A FORBIDDEN NOVEL IN LAHORE
LADY CHATTERLEY’S LOVER

Whispering boys

Boys are often loud. Shouting more of the time. Speaking in a low voice was for wimps. But when boys whisper it is all about some forbidden thing. And what was more forbidden then talk of sex and sexy things. At that time people read books. People heard about books. We had heard about Guy de Maupassant and felt thrilled when his heroine said that a kiss from a man without moustache was no kiss at all. That is why school boys look at their upcoming facial hair and some were trying to cultivate moustaches of their own.

The talk was in the air. A novel was worth reading. It was the banned novel of D.H. Lawrence, Lady Chatterley’s lover. Lawrence had broken all codes by ridiculing English aristocracy with the idea of a crippled Lord, and his wife, being seduced by the gardener in their estate. It looked all ridiculous but in all ways forbidden. People often had just heard of the book, hardly anyone had seen it. But one thing was certain. The male and female genitals were referred as John and Lady Jane in it. It was thrilling for the boys as they prided over lusty talk and their own growing man hoods. The hero was one who could say that he had actually read the book. Hardly anyone had even seen it.

A long time later, some people handed over me some books by D.H. Lawrence. To me it meant nothing, but an English writer taking his swap on the aristocracy. And certainly there was a shame in it. It was not lusty, it was actually very embarrassing. But even more embarrassing was a short story of D.H. Lawrence in which he talks of a wounded Jesus Christ, looking at the ribald activity of a farm cock with the hens. It ridiculed the very faith, by talking of the impotence of the revered figure, and the figure’s embarrassment at seeing the potency of the relation between birds. One could just say, how people do it? Well that is what is called the rebel in the writer. Taking on all odds, trying to justify his own rationality by baring hidden truths about others.

There was a shop in the Regal cinema lane, Spaceage, who used to pander to the requirements of the boys from St Anthony High School, nearby. And there was a shop in the Regal Cinema itself, which used to be home of supply of pornography. They were rather illiterate people. They sullied the character of many of the boys. Those are the pains of growing up, and for each generation, the pains are always there.

The funny art is that every generation suffers the same. There was a shop in Kashmeeri Bazaar around 1890s, and it supplied young boys with nudes of that time. Ribald writing was there too. But these post cards of classical nude photos of women made in Paris mostly were a hot item in Lahore. And there used to be actual nude photographs too. The hottest were of Algerian women made by French photographers. And there were colour lithos too. I have seen many of them in international auction houses, selling them at premier prices. But here old men mostly put them on fire, near their dying days. I have myself hear confessions of a few of them.

The craziest idea were even more. The teachers at the Mayo School of Arts also indulged in nude photography for rich clients. The clients used to select their favourite prostitutes from Hira Mandi and got them photographed from Mayo School teachers. But that is another story for another day.

A DEAD ROBIN AND A HUNGRY DOG
RESPONSIBILITY OF POSITION

Self accountability at best

I was always fond of pets. It was a tradition in our house. But when you keep pets, you also have the responsibility to take care of them. I always do. But last night due to cold weather, a surkh (robin) of mine died. I am feeling very embittered. I remember I went on a trip to Karachi as a young child and left my Surkhs with my mother. Some how or the other, they were all left in the Sun and without water, they all died. My family had replaced them by the time I came back. But I could recognize that they were not mine. So I accosted them for the truth. And the truth was bitter. When you take responsibility, the consequences are yours and yours own.

When the Caliph of Islam, Hazrat Umar took responsibility, he could not sleep at night for fear that he would not be able to provide food to his people. He even feared for the HUNGRY DOG in his domain, lest Allah punishes him for shirking his responsibility. Our leaders with their special cooks and menus, are having the fun of their life, eating the best food in the world, the gourmet’s delight all of it. The public of course is really hungry and deprived, and no one really cares for their plight. Political mileage every one wants to take, but shedding tears for the under privileged is not their task at all.

