ Nature takes you on a twin tour, away from Chennai, across the border into Andhra Pradesh, where you explore the Pulicat Ecotourism Park and the canyons of Nagiri Hills January 14-16.
The Eco-Adventure Camp is organised by Adventure ‘n’ Nature which is a pioneering and premier eco-adventure tourism outfit in Chennai. The tour is organised as mobile-cum-residential camp, with accommodation in tents (separate for families, women and men), by a team of knowledgeable and experienced professionals.
Adventure ‘n’ Nature is a unit of Prakruthi, outwardbound conservation centre that popularised Turtle Walk, a wildlife conservation programme, as a
household activity in Chennai and elsewhere in India.
Dipankar Ghose, a leading name in eco-adventures and outdoor recreation, is the camp director. To him “every excitement comes with absolute safety and total security”.
“The three-day adventurism at Flamingo City, Pulicat and gorge-ous Nagiri would be filled with fun and frolic,” promises Dipankar Ghose.
Wilderness Bound
Pulicat Eco-Tourism Park is an inter- and sub-tidal lake, off the Bay of Bengal, across the Tamil Nadu-Andhra Pradesh border. It is the second largest brackish water lagoon in the country (after Chilka in Orissa). The 18,440 hectare lagoon has marshes, fresh and brackish swamps with large mud flats and sand flats. Pulicat Lake is 70 km long and the width varies from 1 km in
the north to 20 km as it goes down south.
Pulicat backwaters house 16 islands and 30 villages. The inhabitants are either fisherfolk or agriculturists or are into salt mining. The lagoon supports a rich biodiversity, which includes aquatic and terrestrial fauna and flora. Its rich fauna comprises rare and endangered reptiles, insects, amphibians, snakes, sea turtles, birds and mammals.
It is home to 50 species of water birds, including the flamingo, pelican, painte stork, ibis, spoon bill, pintail duck, teal, terns, harriers, etc. Its aquatic resources include white and tiger prawns, mud and lagoon crabs, mullets, pomphrets, catfish, edible oyster and clam varieties. The flora ranges from natural species like mangroves and endemic herbs to cultivated crops such as cashew, paddy, fruits and vegetables.
Nagiri Hills is part of the Eastern Ghats, where one discovers small canyons, rushes and waterfalls and lo and behold a hamlet called Kambakam (Come -Ba-Come) ever ready to welcome anyone who is itching to dare the wilderness with adventure.
The hills around Kambakam made the Tiger of Mysore, Tipu Sultan, build his citadel overlooking the Bay of Bengal across the vast Pulicat Lake. One can still find the ramparts of the fort at Kambakam.
Kambakam became a weekend retreat for the British, after Tipu lost to them. It also became popular with the natives. They rode on horses and came on palanquins, to chill out in the perennial pools. The rushes and the springs eased the soreness of the dusty life in what was becoming the city of Madras.
Location
Both the island in the Pulicat Lake and the mountain trail are off NH 5 (Chennai-Red Hills-Nellore-Kolkata Highway). The alighting point for Venadu Island, in Pulicat, is about 70 km from Chennai and Kambakam is another 50 km from this transit.
Camping Trails
Day 1- The group of explorers meet at Drive-in-Woodlands, on Cathedral Road, at 2 p.m. to board the convoy of vehicles to the TN-AP border. Here they cross the Pulicat Lake to the Venadu Campsite, by sail boats. After tea, the budding ornithologists go bird watching into the several rookeries and celebrate the openness of space and nature with Pongal festivity.
Day 2- At the break of dawn, the aspiring naturalists scout for flamingos and pelicans in the mud flats surrounding the island. Fine-tuning themselves to nature and the environment on the island, the group drives through the bund to different locations that combined make Flamingo City. They also join the villagers in the celebration of jallikattu.
Day 3- The early birds set sail to the mainland, to drive into the mountains. They arrive at Kambakam, and after breakfast they climb a trail that cuts through the perennial mountain stream. After astute bouldering and ridge walking, the prospective mountaineers reach the top to bathe and swim in the waterfalls and hidden plunge pools. If energy permits, the excitement would be prolonged with novel adventure games, till it is 7 p.m. and time to return to Chennai. The drive back to the city would be approximately 3 hours.
----
Published on Jan 5th, 2006, http://www.chennaionline.com/
http://chennaionline.com/hotelsandtours/Tours/2006/01eco.asp
Syed Ali Mujtaba
Chennai: Pongal - the harvest festival - beckons the bold and the beautiful to get-together on a holiday on an island and then dare the wilderness in the mountains. Adventure ‘n’ Nature takes you on a twin tour, away from Chennai, across the border into Andhra Pradesh, where you explore the Pulicat Ecotourism Park and the canyons of Nagiri Hills January 14-16.
