Concert in disconcerted Kashmir -A poem, if it can be, or just lines written to memorialize the martyrdom of four young men, Tauseef, Yousuf, Tariq – Kashmiris all – and an unknown labourer from Bihar. Shot dead on September 7, 2013, by the CRPF in front of the force’s camp at Gagren in the south Kashmir town of Shopian. On this day, Zubin Mehta, leading a renowned German orchestra, gave a performance in the Shalimar Gardens of Kashmir, an event attended by a select and invited audience of the elite from India and Jammu and Kashmir. Music! Let there be music! The red Rose in my garden; Red in the refulgent summer - Deep red, you lovely Rose; Lovelier - still lovelier: Tinted with blood in Cashmere’s veins - Freshly infused in your veins, my lovely red Rose From the pool collected on that ominous day Of bloodied music on the seventh instant of September, 2013 An odd date in the calendar, (How odd to mix blood with music!) In the flowery garden of Kashmir’s Shalimar. History reminisces here it was centuries ago Jahangir the Mughal Emperor raised his wine cup To the music of the bulbul and the mynah To the sweet soft air Scented with the fragrance of flowers, With the breath of lofty chinars. Music echoing from Zabarwan, to drown the Royals in Pleasure. Here and now Our Lord of the Rings Danced to the notes of Zubin’s strains of music Reverberating from the greens of Shalimar. While elephantine footfalls from the plains Across the Pir Panchal Mountains, Air-borne for the event, Vandalized the luxuriant greens of Shalimar Music! Let there be music! Call in the orchestra of Zubin Mehta: Of the world’s best musician of the western melodies. Let music flow Flow in the zephyrs of Shalimar’s scented air To echo from Pir Baba’s mountains in the South of Kashmir, Precisely at Shopian, To make the blood-thirsty soldiers’ blood boil - Boil to go on a killing spree. Four shot dead. Why name them? Memory fails to name them all . They are just four added to the multitude: an Insignificant count for the World. No news of it from the BBC on TV, Preoccupied with the killings in Syria, in Iraq, in Egypt. Even so, Kashmir aspires - Aspires to a free place under the sun. On the eventful concert day, Shopian bleeds. Bleeding Shopian of 29th of May, 2009, Asiya and Neelofar done to death by the Men in Uniform, On that ill-fated day, Still fresh in memory. What of that! Let the jazz of Zubin drown the Royals in Pleasure. With Zubin’s new version of Beethoven’s old music A tenth symphony created by the German composer To send the Shalimar of Kashmir back in time To the glory of Jahangir in pleasure- seeking. Out there, Shopain bleeds! Music! Let the music go on. This music is loaded - Loaded with the message of peace. Peace everywhere, if not in Kashmir, in Palestine, in Syria, in Iraq. They talk of Peace. Hypocrites -they make war. To make peace prevail they must bleed Kashmir. ‘They make a desolation and call it peace.’ They enchain Kashmir To remain free and undisturbed To rejoice in the symphonies of Zubin Mehta, In the Shalimar garden of Kashmir. They close all roads to Shalimar This music of peace not meant at all For the commons - Their craving for peace, their music Is something apart from that music ‘Of the rich, by the rich, for the rich.’ Now you look awful -my lovely red Rose. There is a celebration of their slaughter. A big victory the forces claim. Dreaded Terrorists killed so they say. We must believe what they say. No more inquiry of the Shopian episode. O how the time itself has turned fake! So let there be music in Shalimar Those terrorists had grenades and pistols on their bodies Blown to death by the Republic’s soldiers. So let there be music in Shalimar. To mingle blood with music Ripping the skies of Kashmir from Shalimar. “ O God! On the bush the Rose is torn asunder Its whole being is bathed deep red in blood” Or, as Rahman Rahi said in Kashmiri: Thari peth waeth parkail gulabas Wuadi chus khoon dastaar, karav
Posted on: Thu, 12 Sep 2013 04:58:54 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015