Art and conflict have become synonymous in today’s world. Artists have been resisting through art, music and culture. Various artists, poets and cultural activists have been working very hard to resist through their work. Some of them have been jailed like Pinjra Todd group and Varavara Rao.
In the second episode of ‘The straightforward’, three variedly different yet similar panelists were on the show.
Mrs Asmat Ashai, A Kashmiri in diaspora, based in US. Asmat teaches Kashmiri language in the states. She is also associated with the Funkar international organisation, a non profit organisation for 20 years.
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Asmat talking about her diaspora said, “ at heart I am a Kashmiri, although I have lived in the states twice the time spend in Kashmir. I am a part of both the places”.
Asmat Ashai has always believed in the showcasing of Kashmir by Kashmiris. She has been working to promote the Kashmiri language and culture in America.
Talking about the start of her cultural activism, she said, “In 1990s when we couldn’t visit Kashmir, few mothers along with me decided to have youth camps for our children so that in these camps they keep in touch with their homeland. Funkar international came into being when we saw that there were no recordings of music that we could share with our children”.
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Their struggle to keep their children connected to their roots led them to make music recordings. Music enables people to feel foreign languages, in this case they wanted the new generation to know their own language. ‘Saaz ti awaz’ the first Kashmiri music recording and ‘maenzrath’, the wedding songs had incorporated visual arts with the music.
To break the colonial mind set in Kashmir, the Funkar international with an inter cultural group recorded the non-Kashmiris playing and singing kashmiri songs. This was named as saazu’k safar, journey of Music. Here mission was to showcase Kashmir in Kashmiri to Kashmiris.
Asmat ashai also talked about how the Kashmiri spiritual tradition was showcased by them through a Awrad -I-Fathiya (a composition of Quranic verses by Shah e Hamdan, the sufi saint credited with bringing Islam to Kashmir valley) recording.
Asmat Ashai has also introduced Kashmiri music in coke Studio with ‘Ha Gulo’ becoming a massive hit in Kashmir and among Kashmiri diaspora.
Another panellist for the show, Nabiya Khan, a Jamia Milia alumnus is a poet, activist and a Muslim woman voice. She lives in Delhi. Nabiya has been very vocal about the stigmas in the society, her poetry shows her anger towards the atrocities the minorities face in India, with a dream or revolution. She has risen to fame during the recent anti CAA protests.
“There is a space which Muslims have created in India and they are paying a price for that space by being jailed, harrassed, and attacked both online as well as offline. I am representative of that space”, says Nabiya in her introduction.
Talking about the state , “ Government, in India is fascist there is no veil, they jail activists and poets on fake charges. So, there isn’t much expectation from government. A charge sheet after CAA protests mentioned that poets through their poetry are mobilizing masses. The state muzzles our voice. We have to resist and fight to uphold the idea of freedom”.
Nabiya’s feels that her poetry is a protest against tyranny. “I don’t want to limit my identity. I am a poet, an activist and also a Muslim woman who speaks the truth”, said Nabiya.
“ I am inspired by the people, although there is a lot of intimidation but we stand for a cause. The people influence the cause. Obviously I do not want to end up in jail, but I will not let this fear stop me from raising my voice against injustice”, said Nabiya.
“There was a time when people used to debate about the class of a Muslim citizen, whether Muslims are a 2nd class or 1st class citizen of India. Today the debate is not about the class but whether a Muslim is a citizen of india. We have lived our lives here, we belong here, how can a government come and demand our citizenship proof”, questioned Nabiya.
She further added, “ it’s not about CAA and NRC protest in particular, it is also about the hatred which led to these laws being formulated here. It is also about the islamophobia, and how these laws are products islamophobia”.
Nabiya also spoke about how the Indian people in general and Muslims in particular have never stood for Kashmiri people. “ now they have a reason to stand by Kashmir, it is the shared trauma that brings people together”.
She ended it with her famous poem, “Aayega Inquilab, Pehnkay bindi, Chudiyan, Burqa and hijab”.
The feminine symbols of Bindi, chudiyan, burqa and hijab become the resisting powers in her poetry. Women have been at the forefront of these protests.
Another panelist on the show, a gifted poet whose poetry reflects his resistance, anger, desperation but also hope, Zeeshan Jaipuri. Zeeshan has inherited the art of writing poetry from his great-grandfather, who was a famous poet of Kashmir.
“Poetry was never a conscious decision for me. I am an accidental poet, I used to write poetry from my childhood days. I have surely evolved as a writer but the evolution has been gradual and natural” Said Zeeshan.
\On being asked as to why people write resistance poetry, Zeeshan said, “ poetry becomes the last thing a person can resort to. When I feel helpless and powerless, I take up my own and write”.
This versatile poet talked about how Tufail Mattoo’s death became a cause for his poetry turning from Sufi poetry to resistance poetry.
“The metaphoric references have changed. The Chaand (moon) of earlier poetry became the Laash (coffin) of our poetry, the Phool (flower) became the Khoon(blood)”.
Zeeshan feels that he can better express himself through his poetry. The young poets in Kashmir are very effectively articulate about the pain and suffering around them.
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