The Eco-Adventure Camp is organised by Adventure ‘n’ Nature which is a pioneering and premier eco-adventure tourism outfit in Chennai. The tour is organised as mobile-cum-residential camp, with accommodation in tents (separate for families, women and men), by a team of knowledgeable and experienced professionals.
Adventure ‘n’ Nature is a unit of Prakruthi, outwardbound conservation centre that popularised Turtle Walk, a wildlife conservation programme, as a
household activity in Chennai and elsewhere in India.
Dipankar Ghose, a leading name in eco-adventures and outdoor recreation, is the camp director. To him “every excitement comes with absolute safety and total security”.
“The three-day adventurism at Flamingo City, Pulicat and gorge-ous Nagiri would be filled with fun and frolic,” promises Dipankar Ghose.
Wilderness Bound
Pulicat Eco-Tourism Park is an inter- and sub-tidal lake, off the Bay of Bengal, across the Tamil Nadu-Andhra Pradesh border. It is the second largest brackish water lagoon in the country (after Chilka in Orissa). The 18,440 hectare lagoon has marshes, fresh and brackish swamps with large mud flats and sand flats. Pulicat Lake is 70 km long and the width varies from 1 km in
the north to 20 km as it goes down south.
Pulicat backwaters house 16 islands and 30 villages. The inhabitants are either fisherfolk or agriculturists or are into salt mining. The lagoon supports a rich biodiversity, which includes aquatic and terrestrial fauna and flora. Its rich fauna comprises rare and endangered reptiles, insects, amphibians, snakes, sea turtles, birds and mammals.
It is home to 50 species of water birds, including the flamingo, pelican, painte stork, ibis, spoon bill, pintail duck, teal, terns, harriers, etc. Its aquatic resources include white and tiger prawns, mud and lagoon crabs, mullets, pomphrets, catfish, edible oyster and clam varieties. The flora ranges from natural species like mangroves and endemic herbs to cultivated crops such as cashew, paddy, fruits and vegetables.
Nagiri Hills is part of the Eastern Ghats, where one discovers small canyons, rushes and waterfalls and lo and behold a hamlet called Kambakam (Come -Ba-Come) ever ready to welcome anyone who is itching to dare the wilderness with adventure.
The hills around Kambakam made the Tiger of Mysore, Tipu Sultan, build his citadel overlooking the Bay of Bengal across the vast Pulicat Lake. One can still find the ramparts of the fort at Kambakam.
Kambakam became a weekend retreat for the British, after Tipu lost to them. It also became popular with the natives. They rode on horses and came on palanquins, to chill out in the perennial pools. The rushes and the springs eased the soreness of the dusty life in what was becoming the city of Madras.
Location
Both the island in the Pulicat Lake and the mountain trail are off NH 5 (Chennai-Red Hills-Nellore-Kolkata Highway). The alighting point for Venadu Island, in Pulicat, is about 70 km from Chennai and Kambakam is another 50 km from this transit.
Camping Trails
Day 1- The group of explorers meet at Drive-in-Woodlands, on Cathedral Road, at 2 p.m. to board the convoy of vehicles to the TN-AP border. Here they cross the Pulicat Lake to the Venadu Campsite, by sail boats. After tea, the budding ornithologists go bird watching into the several rookeries and celebrate the openness of space and nature with Pongal festivity.
Day 2- At the break of dawn, the aspiring naturalists scout for flamingos and pelicans in the mud flats surrounding the island. Fine-tuning themselves to nature and the environment on the island, the group drives through the bund to different locations that combined make Flamingo City. They also join the villagers in the celebration of jallikattu.
Day 3- The early birds set sail to the mainland, to drive into the mountains. They arrive at Kambakam, and after breakfast they climb a trail that cuts through the perennial mountain stream. After astute bouldering and ridge walking, the prospective mountaineers reach the top to bathe and swim in the waterfalls and hidden plunge pools. If energy permits, the excitement would be prolonged with novel adventure games, till it is 7 p.m. and time to return to Chennai. The drive back to the city would be approximately 3 hours.
----
Published on Jan 5th, 2006, http://www.chennaionline.com/
http://chennaionline.com/hotelsandtours/Tours/2006/01eco.asp
Tuesday, December 11, 2007
Taslima Nasreen vs MF Hussein
Taslima Nasreen vs MF Hussein
Syed Ali Mujtaba
There is certain degree of similarity between Taslima Nasreen and MF Hussein; the first has hurt the religious sentiments of the Muslims the later the sentiments of the Hindus. What could have been a rallying point of hurt sentiments has turned out to be a case of mud slinging between the two dominant faiths in India.
