Sahar Imdad

Today is Your Day ,  O’ Woman!

Today You must Speak Words of Steel,

Fold Your Fingers and Make an Iron Fist,

And Sing a Song that Never Dies,

Today is Your Day , O’ Woman!

Cast Your Weaknesses in an Alloy,

Fill your Eyes with Hope of a Rising Sun,

O! Brave , Beautiful and Bold Lady!

Shah Latif Sing Your Songs Centuries ago:

Though Mountains Block Your Path ,

Do Not Buckle Under Menacing Death ,

Though the Path is Grueling and

The Night is Bleak!

Though Pigs might Tear Your Flesh ,

Do Not Retract Your Bleeding Tracks ,

Keep on Marching , Keep on Marching ,

With Your Eyes on Horizon!

Today is Your Day O’ Woman!

Today You Must Speak Words of Steel!

* He was born in 1690 & died in 1752.

* Belongs to a notable Sayyed family of Mattiaree(mutaalvi sadaat).

* His father Shah Habib was also a poet.

* Great Saint-Poet Shah Karim Bulrai was his great grand father. A contemporary of Bhagat Kabir.

* Shah Latif was fifty years old when Nadir Shah sacked Delhi & made Sindh tributary to Persia.

* He was fifty eight when Ahmed Shah Durrani captured Delhi & founded modern Afghanistan & made Sindh subject to Kabul.

* Six years after his death second East India Company’s factory was established at Thatta.

* He is one of the greatest poet of globe(world).

*  He produced a very considerable quantity of poetry : called Shah jo Risalo.

* He was not active against stirring political events. He lived a secluded life as a Sufi-Saint- Poet at Bhit.

* But he wrote intensely, deeply , symbolically about the tyranny of the time.

* His melodious & embalming poetry contains enormous layers of wisdom and aesthetic pleasure.

* The divine message of his poetry emerges as it was sung.

* Poetic truth in his poetry stimulates emotional level of hearer, and that’s the power & appeal of the poetry.

* All from Beloved’s side is sweet  پريان  سندي  پار  جي  مڙئي  مٺائي

What ever He gives to you       ڪانهي ڪڙائي چکين جي چيت ڪري

There is no bitter, if you knew

the secret how to taste .

* As a young boy he was very different from the rest:

Fond of loneliness.

Loved to wander.

Contemplative & thoughtful.

* He was a gentleman with manners & speech.

* Kind, compassionate, generous.

* As a worthy person with a charismatic persona he intensely appeals to the downtrodden people.

* He has an enormous message of Peace and tranquility for whole Universe:

On my Sindh aye shed water, O! Lord,

And plenty, Mercy’s self, accord .    

Make this whole world to burgeon with thy grace of rainy deeds.

*         سائين سدائين، ڪرين مٿي سنڌ سۡـڪار
دوست مٺا دلدار،عالم سڀ آباد ڪرين

From the beginning my Friend,
I have been singing songs for you,
Picking tender buds
I have been making a garland for you.
Eyes lost in waiting
A smile lost in those eyes
And
I am sad like a barren land
Waiting for a Monsoon shower!
For whom did I blossomed beautiful rose-buds?
For whom did I sing songs like a nightingale?
For whom did I flown like a cloud at the heavens?
For whom did I accepted all the pains at the earth and ruptured?
Nobody: for whom I nurtured my feelings of love!
Nobody!
To fulfill the dreams of love
To bear the burden of years
To see bright light in my eyes
To wear the garland of my arms
To win the smiles of misty buds
Embalming songs emanating from though lips!

When a girl in Benin is taunted for ‘a girl in school’ she makes a word ‘Batonga’ to describe the empowerment education gave her. In Sindh we have to work with same spirit for girls education like “Batonga Foundation” did in Africa. In Sindh parents normally thought “if a girl go to school, what will she get?” Nothing!

Going to school only prevents her from labor for the family or getting married. So its necessary to give incentive to the parents, as they allow their girls to get education. In Ethiopia, a United Nations Foundation Girl Fund Program gives 25$ and a goat or a sheep to the family who allows their teen age daughters to attend school and keep them unmarried for at least two years.

In rural areas of Sindh girls are sold like goats, we have to address it, not through police harassment, not through courts, not through media coverage, but through a UNO funded program as shown above. “Niani Pardhe!” is a slogan for girls education in Sindh. Because an educated girl makes society strong, healthy and vivacious, engages her in civil activities and grow up as a very responsible civilian and send their siblings to school, that will have a ripple effect.

Hi … Hillary Clinton!

Once again she - The Angel (once my husband called her in one of his poem) - is  here in my country (does country means Punjab only!) . This time she came with a heavy agenda of meeting media, women, students, elders, etc. Visit historical and cultural places (of Punjab!)… What cultural places should government show her, when gun-culture is the most popular culture of the country. Among a huge bomb blast at a bazaar of Peshawer - where hundreds of innocent people, women and childrens died - And my heart bleeds! - Clinton met media. The most volatile VJ’s of various channels were there, to meet the secretary of state of US. The top-notch-media-men, who are synonym to blast, fire, trigger - “they talk-they blast” type angry-young-men of media met calm-cool-Clinton! When they triggered she calmly replied:7 billion US aid “does not compromise Pakistan’s national security interests and sovereignity, it does not micromanage any aspects of Pakistan’s military or civilian operations.” She uttered: “You don’t have to take any aid from us.” She pledged support and offered a helping hand. So, she is here once again to fill the gaps, if there is dichotomy!  

Lawrence College Koh Marri .