The Quran tells us that Allah’s Law of Retribution is constantly at work. It will catch up with those who are taking the toll out of people. Who are we to disagree? We watch the clock tick. We know it will eventually catch up with the rascals all the time. But we cannot sit and wait. We also got to continue our jehad for humankind.

REFUSING AN OPPORTUNITY
THE BODY OF EMPEROR JAHANGEER

A life time offer

We get all kind of people at the museum. The variety of persons amaze me. From all over the world, I have met lakhs of people. Obviously each person comes with own agenda. Some people are really crazy, but we have to listen to them. One day a person called on me, a rather poor person, or a labourer category of people. And he asked me if I was interested in looking at something, no one would have ever looked at in his life time. I was stunned. I did not comprehend what he was telling me. He offered to show the body of Emperor Jahangeer to me.

The Mughals had their own way of burial. But they always chose burials  according to the environmental conditions. When Empress Mumtaz Mahal died, there was fear that the Rajputs may steal her body for black mail purposes. So there were three layers of burial chambers  made. And in the third one, after the coffin was placed, it was filled with molten lead. No way of anyone stealing the body. This one does not know what happened with the body of Emperor Shah Jahan himself, as all that was done in an unplanned hurry. Aurangzeb is buried in a flimsy grave, without regard for anything. Anybody could have desecrated his grave at any time. No precautions taken. Similarly Princess Jahan Ara is buried in a simple grave in a Saint’s complex. However we do know more intricate details of the burial chamber of Empress Nur Jahan. With two rings on the ceilings, her lead/iron coffin was suspended from above. Ranjit Singh in his rage against the Muslims, tore down her coffin, and scattered her bones into the dust outside, for wolves to eat. But the place is there and the method of burial is there too.

Emperor Jahangeer was sick and taken to Kashmeer. He died there and had expressed a desire to be buried in the garden of his wife in Lahore, mainly Dil-kusha. His entails (they were always removed when burial was not imminent) are still buried in Kashmeer in a simple monument there. For example the monument where the body of Mumtaz Mahal was buried for some time is still there too. Then his body was brought to Lahore.

Alexander Burnes was an explorer extra ordinary and passed through Lahore in 1834 and his account was published in 1835. He visited the tomb of Emperor Jahangeer and camped there. In his diary, Alexander  Burnes write in 1835, that:

“We quited Lahore in  the forenoon of the 11th of Febraury, and alighted at the tomb of Jaghangeer, a splendid mausoleum across the Ravee.  The wreck of a royal cemetry, which the names of a king had once rendered sacred, but lately converted into a barrack for a brigade of infantry, who had further contributed to its desolate appearance. We put up for the night in one of the garden houses which surround it, and listened to the puerile stories of the people, who assured us that the body of the emperor, like the fabled tale of that of Mohammad, was suspended by leadstones.
One has only to enter a chamber underneath to see it resting on the ground.”

This proves to us that Emperor Jahangeer was buried in the same style as his wife, with rings on the ceiling, and his coffin suspended from it. A group of labourers were working on the sides of the mausoleum, when the Earth caved in and they entered an underground tunnel. A labyrinth in fact of tunnnels there. Hoping for some treasure, they ransacked the tunnel and came to a secret chamber, and there the coffin of Jahangeer was suspended from the ceiling. They had no equipment to break the coffin which was absolutely sealed, but they understood that they were viewing the body of Emperor Jahangeer after centuries. And for this knowledge they wanted to make money out of it.

They came to me to guide me down a tunnel and to show me the body of Jahangeer. I am no adventurer, nor do I have the guts to do such impossible things. But I was thrilled and I wish I could have sent someone to photograph all of it. But thy were asking for too much money and I never felt it was worth it. So I refused. This is many years back, the labourers gone, their information gone. The access to the tunnel nowhere to be seen. But as a memory it haunts me and it was worthy to share it with the world. Emperor Jahangeer is not a no body not to deserve this mention in history.