The curious part in this is while there is sympathy for the Bangladeshi writer; the Indian Picasso is forced to go into exile. This Talibanisation of Indian society is taking place right in front our eyes and every one seems to be maintaining a conspiracy of silence towards it.
There is little to choose between those who protested on the streets of Kolkatta against Taslima Nasreen and those who have filed cases against MF Hussein. Both seem to belong to the same tribe though they may follow different faith.
The glaring thing in Hussein’s controversy is; Hinduism has started wearing the glasses of the Abramic faith. There is every effort being made to make it its mirror image.
Hussein is not the first person to take liberty with Hindusim. Indian history is littered with instances where Hindu god and goddess are being ‘depicted in objectionable terms’. The Jataka tales that forms the secondary source of Ancient Indian historiography cite many references of such contents.
Even today in the north Indian plains, particularly in the tribal villages, before the Holi festival, youths assemble for musical fest in the evenings and such late night revelries ends up singing words full of eroticism about Hindu god and goddess. Such oral traditions and local custom do not follow the city norm they are in vogue since time immemorial. There is nothing immoral about it.
Then why Hussein is being targeted? Is it because he has a Muslim sounding name? This is a difficult call but persons like MF Hussein cannot be cloaked into any faith. Such characters are above faith. They in fact are national property. The irony is instead of being acknowledged so some self styled Indian Talibans has made him person-non-grata.
It seems the 92 years old Indian celebrity is heading to become another Bhadur Shah Zafar who may bemoan for not getting two meters of land for burial in his own motherland.
There is no doubt that M F Hussein is one of the most respected painters of modern India. If we look at Hussein’s career there is hardly any anti- Hindu content in it. He is definitely is not an anti- Hindu campaigner The odd piece of work could be an aberration in his 90 years career and he should be condoned keeping the best of Hindu traditions.
However, if we analyse Taslima Nasreen, she is a rank anti- Muslim rabble-rouser. There is nothing in her work but anti-Islamic content. That’s the reason she finds favour from the Sangh Privar that has rolled out a red carpet for her.
The UP Chief Minister Ms Mayawati have called the controversy surrounding Taslima Nasreen as ‘Manuwadi’ conspiracy. She feels that the saffron brigade approve of the Bangladeshi writer because her anti Islamic writings messages their ego.
There is little doubt that Taslima Nasreen is an anti- Islam writer. To pedal the label of a feminist Muslim reform writer on her name would be a great misnomer. She should be treated as anti- Islam writer and there should be no qualms about it. Lord's world is big enough to accommodate those who follow the Islamic faith and for those who like to denigrate it.
The final point is whether India should shelter Taslima Nasreen or not? Keeping in mind the great Indian tradition India must give her all the comforts of life that she deserves with a rider she should no more become a public nuisance.
However the fact remains, Ms Nasreen and controversy cannot live separately. Not even two months passes she is back in the news. Earlier her statements in Bhopal hogged the limelight. She was seen spewing venom against Islam on a TV show. In Hyderabad she was showered with petals and flower vases. In Kolkotta it was a free for all.
There are some who argue that the freedom of expression of Taslima Nasreen should not be curtailed at the same time they advocate that freedom to protest against her should not be allowed. Well this is the hypocrisy of the worst kind that’s seen in this debate.
Every one is not a writer and can protest by pen alone, if she has a license to denigrate and abuse others too have the right to protest in whatever means and form is available. Who is at fault the abuser or the protestor? The hypocrisy is the fingers are pointed on the second.
So where do we end up. Taslima Nasreen is an asylum seeker in India. She does not enjoy the fundamental rights that average citizens of this country do. Even then she has been taking the liberty and offending a particular community and disturbing public peace. Will she be allowed to do so?
Well if I am the lord and master of this land I would say mend your ways Madam; else keep your suitcase packed.
--
Syed Ali Mujtaba is a journalist based in Chennai. He can be contacted at syedalimujtaba@yahoo.com
Syed Ali Mujtaba
There is certain degree of similarity between Taslima Nasreen and MF Hussein; the first has hurt the religious sentiments of the Muslims the later the sentiments of the Hindus. What could have been a rallying point of hurt sentiments has turned out to be a case of mud slinging between the two dominant faiths in India.
The curious part in this is while there is sympathy for the Bangladeshi writer; the Indian Picasso is forced to go into exile. This Talibanisation of Indian society is taking place right in front our eyes and every one seems to be maintaining a conspiracy of silence towards it.
There is little to choose between those who protested on the streets of Kolkatta against Taslima Nasreen and those who have filed cases against MF Hussein. Both seem to belong to the same tribe though they may follow different faith.
The glaring thing in Hussein’s controversy is; Hinduism has started wearing the glasses of the Abramic faith. There is every effort being made to make it its mirror image.
