Zeb Un Nissa

O COME, my Love, for I am worn and wasted,
I have no longer strength nor will to wait;
My heart bears countless wounds and I have tasted
The poisonous anguish of the shafts of fate.

Breeze of the dawn, come, see the wild confusion
The fell simoom has wrought in all my bowers;
Only my heart’s blood with a strange illusion
Colours the parterre erst so gay with flowers.

Just so Love’s flowers are blasted. Other traces
Are none but hearts wounded and bleeding sore.
All that is fair the surge of time effaces:
Khusrau is gone and Shirin is no more.

Poetry by Zeb-un-Nissa. The following passage has been taken from Jahan-e-Rumi. It was previously published in the Friday Times.

Mughal history ignores women of the empire, including Emperor Aurangzeb’s daughter Zeb-un-Nissa: patron of the arts, poet, and a keeper of several lovers – according to rumours. The eldest daughter, she was Aurangzeb’s close companion for several years. She was born in 1638 to Dilras Bano of the Persian Safavid dynasty. Loved by Aurangzeb, she was named carefully to reflect his station.

A favourite, she was exposed to the affairs of the Mughal court. With a sound education in the arts, languages, astronomy and sciences of the day, Zeb-un-Nissa turned into an aware and sensitive princess. She never married and kept herself occupied by poetry and a spiritual Sufi quest.

Mall Performance

Dance Performance by a troupe at the mall of the emirates, Dubai. Mall of the Emirates and Etisalat have set up a stage at the Galleria for year round live performances. With the increasing number of shopping malls, each of them is trying to come up with new ways to woo customers.

The Emirati Dimensions

Qanat Al Qasba is holding several exibitions under the theme of "the emirati dimensions". The Exibitions are paintings, calligraphy, photography and digital art. They are showcasing mixed works of artists from different age groups. Bringing the old and the new together in a mix to give a platform to the emirati artists. I missed the first one but I intend to check out the rest of them.
I went for the calligraphy exibition today and it was quite interesting. Here are some of the works. Click images to enlarge.

Simple yet elegant with some beautiful colors.

Al- Rahim

Muhammad
Some more beautifully done


Names of the seven Emirates

Art Exibition

The newly opened Dubai community theater and arts center is hosting an amazing painting exhibition by a Pakistani artist "Lal Mohammad Pathan". Those of you based in Dubai should definately stop by and check it out. I took some Pictures of the paintings. The paintings are based on Sindhi Culture and portray the lifestyle of the desert people of Sind. It is an insight into the rich cultural lives of the desert dwellers of Sind.

Life in The desert: Solitude

Folklore: Sasui Punhu

Sausi Punhu is the tragic love story between the beautiful Sasui of Bhambhore in Sindh and Prince Punhu of Kech in Makran, Baluchistan, Pakistan. The love tragedy of Sausi Punhu is immortalized by the late Sufi Saint and poet Shah Abdul Latif Bhittai.

Dance Series: Celebration

Caravan

Water Series: Wither Water 2

Sharjah Food Festival

I went to the Sharjah Food Festival at the Qanat Al Qasba yesterday, apparently it was the last day of the festival I did not see much food but found this band of chiefs performing for the visitors. Qanat Al Qasba hosts some interesting events and even though they are not getting much response from the people they are trying hard and hopefully will attract an audience for their events in due course of time. Looking forward to the Sharjah Biennial, last year was interesting.

Justice

I often wonder in a city as grandeur and rich as Dubai, how is it no one pays heed to a poor fellow sleeping on top of cardboard boxes in the middle of the day under the scorching sun. Is there no justice.

Cure for AIDS

Yesterday I came upon a ridiculous news story, I usually wouldn't rewrite a news story, but this one needs to be talked about as it is about a very important issue that faces humanity. There used to be times when the good of many far outweighed the good of one, but in our need based, egoistic society one will go to any length to gain popularity and support of their fellow man. The Gambian President apparently decided it would be good for his popularity to come up with the cure for a disease that is fast spreading in the small African country. He announced that he had found a cure for AIDS, According to CNN "Gambian President Yahya Jammeh announced he had discovered a cure for the disease that has wreaked havoc across Africa. He made that announcement in front of a group of foreign diplomats, telling them the treatment was revealed to him by his ancestors in a dream." This announcement has given false hope to many in a country where most of the population is uneducated and will blindly give up mainstream treatment because their leader says his treatment is better.

The UN ambassador was expelled from the country for speaking against the treatment and advising people to continue on the medical treatment they have been receiving before, the news had a lot of health workers and agencies working in the region up in arms against the irresponsible statement by the President and the Health minister. I see all of this as a political stunt to garner support from the masses by the president.

Stuck

Pakistan seems to have been in a whirlpool since its independence. The nation is stuck between the devil and the deep black sea for ages. There is always someone at the helm of affairs for whom their personal interests are more important then that of the Nation. The people of Pakistan on the other hand have faced every adversity with hope and determination. What the world sees is a small minority of people bent on causing devastation and havoc, what they dont see is the silent majority fighting against all odds to give their children a happy and bright future, a future that our fathers fought for more than 50 years ago.

This recent development of the Judicial crisis in the country is nothing new. The President like every other human being has been blinded and corrupted by power, "power corrupts, absolute power corrupts absolutely." this statement that be justified for every person who has ruled out country. Power goes into our heads, the president saw that the chief justice was becoming a threat to his rule so he got rid of him. Did he for once stop to think what implication the action would have on the country. Yesterday we saw one of the worst days of protests and violence in the country. The government says that there is a free press in Pakistan how can they justify stopping transmissions of private television channels because they telecast the protests. How can justify the raid of a private television station by the security forces. Another sad era has taken wings in our young country, another blow to freedom and democracy. But we look forward to days where honor and dignity of every citizen will be protected by our state, we strive hard to get to where we should have been by now. God Bless.

Me and My Blog

مین اور میرا بلوغ قبی قبی باتین قیا قرتی حین

I don't like to sit around and watch things happen, I'd rather participate and make things happen. For a long time now I have sat on the sidelines and seen people blog. Its been an interesting experience. Some of the blogs are quite informative. I dont much like the personal blogs although I love blogs with a "purpose". So this blog is mostly going to be a blog covering my feelings and views on issues that matter to me. I believe change is imminent, but change needs agents who are catalysts for that change. Through this blog I intend to be an agent of change.