THE WAY OF THE SUFIS
MADHO LALL HUSSAIN (1538-1599)

Anti-Islamic in its contents

The best thing about Quranic teachings that I like is that the Quran asks us to ‘think and ponder’. In this world of intellectual advancement, to all thinking minds it is different from other religions in this very aspect. The infinite wisdom of Allah make the thought process essential for advancement and realization of human kind to its true potentials. The development of personality as well as to conquer the imperfections of nature. So when the Sufis rage their views, people like me can only wonder the mental capacity of those who follow them.

I have read a number of books on Sufis, English translations done by renowned scholars. The rite of Sufism is to chant different mantras, swirl into dance, and do other antics (often through some sort of drugs too), till they get into a spell. A spell which has made their brains so dizzy that they cannot think at all. And in this state, they commune with God (whatever their God may be certainly not Allah). When we know that with the finality of Prophethood, a thing of the past, no direct communication with Allah is possible, how can a Sufi claim things got into a fermented mind?

Sufis were an extension of the religious idioms of this region as well as others. The Hindu faqeers or Gurus or whatever you may call them, did the same things in their own way. When they took the clothes of Islam, the things remained the same, just vocabulary changed to be fool others. The way of the Sufis is a way of men making fools of others in name of religion and this has been done from times immemorial.  What is new about that?

The story of Madho Lall Hussain is a case in point. A resident of an area outside Lahore, he indulged in Punjabi poetry, and much of it is ribald. Leaving away the pretensions of a Muslim Faqeer at one stage of his life, he openly resorted to wine, drugs, dance and all ribald activity of the time. To have fun, he said, was the mission of Islam. Indulging in vices part of life. And to top it all, he fell in love with a young Hindu boy (This carries a sentence in the Western world, however liberal they may be), Lall Hussain (wore red in his life) started stalking the young boy (that too carries a sentence in the civilized world). By hook or crook, not only was he able to seduce the boy, he also made fools of his parents, with his hoco-pocus. According to legend, the child died, and on promise that he would be given to Lall Hussain, the poet brought him back to life. The legend has it that they were buried in the same grave, though it is said now, that the graves are side by side, separated. I think if this homosexual relation is popularized in the West, we would have international Gay community, making this place into millions of dollars of architectural space, as well a sex inns of every kind.

The elected Governments are not composed of well read people. Lacking education and civilization, they resort to street smart activities and to please the man on the street (instead of educating him), they fully patronize such places. Even today such places are dens of immoral activity of every kind. Drugs are openly sold here as well as consumed by masses. When you see the mindless dancing their devilish trends, one can see, the distance these places have made from the inception of Islam into the public.

OUR REVERENCE FOR JESUS CHRIST
ONE OF THE PROPHETS OF MUSLIMS

The Quran idealizes both mother and son

Prophet Abraham is the forefather of the Judeo-Christian-Muslim traditions, and all the Prophets of the lineage not only deserve but get love and esteem from every Muslim in the world. The name of Jesus Christ is treated in reverence by all Muslims. To deny Jesus Christ is to deny the command of Allah.

Jerusalem was sacked twice and everything burnt in it. Nebuchadnezzar is held responsible for this crime too. In this process, not only sacred buildings, and relics were burnt, but the Torah and the Bible suffered the same fate. Years later (centuries in fact), priests reconstructed the burnt books from their memory as well as their interpolation. The result brings in the differences between nations for the corruption of the sacred text.

Allah sensed all that, and when the Quran was revealed to our prophet Muhammed (PBUH), Allah promised that this time, no one would be able to corrupt the Divine text and Allah assumed responsibility for the text of the Quran itself. A novel innovation was that Allah constructed the Quran in a way that it could be memorized by people in whole. Hazrat Umar sensing this Royal command, had perhaps 500 Hafizs memorize the Quran and sent them away to far nooks and corners of the world. The attempt was to preserve the text. And the text is preserved to this day and to the final day of humankind, not even a comma less or more. And the Quran tells us details about both Moses and Jesus Christ, found nowhere else.