Hussein is not the first person to take liberty with Hindusim. Indian history is littered with instances where Hindu god and goddess are being ‘depicted in objectionable terms’. The Jataka tales that forms the secondary source of Ancient Indian historiography cite many references of such contents.
Even today in the north Indian plains, particularly in the tribal villages, before the Holi festival, youths assemble for musical fest in the evenings and such late night revelries ends up singing words full of eroticism about Hindu god and goddess. Such oral traditions and local custom do not follow the city norm they are in vogue since time immemorial. There is nothing immoral about it.
Then why Hussein is being targeted? Is it because he has a Muslim sounding name? This is a difficult call but persons like MF Hussein cannot be cloaked into any faith. Such characters are above faith. They in fact are national property. The irony is instead of being acknowledged so some self styled Indian Talibans has made him person-non-grata.
It seems the 92 years old Indian celebrity is heading to become another Bhadur Shah Zafar who may bemoan for not getting two meters of land for burial in his own motherland.
There is no doubt that M F Hussein is one of the most respected painters of modern India. If we look at Hussein’s career there is hardly any anti- Hindu content in it. He is definitely is not an anti- Hindu campaigner The odd piece of work could be an aberration in his 90 years career and he should be condoned keeping the best of Hindu traditions.
However, if we analyse Taslima Nasreen, she is a rank anti- Muslim rabble-rouser. There is nothing in her work but anti-Islamic content. That’s the reason she finds favour from the Sangh Privar that has rolled out a red carpet for her.
The UP Chief Minister Ms Mayawati have called the controversy surrounding Taslima Nasreen as ‘Manuwadi’ conspiracy. She feels that the saffron brigade approve of the Bangladeshi writer because her anti Islamic writings messages their ego.
There is little doubt that Taslima Nasreen is an anti- Islam writer. To pedal the label of a feminist Muslim reform writer on her name would be a great misnomer. She should be treated as anti- Islam writer and there should be no qualms about it. Lord's world is big enough to accommodate those who follow the Islamic faith and for those who like to denigrate it.
The final point is whether India should shelter Taslima Nasreen or not? Keeping in mind the great Indian tradition India must give her all the comforts of life that she deserves with a rider she should no more become a public nuisance.
However the fact remains, Ms Nasreen and controversy cannot live separately. Not even two months passes she is back in the news. Earlier her statements in Bhopal hogged the limelight. She was seen spewing venom against Islam on a TV show. In Hyderabad she was showered with petals and flower vases. In Kolkotta it was a free for all.
There are some who argue that the freedom of expression of Taslima Nasreen should not be curtailed at the same time they advocate that freedom to protest against her should not be allowed. Well this is the hypocrisy of the worst kind that’s seen in this debate.
Every one is not a writer and can protest by pen alone, if she has a license to denigrate and abuse others too have the right to protest in whatever means and form is available. Who is at fault the abuser or the protestor? The hypocrisy is the fingers are pointed on the second.
So where do we end up. Taslima Nasreen is an asylum seeker in India. She does not enjoy the fundamental rights that average citizens of this country do. Even then she has been taking the liberty and offending a particular community and disturbing public peace. Will she be allowed to do so?
Well if I am the lord and master of this land I would say mend your ways Madam; else keep your suitcase packed.
--
Syed Ali Mujtaba is a journalist based in Chennai. He can be contacted at syedalimujtaba@yahoo.com
Friday, December 7, 2007
The Vandals or the Jacobins of West Bengal
The Vandals or the Jacobins of West Bengal
Syed Ali Mujtaba
The mob furry spilled on the streets of Kolkatta on November 21, 2007 to protest the atrocities of the CPI (M) workers in Nandigram, its complicity in Rizwan’s murder and sheltering an anti-Islam writer reminds about the Jacobins that dominated the streets of Paris from 1789 to 1792.
The Jacobins lived in the slums and ghettos lanes and by lanes of the French capital. Those burly souls who survived on the dint of their labor use to form the Parisian crowd that protested against the long entrenched monarchy in France.
The credit goes to the Jacobins to unseat a decadent monolith ruling structure in France. The world owns to them the words like, Liberty, Equality and Freedom that signify the gains of the French Revolution. The then French bourgeoisie called the Jacobins ‘Oh those Vandals.’
There is no denying the fact that the mob furry on the street of Kolkatta was a clarion call to unseat the CPI (M) government that’s ruling West Bengal uninterruptedly since last four decades. The Marxist party has not only become capitalist but its ruling class has become monolith. People’s patience has been bursting at its seams against the left government’s anti- people’s policy. It just needed a spark to bring the people on the streets and eventually they came from much unexpected quarters, the Muslims of inner Kolkotta believed to be the supporters of CPI (M) government.
