Sunday, March 22, 2015

Bagi Lounge

One of my most mind-blowing, notorious, and out-of-the-norm experiences in life was "Bagi Lounge."


A few years back, I was introduced to a group of mature Pakistani people who were highly professional, widely read, and successful. These were unsatisfied souls with their inner selves due to conflicting religious beliefs or were exhausted from their responsibilities. They were not sure about the whole 'gorakh dhandha' of this 'chutiya fucking life' (as said by my favorite, Dr. Rehman and founder of the club). Either they were burned from failed relationships or were unhappy in their present relationships. They were too liberal to move into the conservative Pakistani community. The idea was from the famous novel, "The DaVinci Code." They have rented a huge furnished house in one of the quiet suburbs of the town.


Each member has a key to the house. They contributed more or less equal money to run the club regularly. Whoever and whenever one feels down can relax at the house named "Bagi Lounge." They were one of the most nonjudgmental people I have ever come across. At that time, there were about 25 people, including men and women. Sometimes, you will find no one there, and sometimes, there will be 10 to 12 people at one given time. They will sit, joke, or share their writings and frustrations. A lot of food, alcohol, cigarette, dirty jokes, and porn was the norm. You can say whatever you want. You can cry or laugh as you desire or hang out just doing nothing. Sometimes, I drove there at 2 in the morning. I regularly found Dr. Aseer alone with a glass of whisky and reading his poetry (BTW, no one was allowed to drive under the influence). At noon, I found Nomana (A Real Estate tycoon in the city) dancing to the song "Raqs zanjeer pahen ker bhi Kiya jata hai." Arguments broke out on the political ground a couple of times, and a couple of people left, but overall, it was a smooth affair. They never did anything ever illegal or even unethical. My biggest surprise was meeting a clergyperson from a mosque who was unhappy with his childhood religious beliefs. There was one brother and sister and one husband and wife. One interesting character was a professional athlete who always talked about building muscles and its direct relationship to the man-woman relationship's durability. Due to the high level of addictive intellectual conversations and sarcastic touches, I developed profound friendships with many people there, particularly with one married woman, nicknamed Uzzi, who had a Master's in English literature but was now a housewife. We almost slept together, but at the last moment, we were saved by her emergency move to another city for family reasons.


After a few months, as I was getting tired of the group and thinking of leaving, we learned that Professor (in education) Noorani had a massive traffic accident. She has just gone through a very dirty divorce and was left responsible for raising three daughters. She was in the hospital (and later in Rehab.) and was devastated by the loss of income and support. I was amazed that everyone pulled together and helped her in every way to get back to everyday life. Later on, one day, I expressed to Dr. Aseer my appreciation of the group for whatever everybody did for Dr. Noorani. He said: "Agar tum ne Victor Hugo ka novel 'HunchBack of Notre DaM' parha hota, to jaante ke, asal rishte khoon ke nahi magar woh hote hain jo diloN se bante hain." It took a long time for me to learn that lesson.


After a few months, I quietly left the key to the house on the table and left the lounge. I never inquired back; no one told me anything, as talking publicly about the lounge was forbidden.


I sometimes miss and crave my beautiful time at "Bagi Lounge."


*

Tuesday, March 17, 2015

Mu'aafi

"Bhai! Main ne faisla ker liya tha ke zindagi bhar us aurat ko mu'aaf nahi karun ga! 
Us ne mere ghar ko ujara tha, meri aulad ko darbadar ker diya tha...

Shuru shuru main to beech raat dukh se meri aankh khul jaya kerti aur mere dil se teer ki tarah bad-duain nikla kerti. Waqt ke saath saath karb kuch kam to huwa magar main ne usey kabhi mu'aaf nahi kiya..

Meri bad-dua us ko kiya lagi, aik ke baad aik us ki paanch auladon pe museebatoN ke pahaaR toot pare. Bari beti ki aulad aphaj ho gai, aik bete ko cancer ho gaya, dusra beta ma baap ko chor gaya, aik beti ki talaq ho gai aur manjhli beti ke ghar yake baad degre 2 auladain ho ker faut ho gai....

Bhai bad-dua main dua se ziyada asar hota hai!

Log mujhe batate ke woh tum se mu'aafi mangna chachti hai..
magar mere dil main us ke liye siwaye bud-duaon ke kuch nahi tha!

Aur phir kuch ajeeb huwa !!

Mujhe raat ki taarikioN main uski siskian sunaii deti.. 
waqt ke saath saath ye siskian barhti gai - 
aur phir aik raat mere kamre main uski aah-o-buka-o-faryad-o-giryazaari ka woh matam bapa huwa ke mere ausan khata ho gaye. 
Us ki been kerti awaz se mera dil dhal gaya..

Main ne 2 rakaa't namaz parhi aur us aurat ko mu'aaf ker diya !!!!


Hear this blogpost here

Sunday, March 08, 2015

Locket

Ameeran - Anwar Bengali (here) ki choti bahen thi.

