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INTERNATIONAL

Wednesday, May 26, 2010

Arts across borders

Zarminae Ansari continues her conversations about cultural exchanges with cross-border friends

Breaking myths
S
angeeta Isavaran is a choreographer, performer, researcher and social activist. She is the recipient of various scholarships and awards, and one of the highest national awards in India, the Sangeet Natak Academi Bismillah Khan Yuva Purasakar for Scholarship in the Performing Arts. She has studied various dance forms and has performed widely- both in the Bharatanatyam tradition and contemporary dance-theatre in Asia, Africa, Europe and North America, collaborating with international artistes. She has also created performances with many underprivileged communities like sex workers, street children, landmine victims, refugees, tsunami and earthquake victims, destitute women, transvestites and so on. Using dance as a means for social reform, her projects are aimed at empowerment, education as well as developing economic independence. My trip to Lahore was a fantastic, mythbreaking experience. As a South Indian from Madras, for me Pakistan remained ensconced in mystery - revealed in flashes in the flames of bomb explosions, in the faces of stiffly smiling political leaders, in the photos of Partition. For me, just to be there in Lahore, was a gift. Well, an expensive gift - I lost a lot of hair [bad], weight [good], money [bad], sanity [bad, or maybe good] just getting my visa to Pakistan, with both countries - India and Pakistan - doing their best to make the process as slow, painful and maddening as possible! But was it worth it! I know Lahore is famous for its hospitality but this was ridiculous; I never was allowed to pay for a meal, even in a restaurant. The proprietors would come over and talk and never let me pay for anything. By the time I walked through the old city I was sloshing inside with all the tea and goodies with which every shopkeeper insisted on stuffing me. What struck me was the curiosity of the people about India, and even more, about southern India which was completely unknown to them. The only sad part for me was the disappearance of dance from the public imagination. Whenever I was asked what I did {after questions on my origin, mother tongue, marital status, religion etc etc}, the minute I said I was a dancer, the person either asked me for my phone number, or asked me if I did cabaret, or offered to take me to the red-light area. That was sad! I debated after the first couple of experiences whether I should say that I am a lawyer but decided to start a small crusade for the sake of classical dance. So I talked about dance, about the poetry, about the great classical traditions and even danced everywhere - in a small chaurasta in the Kashmiri bazaar, in a small shop, in the homes of people - just sang and danced to showcase the art form in a small capsule and once people understood, the response was amazing. Two things I understood - firstly, how much we are linked as Indians and Pakistanis in our way of life, our aesthetics, even silly things like our sense of humour; secondly, I want to go back...

adanand Dhume, a writer and journalist who divides his time between Washington, DC and New Delhi, and the author of My Friend the Fanatic, a memoir about radical Islam in Indonesia, recently visited Pakistan for the wedding of a dear common friend. He wrote to me about his impressions of Pakistan, when I asked him about the Aman Ki Asha project. This was my first visit to Pakistan, and in many ways the sights and sounds of Karachi and Lahore came as a pleasant surprise. There were more women on the

streets, in markets and in restaurants than I had expected-although a lot fewer than in India. The people I met - admittedly a small subsection of society - were universally warm, friendly and curious. In no other place, I gathered, could someone brought up in north India feel so instinctively at home: the food, the language, the music, the sport, the relationship between servers and served, the sheer pleasure in conversation, the need to know people quickly and deeply, all felt deeply familiar. I'm not exactly a dove when it comes to India-Pakistan issues, but what this trip revealed to me is that at the very least there is a segment of Pakistani society that is naturally predisposed toward a harmonious relationship with India. The challenge of the region is to make this segment count for more than the structural forcesespecially in the military establishment and militant groups-that remain viscerally opposed to any lasting rapprochement between India and Pakistan. (Oh, and did I tell you that I think Atif Aslam rocks. He's the real Aman ki Asha revelation - thanks to Zafar's sister Zainab - of this trip to Pakistan!) The writer is an architect and writer based in Islamabad zarminae.ansari@gmail.com