The fact remains they provided the much-needed heat for the revolution to begin in West Bengal opens up the debate whether the street protesters of Kolkatta could be called the Vandals or the Jacobins. Like the French the Marxist bourgeoisie castigated them, ‘Oh those Vandals of Kolkatta.’
A lot has been written about the events related to Nadigram, a place some 90 miles from Kolkotta. Some described it ‘intra-proletariat struggle.’ Others a clash between the agrarian forces and those who favor industrialization, while its also viewed as a revolt against the dictatorship of the Communist Party of India (Marxist). Many others blame it on the opposition in West Bengal particularly Trinamool Congress that attempted to cash on the discontentment of the people of Nandigram. The general summery of all is that Nandigram essentially was a people’s war, a faithless commotion with no religious overtones.
However, according to the BJP the majority of the victims in the Nandigram clashes were those belonging to the Muslim minority community. The saffron party that survives on anti-Muslim campaign saw in Nandigram an opportunity to break the Muslim vote bank of CPI (M) in West Bengal and so in this case sided with the minority community. One may have quarrels with the politics of the BJP but it’s an irrefutable fact that Muslims suffered heavily in Nandigram.
The CPI (M) government was keen on industrial development through foreign investment in West Bengal. They mooted the idea of creating Special Economic Zone in Nandigram and decided to permit an Indonesian firm to build a chemicals plant across the Haldi River from Haldia port, in Nandigram.
The Left government gave the argument that the SEZ would create about 100,000 direct and indirect jobs and a lot of people would be benefited by this project in Nandigram.
The idea of SEZ tries to replicate the Chinese model of forced eviction of people from their lands, at a price determined by the government and this became the bugbear of the CPI (M) government.
The landowners of Nandigram who are mostly Hindus grudgingly seemed to have accepted the deal, but the local people who depend on the land as sharecroppers and were Muslims opposed the idea of SEZ. Their opposition was they would be displaced without any compensation, as they don't own the land. These created a rift between the local people and the CPI (M) supporters who forcibly tried to clear up the area but the local people who resided there thwarted any such moves.
Here comes the opposition leader Mamta Banerjee, who sees in this an opportunity to embarrass the CPI (M) government. She brings her own supporters as well as the Maoists guerrillas with guns to fight the CPI (M) government. As a result of it a turf war gets started in Nandigram.
On 14 March 2007, CPI (M) government sends police to Nandigram to clear the place. The local people blocked the road with the frontlines filled with women and children and they resisted the police unarmed. The state police acting in the most fascist manner and opened fire on the mob that killed 14 people and left 164 were injured. However, even then the CPI (M) cadres were unable to enter Nandigram.
Some independent investigation has brought to light the fact that the bullets used in the conflict area of Nandigram on March 14 were not the standard ones used by the police force of West Bengal. This gave rise to speculation that the CPI (M) cadres could have disguised themselves as police and may have fired on the unarmed local people.
These findings made the local people agitated and with the backing of the Maoist they expelled the CPI (M) supporters out of Nandigram forcing hem to live in relief camps.
After the violence of March, the government announced that the land acquisition proposal for the SEZ was shelved. However, even then the tension continued to simmer on the ground. The CPI (M) was bent upon to clear the area of the Maoists and Trinamools supporters but there was no let up in the resistance against any such moves.
So the CPI (M) finally planned operation "take back" to reclaim Nandigram. They sent trucks load of their cadres to overpower the protesters and reclaim the land using all it might. There was brutal violence in the ensuing clashes and in the end the CPI (M) cadres finally managed to enter into Nandigram. They are said to have committed the same kind of violence that the Modi government had indulged in Gujarat. There were arsons and looting killings and rapes. The horror tales are too terrifying to tell. Mothers were raped in front of their daughters, daughters in front of their others.
In the end of the day the victim of this controversy happen to be the landless poor labourers of Nandigram. Undoubtedly they belong to the proletariats class but they still had certain faith and in this case majority belonged to the minority Muslim community.
Nandigram definitely cannot be compared with Gujarat where the oppressed belonged to the Muslim community and the perpetrators were of those of the Hindus faith. It was the CPI (M) cadres that were on the forefront of oppression in Nandigram and many among them belonged to the Muslim faith as well. However, there is little doubt that the majority who suffered belonged to the Muslim minority community.
The horror tales of the Nadigram against the Muslim community was so inflaming that it brought the Muslims on the streets of Kolkotta to vent their anger. The incense of Taslima Nasreen was there round the corner, the murder of Rizwan ur Rehman aggravated against the CPI (M) rule.
