THE PORTRAITS OF M.A. RAHMAN CHUGHTAI
HARDLY ANY EXIST IN LIFE, ONE CAN WONDER WHY?

People welcome to try their luck

M.A. Rahman Chughtai unlike other pygmies of art here, never attempted a Self-portrait. The closest he reached was a portrait done by Ustad Aziz in the Ustad Allah Baksh Studio, which was later signed by Ustad Allah Baksh himself. I was there when it was being made, and later even borrowed it once for a show of ours. I do not know where it is at present. In any case it was from a photograph made of the artist, but the artist had himself corrected it for Ustad Aziz, and that was as near as you could get to a portrait. No image with us.

There was an attempt at a pencil sketch by an artist from Gujrat, Ravishankar Raval in 1939, which was published in Bombay in 1946. I do not know if it exists at all. We have an image. Saeed Akhtar wanted to make one, but nothing was published for the Stamps series, for there was a certain lobby trying to undermine the Ideological impact of the artist. Even Stephen P. Cohen, the great American Pakistani expert, had noted this and we talked about it, when he visited us here. A Sindhi artist had made a Multani tile of him. We have it in our possession.

After the death of the artist, we noted the lack of this in the life of the artist. Incidentally we read about an art student, namely ANJUM HASSAN from Karachi in the Herald Magazine. And invited her here to do a portrait on the artist. The sample she sent is still with us. We had issues about the actual one, but she was adamant against changing anything, and we respect her for that. For us the sample brought more of Chughtai’s character, rather than the finished product. We are told that she is somewhere in the United States but we still remember her fondly. She was not only beautiful but had a lovely personality, very suitable for a portrait of Chughtai Artist. Her maternal uncle and aunt I met all the time here in Lahore, for he was managing an Airline office here. Mirza Baigs they themselves. Our best wishes to her ever!

Recently a SCULPTOR of Lahore has offered to make a portrait in STONE of the artist. We have welcomed him. Let us see how the same will proceed. I have done my best and doing my best in very limited resources. No one really cares, but we know the future of Pakistan is telling us again and again, not to give up. The future needs us. We stand free, for unlike others WE HAVE NOT EVEN TAKEN A SINGLE PAISA FROM THE GOVERNMENT, NOR EVEN ONE FAVOUR OF ANY KIND. This freedom let us soar high in the sky!

RESPECTING AND SAVING GODS OF OTHER RELIGIONS
A BURIED GANESH MADE IN LAHORE IN SULTANATE REIGN

A Hindu god of luck

The image of Ganesh is ever there in Hindu mythology. The strange part is that mostly the image is of a robust fat Ganesh. Like the Starving Buddha in the Lahore Museum, I have not seen a starving Ganesh. I am not familiar with the imagery associated with Ganesh, but there is a fish at his feet in our Ganesh Lahori.

Discovered deep down the earth, we nurtured it with relevant preservative oils. I often use pure ghee for this restoration, which actually is good for the clay work. The Head Crown, the clothes, even the handling is totally unique. I do not think Ganesh worshipper have ever seen a Ganesh like this. It is to the credit of the artists of Lahore to put the stamp of individuality in whatever they created in life.

In the symbolism of Ganesh it is said that a fat stomach is meant to digest all good and bad in life. But our Ganesh has a fat stomach. A fish like this is used in the imagery of the Chinese fish man. That is also a god of luck. In any case we wish our Hindu friends happy viewing of a unique clay work of Lahore.

EARTHQUAKE IN GHAZNI IN 1974 BROUGHT DEVASTATION
STORY ABOUT THE OPENING OF GRAVE OF SULTAN MAHMUD

No documentation of Muslim’s spun stories

The Story of Sultan Mahmud Ghaznavi is a household one in this region. For one section of the people, the greatest hero of all times. For the other section, the greatest curse for their way of life. The truth really is hidden in massive stereotypes. But that is not the point of this blog.

In 1974 Ghazni was devastated by a massive Earthquake. Buildings went down , including a lot of monuments. A massive reconstruction plan was started, and there was massive American aid for all this. It is reputed that the Mausoleum of Sultan Mahmud Ghaznavi was damaged and the grave sprung open by itself. The internet delivers a video and a lecture by Maulana Tariq Jameel that the body of the great Sultan was found intact, and his hands were so soft, as like he was buried there and then. A thousand years had made no difference on the decomposition of the body. Fine, but then, the incident should have been recorded, photographs taken and the fact announced in massive campaign. Simple stories leave person in doubt.