Hindi-Urdu class at UCLA

A tale of two languages

By Avni Nijhawan

very student of University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) has heard numerous boasts about UCLAs diversity, but few have seen concrete examples of intergroup communication and bonding. But there is at least one class on campus that bridges the gap between two places that have been mortal enemies for decades: the foreign language class, HindiUrdu. The two languages have identical grammar, and, at the conversational level, the vocabulary is the same. Only in formal scenarios do the two spoken languages diverge Hindi borrows words from Sanskrit while Urdu borrows from Persian and Arabic. Since such language is rarely used and is often even unintelligible to native speakers, the UCLA program only teaches the most common-spoken tongue. The scripts are also different, with Hindi using Devanagari and Urdu using Nastaliq (a Perso-Arabic script). However, this is just a matter of representation; varying scripts have no effect on oral communication. The Hindi-Urdu program teaches both scripts. Despite the glaring fact that the two languages are really one language where it matters, universities across USA (including UC Berkeley) continue to teach them separately, causing hostility between Hindi and Urdu students. The anecdote is that at Berkeley, people dont even talk to each other, said linguistics and Hindi-Urdu professor Gyanam Mahajan. (It is) really ridiculous that students who come to a major university (can) be so ignorant and stupid as to not interact with each otherOur emphasis on creating a community is directly violated if we separate Hindi and Urdu. Most universities probably wont admit it, but teaching the two languages separately is far more political than practical as it divides students on utterly arbitrary national and religious lines. At schools like UC Berkeley, Indian or Hindu students take Hindi while Pakistani or Muslim students take Urdu whether or not

they have any prior knowledge of the language. Students who do not belong in any of these groups are blindly forced to choose one largely based on loose understandings of the two. This does absolutely nothing to promote diversity or community bonding, one of the most basic reasons for teaching foreign languages in the first place. And if top American universities choose to divide American students who may be unaware of why the two languages are separated along political lines, what hope can there be for reconciliation between Indians and Pakistanis? There is no harm in teaching the classes together, but certainly great harm in teaching them separately. Tejpal Ajji, a first-year student in the art department currently in Hindi-Urdu 3 and who does not

Teaching two major languages of the countries together in a neutral academic setting helps eradicate stereotypes and dissolve tensions
fall into a neat national category, said, Hindi and Urdu do not belong to Hindus and Muslims If one continues along the religious register then we have to consider, well, where do the Sikhs fit in, where do the Jains and Parsis fit in, who also speak this language of Hindi-Urdu? What this course allows us to do is think very critically about the languages that get ascribed to a certain people and a certain geography. Although the most salient reason for teaching Hindi-Urdu as one class may be its identical conversational form, there are numerous other critical reasons why a consolidated class is beneficial. The combined Hindi-Urdu language is the third or fourth (depending on the estimate) most widely spoken language in the world after Mandarin Chinese, English and Spanish; the Urdu script is highly useful since it uses a modified form of Arabic, the THE FIRST STEP LET US KNOW WHAT YOU THINK
Feedback, contributions, photos, letters: Email: amankiasha@janggroup.com.pk Fax: +92-21-3241-8343 Post: aman ki asha c/o The News, I.I. Chundrigar Road, Karachi

second most commonly used alphabet system in the world; and being able to cite fluency in two languages instead of one looks impressive on anyones resume. If you think that Hindi and Urdu are different, fine! Its buy one, get one free, said Mahajan. The class also allows Indianand Pakistani-Americans to embrace a unique South Asian identity that citizens of those countries are not afforded: In todays global world, such an identity is more useful than either the Indian or Pakistani identity alone and is also far more conciliatory. As Americans, we have the unique opportunity to stretch the national identities we are born with by becoming advocates for the common South Asian identity. UCLA hosts the largest HindiUrdu program in the nation in terms of enrollment. Yet, unlike at other universities, there has only ever been one professor involved in it Professor Mahajan making it a relatively low-maintenance program. Still, it has been plagued by the budget cuts and risks elimination next year. The discontinuation of this class would be a deep loss not only to the school but also to the national and the world community. And UCLA would no longer be able to boast the program as an exemplar for other schools to follow. For now, UCLA should be immensely proud that it is one of few universities willing to challenge the ideological division between India and Pakistan, Indians and Pakistanis. Mahatma Gandhi, who was against the partition, wanted Hindi and Urdu to be referred to as one common language named Hindustani. Unfortunately, this never truly materialized. By teaching two major languages of the countries together in a neutral academic setting indeed, by forcing Indian-Americans and Pakistani-Americans to sit next to each other and discover their commonalities UCLA takes a much-needed step in eradicating stereotypes and dissolving tensions between the two national identities. anijhawan@media.ucla.edu Courtesy: daily Bruin