The Quran speaks of Jesus Christ with love and esteem. However the Quran presents the Law of Mukufat, or Retribution. For every good done the result is good, for every bad, the result is bad.  The concept that one can get away with every wrong for Christ died for them on the cross is anti Quranic in concept and no Muslim can accept that in any way. There is no responsibility in such a concept and it is a priest generated idea.

The other clear concept in the Quran is that Jesus Christ was in the end not crucified and lived and died a normal death. The Ahmadiyah community has coined a phrase in their book that ‘Jesus died in Kashmeer’, but that is there own assertion. Others speak of the Station in Murree being the place where Bibi Maryiam (Mary) actually died, and some have dug the grave for research. These are obviously speculations which cannot be proved one way or the other. The Quran says that Jesus Christ lived and died a normal death is something which all Muslims believe and we cannot deny that assertion.

To expect professional priests to save religion is impossible, I feel it is more for researchers in America and Europe to undo the historical wrongs. Many American scholars are some of the best in the world and boldly write about things, regardless of the affronts they receive from a small group of vested interests. The research abilities of USA are praise worthy in all ways.

The teachings of Jesus Christ are values which we all accept and nurture in our way of life. In the evolution of values, with each Prophet, the values reached a new stage of existence. The finality of our Prophet-hood led to the finality of the evolution of Divine values. The rest of the values were given to us with the premise that we have the ability, through consensus, to change whatever we like to do. That is democracy and its true spirit.

This is to wish our Christian brethren in the world a VERY HAPPY CHRISTMAS AND NEW YEAR from us all. Following Jesus Christ is very Muslim in character. May the actual teachings of Jesus Christ based on both love and rejection of exploitation prevail in the world! Amen.

KHIZR KHAN AND DEVAL DEVI
A LOVE LOST FROM DAY ONE

Battle between father and son

Sultan Allauddin Khilji was a remarkable man. Like all other Sultan, the Hindu writers have painted a horrible image of him, contrary to the facts. In a remarkable book (1990) on the Sultan, Dr Ghulam Sarwar Khan Niazi has done away with all the wrongs falsely attributed to that man.

Amir Khusrow in 1316 (revised 1318 after death of Khizr Khan) wrote a MASNAVI that is a poem, by the name of ASHIQA, on the tragic romance of Khizr Khan and Deval Devi. A very complicated relation. Sultan Alauddin Khilji was not on good terms with his wife Mahru, who was mistreating him all the time. Allauddin Khilji fell in love with a Hindu Princess Kamla Devi, and married her. Sultan Allauddin had an eldest son, who was his heir and his name was Khizr Khan (Mahru’s son). Kamla Devi had a daughter from a Hindu Raja from previous marriage. Queen Kamla Devi requested Sultan Allauddin to get her beloved daughter back from her ex-husband and the Sultan sent his army to retrieve her from her father. The mother and daughter moved into the palace, and the Prince fell in love with the daughter of his mother. Although they were not brother and sister, yet the relation was very complicated. Khizr was so hopelessly in love with Deval Devi, that he ran away with her. Kamla Devi did not like that, and disallowed this relation. The Sultan too voted against the relation, but Khizr Khan disobeyed even his own father on the matter. Queen Mahru resented both Kamla Devi and now resented her daughter even more. She insisted that her son Khizr Khan marry her niece, the daughter of Alp Khan. Khizr Khan succumbed but soon fell ill. Queen Mahru seeing the possibility of losing her son agreed to the other marriage finally. The eunuch Kafur Khan intrigued against them, and removed people from power. Mubarak Shah rebelled against those in power, and first put Kafur Khan to death, and then he had Khizr Khan murdered. Then to spite the memory of this love, he took Deval Devi forcibly in his harem as a slave girl. The end was most tragic. It is the first famous romance of a Muslim Prince with a Hindu Princess, and is a celebration of that relation in the tradition of famous love legends. The end result was a natural tragedy.