We know of the body found in Austria in Snow after 5000 years. It was intact, but not really in the modern sense. Everything was there, but withered in its on way. Mummies of Pharaohs are of the same line, or the Aztecs or the Mayas. Even Chinese mummies have been discovered in liquid. But in in simple wooden coffin, or otherwise, it is not possible for any body not to suffer decomposition. If it an act of faith in people, to believe in the supernatural, scientific thought does not allow any speculation.

A more probable thing could be that for research purposes, the body of the Sultan was stolen by some foreign lobby., We can speculate on a certain lobby which hated the Sultan so massively. And the body replaced by a fresh one so that the original may not be missed by others. We are men and women of science. We do not believe in speculation. We would have loved an image of the great Sultan himself. We know what the Russians did with Amir Timur and reconstructed him. But only bones were there. Here is just another mythical story for religious consumption. No documentation, nothing!

WHEN “KANJRIS” STARTED CUTTING LABEL RECORDS,
NEWER FAME, NEWER RESOURCES AND TOTAL ENTERTAINMENT

Professionals became respectable names in Industry

Our elders were very fond of music. Where could one hear music? Obviously in those times at brothels sung by kanjris. Very respectable people frequented these music shows. The lust for music would not grow away. My grandfather used to visit some music houses to hear music at the end of the day. His Phopha (uncle) used to play the Sitar in the Hujra of the Wazeer Khan Mosque. Music was totally acceptable to people in Lahore as well as other places, before the Mullah put his idiotic stamp on it. But that is a different story.

The invention of the Gramophone brought new energy to the Industry. It invaded our region like a storm. No house was complete without one. Different people could afford different versions of same. My cousin had access to one of his own, which was actually owned by a friend of his own (Khalid of Omnibus Lahore). The needle was perfected at all times and the same wound again and again. My mother lamented all her life of the Gramophone and records she left behind in her Amritsar home. A house burnt to the ground in the area of Farid da Chowk, Amritsar. Music was here to stay in our region.

This was the time when these prostitutes realized that instead of people visiting their brothels, it was time for them to go to the people. Thomas Edison had perfected the gramophone and it had come to our region. The top brothel centers of this region, namely Calcutta, Delhi, Bombay, Lahore, Multan and Peshawar were forefronts in providing singers to cut records for the first time. In the beginning the records were on STONE, even marble. People here have records in their possession of this era. Many people have tried to preserve the Songs of those times in the greatest music ever written or recorded in our region. But the apathy of our people is phenomenal. No one really cares. The collection of Hafeez Jullundri’s brother is actually rotting under the bed of his grandson. The cultural machinery is ever silent.

In one function Hafeez Jullundri along with Malika Pukhraj, sang his immortal poem of ABI TO MAY JAWAN HOON. Strangely it is being sung by prostitutes even today. A singer and dancer lamented that when they perform it is called a MUJRA and when others perform, it is called a PERFORMANCE. The difference created by society. But once everyone knew the background of the musician and nobody cared for that. Music was the only worthy thing to be concerned about.

LACK OF KNOWLEDGE MADE MAN FEAR ECLIPSES
TODAY CHARLATANS MAKING FOOL OF PEOPLE

Natural phenomena are not omens of any kind

It is understood that anything unusual makes us fear same. In olden times this was the case. Our traditional priests made man fear the unusual happenings in the environments. That is why eclipses were held in danger. Aztecs and Mayas sacrificed thousands of human beings to avert disaster. And this was true for most old civilizations.

Then knowledge made man enlightened and he understood that these were just phenmena of Nature, nothing more. They came, they pass. They are not OMENS of any kind. But today MODERN CHARLATANS are confusing people again with their doomsday scenarios. Islam came to free people from Magic and Rituals, and the enemy has sprung in our roots, belittling our values and faith in science and knowledge. To send us in pits of remorse, so that civilizations cannot evolve beyond PHYSICAL EVOLUTION into CREATIVE EVOLUTION.

Enjoy Eclipses! Know what they are. Science explains everything, and when it cannot, research and fid out more. Every misfortune in the world has a solution. Allah has instructed us to find one. There is life after Qiamat. Rejoice in the idea of a new and unfettered life from Evil itself.