The West Bengal Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharya has tried to patch up the whole issue by admitting that March police firing in Nandigram was a political and administrative failure and has also announced compensation to Nandigram victims. However it remains to be seen how long the mob furry could be bottled up by the CPI (M) government. It seems the Jacobins have arrived in West Bengal.
--
Syed Ali Mujtaba is a working journalist based in Chennai. He can be contacted at syedalimujtaba@ yahoo.com
Syed Ali Mujtaba
The mob furry spilled on the streets of Kolkatta on November 21, 2007 to protest the atrocities of the CPI (M) workers in Nandigram, its complicity in Rizwan’s murder and sheltering an anti-Islam writer reminds about the Jacobins that dominated the streets of Paris from 1789 to 1792.
The Jacobins lived in the slums and ghettos lanes and by lanes of the French capital. Those burly souls who survived on the dint of their labor use to form the Parisian crowd that protested against the long entrenched monarchy in France.
The credit goes to the Jacobins to unseat a decadent monolith ruling structure in France. The world owns to them the words like, Liberty, Equality and Freedom that signify the gains of the French Revolution. The then French bourgeoisie called the Jacobins ‘Oh those Vandals.’
There is no denying the fact that the mob furry on the street of Kolkatta was a clarion call to unseat the CPI (M) government that’s ruling West Bengal uninterruptedly since last four decades. The Marxist party has not only become capitalist but its ruling class has become monolith. People’s patience has been bursting at its seams against the left government’s anti- people’s policy. It just needed a spark to bring the people on the streets and eventually they came from much unexpected quarters, the Muslims of inner Kolkotta believed to be the supporters of CPI (M) government.
The fact remains they provided the much-needed heat for the revolution to begin in West Bengal opens up the debate whether the street protesters of Kolkatta could be called the Vandals or the Jacobins. Like the French the Marxist bourgeoisie castigated them, ‘Oh those Vandals of Kolkatta.’
A lot has been written about the events related to Nadigram, a place some 90 miles from Kolkotta. Some described it ‘intra-proletariat struggle.’ Others a clash between the agrarian forces and those who favor industrialization, while its also viewed as a revolt against the dictatorship of the Communist Party of India (Marxist). Many others blame it on the opposition in West Bengal particularly Trinamool Congress that attempted to cash on the discontentment of the people of Nandigram. The general summery of all is that Nandigram essentially was a people’s war, a faithless commotion with no religious overtones.
However, according to the BJP the majority of the victims in the Nandigram clashes were those belonging to the Muslim minority community. The saffron party that survives on anti-Muslim campaign saw in Nandigram an opportunity to break the Muslim vote bank of CPI (M) in West Bengal and so in this case sided with the minority community. One may have quarrels with the politics of the BJP but it’s an irrefutable fact that Muslims suffered heavily in Nandigram.
The CPI (M) government was keen on industrial development through foreign investment in West Bengal. They mooted the idea of creating Special Economic Zone in Nandigram and decided to permit an Indonesian firm to build a chemicals plant across the Haldi River from Haldia port, in Nandigram.
The Left government gave the argument that the SEZ would create about 100,000 direct and indirect jobs and a lot of people would be benefited by this project in Nandigram.
The idea of SEZ tries to replicate the Chinese model of forced eviction of people from their lands, at a price determined by the government and this became the bugbear of the CPI (M) government.
The landowners of Nandigram who are mostly Hindus grudgingly seemed to have accepted the deal, but the local people who depend on the land as sharecroppers and were Muslims opposed the idea of SEZ. Their opposition was they would be displaced without any compensation, as they don't own the land. These created a rift between the local people and the CPI (M) supporters who forcibly tried to clear up the area but the local people who resided there thwarted any such moves.
Here comes the opposition leader Mamta Banerjee, who sees in this an opportunity to embarrass the CPI (M) government. She brings her own supporters as well as the Maoists guerrillas with guns to fight the CPI (M) government. As a result of it a turf war gets started in Nandigram.
On 14 March 2007, CPI (M) government sends police to Nandigram to clear the place. The local people blocked the road with the frontlines filled with women and children and they resisted the police unarmed. The state police acting in the most fascist manner and opened fire on the mob that killed 14 people and left 164 were injured. However, even then the CPI (M) cadres were unable to enter Nandigram.
Some independent investigation has brought to light the fact that the bullets used in the conflict area of Nandigram on March 14 were not the standard ones used by the police force of West Bengal. This gave rise to speculation that the CPI (M) cadres could have disguised themselves as police and may have fired on the unarmed local people.
These findings made the local people agitated and with the backing of the Maoist they expelled the CPI (M) supporters out of Nandigram forcing hem to live in relief camps.
After the violence of March, the government announced that the land acquisition proposal for the SEZ was shelved. However, even then the tension continued to simmer on the ground. The CPI (M) was bent upon to clear the area of the Maoists and Trinamools supporters but there was no let up in the resistance against any such moves.
So the CPI (M) finally planned operation "take back" to reclaim Nandigram. They sent trucks load of their cadres to overpower the protesters and reclaim the land using all it might. There was brutal violence in the ensuing clashes and in the end the CPI (M) cadres finally managed to enter into Nandigram. They are said to have committed the same kind of violence that the Modi government had indulged in Gujarat. There were arsons and looting killings and rapes. The horror tales are too terrifying to tell. Mothers were raped in front of their daughters, daughters in front of their others.
In the end of the day the victim of this controversy happen to be the landless poor labourers of Nandigram. Undoubtedly they belong to the proletariats class but they still had certain faith and in this case majority belonged to the minority Muslim community.
Nandigram definitely cannot be compared with Gujarat where the oppressed belonged to the Muslim community and the perpetrators were of those of the Hindus faith. It was the CPI (M) cadres that were on the forefront of oppression in Nandigram and many among them belonged to the Muslim faith as well. However, there is little doubt that the majority who suffered belonged to the Muslim minority community.
The horror tales of the Nadigram against the Muslim community was so inflaming that it brought the Muslims on the streets of Kolkotta to vent their anger. The incense of Taslima Nasreen was there round the corner, the murder of Rizwan ur Rehman aggravated against the CPI (M) rule.
The West Bengal Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharya has tried to patch up the whole issue by admitting that March police firing in Nandigram was a political and administrative failure and has also announced compensation to Nandigram victims. However it remains to be seen how long the mob furry could be bottled up by the CPI (M) government. It seems the Jacobins have arrived in West Bengal.
--
Syed Ali Mujtaba is a working journalist based in Chennai. He can be contacted at syedalimujtaba@ yahoo.com
Wednesday, December 5, 2007
Pop Group Junoon does act of mercy
Pop Group Junoon does act of mercy
Syed Ali Mujtaba
CHENNAI: Junoon is all about passion, madness, and mindless commitment to music, says Salman Ahmed, the lead guitarist of the Sufi pop band from Pakistan that is currently in Chennai.
He says, 'people including my friends and relatives called us mad when my friend, Ali Azmat, with an MBA degree, and I with an MBBS degree thought of starting a rock band. So we decided to call it Junoon, and that's how the journey began since 1990.'
The entire Junoon band; Ali Azmat, lead vocalist, Salman Ahmed and Vikar, guitarists, Mickaal Hassan, bass guitarist, Allen Smith, drummer, and Mohammed Azam, tabla player, were present at the 'The Park' hotel for a charity dinner to raise funds for HIV/AIDS awareness.
This was the second visit of the band to Chennai, the first time being in 1999, during a whirlwind tour of India after their song 'Syaonee' caught the imagination of the entire country.
The dinner was hosted by the organization 'Acts of Mercy', the social wing of the Unwind Centre, the most happening place on the English pop scene in Chennai.
Salman says he and Ali Azmat gave themselves a year to satisfy their passion for music and never thought about earning money or fame. All that has come their way through Junoon was a bonus from the Almighty, he says.
The group broke away from the monotony of occupying the stage and came and sat with the audience.
'We do'nt want to make it another Pakistan - India encounter, that divides people on the two sides of the border, some one from the group was heard saying.
They band members sat amidst the guests and shared their experiences with them, mingling freely, giving autographs and obliging the cameras to click and flash.
Salman let his heart speak, saying that he was enjoying life as a musician to the fullest and never regretted for not practising medicine.
He says, 'you can earn and make comfortable yourself, but you can never get the satisfaction like I do, of being invited to a far- off place like Chennai, with such a gathering assembled to listen to me. I can trade all my comforts for this satisfaction.'
Talking about various Indian cities, he feels that Chennai is a spiritual city while Delhi and Patiala are the extension of Pakistani Punjab. To him, Mumbai is as gripping as Karachi, while Bangalore and Pune are also vibrant cities.
Junoon lead vocalist Ali Azmat, explaining about the pop culture scene in Pakistan, says things have changed for better since the last 15 years and there are 10 quality bands in his country.
Since cinema, he says, is not all that developed in Pakistan, the pop-stars have acquired icon status there. It also has to do with the large youth population as 50 per cent of the total country's population being under the age of 25. He says youth culture is the same everywhere and pop stars are instant celebrities. Pop stars popularity could judge by the fact that even the President comes and enjoys their concerts, he said.
Talking about Junoon being banned on Pakistan's PTV for the band members sporting long hairs and making unusual fashion statement, Azmat says 'it was just a pretext of the then government to justify their decision'.
