Sunday, June 7, 2009

तेरे माथे पे ये आँचल बहुत ही खूब है लेकिन ...!




Poet of romance and rebellion Rajbir Deswal
RISING from the parapets of a mansion, I see a pale moon. Like the mulla’s robe and the Baniya’s ledger book, like the poor-man’s youth and the widow’s charm—It’s all useless. What to do, O my saddened heart, tormented heart. This is what loosely translated verse of Majaz Lakhnavi mean when he says:
"Ek mahal ki aad se, nikla wo peela mahtab,
jaise mulla ka amama, jaise baniye ki kitab,
jaise muflis ki jawani, jaise bewa ka shabab,
Ai ghame dil kya karoon, ai vahashte dil kya karoon"
The Indian Postal Department issued a stamp in memory of the legendary Asrar-ul-Haq "Majaz" Lakhnavi in March 2008 while very recently they held a seminar in Chandigarh in memory of this Urdu poet.
Majaz Lakhnavi had a place reserved in a pub in Hazrat Ganj in Lucknow wherepeople queued up to hearhis latest verses

Very many instances relating to the "poet of romance and rebellion" were recalled at the seminar. Experts on him, who had had the privilege of sharing some part of their life with Majaz, recalled with nostalgia certain facts, which make interesting reading.
Majaz slipped into depression and had to be kept in a mental asylum twice.
His habit of excessive drinking made his liver weak. People accuse him of "choosing to move ahead with death in mind," due to his habit of drinking, but many of his so-called friends themselves offered him liquor, so that he could "recite something new".
When Majaz used to head towards the "pub" in Hazrat Ganj in Lucknow, people used to line up to see the legendary poet and the institution that he was.
Even girls used to stop in those days to catch a glimpse of Majaz. They waited for his turn to recite his poetry in mushairas. Some had even taken a vow to name their sons after him.
He had his place already "reserved" in the pub and no one else dared to occupy the place meant for Majaz. Slowly, people surrounded him and there would be a horde of fans encircling him . He would then be requested to recite his creations.
Past midnight when the "fun" would be over, Majaz would be left all by himself. The rickshaw -pullers would then make a beeline to take him home. His mother would always keep the rickshaw fare under his pillow.
The seminarists recalled that Majaz had never touched any girl in "andhera aur ujala" and that the fascination he had was all for the simple beauty in a woman. His memorable lines from Ek Naujawan Khatoon Se say in abundant terms what the champions of women empowerment would have loved to quote:
"Tere maathey pe ye aanchal bahut hi khoob hai lekin,
Tu is aanchal ka ik parcham bana leti to achha tha."
(The cloth that covers your forehead makes you look charming yet; If you had made a loftier flag out of it, then it surely would have been more meaningful). Flag is a symbol of revolution and sovereignty (of the self in this case).
Tarana he wrote is still the anthem of Aligarh Muslim University. It goes like this:
"Ye mera chaman hai mera chaman, mein apne chaman ka bulbul hoo(n)
Sirshaare nigaahe nargis hoon(n), paabasta-e-gesoo-e Sumbul hoo(n)"
(This is my garden, my own garden. And I am its nightingale. Drunk am I on the look of the narcissus beyond by the tresses of the "sumbul" (Spikenard, hyacinth).
Majaz Lakhnavi’s sister was the mother of Javed Akhtar. The latter liberally uses his maternal uncle’s expressions in his own creations. Asrar-ul-Haq died at the age of 44.