Legend has it that Khizr Khan and Deval Devi love for each other was phenomenal. He had taken her to Delhi, and fell in the intrigues of the Court. He sacrificed an empire for her. So much fabricated stories exist about this episode, that none is reliable. The most reliable of course is Amir Khusrow himself, who wrote a poem about the love affair (1295-1320) of the two. And the beautiful part of this narrative is that Khizr Khan had himself requested Amir Khusrow to write about his love affair. And the details of the affair were provided to him by a slave girl of the court. It was written when this thing was still in process. Who won and who lost? That does not matter. For the Sultan responsibility mattered most. For the Prince love mattered more than that. Conflict was a natural outcome. The result the love affair was celebrated with manuscripts of ASHIQA appearing in Indian history from time to time. Emperor Akbar had many Royal copies made, and it is the first illustrated manuscript done at his court. Seals prove that many Emperors were very fond of reading it. In fact it was a favourite even of Emperor Aurangzeb. And people think that he had no appreciation of anything Hindu. Then why he patronized them all the time.

SUCCESSFUL JOURNALISTS ARE TALKING PARROTS
“INEVITABILITY OF BREAK UP OF PAKISTAN”

The shame of shamefulness

Does success matters? Of course it does, but when worthless people try to be worthy, they have to dance on the tunes of their Masters. That is you see the wave of modern journalism ridiculing our values most of the time. Roots according to a critic bind the tree to one place, when they like to be on the road all the time, accepting everything  external as their own. Obviously we should be ready for all things, but not foreign versions to bring us down as our own. And certainly not substituting ANARCHY for our IDENTITY.

The roots of identity are not the roots of a fixed tree, but the roots of identity are a set of thoughts which makes us unique from others. And these thought are not merely of our own making. They start from Divine injunctions and through the process of Ijthehad, it is a progressive identity of our own. Do not undermine our Identity in linguistic mambo-jumbo. A stone gets conditioned by its environment, and all human beings get conditioned by the ecological factors. But our identity is not based on mere Geography, it is based on Ideology.

I see a number of books coming up on PARTITION. Mixed up in emotional scenarios of displaced families, it is a mere hogwash of things. To mix blood relation as final, one should see when two brothers diverge because of ideas. No relation exist between them. This area is composed of various type of persons, but the locals as Hindus are different from same. I have not even heard of one Muslim embracing Hinduism, when I know of lakhs of people, who embraced Islam in the process. So talking about blood as determining ideology is hogwash really. The two nation theory is as intact as ever and no purchased imbeciles can undo the factors from our lives.

Love for rewriting our history according to the perspectives across the border is always being attempted by the West as well as Hindu writers. Hindus had no concept of history and never indulged in it. But in the last few centuries, particularly the 20th century, they are obsessed in ridiculing our faith in one way or the other.  Things are written about the leaders of our past, which can shame any body, but where has the truth come to them? From parrots talking in the bazaar. Or a Maina chirping in the trees. I am told that some Benjamin Elman (on sabbatical leave nowadays) is trying to undo our perspects of history at the Princeton University, by innovating some new approach to it. Go on everybody. We have the Quran, intact, in its pristine form, not a comma or hyphen less. And that is our guide. And that tells us about the Two Nation theory and that is part of our existence. So live on! Learn to live with us, or go to hell!

Take a RORA and a HEERA (stone and diamond), It is a simple equation. Take a piece of stone. No one needs to protect it. It can be placed anywhere. No one will even pick it up. It is just a ‘RORA’. Now equate it with a diamond. All know that it is precious. It needs to be kept from the eyes of thieves. People will try to steal it whenever possible. Unprotected it will not remain in possession.

If Pakistan was just a stone, who will care for it? No one will be bothered about it. But if it was a diamond, the world will pay all attention to it. The object to snatch the precious thing from our own hands. When major countries of the world are spending billions on espionage on our selves, it means we are precious, really precious. If not, why would countries waste billions on us? A worthless thing is not worthy of being spent such heavy amounts on. So when we hear rants of the ‘inevitability of break up of Pakistan’ and that ‘Jinnah never wanted Pakistan to be an Islamic state’, one wonders at the IQ of these people and what is their understanding about Islam itself? Obviously Islam is not a religion, so no one aspired for a theocratic state. Everyone aspired for Islam as a DEEN, a complete way of life, given to us by Allah. And this way of life is feared by others, and that is why billions are being poured inside the country, through these malicious media people, to undo us. Pakistan Forever!

