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Sport on television: TV REVIEW
PTV’s khabarnama is probably the worst in the world to watch if you want to know anything about sport. Over the years, coverage of even cricket — something that is sure to attract viewers — has declined on the main 9pm bulletin. Take the current case where you had the West Indies in Sri Lanka (the series has just ended), New Zealand and South Africa in Australia and England in India. However, on khabarnama you are not likely to see any footage of any of the matches these teams are playing. It never used to be like this but perhaps the fee for purchasing the clips has gone up or may be PTV has realized that since so many viewers now have access to ESPN or Star Sports (or even the coverage on Zee News or Doordarshan is far better), why bother at all.
Khabarnama’s sports news did undergo a revamp of sorts some time ago. For one thing, the news anchors at least now know how to pronounce the names of foreign players and they seem more presentable. But much of the footage now seems to be focused on either domestic tournaments or events or foreign sports that most people are not really interested in.
For example, there might be a segment on a recent ATP tennis tournament, or the Davis Cup final between France and Australia, followed by a news item (and clip) on some sailing race in the Atlantic, followed by a report of a match played in the Quaid-i-Azam Trophy. The report of the local cricket match is usually accompanied by footage, which in most cases is so horrendous and shoddy that it would be a very good idea if there were no footage at all. Other than this, some other obscure sports like handball or kabaddi might also get coverage, but you are unlikely to get anything on cricket. Incidentally, the same goes for BBC Sport but then the BBC is not catering to an exclusively Pakistani audience.
The alternatives to PTV, however, ESPN and Star Sports, as far as cricket is concerned are not all that significantly better. As far as post-match analysis is concerned, of various one-day and Test matches, both the ESPN and Star Sports can be extremely biased when it comes to India. All rankings make special mention of various Indian batsmen and bowlers, except that most of them — barring Tendulkar, and sometimes Ganguly and Dravid — do not make the top grade. Then there is also the highly annoying tendency for many Indian commentators and analysts on these channels to get completely carried away and talk as if India is by far the best team in the world. Take the current series between England and India. Yes, India did end up thrashing England by ten wickets in under four days but that does make India the best team in the world, something that Harsha Bhogle and company would have us believe.
Even prior to the match, Star Sports in its daily Sportsline bulletin had a news item on the three new seamers that India was introducing. A local reporter narrated the report and ended with a not of caution for the English team saying that the arrival of these new medium pacers would now make the Indian winter for England a bit difficult. Such predictions are ridiculous, to say the least because they are not grounded in any type of logic or reality. For example, even a non-journalist would know that a bowler who has proved his mettle in the past against international sides could be expected to (maybe) create problems for England. But how can you possibly justify saying that three bowlers who have yet to play even their first match in international cricket will trouble a reasonably experienced Test side? This doesn’t make for good journalism and the news editor or producer of the show should have seen through the reporter’s absurd prediction. Another example of just how much Indian commentators get carried away relates to the recent, and now settled, tussle between the International Cricket Council and the Board of Control for Cricket in India over the one-match ban handed down to Virendar Sehwag by match referee Mike Denness (whom the Indian print media later labelled ‘Dennis the Menace’). In one of the programmes, former Indian Test player Navjot Singh Sidhu compared the situation to Kargil. He said the reaction of the India people to what Mr Denness had done was quite similar to the public reaction when Kargil was happening, in that India was “now so united”. And this man is on ESPN’s panel of expert commentators! — OMAR R. QURAISHI
The freedom movement and the idea of Pakistan: LAHORE LITERARY SCENE
A RENOWNED teacher of philosophy, Dr CA Qadir, remained on the staff of the Government College, Lahore, for a long time before joining the Punjab University in 1962. All through his teaching career, he remained popular with his students. He did not confine himself to what was written in the old books but kept himself abreast of the latest trends and thoughts in the field of philosophy and passed on his knowledge to his students who eagerly looked forward to his lectures.