Meri umar 7 baras ho gi shayed. 

GarmioN ki chalchalati aik dopher thi. Lu (Humidity) is qadar shadeed thi ke Karachi ki saari saRkain weeraan thi. Main school se aa kar bister main dupka betha tha. Itne main, mujhe bahir Khilone bechney wale ki awaz sunaii di. Main Amma se chup ke gali main khisak aaya. Khilone waale ki ghanti sun ke Ameeran bhi gali main aa gaii. Hum tajassus se chote chote khilone dekhne lage - woh bhi aik ajeeb umar thi - har cheez se ziyada qiimti the woh 2 aane ke khiloney. Mujeh aik laal rang ki choti gaari achhi lagi magar chaar aane (quarter) sun ker hi main chup ho raha. Ameeran ko aik 'locket' pasand aaya - woh 10 paise (10 cents) ka tha. Ameeran ne mujh se kaha: "Mere paas to sirf 5 paise hain: Main ne kaha: "Tum mere 5 paise le lo". Aur, Ameeran ne hamare paise mila ke woh 'locket' khareed liya. 

Phir Anwar Bengali aur Ameeran Bengali hamara mohalla choR gaye.

BarsoN beet gaye. Jub main Residency kerne Chicago gaya to Phir sab se mulaqat hui - koi 25 baras guzar gaye the. Ameeran ki shadi ho gai thi aur 3 bachhe the. Aik din Ameeran aur us ka shohar mujhe apne ghar le gaye. Hum bohat saari batain kerte rahe. Woh mujhe apne khandan, shadi aur bachhon ki tasveerain dikhate rahe. 

Phir mujeh Ameeran ne woh 'locket' dikhaya, jo us garmi wali dopher hum ne paise mila ke kharida tha. Hum bohat hasey. Us ne ab tak woh sambhaal ke rakha tha! Mujh se Ameeran ne kaha: "Bachpan ka aik atooT lamha main ne is locket main lock ker liya hai". Pata nahi kiun, bohat dinoN tak main un khilono aur khilone bachne wale ke baare main sochta raha ....

- aur itne barsoN baad - woh baat phir mujeh yaad aa gayi jab meri beti iPad chor ker der tak apni chuRion se khelti rahi !!

Monday, March 02, 2015

On "Fall of Rajesh Khanna" (Kaka)

(At the end I just tagged my most favorite song picturized on him at his peak)

It is said that no man ever won as many women's heart in Bollywood as Rajesh Khanna (aka Kaka). His wedding in Bombay with Dimple Kapadia was a fairy tale as people stands in line for miles and miles to have one glimpse of bride and groom. But his story has a sad end when he fall pretty steep from his fame and never recovered, complicated by drinking and liver cancer. People blame arrival of Amitabh as an angry young man who reflected emotions of a common Indian man but many blame RK's arrogant personality for his fall. As Salim Khan (Indian script writer) famously said on him: " ‘...success has destroyed more people than failure will ever do’. Recently someone gave an interesting comment on him. It led me to think that "Insan ke bachpan ka khauf shayed kabhi nahi marta".


"RK's success wasn't the reason for his behavior. He never was the kind of person who grew arrogant because of the money. This guy when came for his first movie rode in an impala, he was super rich before joining industry. He was just very very aloof, He was adopted by his relatives and was not raised by his biological parents and this pained him all his life. He was a classic case of being brought up feeling neglected and thus was emotionally detached and when he became successful and independent , started drinking and all. Anyways, no person has enjoyed the kind of popularity and fan following that RK did".


Sunday, March 01, 2015

On "Giving"

(Story from Hindu Mythology)

Once Krishna and Arjuna were walking towards a village. Arjuna was pestering Krishna, asking him why Karna should be considered an unparalleled Donor & not him.

Krishna, turned two mountains into gold. Then said, Arjuna, distribute these two gold mountains among villagers, but you must donate every bit of it. Arjuna went into the village, and proclaimed he was going to donate gold to every villager, and asked them to gather near the mountain. The villagers sang his praises and Arjuna walked towards the mountains with a huffed up chest. For two days and two nights Arjuna shoveled gold from the mountain and donated to each villager. The mountains did not diminish in the slightest. Most villagers came back and stood in queue within minutes. Now Arjuna was exhausted, but not ready to let go of his Ego, told Krishna he couldn't go on any longer without rest. Then Krishna called Karna and told him to donate every bit of the two gold mountains. Karna called the villagers, and said Those two Gold mountains are yours, and walked away.

Arjuna sat dumbfounded. Why hadn't this thought occurred to him. Krishna smiled mischievously and told him, Arjuna subconsciously, the size of your donation to each villager depended only on your ego. Karna walked away after giving away a fortune, he doesn't even care if people talk good or bad about him behind his back.

 Giving with an Expectation of a Return in the form of a Compliment or Thanks is a Trade. Give without expecting anything in Return.