A TOY SELLER IN BHAATI GATE
HEROISM AT ITS BEST

Menace of beggars in Lahore

My uncle Abdur Raheem Chughtai used to discuss things with me. Analysis of his long life. He said he had never seen a Pathan beg for his living anywhere. A Pathan never raises his hand in front of anybody. Stuck with the most menial of jobs, he still serves himself with dignity. Today we see HATA KATAS, full bodied men and women, begging at every cross roads, and realize the shame of the Nation, which has learnt to extend its hand as beggars.

But why blame them? Our leaders are even worst beggars, raising their shameless hands in  front of everyone  the world, and hoarding their wealth, so that it may burn them in hell itself. A shameless lot of politicians surround us. We wait for the day when they will be brought to task. If not here, surely in the next world.

But there have always been men of dignity. In the Mohalla Chamala, inside Bhatti Gate, in front of a small house, was the shop (a mere wood board on a thara) of a man, who was POLIO stricken to the core. Perhaps by birth abnormality or anything else, only his face was normal. Bearded with pleasant countenance, he would lie there on the stairs of his house, selling small toys. His whole body was twisted, mangled legs, mangled hands, mangled torso, it was even frightening to look at his body. He was not able to stand, or even sit. He could only lie down and twist some half movements. And instead of begging, he sold toys in his house.

We used to buy toys from him. Not expensive toys, all toys, for two and a half annas at that time. Probably he made half an anna on sale of one toy. In today’s terms, that is not even peanuts for anyone. But what he sold, made him eat a dignified meal every day. I never knew his name, nor I ever asked him. We were actually somewhat afraid of him too. But his face was so radiant, so full of life. Dignity unexplainable. He also used to sell sweets (golis). One anna for perhaps six or eight of them. Such minor businessman, with a giant of a dignity. May Allah rest his soul in peace! I think he was a beacon light for any and could be a beacon light for our wretched leaders of today.

Halal or haram are concepts we had in our life. My father never let GREED invade his life. He earned with dignity. Most people took advantage of him, particularly his so called best friends. Interestingly that my father never carried money. He never put money in his pocket. He hated to even count money and if he had caught me counting money, maybe he would have slapped me. Yes, slapped me for paying attention to money.  My father gave me halal for life, and I give halal to my children. And Allah forbid that I indulge myself otherwise. I live in a house that my father built in 1938 (land bought in 1931). Previously he lived in a house built in 1758 (yes 1758). Yes, I drive a car, model 1977. Yes, 1977. I eat the best kind of food, I send my children to the best schools possible, for the best education. I wear good. I feel good. This nation has not even given me my daily bread, but I have spent crores on the nation itself, for public good. No one really cares. Yes, I am in tension most of my life, but there is a contentment that no SOB kanjar of haram can take from me. I have a happiness no haramzada can ever have.

LAST OF THE GREAT NAQASHS
HUJRA OF WAZEER KHAN MOSQUE

Changing times

When the Wazeer Khan mosque was completed, a set-up was put in place. This set-up took into account the future needs of repair, maintenance and changes in the mosque. The corner hujra inside the mosque was given by Nawab Wazeer Khan to the family of Lutuf-ullah Ahmad Muhandis. The family was to take responsibility for the mosque aesthetic requirements. The hujra changed hand within the family in time and in the Sikh period, it was occupied by Umar Din Naqash. Umar Din is mentioned by Nur-ud-din Chisti too, in his famous book ‘Taqeeqat-Chisti’. There is an agreement between Raheem Baksh Mimar and his brother Elahi Baksh (Natha) dated 23rd June, 1858, on  the sharing of property on the death of their father, Mian Muhammed Salah Mimar on 11th May, 1958.  Elahi Baksh was the father of Umar Din Naqash.
Umar Din had one son by the name of Baba Miran Bakh. He was the husband of Karam-un-nisa, sister of Mian Kareem Baksh Mimar, father of M.. Rahman Chughtai artist. Baba Miran Baksh was hence the PHUPHA of our artist.