Author of about 50 books on philosophy and psychology, both in Urdu and in English, he died in 1987 at the age of 78. A Trust created in his memory has been holding a memorial lecture every year, the eleventh of the series having been held last week in the Alhamra Hall. The guest speaker this time was Mr Kamal Azfar, a former governor of Sindh. The function was presided over by Mr MR Bhandara, a former member of the National Assembly.
Mr Azfar chose to speak on the concept of Pakistan. Tracing the history of the freedom movement he said that the concept of Pakistan came with the realization that the Muslims of the sub-continent would not be able to realize their full potential as a minority and as such, they had to do something to convert themselves into a majority. In other words, they had to achieve a territory where they could be independent as a majority. He further said that the two-nation theory was based on the Wilsonian concept of self-determination applied to Europe after World War I.
Emphasizing the importance of Urdu for the Muslims, he said that Pakistan was “a product of linguistic nationalism no less than the great religious divide between the two major communal identities of British India”. Referring to Faiz Ahmad Faiz, he said that the latter was against the “disdain for one’s own language and literature taught at school and college; the forced initiation into a foreign language; the groping for knowledge through an abstract maze of other cultures and worlds.” This, he said, “can make for a lifetime of confusion and ambivalence.”
Mr Azfar also differentiated between millat and qaum. Quoting from Iqbal, he said that the poet-philosopher was of the view that millat referred to religion, law and a programme while qaum signified a group of people unguided by a prophetic law and religion. As such, millat was a religiously guided community of individuals while qaum could include both the guided and the unguided. In conclusion, he said that Pakistan being a new country, and the Pakistanis a new nation, we must learn to love this land, be proud of it and also be true to ourselves. In his presidential address, Mr Bhandara regretted that the “doctors of the street corner” who interpreted the Holy Writ in a manner quite alien to the spirit of Islam are totally ignorant of the workings of the contemporary world. The spirit which breathed life into the Pakistan idea, he said, was diametrically opposed to the myth making utopia constructs of these people. Utopia, he added, was not an oasis but a mirage.
Both the speeches were well-received by the large audience.
MUSHAIRAS are a part of our cultural tradition and can be traced back to almost 300 years, with Khwaja Mir Dard as one of the pioneers. Traditional mushairas gradually moved out of Delhi and Lukhnow, making their way to Rampur, Azeemabad, Hyderabad (Deccan) and Lahore. Today they are held not only in all the big cities of the country but also in far-flung small towns.
Poetry recitals are held in other countries as well but they are not half as lively as a mushaira is. The vah, vah (accolades) and requests for mukarrar (encore) are heard at poetic gatherings only in this part of the world while booing is also accepted as part of the game. All this goes to enliven the proceedings.
Poetic rivalries have existed for many, many years and they come to the fore during mushairas the admirers of one poet trying to heckle the supporters of the other. And then there existed differences on language between the poets of Delhi and Lukhnow.
For instance, Sa‘il Dehlvi, a disciple of Dagh, was considered to be a senior poet of his time. Once while participating in a mushaira in Lukhnow he read the following lines:
Mohtasib baitha hua tasbeeh par ginta raha
Ke nay pi, ke nay na pi, kitnon ke aagay jam tha
Now the audience did not approve of the language he had used but could not heckle him because of his standing. As happens in a mushaira, a verse appreciated is repeated by the audience. So it happened in this case. It was repeated, no doubt, but in a form which they considered to be more appropriate. They shouted, vah, vah, ustad, kis nay pi, kis nay na pi, kitnoon ke aagay jam tha.
Unlike today, the earlier poets used to recite their fresh poems at the mushairas. In this connection tarhi mushairas were held, that is, a hemistitch was announced and every poet was required to compose a ghazal on the same rhyme and metre. For example, once Beychain kar diya heh dil-i-beqarar nay was given as the hemistitch for a mushaira. The poets came up with some excellent verses. I remember one:
Nazuk mizaj phool ka munh surkh ho gaya
Chutki si ek li thi naseem-i-bahar nay.
But in the same mushaira, two poets came up with a similar line. As they say in Urdu, misra lar gaya (the line has clashed). It was:
Aankhon ka noor chheen liya intizar nay.