Look before the landfall:Tackling Cyclones


A Tribune Special

The fury of cyclone Aila

People must be trained properly on disaster management,says Rajbir Deswal
WITH over 275 deaths, thousands rendered homeless and millions stranded without food and water due to the cyclone Aila ripping through West Bengal and Orissa besides Bangladesh, the question of how to tackle a crisis of this scope and magnitude has once again come to the fore.
The devastating cyclone in Myanmar on May 2, 2008 and the high-intensity earthquake in China on May 12, 2008 did revive the debate on disaster management. However, it petered out soon for lack of a sustained and consistent approach.
That Aila has weakened after taking its toll may be good news, but a recap of the devastating Super Cyclone that hit Orissa in 1999 will reveal that winds blowing at 250 to 300 kilometres an hour speed with rains and waves between 13 and 20 feet high affected nearly 1.25 crore population in that state.
Nearly 40,000 people perished. Livestock to the tune of five lakh was destroyed. Poultry farming losses were estimated at Rs 400 million. The eco-system was adversely affected with millions of trees and plants having been destroyed.
Aila, a grim reminder of the climatic change, underscores the imperative need for India to continue to “pressurise the industrialised world to keep deep and urgent cuts in greenhouse gas emissions”. Greenpace, an NGO involved in the Aila-affected areas, says that this is the root cause of climateric changes.
At the same time, domestically, India must take a bold and ambitious step to curtail emissions of carbon dioxide (the main greenhouse gas), by adopting mandatory energy efficiency and renewable energy targets, and creating fiscal incentives for the same, recommends the Greenpeace.
Hurricanes in North America and typhoons in Asia are known as cyclones in this part of the tropical world. There are three facets to the forecast of cyclones which are crucial. First, it is generally a “long warning” from the Meteorological department which does not set the damage control levers being pulled instantaneously, while it should.
Second, the onset is so gradual that you have enough time at hand to gear up your resources.
And finally, the visitation of a cyclone to a specific zone “generally conforms” to the seasonal pattern. Thus, unlike earthquakes which are almost unpredictable, cyclones should meet with adequate safeguards.
The entire world community needs to come alive to the factors contributing to climatic change before it is too late. For though earthquakes, cyclones and tsunamis have their typical regions on the globe for visitation, no country can claim to be totally immune from these catastrophes that affect humankind, livestock, fauna and flora besides other things, adversely, severely and surely.
What should be done to minimise the suffering of the affected people? Who can be more useful in taking care of the surviving victims? It is always better to keep the people living in the disaster-prone areas adequately informed about the dangers they are likely to face. They should be properly trained to cope with the crisis before any outside assistance is made available to them.
Then, the government will need to provide only rehabilitation assistance. This requires some investment and advance planning, but the difference it makes to the efforts for saving human lives, fauna and flora as well as property is enormous.
When the latest earthquake rattled China, the dam in the area developed cracks and the entire population downstream was forced to live in trauma. The aftershocks of the earthquake made people sleep in the open.
However, China, being adequately geared up to meet the situation, the people in the earthquake-hit areas did not feel the impact of the disaster as much as did those in the Irrawaddy river delta in Myanmar devastated by the cyclone Nargis.
The refusal of the military junta in Myanmar to welcome help being offered by other countries made the situation worse.
“Public seems to be more forgiving in natural disaster on anyone’s part”. This is the crux of a United Nations’ House Workshop held in 1999 on the theme, “Super Cyclone in Orissa: Strategic Planning in Rehabilitation”. While recognising the fact that the disaster management scenario in India has been conceptualised very recently, the workshop recommended the “5 R Strategy” i.e.— Relief, Rescue, Rehabilitation, Restoration and Reconstruction.
It is really shocking to know that despite 49 advisory bulletins sent by the Delhi-based Regional Specialised Meteorological Centre to Myanmar from April 28 to May 2, when Nargis caused devastation in that country, Yangon did not take the matter seriously.
Its response in time and in accordance with the gravity of the calamity must have minimised considerably the damage in terms of human lives lost and property destroyed.
The onset of a cyclone is gradual. Putting the available resources in operational mode is possible. Devastation by a cyclone in a specific zone generally has a seasonal pattern. Hence, unlike earthquakes, which are almost unpredictable, cyclones can be handled with enough safeguards. With early warnings, much of damage can be avoided.
India has a coastline of about 8,000 kilometres with 8 per cent of its land being vulnerable to cyclones. The devastation caused by recent disasters in India — whether it was the Bhuj earthquake in Gujarat, the Tsunami in the Andaman and Nicobar Islands, the Super Cyclone in Orissa or the latest Aila with 100 kilometres per hour wind-gushes uprooting all land-bounds — has alerted the policy makers. There is readiness to tackle the situation in the wake of a natural disaster.
What is lacking in India, however, is that there is no army of foot-soldiers or “first responders” to handle a disaster. It should always be borne in mind that it is only the local community that comes to the rescue of the victims immediately in a catastrophe. Arming this community with awareness, training and equipment is highly desirable.
What compounds the problem is the general public’s refusal to heed the warnings. In Andhra Pradesh and elsewhere too, fishermen are known to take their routine deep plunges caring two hoots about the alerts issued.
The general public should be made aware of the typical characteristics of disasters. For example, if the eye of a storm is passing through a certain area, there will be slight lull and the sky may be clear for some time. Then, suddenly, the cyclone may strike and play havoc.
A properly informed and trained community can prepare itself to face the situation boldly and safely during the time between the lull and the visit of the storm. Experts believe that locally available indigenous mechanism which comes in handy works wonders sometimes, if the highly technical or even the state-of-the-art support system is not put in place.
For example, if a person is trapped in floodwaters, he could have just 20 empty plastic bottles (like the mineral water ones) tied around his person and he could survive at least till help reaches him. Or, if one puts a wet handkerchief on the nose in the wake of release of ammonia gas, then, no harm should come to him. If this fact could have been made known to the people at large, the face of Bhopal tragedy would not have been that grim.
The rescue, relief and rehabilitation tasks are quite difficult to undertake when the disaster has already struck. An early warning system can be of great help if it is taken with all seriousness. However, there must always be advance planning for it.
A cyclone catching the community and the government unawares leaves no scope for an on-the-spot assessment for some time. Bad weather conditions continue for a long time, and even relief arriving from other quarters goes waste due to its being dumped.
After the lapse of the crucial first 72 hours, the authorities generally are complacent or exhausted, particularly because of the fact that all hopes of rescuing those trapped or missing are gone.
A well-rehearsed disaster management plan takes these factors in view and prioritises the tasks accordingly. The managers know when to stop looking for the dead and devote their time and energy to relief and rehabilitation. They also know what alternative channels of information, transportation, etc, are available to them.
The aftermath of a disaster is the most difficult situation to handle. The authorities get busy with the tasks of disposal of the dead and attending to the injured and the vulnerable people.
The idea of minimising the damages and mitigating the miseries of the disaster-hit should always be there in the minds of the planners.
The writer, a senior IPS officer of the Haryana government, is a graduate on Critical Incident Management from the Louisiana State University, Louisiana, USA