It is interesting that there are photographs of the Baba in archives. A photographic portrait made by the artist M.A. Rahman Chughtai. A group of photographs made by the family of Abdullah Mussavar of Sikh Court. And there are photographs of the Court of Wazeer Khan mosque, showing the naqashi students running about in the compound, including the Chughtai brothers. All four brothers, Hussain, Abdur Rahman, Abdullah and Abdur Raheem were students of the Baba at one time or the other. This is quite clear.

Most of the work of the Baba is not preserved. There are bits and pieces here and there.For instance the famous writer of Lahore Ghulam Sarwar Lahori, has mentioned the contribution of Baba to the dust cover of his book, as well as a sketch for the published Harmain-ul-Shareef. It is in our archives. We have a couple of nikah-namas made by him, including a naqashi for Barkat Ali. But we do know that his output was extra-ordinary and uncharted works must be at many places. His father’s work is represented by a sumptuous Quran with many pages of Naqashi, and his son’s work (Muhammed Hayat naqash) is represented in the collection of Lahore Fort Museum. All these are well know.

The Baba was an avid music lover and played the Sitar all the time. On a sharing of CUP OF KAVA in front of his hujra, a gathering used to be held, to listen to him playing the Sitar. The concept of Sitar playing in a mosque seems strange in these times, but it was very normal  then. There are hadees(s) about music recitals in the Quran in many ancient times, including those of the Caliphs.

We are told of incidents in his life. Dr Abdullah Chaghatai used to recall a time when on Eid day, the Baba had no money at all, and sold the ‘sonay-day-warq’ (gold leaves in artist’s cup) for Rs 2 to celebrate the occasion. In any case Baba Miran Baksh was the FIRST TEACHER of the artist M.A. Rahman Chughtai and that is a record in itself. The student excelled the Baba and became a Master Naqsash of his times. Dr James Dickie used to say that the naqashi work done by the artist excelled the naqashi work done at the court of Emperor Jahangeer and that indeed is a fact to understand.

The working instruments of the Baba are with his family as well as some with us. Some of his works still exist with members of his family.

ARE CROWS REALLY INTELLIGENT?
EXPERIMENTATION WITH REAL CROWS

Changing behaviour of all

We are fed with tales of the intelligence of crows. Every one will recall the story of the thirsty crow, whose beak could not reach the water level in a vessel. The crow went on throwing stones in it, and the water level came up. It is really a fancy story and is meant to educate us. But actually take a vessel and start throwing stones in it, and you will realize the vessel will get cluttered with stones and the water level will be still down and out of reach. Although an article in the magazine ‘Current Biology’ reports that this has actually been experimented as a success. Obviously it all depends on the type of stone used for the purpose.

Such an intelligent animal, and yet totally paranoid. How is that it gets frightened by just plain action of it? Children throw imaginary stones at crows and the crow yelps and flies away, even when there is no stone. Indeed crows are like cowboys, trigger happy all the time.

Crows are also totally competitive. You throw a piece of food, and the crows fight for the same. Totally disgusting behaviour of not having the ability to share with others. But if you throw a number of pieces together, there is no room for them to fight with each other over the piece and they lose interest in the pieces of food itself.

And then also totally greedy. Fighting with others, not content with one piece, a crow would try to pick up three, four pieces all in one beak at  the same time. The more you watch the animal, the more you think of it as a crazy off shoot of evolution.

And the one thing that comes to your mind is their comparison with our politicians. Greedy, thirsty, and paranoid and totally selfish. Indeed the assembly of Crows is reflective of our society. That is why we have the legend of Kalila and Dimna, or the Assemblage of Crows, as a tale from our past, meant to educate all Princes in the Machiavellian art of survival, in which evil always triumphs over virtue. That is the history of crows.