What has made me think of all this is a book I have seen recently. Titled, Zinda Asha‘ar Braey Beit-Bazi, it has been compiled by Khalid Hameed, a familiar name for those who used to watch PTV’s Khabarnama some years ago, plus Mahpara Sami and Naveed Sahar. Incidentally, all three are closely related to the prominent ghazal poet, Murtaza Barlas. The book has been published by Mumtaz Publishing of Temple Road, Lahore, and is moderately priced at Rs 150.
Unlike mushaira, beit-bazi is sort of a poetic duel among contestants. It was once a popular pastime but is mostly confined now to schools. The competition is between two teams of students who need to remember a large number of verses by heart. It starts with one member of a team reciting a verse requiring a member from the opposing team to present a verse beginning with the last letter of the recited verse. The effort, therefore, is to recite a verse whose last letter is uncommon. The competition can become very interesting for those watching it.
The compilers seem to have worked hard to collect appropriate verses from all sources to fill the 240 pages of the book. Credit also goes to them for giving the name of the poet with each verse.
Of denationalization and past owners: DATELINE SUKKUR
THESE days there is loud thinking about denationalizing the various educational institutions in this city.
This situation has arisen because most of those institutions which were taken over by the government in the 1970s did not fare well, both economically and educationally.
Financially, they have proved to be a white elephant for the national exchequer. But what is more grievous is that over the years these institutions have little to show as far as the quality of education is concerned.
One such institution is the present Islamia College, first set up as a school in 1955 and then upgraded in the 1960s into an inter college. In 1964 post-graduate classes were also started in the college. It was on way to becoming a university when the Z. A. Bhutto government nationalized it. Bhutto’s good intentions apart, the college suffered because of the maladministration that is the wont of every government. It may be recalled that there was no intermediate or degree college in the city when the country was born. Students had to go either to Shikarpur or to Hyderabad to seek further education after doing matriculation.
Not only that, there are several other institutions which were nationalized in the 1970s, and were later almost ruined. For example, Modern High School, founded by Sir Abdus Samad, was regarded as the most outstanding school of the 1950s and 1960s but was taken over by the government without the least consideration to its performance. Then there are M. K. High School, Al-Falah High School and Tameer Nau High School.
Now, in 2001, when the government is denationalizing many an educational institution, it would be desirable to return the institutions to their previous owners so that their present poor state of affairs could be rectified.
WAPDA: It was after about a year’s gap that Wapda chairman Lt-Gen Zulfiqar Ali Khan came here the other day and addressed an open kutchery. But only a few people were informed about the programme as the crooked in the department want to perpetuate the rot. Moreover, the kutchery was held at the Public School auditorium, situated far away from the city.
However some people managed to reach the venue but since the chairman was in a hurry to join his next event at Rahimyar Khan, the programme was kept brief. About 30 people attended it. Others who attended were the employees of the department. The whole exercise was a waste of time and money and it rightly prompted the chairman into asking the superintending engineer (SE) of Hesco here, Talib Hussain Malik, to hold open kutcheries regularly.
It is good that the SE is now holding open kutcheries almost every week, but we may point to him that the bills are being delivered to consumers after the due date of payment. The Housing Society area, near Sabzi Mandi, got bills on Nov 16 whereas the due date was Nov 13. The SDO of the area admitted the fault, because the man on duty had some personal work. Now what about the fines on those bills, the consumers would have to take rounds of the SDO office for getting the bills corrected.
It is hoped the chairman would next time find more time to listen to the grievances of the people and would also ensure full publicity of the programme to make the kutchery a success.
The people of Sukkur, mostly the elites, had also to attend another open kutchery held by Interior Minister Moinuddin Haider. It was chiefly aimed at defending the government policy on Afghanistan. He was flanked by DCO Nisar Ahmed Siddiqi and Sindh chief secretary Javed Ashraf Hussain.
It was strange that Javed Ashraf Hussain on two occasions told the Nazims and councillors that they should not expect money and funds from the government, and that for fixing bulbs and repair of streets they should themselves raise such funds. It was an occasion to watch the faces of the leaders of the grass roots.