He says that through their music they were delivering social messages about corruption and inefficient governance and the political establishment then did not like that. The ban on them was lifted after their album 'Parwaz' was released, he said.
About future projects, Salman Ahmed says he shot a seven- minute music video on Pakistan-India friendship, with Naseeruddin Shah, Subha Mugdal and Nandita Das. Some part of the video was shot in Patiala, his ancestral place, he said.
John Christian, director of the Unwind Centre, who organised the charity dinner said the Pakistani band Junnon is roped in to create awareness about AIDS with the slogan ' Fight Aids with facts and not fear'.
'It is no publicity gimmick but yet another serious attempt to build peace and friendship between India and Pakistan,' he said.
The funds raised would go to support 'Hope', an organization working for the women and children affected with HIV/AIDS, John said.
The pop group was in chennai in july 2004 and this write-up appeared in News Today.
Link: http://www.newstodaynet.com/30jul/ss3.htm
--
http://www.junoonforums.com/forum/viewtopic.php?p=8875&sid=024cc6c920f96da5e65da166fcffece0
Syed Ali Mujtaba
CHENNAI: Junoon is all about passion, madness, and mindless commitment to music, says Salman Ahmed, the lead guitarist of the Sufi pop band from Pakistan that is currently in Chennai.
He says, 'people including my friends and relatives called us mad when my friend, Ali Azmat, with an MBA degree, and I with an MBBS degree thought of starting a rock band. So we decided to call it Junoon, and that's how the journey began since 1990.'
The entire Junoon band; Ali Azmat, lead vocalist, Salman Ahmed and Vikar, guitarists, Mickaal Hassan, bass guitarist, Allen Smith, drummer, and Mohammed Azam, tabla player, were present at the 'The Park' hotel for a charity dinner to raise funds for HIV/AIDS awareness.
This was the second visit of the band to Chennai, the first time being in 1999, during a whirlwind tour of India after their song 'Syaonee' caught the imagination of the entire country.
The dinner was hosted by the organization 'Acts of Mercy', the social wing of the Unwind Centre, the most happening place on the English pop scene in Chennai.
Salman says he and Ali Azmat gave themselves a year to satisfy their passion for music and never thought about earning money or fame. All that has come their way through Junoon was a bonus from the Almighty, he says.
The group broke away from the monotony of occupying the stage and came and sat with the audience.
'We do'nt want to make it another Pakistan - India encounter, that divides people on the two sides of the border, some one from the group was heard saying.
They band members sat amidst the guests and shared their experiences with them, mingling freely, giving autographs and obliging the cameras to click and flash.
Salman let his heart speak, saying that he was enjoying life as a musician to the fullest and never regretted for not practising medicine.
He says, 'you can earn and make comfortable yourself, but you can never get the satisfaction like I do, of being invited to a far- off place like Chennai, with such a gathering assembled to listen to me. I can trade all my comforts for this satisfaction.'
Talking about various Indian cities, he feels that Chennai is a spiritual city while Delhi and Patiala are the extension of Pakistani Punjab. To him, Mumbai is as gripping as Karachi, while Bangalore and Pune are also vibrant cities.
Junoon lead vocalist Ali Azmat, explaining about the pop culture scene in Pakistan, says things have changed for better since the last 15 years and there are 10 quality bands in his country.
Since cinema, he says, is not all that developed in Pakistan, the pop-stars have acquired icon status there. It also has to do with the large youth population as 50 per cent of the total country's population being under the age of 25. He says youth culture is the same everywhere and pop stars are instant celebrities. Pop stars popularity could judge by the fact that even the President comes and enjoys their concerts, he said.
Talking about Junoon being banned on Pakistan's PTV for the band members sporting long hairs and making unusual fashion statement, Azmat says 'it was just a pretext of the then government to justify their decision'.
He says that through their music they were delivering social messages about corruption and inefficient governance and the political establishment then did not like that. The ban on them was lifted after their album 'Parwaz' was released, he said.
About future projects, Salman Ahmed says he shot a seven- minute music video on Pakistan-India friendship, with Naseeruddin Shah, Subha Mugdal and Nandita Das. Some part of the video was shot in Patiala, his ancestral place, he said.
John Christian, director of the Unwind Centre, who organised the charity dinner said the Pakistani band Junnon is roped in to create awareness about AIDS with the slogan ' Fight Aids with facts and not fear'.
'It is no publicity gimmick but yet another serious attempt to build peace and friendship between India and Pakistan,' he said.
The funds raised would go to support 'Hope', an organization working for the women and children affected with HIV/AIDS, John said.
The pop group was in chennai in july 2004 and this write-up appeared in News Today.
Link: http://www.newstodaynet.com/30jul/ss3.htm
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