“MY HAIR GONE GREY, MY APPETITE NOT LOST YET” AURANGZEB ALAMGEER,
THE GREAT EMPEROR SIMPLY YEARNS FOR SULAIMAN BAWARCHI’S FOOD

ANECDOTES OF DAILY LIFE

The Mughal way of life dazzled the world in their lifetime and still dazzle with the remnants of their culture. Mughal cuisine is a household word all over the world. It is interesting to come across cookbooks of Mughal times, mostly 18th and 19th century works. One reads the recipes and one can try to imitate them, but without resource of original ingredients of cooking, the real old taste cannot be in anyway created in these times. Still Mughal food surrounds us even today.

A very amusing letter comes to us in form of RUQAT ALAMGEERI. A manuscript which contains many of his letters to others. One letter is addressed to his son and he twinges on his memory in remembering that the cook of his son, namely Sulaiman Bawarch could cook Khichri Biryani in such a way that the taste does not go away. He says that to eat the same in the Monsoon season is the highlight of taste. He wanted forcefully to steal the cook from his son, but his fatherly love for his child stopped him from doing so. He talks of his own cook Islam Khan who could not do justice to same. He requests his son to send some pupils of Sulaiman Bawarchi so that they can cook Khichri Biryani for him at his palace.

These kind of anecdotes make us realize and see the great Mughal King in flesh and blood, they were just like us, nothing more. We cannot forget them, for they are us today.

A TURK REBEL IN LAHORE
MUSLIM WOMEN ON THE MOVE

Where is the Halide of Lahore?

It is remembered by all. The breaking of the Ottoman Empire made the Muslims of Hindustan cry in full depth. Dr Allama Iqbal consoled their souls, and the fervour of Pakistan went into full swing. Modern Turkey sprung from Mustafa Kamal Pasha, the reformer. Religious fanatics think very bad of him, others never get tired of singing his songs The fact is that Modern Turkey came back into power after getting rid of religious priesthood which was undermining its advance in the future. Perhaps even that went too far. I have myself seen both sides of Turkey. One on the European side, and the other across the Bay of Bhosphorous. A world of difference between two sections of same society.

Our ancestor Ustad Yusuf Burkhurdar also came from Turkey, being a student of Ustad Sinan and settled in Lahore. He had accompanied Emperor Babur, along with Ustad Isa, who also came from the same place. They were called Turkish Chaghatais, although they were originally from Herat. The proper name was HURRO CHAGHATAS. We are very close to Turkey in letter and spirit.

Halide Edib made a name for herself by jumping into the main stream of Women emancipation. She came to India for that cause and visited Lahore too. Here she narrates her experience of Lahore. For instance she says:

“The Muslim girls of Lahore wear tight trousers and long silk chemises buttoned at the side, more like the Chinese woman’s costume. Over their hair they have a thin floating veil, embroidered all round or at the borders. This seemed to me more practical, but I admit that the women who adopt it must have the figures of Lahore women, which are not common in any nation. These girls were all daughters of the rich, and their interests seemed to be confined to their own class. “

She gives an opinion of Lahore as:

“To me Lahore stands between the Frontier and the rest of India, not only geographically but in mentality as well. It contains both, as well as its own peculiarities of thought.”

For her:

“Lahore, more than all other cities, seemed difficult to size up with regard to trends of thought, and community divisions”.

And then something touching happened. She was staying with Begum Shahnawaz in Lahore in 1937. A famous Doctor of Lahore brought her young daughter of 7 days only to Halide Edib of Turkey and named her after the Turkish icon. Halide Edib was moved to tears and left another Halide behind. Where is this Halide? Does anyone knows!

LAHORE A CITY OF GAME PLAYERS
DIFFERENT GAMES DIFFERENT TIMES

Uproar same at all times

British game of cricket probably came to Punjab in the 18th century. Malik Shamas, the great Pakistani Scholar, had seem Buddhist sculptures depicting games of cricket. We came across a Sultanate figurine of Lahore. My father M.A. Rahman Chughtai, and his brothers all were very fond of playing cricket. M.A. Rahman Chughtai the artist was also a very fast bowler, and is reputed to have literally broken wickets in friendly matches. Most of their playing ground was outside the Shahi Masjid Lahore, as well as Minto Park, the present site of Yadgar Pakistan Memorial. A lot of exceptional Parsees used to play cricket in Lahore.

A cricket match occurred between Lahore and Amballa in 1888 and we have a photograph of it. I thought it best to share it with others. After 1888 is a year and a day no one can remember now, either from writings or even from memory of adults. It is there to enjoy. Except for a local person who looks like a caretaker, ost players are Englishmen, accompanied by their wives.

Plenty of trees, but no telltale signs of playing area. Probably Mian Meer Cantonment, which was the place for the farangees. In all cases a very rare image of Lahore.