and France, bitter enemies during the ts such a pity, you could be (and Second World War. Over time, they should be) kind neighbours appreworked through their differences and ciating one another and you are joined hands to work together to advance not, wrote Michel, a Frenchman, Europe. Today they are friends and as referring to India and Pakistan in reMichel put it the French are happy to sponse to my article But you speak such have the Germans besides them in diffigood Hindi (The News International cult times, our kids befriend theirs, we Aman ki Asha page, Mar 31, 2010). He have so tight contacts as countries and is familiar with our part the world and as individuals, citizens of the same world; problems we face, having worked here. and (unlike you and Hindi speakers) we I wonder how we can change this perdo not even have the same language! ception. I guess the first thing would be The first step towards fixing a problem is to acknowlThe media can play an important role to agree that this can be achieved. in carrying forward this message of edge that we have a problem, then move on to identify The responses I received on my last the causes and hopefully resolve the issue peace and hope for a better future. article indicate that we have already Meena, a reader from Karachi, sums it up started moving towards this goal. People really nicely: It is really important not to are thinking about this inculcate and not to breed the values of hatred. issue. The first step towards The media can break or make relafixing a problem is to acknowledge that we have a tions between nations. They can choose problem. Then we can move to highlight positive things or as Faryal on to identify the causes and writing from the US, puts it, it can continue to feed the people on both sides hopefully resolve things. One Indian reader disof the border a daily diet of suspicion agreed with the contention and hostility. that Pakistan and India share Reconciliation and cooperation will lead us to peace in our region. We a cultural heritage. Everyone has a right to their opinion. I have played long enough in the hands of people who stoke the fires of enhappen to strongly believe that the peoples of both India and mity to generate votes. Now it is time Pakistan share a number of culto focus on our problems and fight tural, moral and social values. together against them - poverty, lack of education, empowering women We should appreciate this bond and work to make it stronger. To etc. Wars only cause destruction and move forward we have to encreate further divides. gage in meaningful dialogue. We Our message for the future genneed to realise that it is possible erations must be one of hope, peace to retain your identity, yet coexand tolerance. Here in Australia, ist in peace. our children are learning to be Clearly, it is easier to see simifriends, they see things in the same nalities. way, play the same games and larities between the two nations tio na r ei th of livious on neutral ground such as the US enjoy doing things together. Let us children play, ob ani and Indian st ki Pa : or Australia (where I live). The fact makes really strive to make a positive difference CE EN ER FF DI E TH OT that we can do it on neutral terri- SP a world of difference. The visa restric- for our region. As Rohit put it, it should tory gives me hope that we can do and are there for each other tions on both sides make this difficult, as indeed be an endeavour for all of us to the same in our homelands. We just need through hard times. another Indian reader Krish wrote, talk- try to contribute whatever we can for this to listen with our hearts and be open to As a parent the hardest thing for me ing about the kind of difficulties one has cause -- we owe it to our nations. A reader, from Pakistan brought up new ideas. We need to trust each other. is to let anyone mind my children. Four to put up with to visit his/her ancestral disputed issues like Kashmir that we The Indian students we befriended at years back I was hospitalised, my hus- land on the other side of the border. Indiana University are still part of our band couldnt get time off from work. An I really wish that both countries need to resolve before they become family. We share the same hopes for our Indian friend, came to our rescue. I was would ease the visa restrictions. It is friends. Certainly, a political solution is childrens future and strive to give them worried about leaving three little ones, heartbreaking when relatives from across needed. But the peoples of the two couna better world to live in. We share the ranging from one to six years old, with the border are unable to be with loved tries could work together to ensure that same respect for our elders, the same him. Not only did he take care of them ones. My aunt in Aligarh could not join it is a solution based on mutual respect love for our fellow humans. Yes, there are really well but the kids absolutely adored us in Karachi for a wedding when her and peace. What can we do to achieve this objecdifferences, but we have learned to re- him. Now Viddy is back in India but we visa was refused. There have been many spect them and not let them stand in the keep in touch regularly. other such occasions. If it were easier for tive of peace? Greater communication, way of friendship. Manu, Vicky and Rohit in Mumbai wrote that peace the common people to travel to India and discussion and resolution of mutual isShrikant are now in different parts of the can be achieved through exchange of Pakistan they would see how similar we sues is necessary. We could share our world but we know that we have a home thoughts and ideas which can help are and how easy it is to take the road of best solutions and help each other out with domestic problems -- honestly and where we will be welcomed whenever we bridge our gaps. Today the world has peace and friendship. visit that part of the world. The same is become smaller and it is much easier to We cannot change history but we can without any ulterior motives. We have true for them whenever they choose to maintain regular contact through tech- certainly learn from it. And the lesson it travelled far too long on the road paved visit us, wherever we may be. nologies such as e-mail and Facebook. seems to offer is that nations thrive dur- with enmity, hatred and distrust. Let us It is important to share the positive These allow us to sustain relationships ing peace and when everyone works to- try the road not taken, that of friendship, interactions between the peoples of the and share our thoughts and lives with gether. It is possible to set aside our dif- hope and trust. two countries. We are lucky to be blessed each other. ferences, bury the past and move ahead. The writer is a teacher based in with friends from both countries who But nothing can replace face to face Other nations have done it so why cant Sydney, Australia form a cherished circle for us. We cele- interaction. The actual presence of a we? humahmar@yahoo.com brate happy occasions with each other loved one at an important occasion Michel gave the example of Germany

By Huma Ahmar

Road to

friendship

A peace initiative whose time has come... Destination Peace: A commitment by the Jang Group, Geo and The Times of India Group to create an enabling environment that brings the people of Pakistan and India closer together, contributing to genuine and durable peace with honour between our countries.