Tumhari Amrita
Dear reader,
Hello! There’s a park near home where the old folks come in their shorts to raise the saffron flag and hold their meetings. Yesterday, the park was taken over by young kids who had their annual sports meet there. They were all around the park and trying to get on the open gym, run and create a ruckus the way only young children have the energy to do. Their teachers were all dressed in white salwar kameez or burqas with duppatas in the tricolour. It was so lovely to see these folks take over the park.
I was to start my Republic Day celebration by participating in this fab game called Solemnly Resolve by Fields of View. But before that, people were hoisting the flag in my apartment complex. I could see people had gathered down. And in the adjacent building someone was loudly reciting the name of Ram, probably on a microphone. The folks in that building waited for them to finish and continued with their flag hoisting programme. I was a bit upset but playing Solemnly Resolve put me in a great mood.
I knew I needed to make time for this today:
Sharing the email that came from the organising committee:
When Gen. Zia-ul-Haq’s regime found the poetry and political activism of Fahmida Riaz intolerable, she fled the country and took political asylum in India. It was Amrita Pritam who went to the then Prime Minister of India, Mrs Indira Gandhi and secured shelter and safety for her friend and contemporary poet from Pakistan.
The relationship between these two amazing women of South Asia does not start or end with this story of asylum. Remember when Amrita Pritam said,"Jaha bhi azad ruh ki Jhalak pade, Samajhna waha mera ghar hai” (Wherever you find a glimpse of a free spirit; that’s where you will find me) or remember when Fahmida Riaz said, “ Jis lamhe me tum zinda ho, vo lamha tum s zinda hai " ( the moment through which you are alive, is the moment which is alive through you)
Amrita Pritam and Fahmida Riaz are often categorized as revolutionary, resilient, courageous, challenging society and patriarchy, etc. We might often forget that one of the seeds of the revolutionary thought process is radical love. Both the writers tirelessly provided the strength for themselves and others to imagine, if not fulfil, relationships of people beyond boundaries, beyond norms of society, state and religion. They relentlessly contested norms and lived by their convictions. Just like the two lines of poetry mentioned above, their life, writings, politics and choice of themes, all were intricately webbed powerfully.
In more than one way, their love and respect for each other personified the India-Pakistan people’s bonding. They stood on either side of the border with open arms and open hearts, not judging the other from the prism of religion, politics or nationalism!
A few years down the lane, on 8 March 2014, against the backdrop of rising concerns over intolerance in India, Riaz recited her poem 'Tum bilkul hum jaisey nikley' at a seminar called ‘Hum Gunahgaar Auratein’. The poem compared the rising Hindutva in India and the rise of Islamic fundamentalism in Pakistan during Zia-ul-Haq's regime.
It was Fahmida who also said that “one should be totally sincere in one's art, and uncompromising. There is something sacred about art that cannot take violation…” These lines epitomises both these courageous South Asian women, who stood out and spoke their heart and art. Love, desire, democracy, passion, resistance - they dealt with their times like prophets amidst lost peoples.
Pakistan India Peoples’ Forum for Peace and Democracy in collaboration with Rajiv Gandhi Foundation and South Asian Solidarity Collective present an evening of guftagu; poetry and music wrapped in the aura of many artists. We take the liberty to do this in honour of and through the prism of Amrita and Fahmida, who instigated love and politics.
Since my knowledge of both Amrita Pritam and Fahmida Riaz is limited, I started to google and surprisingly a small snippet of Tumhari Amrita directed by Feroz Abbas Khan came up. I remember watching it as a 20 year old at the Sophia theatre and was so moved by the play that I looked up Feroz Khan on the internet. This was pre-google. He had a website on GeoCities which listed his email, so I wrote him a fan mail asking if I would be able to read the script. He wrote back and said it wouldn’t be possible. I eventually went on to read A R Gurney’s Love Letters which the play was an adaptation of. I wasn’t too taken by Love Letters.
A year or two ago, I happened to watch Feroz Khan’s broadway style musical - Mughal-e-Azam which is spectacular and is coming back to Mumbai in February. I was so mesmerised that I left my bottle in the theatre which I eventually went to pick up. On my way out, I saw Feroz Khan standing outside and as a true fan I told him how much I loved both the plays and about having written to him more than 20 years ago.
I have tried looking for Tumhari Amrita online serval times but it is only today that I found a snippet. I also didn’t know it was inspired by the life of Amrita Sher-gil. I don’t think I knew of Amrita Sher-gil as a 20 year old and till recently I would mix up Amrita Pritam and Amrita Sher-gil.
So it makes sense to me to have found Tumhari Amrita while looking up Amrita Pritam. I am hoping I will be able to share some bits from today’s session in the form of an illustrated newsletter.
Love and peace,
Indu