Actually written records related to cricket in Lahore goes back to 1848. In a Journal published in London in 1849, namely “Leaves from the Journal of a Subaltern during the campaign in the Punjab”, the writer recalls a cricket match played  in Lahore in October, 1848. That means cricket as a game came with the immediate capture of Lahore by the British. For in 1849, ten years after Ranjit Singh, they were the rulers of Lahore. With them came Cricket at it best and it is there to this day, street to street, heart to heart of Lahore today.

OBSESSION WITH END OF TIME
SECRET NOT SHARED BY ALLAH

Baseless speculation to build doomsday scenario

Live life. Let others live too. I remember story told by my father to me once. The day of qiamat is there and the gardener is holding sapling in his hand. Wht should he do? Discard it or plant it. The motto was PLANT IT. It is Allah’s privileage to end the world, it is the duty of the gardener to plant the sapling. That is optimism not generating pessismism in the world with needless speculation.

One has to go to Surah Qiamat (75)6 and (75)7, in the Quran to know the truth when Allah says:

(6) That is why when he is reminded about the day of QIAMA, he immediately starts to question, “When will it be the day of Qiama?”

(7) (As for the occurrence of QIAMA only the Almighty has knowledge about it. But this much can be said with certainty that) When it does happen, the eyes will be dazzled.

So the Quran itself says that only Allah has knowledge about QIAMAT and he shares this knowledge with no one else. The Day of Qiamat would herald the consequences of the actions and life lived by people. The Qanoon Mukufat. Good deeds good consequences, bad deeds bad consequences. Result sheet day indeed! When Allah is so positive that he does not share this information with nobody, then why people are heralding pessimism all the time. Live life! Do not reject it any way. Let Allah do his things, you do yours.

Two kind of Qiamat. Personal when you get results of your actions and for all, the beginning of a new life. The Law of Mukufat, good deeds will be rewarded and bad deeds will be punished. Rejoice in the idea of meeting your dead beloveds of long go, again. Time fo excitement not fear!

LOSING KOHINOOR DIAMOND, SAVINGS ONES LIFE
THE ESCAPE OF SHAH SHUJA FROM LAHORE

A remarkable journey of survival

The cunning Maharajah Ranjit Singh watched the fight of the Durranis between themselves with acute awareness that what it meant for his future. Sensing what he should do, he cleverly invited the family of Shah Shuja to Lahore, and gave them much protocol. Knowing Shah Shuja would not be far behind, he also sucked him inside the city. Once entrenched in Lahore, a double game of acquiescence and threats started with the Afghan Chief. The request made by the Sikh ruler was simple, hand over the Kohinoor diamond to him. Shah Shuja resisted the same to a high degree but ultimately caved in to the flattery shown by the Sikh Chieftain. Once the diamond was gone, the family of Shah Shuja as well as Shah Shuja were virtual prisoners in Lahore, with not even provision of adequate food to them.

But the Afghans were not to give up that easily. Full four times the ladies of the harem disguised themselves as commoners and tried to escape the city. No luck. Then at the fifth time, they managed to escape from Lahore. Ranjit Singh was enraged beyond bounds. Heads rolled in Lahore. The Sikh enraged by luck of Shah Shuja, doubled the guards over the Afghan. Eight armed men were placed at the door of his prison, and at night, four of them stood with lighted torches in their hands. Months passed and there was little hope. Then one day the Shah saw the wooden planks under him give away and managed to prie them loose. Raising the wood boards, he managed to squeeze himself in and dropped done below to a lumber room. There were seven other small rooms attached and one of them had a street gutter in it. Shah Shuja sensed what he could do.

A man was placed on the bed of Shah Shuja as he ought be sleeping. Then Shuja dropped down and evicted from the rooms, till he finally crawled on all fours in the street gutter itself. He finally reached the bank of river Ravi, where boatsmen were already waiting, who took him across the river. The Kohinoor was left behind.

Devising various strategies, he went across various cities. Sialkot he reached first, and then to Jummo, where a dyer gave him safety in his hovel of dyed clothes. From one city to another and finally in November 1815, he reached the British Cantonment at Ludhaina, safely and soundly, reunited with his family, who had already reached the place. It is a remarkable tale of survival. The Kohinoor was lost to another dynasty, but the life of Shah Shuja and his family was saved, and actually they got a chance to rule their country again. Few people are lucky as Shah Shuja and we remember him today for his quest for a remarkable survival.