IT was the 11th Annual International Mushaira in Sydney that kept caterers of Pakistani cuisine busy for almost a week. Many prominent poets from Pakistan and India were invited, and Sydney’s Pakistani elites were showing their hospitality and appreciation for poetry by organizing lunches and dinners.
It was the usual agenda: pre-dinner political discourse, then korma-biryani , post-dinner jokes and poetry after the sweet dish. It was a good mix that kept everyone entertained.
The Urdu Society of Australia, the organizer of the Mushaira, is a good outfit under its president Shabbir Haider, the nephew of famous Pakistani poet and writer late Zamir Jafri. The Society conferred Nishan-i-Urdu on invited literary figures and two local poets in appreciation of their services to promote Urdu literature.
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The poets invited from India and Pakistan for Mushairas in countries like Australia are usually asked questions about the political situation back home instead of the latest trends in Urdu literature. This was troubling the popular Indian poet, Manzar Bhopali, who is also a political activist.
“Do I really look so miserable? Or the pain of the entire Muslim population of India is painted on my face?” he asked me during a dinner where every Pakistani he met was asking about the conditions of Muslims in India.
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Oh no India is a haven for Muslims, and Hindus are the most peacefull people in the world who’ll live in harmony with anyone, it’s those Mian loag who fcuk everything up, those Sullay are the demons, Hindus never ever did nothing in Gujarat, Kashmir and Ayodhya it was all a figment of our imaginations… :sarcasm:
it's not that the muslim minority lives in utmost peace..yet..people tend to think we live in constant fear and are mistreated on a daily, weekly, and monthly basis. this isn't the case at all. there's only one rule in india: if you have money..you will live comfortably no matter what..if you don't..you will suffer and see every hardship. this rule applies to EVERYONE. most of the time..us muslims are treated indifferently and we just go on doing our thing..and they go on doing their own thing. generally, we study, work, and live together.
i've had first hand experience with this..so i know what im talking about. i'm from mumbai..and i've seen the wrath of the shiv sena..but i know the politics behind it too.
..even if our situation looks grave to you..where would we go? pakistan? I don't think so..i've seen how the muhajirs were/are treated...i see the shia/sunni conflicts...and the battle against foreign militancy/terrorism. there is no perfect place out there for the indian muslim..or any muslim in that matter..there's no point in complaining. just make the most of what Allah swt has given us..and strive for better.
I'll admit most of us Pakistanis know deep down that Indian Muslims are relatively happy in India and don't face discrmination on a daily basis, this is apparent from the love our Indian Muslim friends and religious clerics have for India but despite all that most Pakis (including me) would rather ignore the facts because of their pro Pakistan bias, maybe that's why Allah has made nationalism haraam because it blinds.
Really I'm not being sarcastic this time, I take back what I said earlier.
:sarcasm: