Injemaad

If the younger readers are wondering whether the current situation in the country is of recent origin and it is only they who have to bear with this crap, let me assure them that this has been the state of affairs here since almost the beginning. Poets, artist, writers - whose role was best defined by Kurt Vonnegut Jr. when he said:

" ... when a society is in great danger, [they are] likely to sound the alarms. I have the canary-bird-in-the-coal-mine theory of the arts. You know, coal miners used to take birds down into the mines with them to detect gas before men got sick. The artists certainly did that in the case of Vietnam. They chirped and keeled over. But it made no difference whatsoever. Nobody important cared. But I continue to think that artists — all artists — should be treasured as alarm systems."(Playboy Interview, 1973)

have been pointing out to our stasis - one that gets cured for just long enough to allow us to slide down further - for years. Humourous poet Dilaavar Figaar had this to say:

Har baat ka javaab hae 'Haalaaté Haazrah!' Sün sün kay loag haal say bayhaal ho gaey. Haalaté Haazrah nah sahee müstaqil, magar, Haalaté Haazrah ko kaee saal ho gaey!

On a much more serious note, Himayat Ali Shaer's lament in a ghazal from the 70s rings in my ears as I look at images like this:

Ab bataao jaae gee zindagee kahaañ, Yaaro Barq kee haeñ phir nazrayñ sooé aashiaañ, Yaaro Türbatoñ ki sham'ayñ haeñ aur gahri taareeki Jaa rahay thay kis jaanib, aa gaey khaañ, Yaaro Baagh hae keh maqtal hae, phool haeñ keh laashayñ haeñ Shaakh shaakh hota hae daar ka gümaañ, Yaaro Raahzan ke baaray mayñ aur kyaa kahayñ khül kar? Meeré Kaaravaañ, Yaaro! Meeré Kaaravaañ,Yaaro!